Alex + Ada #6 – Review

By: Sarah Vaughn (story/script) and Jonathan Luna (story/art/letters)

The Story: As Alex and Ada start to settle into their lives, they come to grips with the fact that they are not normal.

Review (with SPOILERS): Even though this issue of Alex + Ada is (again) very high quality, it still hasn’t turned the corner into the bigger story that I am anticipating.  However, even in an issue where we’re still waiting for the shoe to drop, there are still some cunning and clever elements to this story.

The big thing that struck me was how quickly Ada is blasting through her learning phase.  She’s trying to experience and DO everything.  That’s going to lead to two things.  First, Ada will probably outgrow this phase where she is dependent on Alex pretty fast.  She needs him right now, but what about next week when she knows everything?  Is their relationship based on something “real”?  Or is it just based on the fact that Ada wants to learn about stuff and Alex is willing to indulge her?  Is she staying with him just because she needs him or does she really want to stay?  Right now, she needs to stay with Alex, but can you have a truly great relationship where one party is dependent upon the other?

Alex + Ada #5 – Review

By: Jonathan Luan (story/art/design) and Sarah Vaughn (story/script)

The Story: Having been freed from her restrictive programming, what will Ada do?

The Review (with SPOILERS): This has been a wonderful series so far and this issue mostly serves as the fulcrum from the beginning of the story toward its second chapter.

So far we have seen young Alex be given a super-fancy android named Ada.  The gift was from his wealthy grandmother who wanted him to have a friend/companion/sex-toy.  Alex never wanted Ada, but was too kind of a person to abuse her and he eventually became frustrated with her lack of self-determination and sought out a group that could remove the blocks in Ada’s programming allowing her to be fully aware.  That took us up through the last issue where Ada “woke up” and screamed her head off.

Alex + Ada #3 – Review

By: Sarah Vaughn (story/script) and Jonathan Luna (story/art/letters)

The Story: Alex introduces Ada to his friends.

Review (with SPOILERS): A bit of a transitional issue, this one.  But, that is okay and doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the series.  Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna already established in the first two issues that they were interested in the sorts of deeper questions that I wanted to read about, so it’s okay for them to do a little of the necessary roadwork to get us from Point A to Point B.

This is the issue where Alex comes to grips with the fact that he owns an android (Ada).  She meets his friends and Alex starts to grapple with all the things that are normal when someone gets a new pet – because Ada is really just a pet at this point.  Much like a new dog owner needs to buy a few bowls and a leash, Alex needs to figure out what Ada will wear and how/when she needs to eat.  The question of whether she poops even came up.

But, the more interesting part is when Alex starts to wonder what to DO with Ada.  She’s remarkably compliant.  If he wants to dance, she’s happy to dance and she’ll happily watch whatever TV program he chooses.  But, by the end of the issue, we see that Alex is pretty disappointed because Ada doesn’t WANT anything on her own.  She’s just programmed to do whatever Alex wants.  In his frustration, he starts to explore getting her software upgraded to allow Ada to be more self-aware.

Alex + Ada #2 – Review

By: Sarah Vaughn (story/script) and Jonathan Luna (story/script assists, art, letters)

The Story: What will Alex do with his new android?

Review (with minor SPOILERS): This issue wasn’t quite as aces as the first, but that’s more a consequence of where it falls in the dramatic arc rather than any weakness in the issue itself.  The first issue showed tremendous promise that it wanted to tackle a LOT of the deep, thorny issues around ownership of sentient androids: How do we care for them?  What do we subject them to?  When does it veer into slavery?

That first issue also seemed willing to tackle many of the questions of perspective of the reader or the characters: Maybe we care more about the plight of an attractive android that looks like a young woman than we do about the boxy robot that fetches our slippers?  Maybe the only reason we care is that one is humanized and the other is a metal box?  Heck, do we care more for the plight of an android that looks like a demure young woman than an android that looks like a stripper?

Alex + Ada #1 – Review

By: Jonathan Luna (story, script, illustration, letters) and Sarah Vaughn (story, script)

The Story: In a technological near-future, a young man named Alex is given an android named Ada.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): I’m very glad I bought this comic.  Even though I’ve never loved previous comics from the Luna Brothers, I decided to give this a try and see what happens.

It turns out that what Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn have created is a wonderful and classically-themed science-fiction story.  The sci-fi genre can get a bad rap sometimes, but it is almost without peer in its ability to make readers consider real-life social problems from a different point of view.  Sometimes just hitting us the in face with a story about slavery or exploitation would be blunt and direct, but when you use sci-fi to give us a glancing blow we actually think about what it all means.

The story set-up is pretty basic.  It is set in the near-future where day-to-day life is still mostly recognizable.  There are no spaceships; there is no traveling to terraformed Mars.  It’s just the same stuff we do every day, but with slightly better technology.  We meet Alex (the protagonist) and see him using this technology.  Basically, he has the uber smart house.  Everything is wired to react to his thoughts.  Nowadays, we can wire our homes to do most of these things, but we have to get out our smartphones to control the lights or coffee pot.  Alex just thinks “Lights” and the lights turn off/on.  We also meet some of Alex’s co-workers and learn that not everyone has this technology implanted in their brains.  In fact, lots of people are still managing household appliances the old-fashioned way and expressing mild concern for their friends who are too sucked in by technology.  We also learn that technology is starting to become sentient.  The AI isn’t at Terminator-levels, but it is becoming aware and isn’t always happy with the humans.  And we meet Alex’s grandmother who doesn’t have the thought-reading technology in her head, but has bought an android sex toy/household servant (Daniel).  Finally, along the way, we follow Alex’s sad love life: He’s been broken up with the girl of his dreams for a few months and just cannot get it into gear with the ladies.