This was a large week where I picked up some issues that I missed last week. (Though I didn’t review it, last weeks first read was Mirror #1 by Emma Ríos and Hwei Lim.) And this week was another Image book, Descender #10 by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen.
Descender is a comic set in the far future, where aliens and artificial intelligence are normal. And interplanetary travel is common. There is an A.I. in the form of a boy named Tim-21, and he seems to be the key to the survival of all life in the galaxy.
There are many aspects of the book that I like. After 10 issues, you begin to have a feeling of the motivations of all the characters. And as Jeff Lemire does with his much of his writing, relationships are the driving motivator for almost all the story actions. Tim-21 was left abandoned on a mining colony and only had a digging robot and a mechanical dog as companions. After decades of being alone, Tim-21 is found by two humans, Tesla and Quon (Mom and Dad?). Both of which have family backstory that affect their attitude and actions. Tim-21 also has an older “brother”, Andy, who is a grown man and is searching for his “little brother”. And Lemire ties this all this relationship mess together in a galaxy threatening story.
And the art by Dustin Nguyen is, in my mind, almost the exact opposite in style for a hard science fiction story like this. He uses watercolor and pastels. With almost minimal background details, and wonderful character designs.
For these reasons, Descender made the top of my very large stack this month.
Other titles I picked up this week:
Velvet #13
Batman #49
James Bond #4
Manhattan Project: The Sun Beyond the Stars #4
A-Force #2
Injection #7
All-New Wolverine #5
Detective Comics #49
Uncanny X-Men #3
Deadpool #7
The Legend of Wonder Woman #2
Spider-Man/Deadpool #2
