W0rldtr33 #3 Review

 

Writer: James Tynion IV

Artist: Fernando Blanco

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar

Cover Artists: Fernando Blanco; Marcos Martin; Aaron Campbell; Ariel Diaz; & Martin Simmonds

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 28, 2023

 

Ellison climbs into his lawyer’s car. Silk and Nicky don’t want to release him, but the FBI agents can't arrest him for his brother's murders. As Ellison realizes no one else is in the car, it drives away from the police station, and a man’s voice pours through the speakers. What happens next? Let's climb into W0rldtr33 #3 and learn more!

 

 

Story

The voice pouring through the speakers calls himself Gabriel. He explains he's back at the police station, stealing his late brother's laptop and cell phone from the evidence room. The car stops behind the police station, and the wealthy technologist climbs inside. As the FBI agents guess they've made a fatal error, an explosion rocks the car. Ellison looks out the window. The police station is in flames. What has he gotten into?

 

Fausta—Ellison’s podcast producer, and perhaps more—had searched his late brother Gibson's house while the FBI agents detained him. She found an internet address and password on his desktop computer. Although he killed sixty people, she can't resist seeing what the Undernet revealed. Now she's mesmerized. 

 

 

Darren and Amanda—two members of Gabriel’s team that discovered the Undernet—intended to torch Gibson's house. Now they attempt to rescue Fausta, unaware that PH34R—the naked, tattooed woman--has ignited their fire.

 

What kind of person is Gabriel? Who gives Silk and Nicky their marching orders? Can Darren and Amanda rescue Fausta and escape? While some things get murkier in W0rldtr33 #3, others grow clearer. Ellison has entered a nightmare he may never leave.

 

 

Art

Fernando Blanco spoils us with 196 panels across 24 pages, ensuring we never miss a moment. He draws buildings, vehicles, and characters with precision and attention to perspective. It's easy to care about Ellison. It's harder to read Gabriel and his cohorts. One minute they appear heartless, and the next approachable. If Silk and Nicky look cold and uncaring, their boss is a block of ice. Yet no one compares to PH34R. The naked, tattooed blonde strides through the suburbs in W0rldtr33 #3, serene, stately, and unabashed. If she smiles at you, run away as fast as you can!

 

Whether in Gabriel's car, the police records room, inside Gibson's former home, or anywhere else our characters travel, you feel like you're there too. Many creators would waste an entire page—or devote a double-page spread--to the explosion Gabriel unleashes. Blanco gives it nearly half a page, along with seven small panels. If any other creators out there average eight panels per page of art so detailed and representative, I want to read their comic!

 

 

 

Ellison looks gray against the car's gray interior. Gabriel searches the gray police evidence room wearing a gray pinstriped suit. When he opens the back door and slides in beside Ellison, orange twilight is fading to gray. The cars on the highway reflect the fading orange light as they speed across gray asphalt. Guess what color Gabriel's hair is? I'll give you a clue. It's not orange.

 

While Jordie Bellaire seems fixated upon gray, orange, green, and blue in W0rldtr33 #3, she delivers nuanced and contrasting colors that deepen the mood, intensifies the drama, and heighten the reality. Yet all pales before the howling kaleidoscopic void that opens when the Undernet invades our world.

 

 

 

Aditya Bidikar helps us hear dialogue with (mostly) uppercase black letters in white balloons. The font makes for easy reading, but I wouldn't mind it slightly larger. The Underworld's ZIZZ grows unintelligible as it assaults Fausta. A WUFF overwrites Gabriel's face as he turns off all lights in the police station. The white letters baDEEP, outlined in green, hover over the bomb. The yellow, orange, and red KRAKOOM reveal the intensity of the explosion.

