Non-Humans #1

Written by Glen Brunswick
Art by Whilce Portacio

Often in comics, great ideas lack the execution or follow through that would allow them to become great comics.  I was unsure about picking up Non-Humans, the new series (mini-series?) by Glen Brunswick and Whilce Portacio.  I'm disappointed to say that this is an example of that type of idea.

Brunswick caught my eye with his series Killing Girl, which also didn't live up to its potential (but the blame for that lies in the shift in artists half-way into the project).  Portacio is an artist that I've both liked and disliked over the years.  He was a cool alternative to artists like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld back in the pre-Image days, but at other times, I've found his storytelling difficult to follow, and his art very unclear.

I think Portacio is the biggest problem with Non-Humans.  The central idea is very interesting.  NASA space probes have brought a strange disease back to Earth that causes inanimate objects to come to life.  Somehow, this birthing is caused by a person who is carrying the disease, which is most active in adolescents.  That means that it is most frequently toys that gain life.

The implications of this are wide-spread.  Everyone between the ages of 13 and 18 are forced to take medication to deaden their creative impulses, leaving the world full of addicts who have to continue buying the pills on the black market once they hit the age of 19.  It also means that toys and other things that spark imagination, such as the Internet and television, have been banned.

The living Non-Humans are conferred some basic rights, assuming they have the appropriate paperwork, but they are discriminated against, and live in ghettos.  One Non-Human, Humphrey, a former ventriloquist's doll, has made a name for himself as a serial killer and assassin for hire.

Our hero in this series is Detective Aimes, your typical overworked brilliant detective, who comes complete with a failed marriage and a difficult relationship with his son Todd.  Todd has been dating a Victoria Secrets mannequin, and they want to start a family, so he's stopped taking his medication.  Aimes has to manage this issue, hunt for Humphrey, answer to his bosses, and break in a new partner.

That part of the story is pretty standard stuff, but Brunswick makes the characters interesting.  The problem for me is mostly visual.  Many of these Non-Humans are impossible to understand.  Action figures, mannequins, stuffed animals all make sense, but there are some truly horrific, human-sized things wandering around in this future world, and I don't understand what they are supposed to be, or why anyone would have made them.  There is a Non-Human detective, named Medic, and he looks like a robot.  Were he a crash-test dummy, it would make sense, but this doesn't.

And, as is usual with a Whilce Portacio comic, there are sequences I just can't decipher.  I wish this comic had a stronger artist, and had been workshopped a little further, because it's an interesting read.  At this point, I'm not sure if I'll be getting the next issue or not.

Elephantmen #42

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Axel Medellin and Dave Sim

A new arc starts with this issue, but once again, Elephantmen is all over the place story-wise; arcs don't much matter in this comic, it's more about theme, and the slow advancement of myriad plot lines.

In this issue, Panya, the dancer who looks just like Sahara, is implanted with an embryo that matches Sahara's - if both women are successful, they will give birth to the first new Elephantmen since Mappo was shut down.  What Sahara doesn't know though is that Panya has recently been with another man - the hired killer known only as The Silencer, opening the possibility that the child may end up being his.

Meanwhile, Hip Flask is investigating the drained river bed where the Silencer has been dumping bodies for years, hoping to find clues as to his identity or location.

Of most interest in this issue is the state of Ebony Hide, who is in hospital recovering from the injuries he received three issues back.  While unconscious, he dreams, and those pages are the ones that Dave Sim drew for the Hero Intiative's 2012 comic a few months back.  It's cool to see them repurposed and worked into the story here, and it's also cool to see Sim's artwork coloured; something that doesn't happen that often.

This comic opens with the text of two laws that were written in the last ten years in America to limit the extent of experimentation with stem cells and human/animal hybridization.  It's kind of strange that Starking waited until now to include this information in the comic, but I guess with the pregnancies taking place, he felt it was appropriate.

This issue also comes with some other goodies.  Starkings revisits his 'English & Media Studies' text-piece with a bit about Arnaldo Putzu, a British comics cover and movie poster artist from the 70s.  The 'Charley Loves Robots' back-up strip is entertaining as always, and there is a preview for Non-Humans, an upcoming series by Glenn Brunswick and Whilce Portacio.  I liked Brunswick's Killing Girl, and while I don't usually enjoy Portacio's work, it looks okay here.  I may be checking this out.