Review: Water Wars 2288 #1
During the second half of the 23rd century an intense coronal mass ejection from the sun contaminates 80% of the Earth's water with deadly radiation. People fight over the remaining reserves of clean water, with multinational corporations hiring private militias to seize lakes and reservoirs.
Water Wars 2288 by writer Timothy Fling and artist Bruno Lima is a concept that frames a variety of individual stories. Issue #1 drops us almost at random into this strange new world with three tales:
Fourth Protocol introduces a brave adventurer and her cybernetic sidekicks. With rifle and oxygen mask, and accompanied by her trusty robot dragonfly, young Sarah treks through the ruins that used to be the United States. She is looking for her brother somewhere along Route 66:
"He and I traveled on this exact same road many times before the war. Back when people still drove cars..."
It's a treacherous territory, with many dangers - scavengers, robot guard dogs ... but she's a feisty lass and Petey the dragonfly drone has more than a few tricks to use against any dangers that arise.
Traversing the nightmare landscape in Thieves, Monsters and Unlikely Best Friends she comes across a ghost town, littered with corpses, bereft of life ... but still with its own strange hazards.
Traversing the nightmare landscape in Thieves, Monsters and Unlikely Best Friends she comes across a ghost town, littered with corpses, bereft of life ... but still with its own strange hazards.
In Long Distance the lone occupant of a sparkling new space station in orbit of Earth has the perfect view ... of his planet's death. Environmental collapse, war and then - just in case all of the above wasn't quite bad enough - the threat of genocidal robots.
Can things get any worse...?
This issue is a short taster for the Water Wars 2288 universe (expanded on further in the excellent anthology The Hunchback of Theological Quadrant 19) and offers a tantalising glimpse of adventures to come in future installments. The theme of ecological dystopia may be a familiar one, but here it is explored with humour as well as drama, with a playful love of retro sci-fi tropes. Lima's art is well-polished with a fun-loving touch: Sarah fills the boots of Mad Max as only a curvaceous, photogenic young blonde can - with sass, wit and some very deft unarmed combat skills.
This issue is a short taster for the Water Wars 2288 universe (expanded on further in the excellent anthology The Hunchback of Theological Quadrant 19) and offers a tantalising glimpse of adventures to come in future installments. The theme of ecological dystopia may be a familiar one, but here it is explored with humour as well as drama, with a playful love of retro sci-fi tropes. Lima's art is well-polished with a fun-loving touch: Sarah fills the boots of Mad Max as only a curvaceous, photogenic young blonde can - with sass, wit and some very deft unarmed combat skills.
The road is long, with many a winding turn, and no end of savage beasts - human and otherwise - to contend with. Is there any hope of survival against such odds? Or is hope as scarce as water in this arid wasteland?
Zak Webber
Twitter - @sfcomicartist / Instagram - @sfcomicartist
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! - SCI-FI COMIC NEXUS
*****
***
*
Comments
Post a Comment