 

Final Thoughts

W0rldtr33 #3 overturns our preconceptions and ponders how readily we may advance objectives detrimental to our well-being.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

W0rldtr33 #1 Review

 

Writer: James Tynion IV

Artist: Fernando Blanco

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar

Cover Artists: Fernando Blanco; David Aja; Jenny Frison; Bill Sienkiewicz; Zu Orzu; Alvaro Martinez Bueno

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 26, 2023

 

A naked, tattooed blonde reaches into a computer case. Ignoring a dead man on the floor, she sits on the bed and opens a laptop. She watches a video of a young man using his cell phone to distract an older couple as he kills them. What new world is the young man speaking of, and why does the naked woman smile as she watches him? Let's jump into W0rldtr33 #1 and find out!

 

Story

Ellison and his girlfriend Fausta drive along a narrow mountain road. She urges him to keep his mind on the twisting asphalt ribbon and not look at him so much as they talk. He's worried about his brother Gibson’s internet use. Both have watched videos designed to shock and provoke, but Ellison believes his brother is immersing himself in something that could ruin his life. Fausta teases Ellison, calling him and his brother Edgelords. But then she looks at what Gibson has posted on social media and realizes Ellison was right to worry.

 

Meanwhile, Gabriel watches TV in his sleek, modern apartment. A report on Gibson’s actions prompts Gabriel to contact people he hasn’t seen in years. Once they worked together as software developers. They created something called W0rldtr33. While it gave the team members nightmares, Gabriel believes it might now be humanity’s only hope.

 

 

 

 

Art

W0rldtr33 #1 begins with an audacious first page. It's divided into twelve panels. Each conveys essential information about this silent scene. They introduce the dead man, the woman who killed him, and show her setting down her gun as she digs through his computer bag. She seems emotionless, yet she closes the man's eyes before she accesses his computer. A subtle hint of the story yet to come is that one row of three panels shows a glaring layout irregularity. More pages with tiny panels follow. She watches an online video of someone approaching a house, killing an old gentleman on the front porch, then walking inside and killing his wife. Fernando Blanco packs each of these scenes with photographic realism.

 

Jordie Bellaire casts the first scene in a pink glow, suggesting a motel room. The laptop casts a green tint on the naked woman's features. The killer shows the couple his cell phone, which shoots red and blue across their faces. Although the woman's coloring makes her look like a cartoon character imposed on a faded photograph, the scarlet blood spilling from her—and her husband--is shocking. Ellison and Fausta’s conversations begin with a gorgeous shot of his Prius navigating a wooded mountain pass. The car’s orange paint glows almost too much. Inside, Ellison’s face looks washed out. Unlike him, Fausta’s face shows more color and realism. Sadly, most of these panels in this scene only show green windows, reminiscent of a film set, and the special effects crew forgot to draw in the background scenery. The topics discussed--and the lack of backgrounds--made me wonder if I wanted to read further.

 

Gray dominates Gabriel's apartment. His long white hair falls onto his dark striped shirt and dark pants. Outside his modern apartment, nearby buildings blend with the overcast sky. The only color in his world comes from his TV, computer monitors, and memory. After you finish reading W0rldtr33 #1, return the opening quote by Harlan Ellison. It may address some of Jordie's coloring choices, particularly the final scene's lighting.

 

 

 

 

As W0rldtr33 #1's story pursues disturbing themes, I appreciated Aditya Bidikar’s easy-to-read-and-follow lettering. Bold words suggested inflection. Uppercase letters inhabited spherical dialogue balloons. (The only exception is Gabriel's memory when dialogue balloons are yellow). Big white letters introduce each character's scenes. Bidikar’s sound effects help us hear the computer accessing the internet and the (somewhat) naked woman's rumbling motorcycle. Gunfire seems more stylized than intended to help us feel the sound of the gun reports and the bullets striking their victims.

 

Final Thoughts

W0rldtr33 #1 tackles the increasing intrusion of Artificial Intelligence and our desensitizing addiction to violent entertainment in a mature manner. Visually arresting and thought-provoking, fans of Blade Runner and Terminator movies, and readers who still revere Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison, should not miss this powerful debut.

 

Rating 9.7/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.