Writer: James Vincent / Penciller: Willem Hampson
The Pitch: Private Detective Joseph Flood spends more of his time in cocktail bars than he spends working on cases. Flood leaves most of his day-to-day work to his holographic digital avatar, Joe. Everyone in this future version of China has a “Holo” to help maximise their work productivity - in fact, it’s illegal not to have one. However, this doesn’t stop a growing underground movement of people from wanting to disconnect from these ultra-efficient and idealised digital versions of themselves.
Disclaimer: before you read on, remember that this is all coming from my limited experience of this arena of comics, so like all opinions on this site, you're free to dismiss and ignore. Cool? Here goes.
Small press and self-published books usually fall into just a few categories or genres. The first is autobiographical or at least partly autobiographical. The second is the more fantastical or phantasmagorical flights of weirdness. Then there are the zines, which can also be about anything but hews closer to non-fiction. But there's this other corner, the one you don't see as often as the others but is still there often enough to be real and very much should be considered part of the scene as much as anything else. And that's the comics that feel like American monthlies, but aren't. Usually, the genre and subject matter are what tie them to the American monthly flagpole and usually, that genre is sci-fi (or fantasy) and that subject matter is how we live in the future. Or at least it should be, otherwise is it really sci-fi? One could easily dismiss these self-published books as wannabes but that underrates them. Rather than being seen as failed pitches to Image, Boom, Dark Horse... They should be seen as true indies, with creators who perhaps saw as many problems working in the confines of those publishers as there would be working at DC or Marvel. And working this way in genres that they love allows us, the reader to walk an interesting middle ground.
This new book is a prime example of that fourth corner of small press. Its trappings are sci-fi, its plotting is monthly cliffhangers, but its feel is the rough-hewn, handmade shape of the self-published. The setting is fascinating. Rather than employing the Asian influence seen in so much of modern sci-fi thanks largely to Blade Runner, Vincent and Hampson simply move the action to China, acknowledging the country’s shifting position as a superpower and cultural influence. Indeed, so much of our lives are becoming infused with Asian influences, be it K-pop or the financial weight of China, it's hard not to make it a part of our fictions. There's no judgement in that statement, merely an acknowledgement that it is something that is happening. Nonetheless, it's interesting to see the action moved to mainland China rather than the US or Europe. Also present is the pervasive idea that we're heading towards a less tactile future and one where we won't want to leave the house. I guess we can thank years of Covid for this one. I mean, it certainly did a number on me, so I'm all for staying home. Here though, technology allows digital avatars, known as Holos to do the walking and talking for us. Affable and genial with a precise turn of phrase and manner of speaking, Holos are us, 2.0. Perhaps even us at our best. They're meant to allow us to multitask, but keep a personal touch on everything we do. But they also allow us to hide, the way Joe Flood, our lead does. An overweight, dishevelled drunk, his partner is his Holo, to do the front-facing work in his detective agency. When you meet Joe, you immediately get why. The Holos are mandated by law, and are sure sign of corporate predatory behaviour being integrated into society whether we like it or not. Since it's illegal to disconnect yourself from your Holo, the movement back towards a level of disconnection has understandably gone underground. As has Joe's new client, a Holo whose owner-original has gone missing...
The Holos does what all good fictions do and asks a series of questions, some within the text, some in the philosophical space that exists between art and reader. Would you want to be part of a society like this, where your productivity is increased but you essentially become less relevant in your own life? It may not just be a case of letting the machine do the work for you. Also, should we be allowed to just disconnect from all this technology that’s inserted into our lives constantly? It's like the argument that reared its head a few years back over the right to be forgotten and whether or not our past transgressions and mistakes should be ever-present and searchable. Don't we have the right to just disappear and start over? The Holos gives a world that may never stop, a scary prospect in these days of mindfulness and mental health-focused well-being. Holos are the you that never stops. Isn't that a worrying prospect? Joe finds his own respite, downing cocktails till he passes out, but now, with this new client, gets a wake-up call where he may have to deal with just how much he hates this new world, hates his 'partner' and ultimately, himself. The world you're in with The Holos is one that feels fictional yet recognisable, a future you know might come.
Vincent writes with a laid-back style, shifting gears to a more driven, action-led pace in the book's later stages. He lets you discover this future at an organic pace, dropping hints and details as you progress through the book. He handles the reveals well and applies a cinematic style to the scenes. Hampson's pencils and inks are nicely rendered, feeling alive and real, and in a way unfinished. Taking his cue from Vincent's writing, he makes the sci-fi elements organic to the story, instead of using splashy visuals to focus us on a strange culture. The feel of the book is one of ingrained detail and life. If you want to find that middle ground between the big sci-fi ideas of established publishers and the artful, personalised work of the small press crowd, this might be the book for you.
The Holos #1: Flood & Co. is available at your local small-press stockist now.
