Vachss: Underground

When all sources of "news" are so clearly biased that none can be considered even remotely trustworthy or reliable, there is no news . . . and The Terror descends. For decades, The Rulers have been using prisoner/slave-labor to construct Underground, confident that those who flee there will willingly trade their freedom for security. Now, "truth" is what the Rulers say it is, and The Rulers rule all aspects of the human existence. But even within this antiseptically evil world, a revolutionary movement is brewing. A new breed of journalists--"The Book Boys"--risk everything to graffiti the truth on Underground's pristine walls. The intolerable act of creating a reliable source of truth--"If it's written in blue, it must be true."--is against The Rules --a huge bounty has been offered for identification or capture of any of this crew.

Lately I’ve had the fortune of being able to read a handful of graphic novel adaptations for screenplays which never came to life.  It’s been quite interesting to see these works of fiction that unfortunately never saw the light of day.  Vachss: Underground is the most recent in this list, spawned from a very serious and pretty dark piece from Andrew Vachss.

With Underground, we take a look at a series of stories all based in a grim dystopian future where “The Rulers” sit at the top.  The primary drive behind these tales is how the new, guerilla media aka “The Book Boys” are fighting back against this oppressive society.  Although the book is split into multiple chapters that can stand on their own, by the end you come to find out how the all in some way are linked.  Each part tells its own account of different sides of this society and the harsh life most live within it.  Some of the stories are more interesting than others, but as a whole the writing is extremely remarkable.

The brutal, dismal world that is narrated in the book is illustrated in an equally dark manner.  As dirty as the world may be, the artwork is wonderfully clean.   I liked how everything throughout the entire book retained a muted, shadowy look to it.  This really drove home the overall feel to the story and helped reinforce the setting the story is based in.

While this story may be a bit much for some readers to take in, it is totally worth the effort to read through.  I’m always a sucker for anything dystopian and this was a refreshing new addition to my experiences with the genre.  I would definitely say to check this off on your list of grabs for comic day and put aside that afternoon for reading it.

For more on Vachss: Underground or other Dark Horse books, check out Dark Horse Comics.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.