Review by Frank Plowright

It’s been almost three months since Lauren Greene left Detroit on a road trip, accompanied by large dog Sankó and the shapeshifting genetically engineered life form still referred to as Machine. It’s accompanied Lauren since her mother’s death, seemingly content to masquerade as a dog harness most of the time, but while it bonds well with Sankó, Lauren’s becoming frustrated at how little she’s able to work with it, and why it’s not picking up any new words.

Events came to a head in Vol. 3 (or We All Want to Change the World if you bought the hardback version), but Lauren’s smart enough to know the people she dealt with aren’t the types to let things lie. Muscle for hire Frank McRossitor is especially able to hold a grudge, and Lauren believes it best she remain away from regular haunts. As seen on the sample art, she carries that through to alienating people she cares for. Her big idea is to search for others who might have a grudge against tech company ARPC and its founder Jeremy Hamilton.

There’s a concern that by picking up the same plot again, making the previous volume a pause rather than an ending, Von Allan might end up retreading old ground, and while that doesn’t happen here it seems that’s what’s being set up when a change would be preferable. Also, we know Lauren very well by now and know what she wants, meaning some scenes are just too long. The new ally she finds is a character with potential, but it shouldn’t need ten pages of small panels packed with dialogue to cover the communication between them. Another new character is introduced, coincidentally also with a moustache, featuring in a good personality-defining scene at the end.

Lauren still has a lot going on, and the maguffin of Machine means events could head pretty well anywhere, so head to Vol. 5 with confidence.