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A review by caitcoy
Tokyo Ghost Volume 1: Atomic Garden by Rick Remender
1.0
In Tokyo Ghost, the future is not bright. Unless you count the glow from the technology that has taken over everyone's lives. The environment is completely wrecked, most people have been put out of work by automation and the only law comes from corporations who pay enforcers to protect their interests. In this world, Led Dent and Debbie Decay are given the job of finding a way into Tokyo, the last bastion of nature in a world dominated by technology.
Soooo...unpopular opinion time. I struggled with this book from page 1. Remender is hugely hit or miss for me. I loved Black Science but hated Deadly Class. Tokyo Ghost was definitely in the latter category for me. It felt like exactly the kind of Garth Ennis over-the-top style, Luddite view of the future that instantly annoys the hell out of me. Humanity has become the kind of white trash stupid that you see in Idiocracy and fully embedded itself in virtual reality. Crude, overt humor is everywhere and subtlety is nowhere to be found. It's all the worst parts of Sin City without any of the occasional grit and subtlety that made that series enjoyable.
The only part I enjoyed was the curiously complicated relationship between the two main characters. They have a truly interdependent relationship, with Led so embedded in the drug-fueled violence of VR that he's almost incapable of reacting in a normal manner to the outside world and Debbie so afraid of being alone that she continually tries to wean him off of the drugs. That relationship was fascinating and made the story significantly better than it otherwise would have been. This is not a story that appealed to me at all, though I think if you're less annoyed by the way technology is represented and the writing style, it might be more your thing. It's not horribly written, it's just exactly the style I can't stand.
Full series review here
Soooo...unpopular opinion time. I struggled with this book from page 1. Remender is hugely hit or miss for me. I loved Black Science but hated Deadly Class. Tokyo Ghost was definitely in the latter category for me. It felt like exactly the kind of Garth Ennis over-the-top style, Luddite view of the future that instantly annoys the hell out of me. Humanity has become the kind of white trash stupid that you see in Idiocracy and fully embedded itself in virtual reality. Crude, overt humor is everywhere and subtlety is nowhere to be found.
Spoiler
Want to show that a corporate bad guy corrupts everyone around him? Why not have a reporter say really nice things and then perform oral sex on him to top it all off. Really Remender? You just couldn't find a less Frank Miller way of showing that one?The only part I enjoyed was the curiously complicated relationship between the two main characters. They have a truly interdependent relationship, with Led so embedded in the drug-fueled violence of VR that he's almost incapable of reacting in a normal manner to the outside world and Debbie so afraid of being alone that she continually tries to wean him off of the drugs. That relationship was fascinating and made the story significantly better than it otherwise would have been. This is not a story that appealed to me at all, though I think if you're less annoyed by the way technology is represented and the writing style, it might be more your thing. It's not horribly written, it's just exactly the style I can't stand.
Full series review here