Review by Andy Williams
Feckless gossip columnist Sergio wakes up at 3am in a back alley of the futuristic city Neutropolis, battered, bruised and shoeless. Corruption is rife in the city as gangsters and corporations vie for control of the lucrative cybernetic industries. A mysterious monolith has appeared on the streets and legendary robot, Citizen Rex, has returned after 25 years.
Sergio comes from a rich, powerful family who may be implicated in the sinister goings-on and hooks up with socialite Sigi, whose mother had links with Rex and mobsters Tango Bangaree and Mambo Trance. Unhinged scientist Doctor Sazie works for GRA Industries, conducting clandestine experiments, which also involve Rex. Along with quasi-religious investigators the Truth Takers, there are rival factions of humans and robots who are both violently opposed to future cybernetic advancements. Sergio half-heartedly “investigates” these strange occurrences, meeting with various people and organisations, but never manages to connect all the dots, until it is all revealed to him (and the reader) in a massive info dump at the end of the story.
The titular Citizen Rex is a next generation automaton, a charming and charismatic master of disguise. He is able to pass as human in numerous guises, but prone to bouts of strange behaviour. He seems to be on a secretive mission of some kind, however it is unclear whether he is targeting corrupt city officials, shady industrialists or the criminal underworld.
Mario Hernandez could be described as the “lost” Hernandez Brother. Despite having written and drawn his own stories in early issues of Love And Rockets and collaborating with his siblings on many subsequent projects, his comics output has been limited compared to them. As such, he hasn’t had the scope to experiment or expand as a creator and his writing here reflects that. He introduces potentially interesting characters and intriguing scenarios but doesn’t seem to know what to do with them.
The two main protagonists, Sergio and Rex, are given very little personality. We are told Rex is charismatic and everyone falls under his spell, but this isn’t demonstrated and he fails to build any strong bonds with the other characters. His motivations are elusive for the most part, then out of nowhere linked to a previously unmentioned tragic event. Sergio is an annoyingly passive character who never presses anyone for information (especially family members who obviously know more than they’re letting on) and lacks any form of character development. Gilbert Hernandez turns in sterling work on the art, adding character to the players woefully lacking in the script. His clean linework and expressive cartooning are always welcome. The retro-futurscapes of the city bring to mind Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Dean Motter’s Mister X (which the Hernandez Brothers also collaborated on in it’s earliest incarnation – see recommendations).
Citizen Rex is a strong exercise in world-building that never manages to populate it with strong characters or a coherent storyline. Overall a disappointing and confusing tale, elevated but not redeemed by the distinctive artwork.
