Surviving The Future With Read Only Memories #1
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Detective Lexi Rivers is in the middle of an investigation. She was hired by the wife of Susan Okimura to see if Susan has been unfaithful. Lexi has gone undercover, pretending to be a reporter interviewing Okimura for research. The interview goes well, though it becomes apparent Okimura isn’t unfaithful–she’s just a narcissist. Lexi’s cover is almost blown by a robot that calls her by her real name. After the interview, Lexi goes home, and the robot finds her there. The robot’s name is Hedy and she’s looking for her missing significant other, John. Lexi is reluctant to help at first, but, after hearing Hedy’s case, she decides to help the AI.
In the backup story, Turing and TOMCAT clean out Hayden’s apartment and Turing grapples with how to express grief.
Read Only Memories #1 is a comic book continuation of the 2064: Read Only Memories video game by MidBoss. This is the part where I, as I often do it seems, must admit that I’ve not actually played the video game upon which the comic is based. Thankfully, familiarity with 2064’s story isn’t particularly necessary in following the main story of the comic.
Sina Grace and Stefano Simeone do a good job of introducing the reader to Lexi Rivers. Through her dialogue, narration, and body language, Read Only Memories #1 makes it plainly clear the kind of individual Lexi is. Her “interview” with Okimura is charming and entertaining.
The story that follows it with Hedy has a solid hook, and I’m left curious as to where it’s headed.
More knowledge about the story of Turing, TOMCAT, and Hayden would give me more context for the backup story to this issue, but it’s still an intensely, painfully relatable scenario where one can’t help but connect to Turing.
Simeone’s artwork in the main story is slick and is uniquely suited to the cyberpunk dystopia it depicts. The body language of Lexi is particularly strong, and the color palette is fantastic. Christina-Antoinette and Neofotistou’s 32-bit inspired art in the backup is quite good too, and its color palette is similarly explosive.
Read Only Memories #1 is a charming and grabbing first installment for this video game-inspired comic series. The characters of Lexi Rivers and Turing are vividly-depicted for even new initiates like myself. The stories are particularly intriguing, and the overall comic earns a recommendation. Check it out.
Read Only Memories #1 comes to us from writers Sina Grace and Mary Kenney, artists Stefano Simeone, Christina-Antoinette, and Neofotistou, letterer Christa Meisner, cover artist Stefano Simeone, and variant cover artists Christina-Antoinette with Neofotistou; and Kyle Smart.
Final Score: 8.5/10
