REVIEW: GEIGER # 2

Andrew Roby

7 months ago

You Know, Like Fallout!
The world depicted in Geiger (Badass name, by the way) is entrenched in the post-apocalyptic aesthetic of series like Mad Max, but the series I draw most comparisons with is Fallout. I know nuclear armageddon isn’t exclusive to Bethesda‘s Fallout RPG, but I’m seeing a lot of similarities here, like giant scorpions, mutated ants and endless desert wastes that were once a lush American countryside. This comparison becomes evident with the book’s depiction of Las Vegas being strikingly similar to the video game Fallout: New Vegas. Las Vegas operates on a similar logic to the video games, with different themed factions setting up shop in the various casinos. The one we explore here is a medieval-themed group complete with a reigning king taking up residence in the former Excalibur casino, now simply known as Camelot.

As we follow a couple who has recovered a rare piece of tech, we are granted a visage of a mural depicting the King doing battle with a massive glowing demon, a clear overdramatization of his encounter with the glowing man from the cover.

Amazing Writing
Simply put, the writing in Geiger is nothing short of enthralling. The art and script team really sold me on this bombed-out wasteland, and I want to learn more simply because the execution is done wonderfully. The story seamlessly transitions from a glowing hero to two scavengers to a family of three who steal the scavenger’s relic in order to secure a better life for themselves. It takes a special script to jump from character to character without the plot feeling disjointed or unfocused, but Geiger handles it with grace and style, allowing the narrative to flow naturally from one event to another.

The story sucks you into these characters’ lives, struggles, and events and gives us small snippets of their personalities in the limited time we have to spend with them. This helps these characters feel more three diemenial despite their extremely limited screen time. The Scavengers are cocky, the family is desperate, and the title character is mysterious and driven to help others.

A Glowing Hero
Speaking of the title character, I love everything about Geiger. Named after a device that detects radiation, he’s a radioactive glowing green skeleton that looks like a nuclear Ghost Rider. The start of the book hints at his origins and how he ended up this way, but it’s his reputation and current actions that really give us an insight into this character. We know he’s had some type of conflict with the King of the casino where he badly burned his face to the point he had to wear a mask and had a massive mural erected of this battle; he’s blown up into a heroic war story. We see he’s scared of the glowing man, as they’ve dubbed Geiger, and he dosen’t want another conflict with him again.

Despite his rough history with the King, we know Geiger likes to help travellers out in the wasteland. The book ends with him assisting the fleeing family and defending them against giant mutated insects, which is where this issue concludes; I can’t wait to see where Image Comics takes this tale. It’s a refreshing new series draped in the atomic doomsday tropes we’ve all come to love from fiction like this.