Existence 2.0/3.0

Story: Nick Spencer

Art: Ron Salas and Joe Eisma
Colorist: Frank Bravo
Letters: Johnny Lowe

Publisher: Image

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What’s it about?

Existence 2.0/3.0 is a collection of 2 mini series, written by Nick Spencer for Shadowline comics. It’s a mind bending modern day sci-fi rom.

Sylvester Baladine is a scientist with no moral compass who (on the first page of the story) finds himself on the wrong side of a sword (for those of you at home who aren’t sure, that means that the pointy end made him go ouchy), before he has a chance to die however, Sylvester gets to test his new invention. With the push of a button Sylvester’s consciousness swaps with his killer’s consciousness… or did it?

Sylvester (now in Marko’s body) is on a quest to find who hired Marko to kill himself.  It’s an intense thrill ride.  I don’t want to ruin the midway twist but 3.0’s protagonist is a female hero that wouldn’t be out of place in Spencer's other book, Morning Glories.

What’s good about it?

It’s ridiculously clever! Existence 2.0 ends with a protagonist you aren’t really supposed to like at all, passing the buck over to the more acceptable protagonist in 3.0. It really does have a classic sci-fi feel but without being in outer space or anywhere else outside of the norm, except for one person’s ability to swap consciousness. It’s a lot like DC’s Deadman* but with a much more scientific grounding.

What’s bad about it?

It’s a very convoluted story told in about 7 issues. There are a lot of unanswered questions and some elements in the plot seem forced at times while some others seem to have been discarded altogether. The shaky parts don’t take away from the overall feeling at all though and are minor complaints at best.

What’s the Art Like?

Very solid work from Salas and Eisma. Many might know Eisma’s work from Nick Spencer’s other little book Morning Glories. There isn’t anything that particularly stands out about the art but there’s nothing that screams amateur either.

There’s a level of detail in the work that Eisma does that seems to be missing from Salas’s but they would seem to fit in with artists such as Marcos Martin who will be working on the upcoming Daredevil relaunch over at Marvel.

Other Information

ISBN: 1607062992

Price: £10.99

Amazon provides a look inside function for this title, so you can have a sneak peek at the first few pages.

*Editor's note:  Deadman is a DC comics hero who after dying discovered that was not the end, and now wanders the world as a ghost, doing good and able to temporarily take over people's bodies.  You can read about him in Wednesday Comics.