Self/Made #4 - Image Comics

SELF/MADE #4, March 2019

Partially playing out like a disconcerting rehash of the street-level foot chase sequence from Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 American science fiction action movie “Total Recall”, Mathew Groom’s narrative for Issue Four of “Self/Made” regrettably rips the comic’s lead protagonist straight out from Amala Citali’s intriguing computer game based universe and rather brutally instead plonks the conscious artificial intelligence smack bang in the middle of her creator’s ‘real world’ buried deep inside the electronic workings of “a top-of-the-line personal assistant bot.” This wrenching from the beautifully rich and well-thought out fantasy land of Arcadia to something more akin to the “Back To The Future” film franchise is so savage that it really must have disgruntled those readers who were previously enjoying this title’s prodigiously penned “Dungeons & Dragons” subplot, especially when the “superstar talent writer” merely replaces all the Gary Gygax-influenced gaming with so questionably tired and overly-used a trope as a cognitive robot woodenly exploring “George Street down in the Rocks” for the first time in their existence.

Admittedly, Amala’s subsequent impressively dynamic fisticuffs with a squad of heavily-armed law enforcement officers, spectacularly sketched by artist Eduardo Ferigato, undeniably provides this twenty-two page periodical with plenty of pulse-pounding pizazz. Yet such a scintillating scene, packed full of bone-crunching punches, kicks and shattered helmet visors, still debatably doesn’t dispel the feeling that what was once a fairly innovative storyline has suddenly degenerated into a bog standard run-of-the-mill Isaac Asimov adventure complete with flying cars, “roasted slum rats” and a mysteriously cloaked android interloper who is clearly not “with the game company!”

Quite possibly this publication’s biggest problem however, is just how utterly unlikeable the Australian author makes Rebecca in his comic. The socially awkward inventor clearly has a history of struggling to meaningfully interact with her fellow workers, and the general population at large. But in “The Ta-Da Moment” this absolute disregard for the feelings of her creation turns the lonely woman into a truly brusque, unpleasant character, who seems hell bent on blaming Citali for all her own woes when it is clearly the technician’s selfish determination to succeed with her “unprecedented and historic procedure” which is the cause; “I’m not going to bail you out any more. Do you understand? I can’t give any more up for you, I won’t! If you walk away now, that’s it. I’m cutting my losses. We’re done.”

Writer: Mathew Groom, Artist: Eduardo Ferigato, and Colors: Marcelo Costa

Self/Made #2 - Image Comics

SELF/MADE #2, January 2019

Selling 5,436 copies in January 2019, and continuing Rebecca’s exploration of the “relationship between a creation and their creator”, Mat Groom’s screenplay for Issue Two of “Self/Made” is arguably demonstrative of the Australian author being a ‘self-taught’ writer who “over a long period of time” has “been reading up on story structure and dynamics” rather than someone academically schooled in “the specifics of scripting”. For whilst the “open-to-the-public storytelling” class teacher’s narrative undeniably provides a couple of moderately tense moments within this twenty-two page periodical, such as when Amala Citali fleetingly faces off against a formidably ferocious dragon, or a computer-generated non-playable character called Marcellus is given the choice to kill or be killed atop a breath-taking cityscape, nothing particularly pulse-pounding actually takes place until the comic’s very end when both of its lead characters are simply dropped into the co-operative game Plaga so as “to kill a ghost king.”

Indeed, the primary focus of “Overtime” debatably doesn’t even seem to be Rebecca’s investigation into just why an NPC “is opening the throat of a user like she’s gutting a damned trout in a game that’s supposed to be in front of consumers in six weeks.” But rather a laboriously long-winded insight into both how incredibly unpopular the pony-tailed female computer programmer clearly is with the rest of her work colleagues, and the lengths an enormously smug Bryce will go to in order to get his boss, Stuart Busuttil, to “scrub” the supposed next step in artificial intelligence; “Enough! The way I see it, you’re both losing your goddamned minds over what very well could be a freak accident.”

Fortunately however, all of these rather tiring time-consuming discussions, arguments, counter-consultations and dialogue-heavy deliberations are at least well-pencilled by Eduardo Ferigato, who genuinely manages to imbue the “extraordinarily unproductive” Rebecca with all the weariness a reader may well expect to see from an employee who seems to be carrying the weight of the world upon her shoulders. In fact, the Brazilian illustrator’s ability to depict a person’s innermost emotions or fears with just a few well-placed lines upon their face is extraordinary, and it is abundantly clear just why Groom believes the artist (alongside colorist Marcelo Costa) has done “an incredible job of making every new world we visit gorgeous, striking and unique. Given how quickly we move through some of these worlds, I’ve been blown away by how alive and thought-through and specific they all are…”

Writer: Mat Groom, Artist: Eduardo Ferigato, and Colors: Marcelo Costa

Self/Made #1 - Image Comics

SELF/MADE #1, December 2018

“Introducing a new creative team everyone will be talking about” this twenty-four page periodical by “Image Comics” must have seemed like ‘manna from heaven’ for those within its 11,135 strong audience who had ever played “Dungeons & Dragons”, and wanted to read a book which replicated an authentic fantasy tabletop game feel. Indeed, up until the point where the disagreeably arrogant Brycemere stupidly invites his travelling party’s death before the crossbow bolts of the Skrellians, Mat Groom’s script for Issue One of “Self/Made” genuinely seems to play out like one of Gary Gygax’s Early Seventies scenarios, complete with blood-soaked backstory, an unlikely alignment of multi-skilled heroes, a black-hearted sorcerer and a suitably formidable quest upon which rests the fate of “this great kingdom” and “the many races of Arcadia”.

