LAB RATS #1
"Game Space"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
|
DC Comics
Writer/Artist/Letters: John Byrne
Colors: Noelle Giddings & Digital Chameleon
Editor: Mike Carlin
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
John Byrne's output in recent years has fluctuated in quality, and I really didn't know what to expect from Lab Rats. However, given the strength of Byrne's work on properties he created himself in the 1990s -- Next Men, Babe and especially Danger Unlimited -- I was definitely curious about it. There's certainly a lot of potential here, mainly in the characters, but the premise -- kind of like Matrix Lite -- hasn't grabbed me yet.
The United States government would love to have a virtual training system for its soldiers, and that's what the Campus is trying to develop. The problem is that the virtual-reality system it has created is so real that the homeless kids who serve as beta-testers -- who have dubbed themselves Lab Rats -- are being killed by the vivid experiences. Poe, the teens' defacto leader, discovers that they can influence the VR world, but even that might not be enough to save them.
The greatest visual strength of this book is how Byrne manages to convey the elaborate nature of the Campus. He handles the high-tech aspects well. The simple nature of the character designs grants them a greater degree of credibility, and he captures the youth of the title characters nicely. Though the story calls for some chaos, the VR sequences get a bit too exaggerated and hard-to-follow toward the end of the issue, though.
Poe stands out as the most interesting character of the bunch. He's intelligent, and even better, there's a reason for it. Also interesting is that the folks running the Campus aren't portrayed as completely callous. They're not evil. There's an odd attachment to these teens, despite the fact that they're forcing them into a potentially lethal situation. There's a sense of choice in the premise that sets it apart.
Unfortunately, there are also cliches in the premise as well. The resolution for this issue is the typical "we can't shut down the system so we have to overload it" scenario that forces suspension of disbelief to the limit. And unintentional or not, the Matrix riff cannot be denied. Byrne also seems stuck between an all-ages-friendly, toned-down adventure tone, and one with a sharper edge. There seems to be a self-censorship mode at play here that's holding the property back.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
