Spent most of today finishing off the trade paperback of
Global Frequency. An early noughties series from technophile misanthrope
Warren Ellis, he who wrote Transmetropolitan. That'll be one of my
favourite reads and the reason why I should have gotten around to
reading the rest of his stuff much sooner than I have really. Blame my
fickle piecemeal reading habits for that.
As for this,
its a mash-up of all the things I've come to expect from his work.
Too-trendy-for-you technophiles taking on a cynical, corrupt and
unstable world with but bleeding edge tech and a litany of pitch black
wisecracks at their disposal. Its fun stuff even if there's a certain
feeling of over-familiarity to it. Go with what works I guess.
An
almost if not quite informal network of specialists that can be called
upon when the need arises by their mysterious benefactor and her punky
second in command. That'll be the Global Frequency of the title. Linked
only by their far flung videophones of the far future (2002 says hi!)
they take on post Cold War menace, weaponized science and technological
fallout on a reliably frequent basis.
It's entertaining in a DVD boxset sorta way but
if there's a side effect to the author's fixations on the new and the
cutting edge its that certain aspects of his writing date quickly even
if they prophecy correctly. Reading this in 2013-14 Global Frequency
reads at times like a love letter to Skype. Nothing essentially off
about that just a general comment on technological fixation and how well
it ages I guess. As for its impact upon the storytelling here its
negligible but nearly always a constant presence.
The art
on both covers and interiors is absolutely gorgeous beginning to end
with a rotating inserting-hyperbole-here rota of all-star artists. So
yeah gorgeous to look it and enjoyable to read. Lack of any real
character development over the course of the series aside I have
very little complaint with what's on offer here. Guess that'll be one of
them there recommendations I'm making there.
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