Digitally Speaking...#20 "Archeologists of Shadows Vol. III"

Archeologists of Shadows, Vol. 3: The Alter Egos (Septagon Studios)
From 2014.

The third of six volumes, meaning we're halfway through, Archeologists of Shadows: The Alter Egos explains the underlying mythology of the concept in greater detail than its predecessors and thereby enriches the whole experience.

And as always, AOS itself remains a revelation of the graphic novel form.

Patricio Clarey's art is a direct manifestation of the ambitious nature of the saga, which becomes all the more clear in The Alter Egos.  It wasn't until now, for instance, that I made an association between Clarey's work and Indian mythology.  As explained in this volume, that's a vital connection indeed.

It's intricate reading.  Lara Fuentes presents the continuing plight of heroes Alix and Baltimo (neither name is actually referenced this volume, so it increasingly pays to keep reading, which isn't too difficult at this point), who are at once hero quest journeyers and symbols.  They've been identified as Alter Egos, or in other words avatars, real world manifestations of the gods, and they've been trying to believe that themselves, too.  This is a large part of what's accomplished in the new volume.

It's a little like The Matrix but exploded to truly mythic proportions.  The Alter Egos is a little like the part of The Matrix Reloaded where we meet The Architect, but this time the heroes are being pushed to fulfill their destiny instead of being rejected.

There are matters of philosophy and faith to be considered.  At this point the full scope and ambition of the project stand revealed, and it's pretty breathtaking.

As a crossroads, this is the point where everyone has to decide where they stand, how they will react to the crisis.  Enemies play their hand, allies prove their worth.  You think this might actually be the end of the story, but it's not.  And thank goodness.

At its heart, AOS is a manifestation of the classic modern fever dream of machines eventually taking over the world, except in this vision, we're the machines, like the Borg in Star Trek we'll be transformed, piece by piece, because that's the only way to reach our ultimate goal and finally figure out what it's all about, making peace, establishing a lasting order, all of that.  There's also the Sun used, as it once was, the primal source of all things, a little like a vision Grant Morrison had in the pages of DC One Million.

This is at once familiar and totally unique material, and it's completely fascinating.

It remains highly recommended.