Hacktivist 2

Hacktivist Issue 2 Review

Writers:

Collin Kelly

Jack Lanzing

Alyssa Milano

Artists:

Ian Herring

Marcus To

Published by:

Archaia

To say I wasn't overly happy with issue 1 was an understatement; an ode to the power of the internet, it had its heart in the right place but it fumbled the implementation at almost every step. Issue 2 goes some way towards implementing changes that alleviate these problems.

For one, things start to unravel. The announcement of the offer made to them last issue by a US Government drives a firm wedge between our two protagonists Nate and Ed. What was a playful,
occasionally bitter bromance is now shattered, as Nate takes the agencies offer and pulls off a successful mission. Ed just sulks in his office listening to Fight the Power and plotting.

This leads to some payoff to the scene of Ed drawing circles on the windows from last issue. It turns out, he's so smart and focused on looking for patterns that he's found a way to implement that on macro (the much vaulted computer hardware they have) and the micro scale, as he plans his escape from a company he no longer trusts using patterns in people and events he has observed.

Naturally, he does all this whilst causing as much damage as possible; quite why he just doesn't walk out the door of the office building he owns and disappear discreetly doesn't occur to him I
guess. I'm guessing the writer wanted to make their message of 'F@%* Big Government- Go Big Business our Saviours' just a little more obvious after hitting you over the head with it for an issue and a bit.

One thing I do have to compliment, is how during those pages, there's a sense of dynamic flow and energy that just isn't in the rest of the issue. Perhaps it’s a case of tune in for the action, but just try to phase out the message?

In the end, I did enjoy this issue more. There are a lot of things happening in this issue as it heads towards the half way point of the mini series. It just seems very confused about what its trying to say, with no real exploration of the nuances of the situation. I get that mini series have to streamline themselves a bit due to the limited pages they are allowed, but the writer has spent two issues focusing on everything but the 'activist' part of Hacktivist.

Perhaps the next two issues will bring a reversal of fortunes. But following the message lain down by this comic, William Gibson's Neuromancer is a world to aspire to, rather than horrible nightmare.

Now tell me that's not an example of a bungled idea.

You can buy Hacktivist #2 from Comixology, or all good comic book stores.

Reece Morris-Jones knows you can't trust the system. Help him overthrow something with hashtags and humour @ReecemJones

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

Hacktivist 1

Ed Hiccox and Nate Graft are young, brilliant, and the co-founders of YourLife, a social networking company that has changed the way the world stays connected. In secret, these best friends are also "sve_Urs3lf," the largest, white-hat hacking group on the planet, exposing information and sparking revolutions across the globe.

Writers:

Collin Kelly

Jack Lanzing

Alyssa Milano

Artists:

Ian Herring

Marcus To

Published by:

Archaia

Hacktivist has an interesting setup and poses a great question. What if people had the power to change the world, in a way only master hackers can in films, yet were operating in the real world?

When you think of world events in the past few years and how the internet is slowly reshaping entire countries and cultures under its idea of a place free of control and oppression, I can see why this idea would stick and make its way into a comic.

Which is the first hurdle Hacktivist trips over on. Because the reality, Havktavist suggests, is that our saviours are white billionaires, no matter how messed up they are. Be it the autistic nature of one of the characters (or at least, heavily implied autism) to the naivete of the other, Hacktivist shows a world where all the biovating that Silicon Valley heads come out with is a reality. But that

it looks like said world would crash down around the weight of their own self importance.

You may have noticed I've been bit negative. That's because I have a lot of issues with Hacktivist. For one the opener. It starts dynamically enough with an overthrow of an oppressive regime thanks to the power of social networking. It's a fresh way of tackling a comic and it could have make a powerful statement about the power of working together in a way that’s not really been attempted in human history before. That quickly gives way to scenes where it's basically two white dudes saving the day for poor foreigners (who appear to be every bit as computer literate as our main characters I might add) who can't.

Now perhaps this chain of events would be more acceptable in a world where we didn't have real life parallels to compare this to. But we do. And it was 'those poor foreigners' who did it, by using technology to organise and stay one step ahead of those who opposed them, whilst the western world stood back and watched. In comparison, Hacktivist comes across as the author (and by extension the Western world) wished it had happened.

Next, there’s the use of technology as magic and situational autism as magic. Now admittedly with Ed it was implied that something else is going on and that appearances were deceptive. It also establishes that the two main characters became who they are off the back of Ed's smarts and

Nate's ability to then market whatever ideas he comes up with. That certainly bears some relation to how many large tech companies became successful.

Even if the two friends are pretty cavalier about their actions (which lead to them being noticed by government organisations) and seem to be barely getting on, there’s still the implication that the reader is meant to accept all that happens in the issue and think two rather unlikable characters are the best thing since sliced bread because 'White People+Technology=Amazing'.

It left a bitter taste in my mouth and one I've not shaken a week later.

Now as Issue 1 ends we see the wheels start to come off and perhaps this is the miniseries point, that people like this would burn out or be corrupted were they a part of the 'real world'. I shall certainly be picking up issue 2 to see where things are going, as I want to see if that is the creative teams entire point. If in the long term it's a massive subversion of everything presented in issue 1, I'll happily say I should have been more patient.

But off the strength of this first issue, I can't say I would recommend this. It's a noble idea of the internet being a tool to liberate us, hijacked by writers who feel the need to dress up a very interesting topic in a cape and cowl.

You can buy Hacktivist #1 from Comixology, or all good comic book stores.

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