By Thea Srinivasan
Clean, crisp and quiet. The three words that I use, to sum up, “The Resurrected” by Christian Carnouche. The tale is compacted into 24 pages and unfortunately does not give everything to be classified as a “book.” Instead, I consider this beginning to be chapter one of a potential long-standing sci-fi thriller that just makes you want to keep exploring the creator’s mind. But in any case, I’m glad the author let his imagination create an alternative future that wasn’t globally post-apocalyptic nor was entirely technologically realistic. The way Carnouche created his world reminded me of a combination between “The Fifth Element” and “Ben 10” with the use of futuristic and sci-fi elements. But I must digress in the fact that the story does live it up to the three words.
“The Resurrected” takes place 30 years in an imagined future with flying cars, holograms, etc. Things begin to shift our main hero Cain, an Aboriginal man who was working in another country away from his family in Australia. One day, an accident occurs, and this causes our main hero to lose his family. Five years pass, and he continues on with his life and unfortunately has to deal with the loss of his wife and child. Upon his work as a detective, he discovers a “Rezzie,” a person who has been brought back from the dead. Unfortunately, there’s no identification for this dead person, and he had no idea as to why this person was resurrected and then somehow killed. With that, it’s up to our main character to solve this mystery.
At first glance, much of Carnouche’s male characters are seemingly crisper than the female characters and here’s why. One of the characters we soon learn about is Xander Drexler, a character who is connected to the death of Cain’s wife. He seemingly reminds me, Peter Osborn, good on the outside yet angry on the inside. But just how far is he willing to go to harm others compared to Osborn? As I later read went into the story, I find that he’s quite easy to relate to as a character and just might be the most stubborn person in the book. Compared to Cain’s partner Akimi, I personally feel her kickass nature and supportive nature just to be a little too dry. What else can she do? Just because she can kick butt and knows how to be a good friend, it doesn’t exploit any character development. I want more out of her, and I think that’s something that would need to be explored in later books.
Also, as I learn more about Cain and his interaction with the futuristic world, he tends to have a lot of morals when it comes to the idea of technology and science, something that has me pondering just how much do I know about Cain. The best way I can sum up Cain’s character is “ambiguously clean.” He’s still messed up from his wife’s death, but he isn’t so far gone to leave everything behind and become a hell-blazing vigilante to the world around him. But that’s what makes his introduction so good. He’s average enough that someone can relate to and yet he doesn’t follow an archetype.
Finally, I’m going to go back to the main setting of the story. Carnouche did a wonderful job of not overstating another sci-fi archetype. He didn’t make the entire world in one giant apocalypse nor did he heavily divide the world into various social hierarchies. Instead, Carnouche did a brilliant job creating technology and world events that didn’t seem too far from reality yet allowed his imagination allowed for some awesome pieces of technology and interesting twists on world events. The setting quite quiet in reality and reminds me of the settings in Marvels and D.C.
As for the art overall, I can’t say much since it mostly reminds me of Marvels and D.C. It’s beautifully drawn, but there isn’t anything unique to say about it. To me, the art style is just another copy of them.
I’d recommend this story for someone who just wants exposure to a new sci-fi setting. Albeit, some of the characters aren’t introduced strongly enough, but it’s enough that it makes me intrigued on what they do next. Plus, the story is captivating enough that it makes you want to know more about the universe Cain lives in.
Score: 3/5
The Resurrected #1
Writer and Creator: Christian Carnouche
Colors: Salvatore Aiala
Editor: Erica Schultz
Art: Crizam Zamora
Letters: Cardinal Rae
Cover Art: Crizam Zamora