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Binary Code Translation- Vol. Peanut Butter Funk

The Surrogates

Brian Venditti

Brett Weldele

Top Shelf Productions

The Surrogates is an interesting one-take about a possible future where people have their everyday activities handled by android replicas of themselves while controlling each decision online. These replicas are called ‘surrogates’ and they are modeled after whatever the user wishes, most times the younger version of the user in their prime. People have grown accustomed to this way of living, many never leave their homes. The story unfolds with a ‘murder’ of two surrogates and the investigation that takes place by a cop named Agent Greer. The users, themselves, are unaffected by these “murders” and only their surrogate bodies are destroyed. The murders continue and Greer finds himself closer to uncovering plots by those who wish to live in the more traditional way, without surrogates. Venditti’s take on 2054 is interesting in that many things aren’t extremely different than the world we live today. I find the best sci-fi realizations of the future are grounded in this reality and not with an abundance of unbelievable gadgets and space ships. The idea of a surrogate is not so farfetched, especially in the age where internet message boards are loaded with people spewing their opinions while hiding behind their avatars. These surrogates are a form of virtual reality and interactions can be described as live versions of chat room role playing. One of the memorable things I took from Venditti’s novel was the artwork of Brett Weldele. His panes are simple, filled with smears of water color blanketed by characters of ink. The tone of the book is dreary and washed out; the lack of color is more effective to the story than panels rich with bright hues. Upon one look at the artwork and one can see that this is not the typical graphic novel. I suggest this novel for the noir detective story but also for the unconventional art work that perfectly matches the tone Venditti and Weldele obviously were trying to achieve. A movie is planned for 2009 and it stars Bruce Willis as Greer. That alone should give you a reason to catch up on this story. A sequel to this is planned for 2009 as well entitled Surrogates 2.0 Flesh and Bone.

E.P.