Clone #3

Written by David Schulner
Art by Juan Jose Ryp

I've been enjoying this thriller series that deals with the aftermath of a human cloning program that resulted in there being a large number of clones, all of the same man, spread throughout the United States.  Our hero is Luke, one of the clones, whose wife is pregnant with his child, something that hasn't happened with any of the other clones.

Luke's wife has been abducted by a government agency, which Luke has infiltrated by pretending to kill another clone who had helped him escape.  While he's inside their facility, he is looking for his wife, with people outside waiting to help them escape.

While this is going on, a more interesting plot is developing involving the Republican Vice-President of the United States, who is expected to be the swing vote to pass a bill that will ban human stem cell experimentation.  That seems like a slam dunk for a Republican, doesn't it, but the VP's daughter is dying from Parkinson's, and killing stem cell research will pretty much also kill her.  The thing is, the VP knows about the clone program, and figures that the man who started it could fix his daughter as well.

I like how Schulner has added this element of political ethics into his story, which elevates it above being a standard adventure comic.

Ryp's art looks terrific in this issue, and he's toned down the strange kinetic energy effect he usually uses in his art, to the point where it didn't distract me like it has at other times I've seen his work.