2021 Lost Children #1
Writer: Stéphane Betbeder
Artist: Stéphane Bervas
Colorist: Massimo Rocca
Translator: Jessica Burton
Editor: Lauren Bowes
Publisher: Titan’s Statix Press
Review by Michael Farris, Jr.
In 2021 Lost Children #1 the year is 2021, and the city of Detroit has come under the reign of psychic mutant Ike Mercy and declared independence from the United States. A mysterious agency sends in four young mutant children to take out Mercy to keep him from brainwashing the citizens of Detroit through their food supply. Their powers are limitless; however, there’s a catch: the more they use their powers, the quicker they age. Will they reach Mercy’s base before these young children die of old age?
This comic comes to us from France by way of Titan comics’ Statix Press, the imprint that works to bring European comics to the US and UK markets, and man am I glad they did 2021 Lost Children #1. While the mutants vs. mutants synopsis might sound an awful lot like X-Men, it does not feel like that in any way. It might help that there’s a serious disadvantage to using mutant abilities thrown in there.
And that disadvantage seemed like an interesting commentary on Western society nowadays, whether it was intentional or not. The fact that kids were being sent in at the bidding of adults and reliance on their powers aged them significantly had me thinking about how it seems a lot of kids these days are facing pressures and expectations that are beyond their age.
The various storylines and characters we’re introduced into this issue intertwine and complement each other in a seamless way. It was strange how in a relatively brief amount of time, I ended up caring about the fates of a lot of different characters. The cast assembled is unique and drive the story. I actually felt my heart kind of sink when I got to the end of the issue, because I wanted more.
The artwork fits the story perfectly. The characters are incredibly emotive and the background scenes make you feel just how big and how empty the city is right now. My one complaint is that in the scenes where psychic communication was happening, it would have been nice to have different colored fonts or speech balloons to tell us exactly who was talking.
Verdict: Buy it.
I was blown away by how much I liked 2021 Lost Children #1. The ups-and-downs that several of the characters have to go through in this 50-something page book will have you done with the book before you know it.
