Comic book review: "Fight or Flight," by Johns/Fabok
"Rook: Exodus", volume 1
Last year you heard me sing the praises of Ghost Machine Comics and their “Unnamed War” series of books, with titles like Junkyard Joe, Geiger, and Redcoat. As much as I love that ongoing story of interconnected characters and times, my hands-down favorite title from GM was Rook: Exodus, a comic set 150 years in the future on a terraformed planet whose ecosystem has started to degrade.
All six issues of the first volume are out, and the trade paperback releases in April. Buy it with my affiliate link so I get a piece of that action. Read the review if you want to know why you should.
All of the wealthy residents abandoned the planet, leaving the lower-tier working-class grunts to salvage what they could and build their own escape vessels. In the wreckage of this world, some are trying to save what’s left, and others want to conquer the remnants. Our eponymous character, Rook, just wants to leave, but he’s torn between staying with the optimists and fleeing the tyrants.
The unique technology on this world is the warden network, a system that allows humans to tie-in with a specific genus of animal and control them deliberately, so that the ecosystem can work according to a master plan. The various wardens wear helmets that link them to their animals, and they operate under code names. Rook is the warden of crows, and his ally Dire Wolf is the warden of…well, you can guess. He’s also friends with Swine, warden of boars, but don’t get too attached to him.
The main antagonist is Ursaw, warden of bears, although he’s not the original Ursaw. That warden is dead and the new guy is a usurper, who has not struggled to find sufficient protein in this brave new world.
Rook gets the brunt of the character development in this story, and by issue 6 I realized that this is one of my favorite typical story arcs. I love reading about a reluctant protagonist who has sufficient resources in the beginning, who then depletes those resources only to find a true purpose along the way, and by the final act he’s buckling down with nothing but duct tape and spite for a heroic final charge against an overpowered enemy.
This series has freaking everything. The art is mind-blowingly crisp and detailed. The world of Exodus feels simultaneously wild and dystopic, abandoned by a civilization that appeared and fled in the blink of an eye. The tech is heavy, from the buildings to the ships and vehicles, to the weaponry and the wildlife.
Suspend your disbelief a little on the physics and revel in the no-brakes 1980s-ness of it all. Pull Val Kilmer out of Top Gun and slap the Rook helmet on him, you’ve got your hero. Dress up Ahnold in the regalia of Ursaw and there’s your villain. For Dire Wolf, I’d recommend Elle Macpherson at the height of her powers. This book isn’t trying to be an 80s action-sci-fi piece, it just feels like one as it blazes its own path.
One of my favorite progressions is in the middle of the series, when Dire Wolf lets Rook plug into the worldwide warden network, and he detects several other wardens around Exodus. You get a glimpse at the lineup of characters with their names, helmets, and species under their control. It’s an introduction to future characters that hearkens back to 90s adverts for toy companies. These would feel right at home on my desk between my Transformers and my Gundam models.
Johns and Fabok have assembled an incredible book that hits about seventy-three different pleasure centers in my brain. I can’t wait for volume 2 to begin and I hope more people discover the book just for that reason. When the compiled edition lands in April, pick up a copy. I’ve got all six issues in my collection already and I’m still considering the paperback for my library. Check it out and let me know what you think.