A.D.D.

Written by Douglas Rushkoff
Art by Goran Sudzuka and Jose Marzan Jr.

Douglas Rushkoff can be a difficult writer to read.  His Vertigo series Testament was a clear case of ambition not being met by the material (it was about how Old Testament stories were living in a future where young people are under close government control).  With A.D.D., Rushkoff returns to some of the same themes, minus the Biblical aspect, but is more successful because the scope of the story is much more contained in this thin original graphic novel.

The words acronym ADD stands for Adolescent Demo Division, a team of video gamers who have been raised in isolation to be be experts in their fields, as well as media stars.  The ADD kids are beginning to show some special abilities, such as main character Lionel's ability to 'dekh' images that lie behind screen images.

When team leader, and Lionel's best friend, Karl, 'levels up', most of his teammates are jealous of him, but when he later turns up dead, Lionel and his few remaining friends spring into action to expose the truth behind Nextgen Inc., and the ADD's kids histories.

Rushkoff employs lots of futuristic slang that isn't always easily understood (I kept thinking of 'dekh' as meaning roughly 'grok'), but his message about media manipulation and corporate dominance of individual thought is pretty clear.

It was nice to see Goran Sudzuka's art on this book; I haven't seen much from this artist since his fill-in arcs on Y the Last Man, and I've always enjoyed his work.

In all, this is a decent read, which does raise some important points.