The Infinity Particle

In this gorgeous graphic novel by Wendy Xu, a young inventor falls for a lifelike AI robot and confronts questions of freedom and autonomy.

The publisher's summary:

Clementine Chang moves from Earth to Mars for a new start and is lucky enough to land her dream job with Dr. Marcella Lin, an Artificial Intelligence pioneer. On her first day of work, Clem meets Dr. Lin’s assistant, a humanoid AI named Kye. Clem is no stranger to robots—she built herself a cute moth-shaped companion named SENA. Still, there’s something about Kye that feels almost too human.

When Clem and Kye begin to collaborate, their chemistry sets off sparks. The only downside? Dr. Lin is enraged by Kye’s growing independence and won’t allow him more freedom. Plus, their relationship throws into question everything Clem thought she knew about AI. After all, if Kye is sentient enough to have feelings, shouldn’t he be able to control his own actions? Where is the line between AI and human? As her past and Kye’s future weigh down on her, Clem becomes determined to help him break free—even if it means risking everything she came to Mars for.

The plot premise is timely. We are just beginning to discuss the challenges AI poses as well as how it can be used to improve life on Earth. In this story, the author had secondary characters that were Asian, Muslim, disabled, African and white. She covered most of the protected classes! There was only one male character and he is the AI created robot that Clem fell in love with. All the inventors were women.

Clem had disagreements with Kye's creator Marcella concerning whether robots are their own people who should be treated with respect and allowed to have their own thoughts and interests. Marcella I was not happy about the romance between Clem and Kye. I  loved that one strip showed a character walking down a staircase and another person in a wheelchair using an adjacent ramp. None of the characters suffered any discrimination on Mars but they did talk about the challenges of life on Earth.

The art in this book is breathtaking and really pops in its minimal blue color palette. The pace was nice and fast but I expected that the plot would be more sci-fi with discussion on creating AI creatures. However, it was predominantly a romance story. That part was a disappointment to me. 

The novel was entertaining and a relaxing read. I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

Arca

In this dystopian comic thriller, planet earth is burning up but the rich and powerful have a plan to save humankind. When society fell apart, a select group of billionaires had an escape hatch: a rocket aimed at the nearest habitable planet, a ship equipped with many of the luxuries of life on Earth—why survive if you can’t survive in style? Their every need is tended to by teenagers who are willing to act as slaves in return for the promise of a new life. This is a good story. But, like so many stories, it is not true. Inside a great, sealed survival chamber, one slave, a teenage girl named Persephone, discovers that the promised future of comfort is a myth. And with that knowledge, she must fight for her survival against the billionaires, who would gladly kill her to protect the hidden truth.

Arca is an entertaining story with a fast pace and plenty of twists. Our heroine Effie, nickname of Persephone, has three months left serving the rich inhabitants of Arca before graduating to a Citizen when she turns 18.  As a Citizen, she will be served instead of serving. She begins training her replacement but begins to wonder why she has never seen on the ship any Settlers who have graduated. Effie knows she can't ask too many questions to her superiors but discusses the issue with her Settler friends. They have been told that the spaceship is heading for Eden and that it has been flying in space for several decades.  Effie finds proof that the spaceship has been traveling for 157 years and secretly starts looking for where these graduated Settlers are living on the ship. She is constantly being monitored and this makes her quest dangerous. Effie would be severely punished, maybe killed, for her efforts to find the answers to her questions. 

Arca is a page turner and even though it is a graphic novel, I recommend it for all readers.  It has an extensive plot that many will enjoy. 5 out of 5 stars.

.Self

.Self (pronounced dot self) is one of the newest Comixology Originals limited series comics. It is a science fiction story that imagines what would happen if a piece of technology made a bootleg copy of your entire life and then showed up on your doorstep. Further imagine what would happen if someone hacked into that technology and made additional copies of you and sent them out into the world to pursue different life paths that you did not take.  This is what you get with .Self.

The story begins with Natalie Winters living a comfortable life in Seattle with her husband and a robot vacuum that she treats like a pet. Because her husband is a techie, Natalie has an account with Postscript, a service designed to allow people a sense of closure after death. Postscript gives people an opportunity to preserve themselves for one last visit with loved ones and works easily. All you have to do is swallow a capsule and Postscript begins logging your social media presence, your memories and everything else and saves it in a blank body. Upon your death, Postscript will give you 48 hours of an extra life to sort things out with your family and friends.  Our heroine Natalie discovers that her Postscript account has been hacked and is confronted by several blank bodies who think that they are her. In an effort to destroy Postscript Natalie smashes the device but she soon realizes that she has to find the uninstall pill to stop it.

The premise for this plot is phenomenal. Who would have ever thought about backing up your self onto a hard drive? Cartoonist Christopher Sebela! The Natalie character is a tough woman who can physically fight anyone. However, she is overwhelmed and angry from the angles that her blank bodies have taken. She soon receives many emails from friends and relatives asking her to explain herself but Natalie does not know what they are talking about. Her husband Simon is too busy with his medical practice to help her. He is really a secondary character in the story with Natalie and her additional bodies taking center stage.

.Self will be a 5 issue comic.  I have read the first and second issues, which were published in November and December 2021 respectively. I suppose that issue 3 will come out this month but I have not heard anything about it. In an interview between the author and syfy.com Sebela stated that the story will continue with Natalie's Postscript account being further hacked and the bodies of several different Blanks being uploaded to it, causing her more confusion. 

5 out of 5 stars.