Review by Ian Keogh

Catrin lives in a future where if you can’t find your ideal partner you can create them, and that’s how Rhion comes into being, constructed by technology in front of Catrin’s eyes. However, just because Rhion is intended to conform to Catrin’s emotional needs doesn’t mean a match made in heaven, not least because as an artificial life form Rhion’s potential is incrementally higher. Multi-tasking takes on a whole new meaning when it transpires Rhion also matches the fantasy criteria of 337 other people.

Lonely Receiver defies simple genre classification. It could be seen as romance, albeit in a twisted and creepy way, and it wouldn’t be possible without some SF injections, but in the end horror wins out. It’s primarily the distanced horror of watching a car crash as Zac Thompson and Jen Hickman play out Catrin’s transformation into an obsessed stalker attempting to recreate a version of a perfect past that only existed in her head.

A deepening sexual addiction is comprehensively illustrated by Hickman in an unashamedly erotic manner, yet with a bright exuberance often absent from graphic novels with a high sexual content. There is some needless glamourisation of a same sex relationship, even accounting for the main theme being just that, but Hickman’s depiction of the seedy desperation also deliberately downplays the option. Elsewhere bold colour adds to the weird brew.

Given the premise, there could have been the easy option of a relatively straightforward story both pleasing and satisfying, but Thompson throws too much into the mix. Catrin’s needy and entitled personality should strike a chord, but prolonged detours into the scientific possibilities distract from the core. Ultimately, then, interesting without being compelling.