By Dustin Cabeal
Since I’ve been reviewing comics, Dynamite has always been a strange publisher to review. Overall, there’s no consistency to their product which makes them hard to compare to other publishers. Perhaps being all over is what works for them. It’s how they can produce titles that I find dreadful, but then also produce something like Myopia that I love. At the end of the day, though, it’s hard for me to say “Oh man, I hope they make more books like Myopia” because I know they won’t. I don’t know what they’ll do next… probably more Smosh or some shit.
Myopia’s first page is awkward and so on the nose with the info that it gives that it’s arguably the worst page in the story. Which is great. It meant that it couldn’t get any worse and in fact improved with each subsequent page. While I dislike that first page, I’m glad it happened because the story would have played out differently if not for its clunkiness.
The story is set in the future. Everyone has contact lenses that do what Google Glass was supposed to, but a little on the verge of Minority Report as well. We meet two men that are best friends and partners. One of them doesn’t trust technology 100% even though it seems like he made a large portion of the contact lenses work. There’s some shadiness going on with his partner and eventually he gets whacked. But not before putting a program in place in the contact lens system.
Flash forward two years and we meet a dude with a streak of white in his hair which confuses people, especially a homeless man that is later taken away and scream “trashing the planet” or something else from Hackers. The dude, James Chase, sees the bum get kidnapped, but can’t help him, so he goes to his interview at the place his friend worked at which was the murdered dude.
Now I’m being very light and easy with the synopsis, but the reality of it is that this is a damn fine story. Yes, there are a lot of familiar themes, corruption, a best friend dating the dead dude’s wife and more that I won’t bore you with. Myopia is a complete package, though. It introduces all of the key players to the story in the first issue. It doesn’t bog the story down by making all of them talk and shout out exposition. It’s paced wonderfully so that we get enough of the catalyst for the entire story, while also seeing enough of the status quo for the rest of the book. Writer Richard Dent’s world building is amazing, and none of it rushed. He uses the story to tell you everything you need to know about this futuristic story instead of requiring a page of prose to get the job done.
The visuals are the thing that set this book apart from any other Dynamite title. They look nothing like anything I’ve seen from Dynamite. Not in the pencil work from Patrick Kerkenkotter, nor in the coloring from Mohan. Together these two build a believable futuristic world. It’s one that’s not so different from ours, just with slightly newer tech. I believed it because when everyone’s is building their futuristic buildings no one considers the cost of such things. It’s why the rich would rather slap a fresh coat on something than to rebuild it. That’s what this world looked like. It wasn’t steampunk, but rather us taking a big step forward, but not losing sight of the fact that new technology doesn’t change the costs of living or the function of business. The visuals are sharp and photo-realistic. There’s a little inconsistency on faces here and there, but nothing terrible. The design of the world stuck with me after I was done reading it.
I forgot this was a Dynamite title by the time I was done. Then I remembered that it was an indie Kickstarter book first that they picked up to publish. Which hey, good for the creative team, but damn is this way better than anything Dynamite is doing in house. If you like sci-fi, but you’re tired of Phillip K Dick’s future, then check out Myopia this week.
Score: 4/5
Myopia #1
Writer: Richard Dent
Artist: Patrick Kerkenkotter
Colorist: Mohan
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment