Sometime in the far-ish future of Frankfurt, Jan's consciousness has been transferred to a prosthetic body after a terrible car accident. Luckily for him, his insurance covered both his body and his car so it should not be long until he receives new ones. The only problem is that the temporary body they gave him is an old and uncomfortable lunar model from before the war. That and the fact that this same model was used recently by terrorist in a deadly bombing. Could there be a connection? There is more than that to the plot of Jan's Atomic Earth but I do not want to reveal too much here and spoil the fun.
The story of this comic book is very interesting and I have to say that I would really appreciate if there was more like it on the North American market. It is self-contained, imaginative and it tackles science-fiction, a genre underused (or badly used if you prefer) in American comic books in general. As a fan of that genre, I have to admit that I had big expectation based on the premise alone and I have to say that I was not deceived. I like it when science-fiction stories build on society's future, intelligent plot twist and imaginative context instead of huge starships and mindless action. It really stuck to that so it is probably the reason I enjoyed Jan's Atomic Heart so much. The fact that it did recapture the feeling of those old science-fiction short stories was probably not stranger to that fact either.
Visually, I have to say that Simon Roy's art is as strong as his writing if not more. This is what made me initially order the comic book. As soon as I saw it, I knew that it would be good. I do not know if he was influenced by European artists but his style remind me very much of what we would see in Europe in the 1970's but with a modern touch. The black and white is also very suited for his style and I can hardly imagine it in color. His designs are also very strong. It's hard in science-fiction not to overdo it and stick to what could really be future technology but he somehow manage to do it right.
Jan's Atomic Heart is a total must for any science-fiction fan. Even if it's relatively short, I greatly appreciated it and it's one of the best six bucks I have spent at a small publisher this year. Copies are available directly from the publisher's website www.newreliablepress.bigcartel.com/ or from the direct market if i'm right.
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