Page 45 Review by Jonathan
"... before you know... avoidin' pain governs every choice.
"Do anythin' to keep it at bay. Lie. Steal. Cheat...
"Inflict it on others.
"An' why the hell not?
"Just gotta convince yourself o' one thing.
"Put in a bad spot...
"... they'd do the same to you."
Not that inflicting it on others might be a choice for much longer... If the intended American Peace Initiative of a nationwide broadcasted neuro-inhibitor stopping all unlawful behaviour is a) not just total propaganda and somehow actually real, and b) is technically even possible and does work precisely as intended, then well, everyone is shortly going to just be playing nicey-nice with each other. No crime. Sounds great right?
Not exactly. In fact in the weeks leading up to the broadcast, emigration is at an all-time high as people frantically try to flee the onset of state-sanctioned mind control and of the population that remains, many normally well-behaved citizens are urgently trying to tick all manner of illegal activities off their bucket list, before having a sex- and-drugs orgy of Sodom and Gomorrah levels is no longer possible. To their shortly-to-be controlled minds, the API also represents the arrival of the fun police.
Criminals, obviously, they're not too happy about it either, seeing their preferred career choice being rendered obsolete by technology overnight. Progress, eh? Which is why Graham Bricke is planning one last cash-out score of unimaginable proportions before hopping over the border to the spend the rest of his days relaxing on the sunny beaches of Mexico... Plus paying for some advanced stem cell treatment which he hopes is going to cure his mother's Alzheimer's, bless him. What a good son! With a crafty, well frankly insane, plan to use the night of the initial broadcast itself as cover for his ultra-high-risk scheme, he's going to need an equally unhinged crew to pull off this crazy caper.
This is a great crime joint by Rick DEADLY CLASS Remender that mixes in some minor elements of comedy and speculative fiction, much like in his frantic cyberpunk calamity TOKYO GHOST. It also has that same sense of society dancing precariously round the toilet-bowl edge of disintegration. It could all so easily fall apart completely with just one more mis-step. In fact, I can also add his LOW, with artist Greg Tocchini to that list, as that too focuses on a pre-apocalyptic society and a crew of characters under siege from all directions as they try to get theirs, which is mainly just some degree of personal safety.
If you've read LOW, you'll also know that Tocchini produces truly beautiful artwork, but also, he does do sexy, dare I say it, sleazy, femme fatales very, very well, and here, in Shelby Dupree, we have a leading lady who seems primarily to be intent on leading Graham right up the garden path. She's supposed to be part of his crew, along with her boyfriend Kevin Cash. But whose side is she actually on? Does she even know herself? As the night of the broadcast approaches, assailed on all sides from jealous criminals who've caught a whiff of their heist, is there really any chance of them pulling off the crime of the century?
If you don't mind your crime somewhat on the preposterous side, you will absolutely love this. Straight noir fans probably will struggle with it in that respect, but absolutely everyone should love Tocchini's art. If not, check yourself in immediately for some mind control aka the Page 45 comic show-and-tell recommendation service! You will buy comics...