Fortunately however, this analogy doesn’t simply end with Amala Citali’s fatal felling at the feet of an Egyptian-looking Pharaoh, as just like any other good role-playing adventure, “The Final Contradiction” provides its central cast with the opportunity to repeatedly replay its narrative and explore an alternative course of action to the one which led to their band’s untimely demise; “…Very well, as you appear so well versed in the ways of these savages, we shall follow your lead in this singular instance.” This enjoyable plot twist arguably completely captures the spirit of Dave Arneson’s dice-rolling miniature wargame to the point where some readers could probably imagine a group of players reconvening their band over subsequent nights so as to overcome their previous attempt’s terminal tribulations.

Of course, owing to the storyline’s ‘real world’ being set some time in the near future, the Australian author’s lead gamer is actually simply reloading a computer programme from the last checkpoint rather than using the traditional pen and paper method of dungeon crawling. But this technological revelation towards the end of the comic doesn’t debatably dilute its engagingly palpable nostalgic aura in the least, and actually makes for a far more understandably apt conclusion when Citali repeatedly kills the haughty prince for failing to explain why Teronak couldn’t “use the power to bring my people back” to life following the townsfolks' decimation at the magic-user’s hands.

Similarly as successful as this publication’s story-telling is Eduardo Ferigato’s proficient pencilling, which dynamically captures both the sweeping grandeur of the great kingdom’s multi-raced medieval world, as well as the selfish superciliousness of Brycemere. In fact, despite the vast majority of this book’s interiors not containing any sound effects, one can still hear the clang of swords, or ‘thunk’ of a well-aimed arrow due to the dynamic nature of the Brazilian illustrator’s drawings.

Writer: Mat Groom, Artist: Eduardo Ferigato, and Colors: Marcelo Costa

Self/Made #3 - Image Comics

SELF/MADE #3, February 2019

Whether intentional or not, there arguably appears to be a tangible “Tron” (or perhaps “Ready Player One”) vibe to Mat Groom’s narrative for Issue Three of "Self/Made". True, the twenty-two page periodical’s storyline understandably lacks any specific references to the Master Control Programme, light cycles and recognizers of Steven Lisberger’s 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film, but the similarities between the Australian author’s self-aware computer character battling alongside their creator against an all-powerful evil regime deep within a digital world and the critically well-received “Disney” movie is fairly evident.

Mercifully however, that doesn’t mean for a moment that the Sydney storyteller’s “solo comics writing debut” isn’t able to contain plenty of innovative entertainment in its own right, as “The Sport Of Ghost Kings” provides a genuinely compelling reading experience which manages to capture the attention right from the ‘get-go’ and doesn’t stop carrying its audience along even after Rebecca has successfully outwitted her green-glowing pursuer by returning to the somewhat sedentary real world. Indeed, anyone expecting this publication’s plot to provide a happy conclusion following a partially-defeated Amala’s successful self-detonation whilst gasping out her last inside Prince Brycemere’s throne room is in for a seriously nasty surprise; “Yeah, I’m gonna stop you right there…You’re a crazy goddamned Doctor Frankenstein lady and you’ve made something which genuinely seems to be alive…”

Of course, this comic’s biggest debatable draw is the fact that for its opening two-thirds it depicts an incredibly dynamic battle through some sort of futuristic underhive between a seriously gun-toting scientist and a veritable horde of ghastly ghost-like, cybernetically-enhanced Undead. This fracas is pulse-poundingly paced to say the least, and must have got many a bibliophiles’ blood pumping with its mixture of skull-shattering shooting, explosive grenades and flesh-shredding close combat.

Eduardo Ferigato’s artwork is also a key ingredient to this book’s palpable success, courtesy of the São Paulo-born illustrator’s clean line work and sense for the theatrical when pencilling a panel, such as when an inexperienced Amala can’t help but fire an automated blaster straight up into the ceiling, despite being faced with a swarm of death-dealing robot zombies. Coupled with Marcelo Costa’s vibrant colours, and ability to utilise a palette in order to effectively contrast the digital dilapidation of Brycemere’s fake world with the cold grey of Rebecca’s work facility, this magazine’s interiors are undeniably a feast for the eyes, as well as strong recipe for story sharing success.

Writer: Mat Groom, Artist: Eduardo Ferigato, and Colors: Marcelo Costa