Digitally Speaking...#18 "Archeologists of Shadows"

via Deviantart

Archeologists of Shadows, Vol. 1: The Resistance (Septagon Studios)

From 2011.

Well, I'm officially an AOS fanboy.

This is exactly the kind of awesome genius I love to find in the comiXology Submit bundle I purchased a few months back.  I've discovered a few gems already, stuff I easily recommend, but I have a new favorite.  To prove it, I've actually gone ahead and gotten the second volume (it's really cheap, too, just $ .99), and look forward to reading that, and rereading this one.  It's really that good.

This is one of those hero quests that calls to mind other goodness you've experienced.  I mean, the hero quest is classic storytelling, so finding stuff that reminds you of other stuff isn't really that difficult.  This particular hero quest involves a couple of travelers who stumble into a much bigger story by the end of this volume.  These travelers exist in a world where everyone must comply with the edict to become fully mechanized.  There's a resistance (there's always a resistance), but these guys aren't really a part of it until the resistance, the Archeologists, reveal to them their crucial role in it.  This is like discovering The Matrix all over again.

A lot of Matrix fans soured on that experience after the two sequels.  I never really understood that, but oh well.  The benefit of AOS is that at the end of this volume, which is about fifty pages of story and fifty more peaking behind the scenes, the travelers (Baltimo and Alix) are really just beginning their journey.  The whole volume is a journey, really, which leads them to Calvin, a.k.a. the Hermit.  I love that the friendly wizard type in AOS is actually a hermit, and named the Hermit.  This is the guy who really knows how to isolate himself.  

Basically everything about AOS is perfect.

It's the same kind of story that Star Wars always is, throwing you right into the story without a ton of preamble.  I always loved that about Star Wars, and so it's nice to see another story like that.  The dialogue is pitch-perfect.  That's to writer Lara Fuentes' credit.  The art from Patricio Clarey (they're Spanish).  The cover really only suggests how awesome that is.  It's like an animated movie that really will never be made because it's actually dark.  It's steampunk as if there were more steam than punk to it (which actually makes it far more punk).  

Do I have to say it again?  It's great.  I love it.

via Comics Cube

(One caveat this sample suggests: I had to magnify the pages in order to properly read the word balloons.  So best keep that in mind.)

To be clear, this is not your average comic book, and really, that's another huge plus.  It's refreshing.  The art's really a bit like a Dave McKean cover to Sandman in some ways.  Since the dialogue reads so crisply, you really don't end up minding how unusual the page looks around it.  And since the story moves along just as crisply, this is all a delightful package, it really is.

Something I have absolutely no trouble at all supporting.  Hopefully in paperback form at some point.  Hardback?  I would even do that.  

If they were to make a movie out of this, I imagine something so blindingly ambitious for wide audiences, it probably couldn't be done anytime soon anyway.  It would be a bit like watching Will Smith's I, Robot, but with less Will Smith and more of Alan Tudyk's robot.  Would you watch several hours of that?  I would.  I loved that movie.  But I'm pretty sure I love AOS more.

Time will tell, but I think I love it at a level comparable to The Matrix.  Or even Star Wars.  I don't toss that kind of love lightly.  AOS has me that level of giddy.  So yeah, AOS fanboy.