Cryptocracy #1 Review
Written by Van Jenson
Art by Pete Woods
Published by Dark Horse
Review by Gregory Brothers
We all know one of those people, be it a close friend, or a friend of a friend that you hear stories about. We all know one of those people who believe that there is a secret force that control every event that happens in the world. We just give a hard eye roll or a gentle laugh as they go on one of their tangents again, but what if they were right? What if there really is a group of people who control everything? What if they even had a talking bear who wears suits working with them? Well if that was the case then you would be living in the world where Cryptocracy #1 is set.
Van Jenson (The Flash) creates a world that looks like any normal society for people not in the know. Parents playing with their kids and doing what ever they can to make their child’s life better. Scientists working on the next great advancement to help society and local politicians and citizens having their differences. As the facade is pulled back however, we find out that all of those things are being controlled by a select group of families, nine of them to be exact.
We are introduced first to Grahame the son of one of the family leaders, and the person that plans out most of the families missions. He has a bit of sibling rivalry going with his sister Temple as they position themselves to take over the family business. The family also employs a talking bear name Jason and an alien named Gary. Outside of the family conspiracy therorist, Bela has started to question some of the events that have happened and hosts a pirate radio show about these conspiracies. Lastly we meet part of another one of the families as they start to wonder if maybe they do not have as much control as they once thought.
The story here is fun. Jenson uses quite a few of the real life conspiracies to add to the story including hiding one of the family base of operations under the Denver Airport.
The art is detailed and fantastical. You have bright and bold colors through most of the meetings with the families, while the real world segments are a bit more subdued. There are a few art moments that seem a little off, like a bullet that is drawn to be going past a person that is drawn to look like it is making contact. Lettering is one of those things that I tend to not focus on as I read a comic, but there is one character’s lettering that really made it hard to read what they were saying and I had to read the response to understand what was being said.
The Verdict:
Buy It. If you have ever wanted a sci-fi/conspiracy/fantasy book then this is the one for you. The series seems like it is going to have quite a few moving parts to it and Jenson does an excellent job of introducing enough to hook the reader, but not so much as to overwhelm them. Bringing in real life conspiracies lends to the idea that people many times wonder what is going on behind the curtain and adds another interest to those that do not take everything at face value. At times the conversations are long between characters but I think that can be attributed to laying the foundation to the larger plot. When it come out on June 29th, make sure you grab a copy and until then research the conspiracies behind the Denver Airport
