(New Worlds Comics, 2013-2014)

Writer – Guy Hasson
Artist – Aron Elekes

No one can be special.  It’s a sentiment that we seldom here in today’s world, where every child is a flower waiting to blossom, where every parent is there to nurture children along until they become productive members of society.  (Ideally of course.)  In Wynter, we see that it has become fact.

The world in Wynter is the polar opposite of that created in his other comic, Goof, the silly super-hero book from New Worlds.  Writer Guy Hasson has built a Blade Runner type of world, a dystopian future where technology has become so intertwined with the lives of humans that each and every person is tapped into the cloud.  It’s as if Google Eye has been implanted into their heads, so that any and every piece of information they may want is available at all times.

Liz Wynter is afraid that she isn’t special.  Her world has existed for so long that her DNA has been replicated a million times over…there are no versions of her that haven’t been recorded and studied.  Every move she makes is known to the system until she downloads an app that allows her to steal apps from other people.  In the course of a day she steals a piece of “hacktech” called “subversive”.  The app allows her to see how the “gg” or galactic government can fall.  It is an app for anarchy, a program that will show people how to topple governments, and it is all in the hands of this 1 in ten million, ordinary, very un-special 17 year old who is not at all happy with her lot in life.  Imagine that.  Perhaps this should be reclassified as a horror comic.

Issue two introduces the characters of Zero-Content, a technological mirage, and Alex Grace, a “supreme agent” of the galactic government, who is charged with the capture and elimination of anyone who is considered to be a glitch in the matrix of the governmental system.  His latest assignment is…you guessed it…Liz.  Begin craziness.

Aron Elekes is another newcomer to the scene, but he draws in a way that is exciting and extraordinarily fascinating for me.  It’s very easy to get lost in these illustrations, to see how he uses light and shadow.  It has a painted look to it, and that use of shadow creates depth in the artwork that reflects the dark nature of the story.  Elekes is supremely talented, and if I were one to have an “artist to watch” list, he would be on it.  He combines the natural and the technological in an almost Sherlockian way (the Moffat BBC version, not the RDJ one…) so that you can almost see the way that the “google eyes” effect in Liz is responding to the information that the physical appearance of another person is providing her.  Although the book is very dark, not only in tone but in the overall visual look of the pages, Elekes uses what little light is provided in a striking way, illuminating the characters from interesting angles.

Wynter is a dystopian future.  What happens when technology begins to invade every facet of our lives, and what could happen to humanity if we choose that path?  It’s a world of limitless options and constant connection to everyone and no one at the same time.  Hasson and Elekes have produced a beautiful book, engaging and thought provoking.  It isn’t just coming…Wynter is here, and it’s awesome.

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Brad Gischia is a writer and artist living in the frozen Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He is married and has three kids and a dog, who all put up with his incessant prattling about comic books.