The 3rd Degree #1
By Chris Rowley and Justin Norman
Published by NBM Publishing
The implications of the Internet when considered over the next few decades, as more and more people get online and computers become ever faster and more efficient, are fairly mind-boggling. Those implications are also easy fodder for mediocre speculative fiction, especially in comics. Tons of amateur comics creators are online, and are as in love with computers and the Internet as they are with comics. Believe me, I have seen some goddamned bad comic books either about computers or created on them or both. In a word, gak.
So The 3rd Degree, a new bi-monthly science-fiction/noir from NBM, is a pleasant surprise, given my unfamiliarity with its creators and its subject matter, the aforementioned implications of a world in which everyone is online, and the powers that be paint that as a rosy picture of gleeful modernity with few if any negative consequences.
I don't want to spoil the surprise that makes the end of this issue so intriguing and gratifying, but suffice to say it involves a rescue mission that decidely is not what I was expecting, or probably what you will either.
I was reminded a bit of Brian Wood's Channel Zero at points here -- this is good thing, mind -- but The 3rd Degree is a bit more accessible and linear, and as such should be of interest to readers looking for a thought-provoking science-fiction story that will, by the end of this first issue, take you to places you aren't expecting as it delights you with its convincing setting and premise.
The art is strong, evoking Frank Miller and Walter Simonson, but with an individual character that serves the story well and is professional and quite pleasing to the eye.
The dialogue and characters could be a little stronger and more memorable, but hopefully as we see more of their world and the struggle they wage within it, that will come. I'm certainly game to give it a chance and see what develops.
Grade: 4/5