Graphic Novels Reviews

NYC2123: Dayender review (Chad & Paco Allen)

by Rafael Takara

nyc2123.com

The online graphic novel NYC2123: Dayender is set in a near futuristic cyberpunk New York. The story happens in a decadent post-apocalyptic Manhattan in year 2123 where cybernetic body modifications, brain mods, and open source drugs are commonplace. Megacorporation and street gangs fight for their survival in a chaotic Manhattan where Martial Law has been declared and the island have been isolated from the rest of the world by a physical “Wall” after being hit by a Tsunami. This graphic novel has 6 volumes but this review will focus on the first 3 volumes.

The plot revolves around Julius, Laney, and Jake, three mercenaries with cybermodifications, hired by Wagner, a businessman from a secret corporation, to steal an endangered squirrel to a rare animal collector and transport biological vials. But they have to steal it from a warlord mafia and end up in trouble with other mercenaries. The characters motivation and the plot itself take a while to be revealed but the action sequences are intense and well executed. The extensive use of high tech (eg. flying cars, wifi hacking, brain/body augmentations, etc…) and the mercenaries super skills are what make the graphic novel stand out.

The comic book was designed specifically for viewing on PSP portable system. As a result, a single panel per page had to be used to narrate the story so it resulted in a different rhythm than the conventional multiple panels per page as it gives a faster pace to the story. Also, the authors make several uses of interesting moment to moment panel transition that let the action sequence (see example below) feels like an animation.

The backgrounds are generally not overly detailed. On the other hand, the characters artwork were made using photos of real people and then penciled above facial features. The result was that the characters had realistic appearance to create a more interesting characterization. Their emotional reactions could also be captured with this technique.

The comic is entirely in black and white so that the contrast between the two colours and the artwork could be highlighted. In a few sequences though there is the use of colours to give a dramatic effect to the sequence. For example, in the scene below blood is painted red to emphasize violence of the scene. Fire was painted yellow to give explosion sensation on the viewer. Colour is used in minimal ways but in key moments to give emotional impact on the viewer or to highlight a detail.

Overall, NYC2123 is an interesting online graphic novel read if the reader enjoys a cyberpunk tale with themes of advanced science, high tech, dystopic future, and megacorporation conflicts. It is worth noting the photorealism used on the characters art.