I’m not able to spend entirely that much time reading comics, though I wish I did. My tastes are a little varied – often, the assurance and expectation of superhero comics are just what the doctor ordered. However, as time goes by, I find myself searching ever-harder for comics that work a little bit differently. Now that graphic storytelling has a certain air of legitimacy (thanks is due for Scott McCloud, whose books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics cannot be underestimated), many are approaching comic books with a reverence once reserved for high literature. I don’t need to be the first or last to bemoan the breakdown in the traditional hierarchies of high and low art. Nearly equal amounts of energy are spent on decoding, understanding and debating popular television series’ such as the new Battlestar Galactica as the latest art-object by Damien Hurst. That said, this is the first in a projected series of articles on unknown, unlucky, or unjustly neglected comic books. With a little bargain-bin searching, one can turn up some interesting relics.
Neon City #1 (Innovation, 1991)
“Shadow Assassin”
Script Co-Creator: Nick Anastasio
Illustrations Co-Creator: Joseph Dunn
Editor-in-chief: David Campiti
The Setting:
“Six dupes…six murders…six missing microchips…one serial killer.”
Johnny Knight, a human detective living in a world of clone/dupes (genetically created people with striking similarities to past humans of note) and cyberpeople is on a tough case. Six dupes, all older models, were murdered for their microchips. The world of Neon City is a technologically saturated, post-nuclear city that weds the relentless pursuit of science with the nostalgic yearnings for a vanished past. Johnny works too hard and he knows it, but once a case gets going, he can’t stop.
His love life is looking challenged – Cynthia, an exceptional woman also on the police force, seems available, but his inability to relax makes this gig seem insurmountable. His partner Max, a dupe with a striking resemblance to Groucho Marx, is also interested in Cynthia. Down-and-out in the city, Johnny almost inadvertently stumbles across the culprit. Hot in pursuit, his puts his neck on the line…
Neon City is the brighter side of Blade Runner (and Philip K. Dick’s original story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep). A thoroughly postmodern crime story, it blends noir elements, melodrama, wild cultural quotations, into a thoroughly madcap pastiche. As best I can tell, there was only one other Neon City comic book, making its lean size a bit of a detraction. Ambiance and plot are mainly visual – the world is illuminated with surprisingly manageable clarity. With such a bold pop-cultural agenda, the narrative naturally suffers, cutting off right when it seems to gain momentum.
Along a select series of other titles (some of which will be covered in other installations of this series), Neon City challenges our assumptions of the past and engages our expectations of the future.
Leave a Reply