Transhuman #1 By Zak Edwards Mar 28, 2008 - 3:27:16 PM

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Transhuman #1
Image Comics
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by JM Ringuet

Transhuman is an amazing concept, it takes the modern biological questions like genetics and cyber-enhancement and applies it to our consumer culture.  What would happen if scientists were able to modify human beings using either genetic manipulation or cybernetics?  How would those discoveries be utilized?  Writer Jonathan Hickman theorizes that these discoveries would lead to one of the greatest marketing wars in human history as each side of the human enhancement industry tries to get their hands on a very eager consumer base.  This comic book explores the origins and events leading up to the advertising wars in the engaging Transhuman.  The comic has some minor obscenities, making it possibly inappropriate for younger readers.

The first issue of Transhuman follows a television documentary style, comprised of a series of interviews with all sorts of key players in the genetic and cybernetic industry, from geneticists to CEO’s of powerful pharmaceutical companies and many people in between.  Hickman also draws personal drama into the documentary through interviews with these characters after the fact.  Scientists who once worked together are now bitter enemies, an ex-husband and wife discuss their working relationship while a distance is felt in their personal information.  Hickman has obviously placed importance on keeping the comic in the same style as documentary with great effectiveness.  The comic is almost entirely a series of talking heads but his ideas and scenarios make for a very engaging comic book.  I just feel that this series can not be fully discovered in a mere four issues, this feels like a series that would benefit from an extended run like Y: The Last Man or Transmetropolitan.  Perhaps this is a comic book that would also be more effective in a different medium, like a straight prose novel.  But if Hickman has proven anything in this single issue, it is that he knows what he’s doing, what he wants to communicate, and how he will relate that to his audience.  It is a very exciting series to be a part of and I highly recommend it.

JM Ringuet has very little to work with in this comic book as the majority of the comic involves aging scientists and entrepreneurs discussing the subject matter in their offices.  Not too much excitement in the conventional sense.  In the little places where Ringuet can flex a little, the results are mediocre.  Nothing about his art is amazing, sometimes it feels too unrealistic given the material.  But once again, he does not have much to work with.  I am looking forward to where this series goes in the little time it has.

8.5/10    A very interesting idea that has got me very excited.

If you would like to e-mail me your own thoughts and opinions, I can be reached at zak@comicbookbin.com with your mature comments and criticism.

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