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The Surrogates, Volume 2: Flesh And Bone (2009)

by Robert Venditti(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0594034213 (ISBN13: 9780594034216)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Top Shelf Productions

series

The Surrogates

review 1: A prequel to *The Surrogates* we find a young Harvey Greer about to become detective, while trying to solve the murder of a 'boner' (non-surrogate user) by three kids using their parents' surries. Much of the attraction of this comic comes from exploring the past history or origin of Greer and seeing his first reaction to surrogates and the way the world adapted to surrogates in the first place. More parenthetical in exploring the surrogate concept than the original, *Flesh and Bone* still provides some interesting speculative insights.
review 2: I picked this up before realizing it was a prequel, and although it lays the groundwork for more story, it stands alone well. In the year 2039, three teenagers take their parent's robot surrogates - the form and size o... moref normal adults, which are controlled remotely from their safe, warm, middle class homes - for an evening romp and beat a homeless man to death. Cop Harvey Greer stumbles into helping on this case shortly after his sergeant’s exam and taps into his local informant about the murder, who shortly after is found as dead as the first victim. As the world of the year 2039 continues to debate the use of surrogates – as evidenced in sharp issues of the “Dail-e Tablet: America’s Most Downloaded Paper Since 2018” which supplement the comic panels in full-page format – the city of Atlanta reacts to the murder: an anti-surrogate group called “the dreads” (after their hairstyles) riots in the streets, the board of Virtual Self, Inc. must defend their product while halting the release of their awaited line of juvenile models, and the Central Georgia Metropolitan police force must defend the people of the city from the fallout of the murders, battling lawyers and rioters both, using surrogates themselves. Venditti’s story fully stages the world in which Surrogates exist, offering the digital newspapers of this world, the wealthy, the middle class, the poor, and even a religious group in environments as diverse as the boardroom, the streets, and the bedroom. (His B.A. in English and Political Science no doubt informs his ability to create a fictional yet informed future world in the tradition of Ray Bradbury or Aldous Huxley.) Brett Weldele’s art is stark, gritty, and sympathetic. The collaboration of these artists in this graphic novel gives the sort of feel evoked by Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, and the fantastic-but-cancelled tv show Almost Human. The only teens in this graphic novel are the catalysts to the story, so although not a typical YA read, young adult fans and readers who follow the adult crime or dystopian sci-fi genre will enjoy this. Read-a-likes: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick less

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