Infinite Vacation #2 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Christian Ward (art) & Kendall Bruns (photography)

The Story: While learning more about an apparent conspiracy to kill lots of Matts (from multiple universes), Matt also explores some of the ethics and lifestyle choices that this reality-hopping causes.

What’s Good: This comic is at its best when it is exploring the power of choice in a person’s life.  Remember the basic premise for Infinite Vacation: A tech company has developed a way to allow you to trade your consciousness with another “you” from a parallel universe for a cash fee.  Didn’t get the grade you wanted on a test?  Did the hot girl at the bar fail to fall for your pick-up line?  Well, there is another “you” who got an A or went home with the hot girl and they would be willing to trade places with you for a price.  The main “Matt” in the story is one of the greatest users of the Infinite Vacation but has met an attractive young lady who disdains the technology.

About halfway through the issue, we get a lengthy explanation of why this young lady doesn’t like the technology and that segment is really well done.  I won’t spoil her rationale and experience, but this issue really shines when it focuses on happiness and self-esteem and how much of those things you can really have when you’re just buying your way into better circumstances.  This leads to some interesting thoughts that I’ll put in the comments section (because I don’t think they really belong in the review itself), but the point is that this comic will cause you to think about stuff.  How many writers are good enough to create comics that can do that?

Christian Ward’s art is pretty good too.  It isn’t the kind of art where the raw linework just jumps out and grabs you by the throat, but his overall sense of graphic design is really strong in terms of panel and page construction or the colors he is using.  A few of the panels in here are really something to look at.

Infinite Vacation #1 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (script/story), Christian Ward (art/story), Kendall Bruns (photography), Jeff Powell (letters), Tim Daniel (design) & Jade Dodge (edits)

The Story: What if you could always buy your way out of your current reality by swapping with another you from an alternate universe?

What’s Good: What a cool concept!  From the solicits for this issue, I had in my mind some kind of Total Recall story where you could have your memories imprinted with any sort of artificial experience and it would feel as if you actually had done/accomplished the event.  I should have known that Nick Spencer was a little too imaginative and hip to just retread an old Governator movie.  I don’t think it’s too big of a spoiler to reveal the central theme for you here because it’s kinda central to the whole story.

If you’re at all familiar with the concept of parallel or alternate universes, one of the theories is that everything that can happen, has happened.  There is an alternate universe where you are the President of the USA, where you hooked up with Ms. Universe or where you have Russian oil baron wealth.  Of course, there is also a reality where you are raped in prison, homeless or dead (many realities where you are dead, actually).  Spencer and Ward’s concept is: what if you had an iPhone app that communicated with these other yous and allowed you to swap realities for a fee?  It is kind of a hybrid between eBay and the old types of commodity trading that Enron used to do.  Did you forget your wife’s birthday?  For $5000 you can swap realities with another you where you didn’t forget.  That kinda thing…

This tosses out all sorts of really cool possibilities.  Such as how does one feel self-esteem when a better life is merely a question of money?  When do you have “enough” happiness and stop trying to trade up?  What is the price tag on your own happiness?  Would you sell it to another you?  What are you willing to do to avoid death?  How can the other “yous” be you if they’re wiling to sell some happiness to you for a fee?  Shouldn’t they want to keep it if they’re really “you”?  This series promises to explore those types of questions, especially when our protagonist, Mark, meets someone who isn’t fully down with reality swapping.  If you’re into high-concept sci-fi this is a must read.