Technofreak #1

Technofreak #1

American Mythology Productions 2021

Created, Written & Coloured by John Charles

Created & Written by Barry May

Created & Illustrated by Tom Newell

Lettered by Nikki Foxrobot

Welcome to London 3026, the grimmest of futures. Cybernetic implants have altered Jon Sherlok's consciousness and gifted him with the ability to hack into any electronic systems, but at a cost; he can feel the edges of his humanity collapsing. TechnoFreak is a combination of the best sci-fi and film noir. It's Blade Runner on acid, mixed with outrageous humor. A smash-hit indie in the UK, now in the USA. That's right, the country that brought you Mary Poppins, James Bond, and Harry Potter, now brings you TechnoFreak, along with his talking robot cat, Maurice. Things will never be the same again!

This is kind of crazy and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not lol. Well obviously it's a good thing but seriously this is some weird ass shit right here. It feels like something that should come out of the 80’s underground comix scene. Either that or out of some early Heavy Metal magazine. Regardless of where it feels like it's from there is this great throwback feel to the story that really manages to capture the readers’ imagination and creativity.

I am digging the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a wonderful job in bringing out their personalities. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, introducing the characters and the world they inhabit we’re drawn into this absolute craziness that’s just too much fun to be a part of.

I like the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. For a one and done kind of story the way that there’s a lot going on here without anything feeling rushed or glossed over I’m pretty darn impressed with the writing from these aspects. How the depth, dimension and complexity are added to the story taking this to a new level is rather ingenious. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

The interiors in general aren’t usually my cup of tea. Sure every so often a style comes along and I think okay this works here, and this is one of those situations. There are moments that make this feel like an underground comic and others that show some flashes of brilliance. I am really impressed with how we see the composition within the panels and how they bring about the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a very talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely well rendered.

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This is an unusual and unique little book and if Jon is going to be like this then honestly I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him. Then there is Maurice, and I’m wondering if he’s the gangster of love, who steals the scene with each one he’s in. This is a really offbeat, outside the box fun read and I encourage you to give it a whirl because it’s extremely well written with solid characterisation and some amazingly interesting interiors.