“Arcadia” #5 (8 out of 10) Written by Alex Paknadel; Art by Eric Scott Pfeiffer; Cover by Matt Taylor; Published by BOOM! Studios; Publication Date: September 23, 2015
In a week leading into my local convention, the Salt Lake Comic Con, I thought I’d probably pick a book from DC or Marvel but what stood out to me by the end of my stack was “Arcadia” from BOOM!. Up until this issue the comic was a very interesting story with great art, colors, and amazing covers. As of issue five the book has become one of my favorites of the summer. OK, I know the book came out on the autumnal equinox but I’m counting it as a summer book anyway.
The story is a little bit “The Matrix”, a little bit “Blade Runner” and a dash of – insert apocalyptic plague story here. I love the futuristic feel mixed with today’s tech but I’m getting ahead of myself. The plot of the book puts humanity at the brink of extinction due to a very frightening papillomavirus. The virus has taken out over 90% of humanity but technologically our species always seems to find a way to make it through. In the case of “Arcadia”, it’s just a chance. The technology is called Arcadia and it’s a plug that people place inside their cranium moments before death. At that point their consciousness is uploaded into the wide network of Arcadia where hopefully all of humanity pulling together in a simulation can find a cure to save those still “living”.
The citizens of Arcadia have to work and pay to keep a virtual economy going. If they do not then they cannot afford their own ”skin” and become chromatic polygons in a virtual space. At one point it’s mentioned that a character has a perfect complexion and does so because paying for acne is very expensive.
The story so far has been a slow burn with catchy moments. The hook is the geographical ties that have differing virtual technology and physics. In some areas you can fly and in others it’s restricted. In all of them though, there are hackers known as homesteaders that can manipulate Arcadia in small ways. This group has known about a pending war between Arcadia and the “meat” world as it is costly and difficult to keep server farms hosting 7 billion “virtual persons”. A young girl at the heart of the conflict has been talking to her father who is, by a stroke of fate, survived the disease and the virtualization of his self to become both a living “meat” person and a virtual person.
The story heats up this issue when we discover that one of the father’s, virtual or actual, has created a virtual son from scratch – something forbidden. The son can manipulate all of the code in Arcadia but the leader of Arcadia has revolted and refuses to work on a cure until the actual world give them more processing power for skins and the new virtual world they know as their reality.
Writer Alex Paknadel and Illustrator Eric Scott Pfeiffer have created a whole new spin on virtual reality and storytelling. I’m happy to say I’m in love with their concept. Now that the story has some “meat” on its bones the possibilities and the eventual outcome have me waiting impatiently for the next page turn.
TL;DR Mix in a little Matrix, a little apocalypse, a wonderful cast of characters and you have “Arcadia”. Issue 5 is the best one yet and I’m hooked on this virtual reality world created by Paknadel and Pfeiffer.
Images: BOOM! Studios