Broken Frontier

Fritz Lang meets Ridley Scott in this retro future noir from animator Jason Armstrong. In the city of the future, where robots and humans live side by side, one lone detective finds that the morals of its inhabitants slide ever more into a gray area, just like the distinction between robot and human. 

Like Rocketo by Frank Espinosa, this is a majestic effort in world building. The wrapping is the high concept: a pulp noir detective in a future city populated by humans and robots.
The design of the city and its inhabitants is very retro. The robots seem to be made of tubes and transistors and the humans have a sense of fashion that is as anachronistic as wearing a fedora while going clubbing. Due to his drawing style, Armstrong manages to tie it all together visually. His drawings lean heavily on the animation of the fifties but they are given an updated feel with wide brushstrokes and wild splatterings of ink. The style of drawing complements the designs very well.

The animation styled drawings are on the same level as Darwyn Cooke or forementioned Espinosa, Jason Armstrong stands somewhere between the two. While Frank Espinosa gives us sometimes the barest outline of a form and Darwyn Cooke delineates everything with a bold brush, Armstrong takes the middle road. Sometimes he delivers a clear form, nicely delineated, sometimes he lets the readers’ eye fill in the blanks, loosely delineating structures and characters and - through the phenomenon of closure - he lets the reader give meaning to the strokes and inkpatterns. Often, if the pattern is too minimal, the grayscale colouring steps in to lend a hand. It’s a very attractive style.

Here’s the story in a nutshell according to Image Comics: Private Investigator Cyrus Smithe's life has just taken a turn for the worse - his partner, Harry Weston, is dead. The cops are out to pin it on him, and the only solid proof he has to clear himself is a tiny gadget that could grant ten million sentient robots their freedom: the Medusa Key. Robot detectives, gorilla thugs, French gangsters and Russian mobsters heat things up as Cy Smithe and Kate Weston track her father's killer through a sea of double and triple crosses to find the elusive piece of technology that's the key to the mystery.

While the macguffin is the Medusa Key, the ‘maltese falcon’ around which the story turns, the real story is in the sprawling futuristic city and the robots versus humans dilemma. The Medusa Key is a compact EMP-device, obliterating all electronic activity when activated. For the robots - the second-class citizens of the future caste system- this proves that their intelligence is indeed artificial and not the product of some mysterious process that gives rise to the ‘soul’ and ‘intelligence’ that is perceived in humans.

This is an interesting take on AI but in the end, a bit lacking. The Medusa Key is after all nothing more than an elaborate ‘bullet’ for the robot, a device that means instant death. How does this prove or disprove a ‘soul’ in a robot? Are the robots forced into certain behaviour because of their programming or are they free to choose and follow their own path? After all, we do not even posses a scientific method to discern what a soul constitutes in a human. How then can the Medusa Key be used to disprove the fact that robots have no soul? The thematic complexity seems poorly thought out, perhaps they should subject the robots to a Voight-Kampff test?

The philosophical implications and subsequent questions do not become clearer in the course of the story. Armstrong tends to stay on the surface when touching the subject and focuses more on the economical implications that are devastating for big business companies of the future. F.i. giving robots the same rights as humans would have a huge impact on wages since robots are considered cheap labor. But more insight into the psychology of the robot-mind would have been nice. Seeing as this is an action adventure comic though, it is not insurmountable. Just roll with the rocking and follow the fun. It’s a great ride. For robot philosophy, I would recommend reading Philip K Dick, Isaac Asimov or Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell. Or start a conversation on our forum.

The characters are nicely handled. Cyrus Smithe is the archetype hardboiled detective and he looks the part. Lee Marvin with a dash of Clint Eastwood thrown in. The daughter of his murdered partner who is involved in the theft of the Medusa key, Kate Weston,  features a lovely fifties cereal animation design, being at the same time sweet, hyperintelligent and daring. Robot Inspector 42G is the partner of the corrupt police detective Sam Hardie and the only robot we really meet in the course of the story. He plays the part of the good cop with bravado while also adding a touch of mystery to his erratic behaviour. These characters are all part of the puzzle and it is a fun process to get to know them, see what makes them tick and what part they play in the mystery.

If retro future sci fi acquiered a bad name due to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, here’s a chance for it to shake it off. Put on groove ‘n’ grind from the sixties for sleazy soundtrack music and start reading Ferro City: the Medusa Key. A fun robot science fiction pulp noir story from animator Jason Armstrong. On the spine of the TPB stands a big number 1. Let’s hope a number 2 is already in the making.

Ferro City: The Medusa Key by Jason Armstrong went on sale from Image Comics on April 18 and retails for $15.99.