Review: Read Only Memories #2

After a slowish first issue, Sina Grace and Stefano Simeone have thrown away the kiddie wheels and are jumping into the story full throttle for the second. Read Only Memories follows high tech gumshoe Lexi Rivers as she searches the beaches of Santa Cruz and Neo San Francisco’s alleys of future California on her case of finding a robot“s missing human boyfriend. Her search led her from corrupt City Hall bureaucrats to the high tech hippie gangs of the beaches to beyond anything she expects.

This comic is based on a game (2064: Read Only Memories) which everyone tells me is a hit, but none of my gamer friends have played, so I can“t tell you how close it hews to its source material. But Sina Grace (Iceman, Jughead“s Time Police) deft handling of the material allows him to take brief, but significant looks into the society of this future. For all the strangeness of the extreme body modification and commonness of robots integrated into this society, Grace grounds his story with basic things we can recognize in our own world.

There is a great scene in the issue where Rivers at first mocks her robot client“s love for her human boyfriend but then comes to understand the depth of actual feeling- that love- she has for her missing partner. It is a great quiet moment in this neo-noir cyberpunk story. One that allows the tension to mount later in the issue because the detective knows how much is at stake for her client.

As good as Grace“s storytelling is, he is confident enough in Stefano Simeone (Wyrd, Shoplifters Will Be Liquidated) to let him do much of the world-building and help move the plot along visually with his stunning art. At first, the strange choice to show this world in a palette of blues and pinks catches you off-guard, but it makes the book so incredibly vibrant and daring. The neon art brings together the cyberpunk and noir elements of the story so strongly that it helps give this comic a unique look that adds depth.

It was such a stroke of genius to pair Grace and Simeone together that whoever thought of it at IDW deserves a raise. There has been a recent revival of cyberpunk stories in the 2010s, which might make readers tired of the genre. They should try this series out to see what it can be when done right.

Score: 4.5 / 5

Writer: Sina Grace
Artist: Stefano Simeone
Letters: Christa Miesner
Publisher: IDW Publishing

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!