Broken Frontier

After bravely (and stupidly) standing against the elite human raider force, Khalid is brought further into the fold of The Symbiotes.

This independent comic publisher first caught my eye with their stunning computer graphics and a value for money attitude to publishing that is hard to overlook. The first two issues of The Symbiotes began an exciting sci-fi story with an interesting edge. The story includes a strong social comment on racial identification and the role of terror tactics as legitimate warfare under oppressive circumstances. The creators have set themselves a difficult task with a huge cast and complex storylines over eight long, long issues. It is not surprising to find that the story is starting to sag a bit at the end of the first act.

Khalid, our part-human hero, is no longer welcome in Human occupied areas because of his rash but noble rebellion against authority. He is thus taken in by the multi-species guerilla group The Symbiotes. Meanwhile, some of Khalids team mates attempt to join the elite human task force, the Raider Corp. Also, we learn a little more about The Symbiotes intentions from a duo of creepy seers under the employ of the human leader.

The story here is rolling along well enough and the characters are developing albeit slowly, however much of the excitement of the earlier issues has dropped out of this comic. The revelations of this issue are not exactly shocking and are actually rather clichéd. It had been telegraphed immensely that Khalid would have no place to go but with the Symbiotes and the addition of a rather clichéd plot device in the ‘ring of power’ is rather disappointing. Having said that, there is a more interesting subplot of two of Khalid’s former colleagues going through Raider boot camp.

The computer rendered art is still a major draw card for this comic. The action scenes dazzle with light and motion and the sci-fi elements work really well in this regard. The conversation scenes are not so hot; they look stiff and ungainly. Despite this the characters have a good amount of facial characterization that helps with the suspension of disbelief.

All in all, this is a pretty good comic and one that sci-fi fans would enjoy. Were this a TV series it would garner a huge cult following. However it is but a lowly comic destined to struggle in the world. I for one am happy to support this earnest and refreshing struggle!

- Matthew Clark