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Review: You Are Obsolete #4

Nemesis

“You Are Obsolete” is a fascinating social commentary whose title evokes memories of one of my favorite episodes of the original “Twilight Zone”, more on that later.  Delving into it’s depths you find a tale of banal terror that threatens to overwhelm the senses of the reader not to mention the cursed individuals inhabiting this world.

Mathew Klickstein, a screenwriter and journeyman writer who is making his comic book debut with this series, presents a story that shambles forward with a sinister threat that is unstoppable and horrific.  In 1961, Burgess Meredith starred in an episode of “The Twilight Zone” titled “The Obsolete Man”.  In that episode the state deemed what jobs, works of art, literature and people were acceptable and which were obsolete.  Those things that were obsolete were unnecessary and thus needed to be purged.  The episode was meant to be a critique of state power and a warning about the desire to destroy the past when progressing into the future.  Klickstein has brought a similar feel to his work but he has updated it for a modern age, an age where people who have engrossed themselves in the classic philosophy and literature of the past may not ‘fit’ into a world where demagoguery and clicks reign.  Where the power of the state was the hand to be feared in 1961, Klickstein gives us a new force that evokes horrifying memories of “Children of the Corn” or “Village of the Damned”.  The end result is an unfolding tale that feels inevitable in it’s slow advance towards a horrible end.  This is the stuff of some of the most horrific tales ever penned.  The jump scare or overwhelming terror cause the heart to beat faster and evoke powerful emotions.  However, the slow-motion advance of a terror that can not be defeated and will not be denied is gloriously tortuous in delivering a lasting sense of horror.  This is one of those stories, combining those horror elements with a commentary on the society we live in today.

While I am a huge fan of the story and writing in this book, I believe that the art is a mixed bag.  Evgeniy Bornyakov drew and inked this book and did it well.  Bornyakov’s line work is solid if not spectacular.  In other words it is professionally done.  The shot selection, character design and perspective are all fairly standard fare and are quite successful in telling the story as scripted.  The art style has a slightly gritty sense of realism that grounds the work and establishes it as a fiction of the possible, not of the absurd.  The inking is subtle but appropriate, eschewing the “out of this world” HD dynamism of a superhero comic for the grounded drama feel of a movie in 8mm.  Where I find fault with the art is in the color work of Lauren Affe.  If this were a movie I would say that it was filmed with either a blue or pink filter.  Almost every panel has a patina of blue or pink that I found distracting and confusing.  It was obviously an intentional choice but I did not understand what it’s intent was and I did not care for it as a whole.

All things considered this is a very good book.  I loved the tone and tenor of the book and sincerely hope that the reference to The Twilight Zone was intentional.  If you are a fan of social commentary, horror or science-fiction I would recommend this title to you.

Writing – 5 of 5 Stars
Art – 4 of 5 Stars
Color – 3 of 5 Stars

Overall Score – 4 of 5 Stars

Writing – Mathew Klickstein
Art – Evgeniy Bornyakov
Color – Lauren Affe
Letters – Simon Bowland

Author Profile

Nemesis
Nemesis is a poet, writer and author of the upcoming novel The Long Game. He is a writer of science fiction and supernatural thrillers. Besides novels and short stories he writes for UK based ASAP Comics developing new stories for Level 8 and OPSEC. Nem is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and tries to bring those experiences into his writing.

He lives and works out of his home in Riverside, California with his wife and three children. When not writing he enjoys reviewing comic books and graphic novels for ComicCrusaders.com and living the Southern California life with his family.
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