Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Jonathan Wayshak
Colorist: Jordan Boyd
Release Date: 20th Jan 2015
Where to start? Firstly, I should say that I really wanted to like this book. The story outline of a world that has devolved sounded very promising indeed, but for me, it was poorly executed. The majority of this first issue is exposition, detailing events that caused the devolution of the series’ title, as though taken directly from someone’s diary. While effective in providing background, it does so in a particularly heavy-handed manner.
In a nutshell – mankind edges ever closer to wiping itself out, laying the blame for all wars and conflict solely at the feet of religion. “Clever” people create a virus that can devolve the part of our brain that deals with belief, but the experiment goes awry devolving all life on the planet by varying degrees. Some humans are normal, but others have transformed into Neanderthals. The main character, who barely appears in this story at this point, is instantly forgettable, but on a more positive note, it was nice to see a regular-looking bad-ass female in the lead role.
Another problem I had with the book was the redundant sex scene. The only reason I can see for its inclusion is to provide the heroine with a viable reason to save the doctor, which will in turn gain her access to his camp and allow her to demonstrate how base humanity has become.
The artwork was perhaps the standout element of the issue, and did suit the story stylistically, but the overall approach to storytelling felt jarring and subsequently the issue didn’t flow quite as well as it might have.
Normally, I would give a series one or two issues to get a better idea of where it’s going, but in this case, I’m not so sure I can. The series concept is solid, but the themes are are a little too obvious and heavy handed for my tastes.
Rating: 1/5.
PREVIEW ARTWORK
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The writer of this piece was: David Gladman
David Tweets from @the_gladrags
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