What I Bought 8/31/2019 - Part 3

It's been in the 90s here basically all week. I hope this is summer's last gasp, I would like to actual have autumn this year. OK, let's wrap up the stuff from August with the second and third issues of Test.

Test #2 and 3, by Christopher Sebela (writer), Jen Hickman (artist), Harry Saxon (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - Lost in the weeds, which is about how I felt after reading these two issues.

Aleph is in over their head, because everybody wants something from them. The Resistance wants him to help them undo the future that's infiltrated their town, because they want things back the way they used to be. But they can't or won't disguise their underlying contempt for Aleph (and Aleph's generation in general), and so Aleph escapes them. Only to cross paths with the Repo guys, who are actually waiting for Aleph and all the various implants to give out under the stress. 'Damage is how we get our best data.' The local gendarmes are bit more than the Repo guys were counting on, though.

Which brings Aleph to Bob and his mother, Lenore, who run the town. They want Aleph on board, and they're externally a lot nicer about it, while trying to put a higher spin on the whole thing. Yes, there's buttloads of cash to be made, but this about preparing humanity for the future. What kind of future, and whether it's one better off averted isn't addressed. And after all that, with the Repos still after them, and the suits or whatever they are watching from behind the mirrors, Aleph falls down a rabbit hole and meets a bunch of other people who got lost in the shuffle somewhere. And all they want, is for him to tell them what to do.

Yeah, the bit at the end lost me entirely. Part of me thinks the one making speeches at Aleph is some future version of Aleph, waiting impatiently for their past self to get a clue. But I don't think Sebela's going for something that trite. There's a whole thing about Aleph having spent a lot of time being observed by people behind mirrors, but those people are in turn being observed by someone else behind another mirror, and those people are being observed, ad infinitum. Except eventually you have to find someone far enough up the chain there's no one looking over their shoulder, right?

The part where Aleph's wandering the world behind mirrors, even if I don't understand half of what everyone's going on about, it looked interesting. A void that gradually resolves itself into a maze. Doors with bar codes on them that open to allow vaguely shaped lumps with luminous empty eyes to emerge. I don't know if those are supposed to be Aleph's memories, or some residual trace of some other test subjects who didn't survive as long as Aleph, but it makes for a nice visual. It's the place where Aleph drops this act about how they've always been in control, always been manipulating these people who thought Aleph was only a lab rat, how Aleph just watches everything dispassionately to find the loopholes and the weak points to exploit. There aren't any of those to exploit in that maze, though, so Aleph can't keep telling themselves that.

Hickman provides a lot of different visuals, for all the different pieces. The Resistance operate out of a rundown, ramshackle place, but it probably doesn't have anything that could spy on them. But they also think Aleph's blood is a weapon, like he was crossbred with something out of Alien. Bob and Lenore live in what's outwardly an ordinary 2-story house, until the walls start shifting and coming to life, reaching out to touch someone, or threaten them if they won't sign the contract. The Repo guys brandish contracts above their heads like a badge or club.

There's a lot of pieces, and I don't think I'm at all close to figuring them out, but we'll see. I really want to see if this comes together and pays off at the end.