Retro Review: Warriors of Plasm: The Collected Edition

STORY

Warriors of Plasm was the central comic of the Defiant Comics Universe, the second comic book company headed up by Jim Shooter after his departure from Marvel. Having worked for Marvel for a significant period of time as Editor in Chief, Jim obviously wanted to continue in the superhero genre but with a more realistic angle. This can be seen in the offerings of both Valiant and later Defiant. It seems he wanted to explore ideas that might have been considered too mature for the mainstream comics market.

Warriors of Plasm takes place in a dreamscape just beyond the waking world of mundane human life. The dreamscape has been corrupted and the planet of focus within this story is a living organism called the Org of Plasm which constantly hungers and who inhabitants are forever at war with their neighbors in an effort to satisfy the needs of their hungry world/god.

Shooter has crafted a mythology to rival some of the great scifi works in my opinion with comic. This is as unique in its own as Dune. I do not say this lightly. There are clear themes of imperialism, consumerism, religious fanaticism, government corruption, societal apathy, class warfare, revolution and ideological divides. This series is jam-packed with some deep content while telling a gripping story with great characters. The Org comes off a lot like the late Roman Empire, the society has become decadent and in need of the Bread and Circuses distraction provided by a brutal game called Splatterball where if you lose you are mulched. The world is led by a callow Emperor and the aristocracy spend their time chasing fads or lounging in the public plasbaths.

The Org itself as a living world is treated by the citizens as a deity and those living on it mostly worship it believing that each person is like a cell in its body and therein lies the religious and ideological divide. There are worlds beyond the Org and even revolutionaries on the Org who believe that they are individual beings and not simply a part of a larger creature. You see on Plasm everything is alive: building, furniture, vehicles, technology, even clothing. Things that lose their usefulness are mulched and recycled and this includes the populace. This is justified by a religion that touts that to be mulched is to return to the system which bore them and will lead to eventual reincarnation. This has led to a society that is largely amoral and apathetic and one that can by and large have no empathy. But thise who believe in individualism are called Monadists and the protagonist of this tale Lorca falls in love with one of these individuals and end up working to bring the system down from the inside. Its a Greek tragedy in the making with intrigue and backstabbing a plenty as Lorca jousts with his political rival Ulnareah and Lorca’s lust mate, High Gore Lord and devote of the Org of Plasm Sueraceen.

ART

Lapham’s artwork is spectacular and he goes crazy with all the designs for all the biorganic technology of this work. Its like if Giger’s muse had been solely one of flesh and not the biomechanical. Its eye candy on every panel and Lapham never seems to run out of idea the entire series.

Now the color work looks almost hand painted. This was a nifty thing that Shooter had obviously wanted for his books in his time at Valiant and it continued with Defiant. It was something that really helped set these comics apart from the mainstream and gave them the look of graphic novels back in the day because that used to be the only place you saw painted comics. The colors are vibrant and warm tones to add even more life to the organic settings of the comic.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Warriors of Plasm was a wildly original idea in the comics of its day and it was executed deftly in terms of both art and story. 5 out of 5!

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REVIEW: WARRIORS OF PLASM: The Collected Edition TPB

Writer: Jim Shooter
Art: David Lapham
Inks: Michael Weatherby
Colors: Janet Jackson