Review by Frank Plowright
Madi: Once Upon a Time in the Future was originally intended as a film project from Duncan Jones, and perhaps still is. In the meantime the story of a technologically enhanced super soldier working off her debt to the engineering company works just fine as a graphic novel. Jones has turned to Alex de Campi to adapt his plot to suit the demands of comics, and she brings out the personality and moral dilemmas of a warrior whose conscience demands she goes rogue, leading to inevitable conflict with her former team members.
It’s an episodic story covering multiple locations, and there seems to have been a definite agenda of ensuring both these and the action supply thrills and spectacle still only possible with the largest of film budgets. These are the work of a sparkling selection of artists whose common thread is not enough of their work being seen in comics these days. Check out the recommendations directing you to past triumphs. The sample art combines a page from Dylan Teague’s opening chapter and James Stokoe’s scene-setting arrival at a new venue, Stokoe contributing more pages than any other artist for what’s a story within a story, a comedy romp in a casino.
Most artists work with a form of realism, either cartoon or more naturalistic, although Simon Bisley is a startling exception, and after a while the jump from Tonči Zonjić to Pia Guerra, or Rufus Dayglo to Annie Wu no longer seems extreme. There are some real surprises. When was the last time you saw actual comics from Glenn Fabry, for instance? Unlike other artists he follows a character, so after his introductory pages, he draws a few more at a time throughout the book.
While others feature, they’re generally confined to a single personality trait, as everyone bounces off Madi. She accepts a solo job hoping it will clear the debt both she and her sister have for their implants, but in the manner of such golden tickets, the reality is far more complicated than the spec. The tech she’s to steal isn’t what’s expected, and she makes an instant decision that prompts the remainder of the story. There’s a human touch to this, and the maguffin that emerges is an unusual variation on a talent common to superhero titles, yet with an inbuilt sadness.
Because Madi is a new creation in a one-off story there’s no guarantee of everything ending well, and that tension is comprehensively exploited by Jones and de Campi as the net gradually closes in on her. The imagination and stunning artwork lift this well above the standard SF action project.
