Advance Review: The Resistance #1

With The Resistance, J. Michael Straczynski presents an incredibly prescient vision of a world wracked by an incredibly virulent virus and the consequences that follow. The Resistance could very much be the story of upheaval we are seeing from the world facing the Coronavirus in China. The larger questions of national control of information, government intrusions on freedom with the desire for containment and the global response to a deadly pandemic are ones that Straczynski could not have known we’d be wrestling with as he wrote this story. The story, thankfully is not simply concerned with fighting the disease itself. Instead, it looks at the political upheaval caused by widespread death and panic and the need for freedom to persist in the face of fear.

As we would predict from Straczynski, The Resistance uses the backdrop of sudden massive global change to show the immense political, personal and social consequences that could follow. More than anything the virus presents an opportunity for governments to enact fascism, but luckily the virus leaves within its destructive path heroes to rise anew.

The story starts with the onset of global panic at a rapidly spreading retrovirus XV1N1 which can attack host DNA and causes a graft-versus-host liquification of the host. Ultimately with every exposed patient infected, the virus will kill 95% of the population. The writing by Straczynski is full of powerful and personal moments as people face loss in different ways. In spite of presenting a wide slew of characters and countries reeling from the virus, Straczynski takes time to show the smaller stories of parents losing their children, populations losing control and people losing hope.

The larger narrative though, is one of governments using the virus as an opportunity to wrest control. The attempts include efforts at containment and futile use of weapons of war to stop the virus. Then efforts shift to acceptance of inevitable failure.

The art is the clear, concise, photo-realistic work we have come to expect from Mike Deodato Jr. The story-telling is clear, the characters are expressive and the view is always cinematic. The drawback to Deodato’s art is the nagging feeling that some of the characters look exactly like specific movie stars. Having a character who looks like Harrison Ford can pull the reader out of the story. Straczynski’s story clearly reads like a widescreen Hollywood epic, but the actors don’t need to be cast within the comic itself.

The momentum of the story changes as the virus disappears as quickly as it began. The end of the virus provides political and economic opportunities. In the wake of 95% of the world population dying, the remaining 5% are left with questions of security and preventing these events from occurring again. The issue hints that the virus may give powers to those who survived it and one of the empowered sacrifices herself to stop the virus.

The larger question that remains is the nature of the systems and people who have survived. This is clearly the story Straczynski wants to tell. A new American party rises using the virus as an excuse to create fascist policies and similar powers rise in governments around the world. Add to this that the virus is revealed to likely be extraterrestrial in origin. Finally, we see that at least some of the survivors have been imbued with a variety of powers giving birth to what will eventually be The Resistance.

With The Resistance Straczynski and Deodato tell a big screen, epic story of heroes rising in the face of a world willing to embrace fascism out of fear. Clearly there are parallels to our modern times, both planned and accidental. The writing is sharp and memorable. Without truly introducing our central characters, Straczynski has created a backdrop which is interesting and leaves you wanting more. The Resistance is a powerful launch to what promises to be an incredible series showing heroes transcending fear and bringing hope to a world which has forgotten how to wish for anything more than survival.

Writing: 5 Stars out of 5
Art: 4 Stars of 5
Cover: 5 stars of 5

Overall: 5 Stars

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Mike Deodato Jr
Colors: Frank Martin
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Publisher: AWA Studios, Upshot Studios

In Shops: Mar 18, 2020
Diamond Code: JAN201608

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.