Replicator #2

Replicator is emotionally convoluted and direct in its approach

Replicator #2 expands on the enigmatic dystopia the first issue left us with. A world dark, both literally and emotionally. Replicator is equally convoluted and direct in its approach. While the word ‘convoluted’ denotes an air of negativity in its popular usage for some. For me, using ‘complex’ as an alternative just doesn’t begin to cut it. This second issue cleverly unpacks the typical Science Fiction tropes littering the Replicator landscape. All the while re-establishing the depth of just how fucked up a world we are trapped in. Just because so much is happening doesn’t mean this takes away from the multi-layered facets in this future nightmare.

Replicator #2 brings us back into the alternate reality of Rob Arnold’s future earth. A virus has been released into the population. Lethal and relentless, it is called the Red Death, and it has already killed tens of millions. Cut off and abandoned from the rest of the world, the government has invoked martial law without the capacity to truly protect its citizens. Blackgate, a private military company, built the Sanctuary, a place free from the Red Death but only for the privileged few. Everyone else is expendable. Ryker Jones patrols its boundaries, and his wife Sarah, a lead scientist, works on a cure for the disease. Only this time Sarah has been kidnapped as the events of issue #1 begin to unfold in a deviously maniacal way.

Replicator #2 brings us back into the alternate reality of Rob Arnold’s future earth

The story unfolds in three main storylines:

• A – Chief antagonist, Valen, and Blackgate’s assault on the British armed forces
• B – Sarah’s struggle to free herself from her captors
• C – Ryker’s awakening from consciousness

Without going into spoilers, Replicator reveals Blackgate as shadowy organisation exercising its own protocols. Seemingly answering to no one, Valen heads up the main activities centered around expanding their reach. All through the use of Mech technology, remotely controlled by his team of operators they are able to tear through any opposition. Begging the question, are Valen and Sarah’s kidnappers part of a grander scheme? Replicator #2 extends the universe into political and sociopathic sub plots. Taking progressive side steps to make room for the introduction of the integral workings inherent in Blackgate. Ryker, although not as main a storyline as Sarah and Valen, is a circumstantially victimised protaganist. You feel for his plight. You feel for the reality of his situation. With his greatest obstacle being survival.

Rob Arnold has assembled a credible team of creatives with this release. The pencil/ink work of Aaron Alfeche is equally a swansong to Arnold’s script. With the palette of colours DC Alonso has used there was the potential for them to wash out across every page. Alfeche’s line work has added another visual presence to each character in juxtaposition to the visually striking backgrounds. Replicator #2 is a dystopic story filled with a utopia of colours.

Having run a highly successful crowdfunding campaign on both issues, creator and writer Rob Arnold has made both issues #1 and #2 of Replicator available for purchase. Visit the link here to purchase your copy.

5.5 Sodas!