The One Hand and The Six Fingers

by Ram V, Dan Watters, Laurence Campbell (Artist)

The One Hand tells the story of Neo Novena detective, Ari Nasser―a grizzled homicide detective who’s about to retire with an enviable record, until a brutal murder occurs bearing all the hallmarks of the 'One Hand Killer'… which should be impossible since Ari already put him away not once but twice in years past.

In The Six Fingers, Neo Novena archaeology student, Johannes Vale has always been so very in control of his life. But when he commits a brutal murder using the M.O. of an historic and notorious serial killer, everything begins to spiral out of control… and Johannes doesn’t remember doing it.

What follows is a deadly cat-and-mouse game told through two intertwined narratives. Both men will stop at nothing to unravel the secrets and ciphers of this case- but each revelation only leads further into the dark heart of this future-metropolis.

For fans of Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Black Mirror, The One Hand and The Six Fingers is a thrilling graphic novel that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Two of the hottest writers in comics―Ram V and Dan Watters―have teamed up with artists Laurence Campbell and Sumit Kumar—to tell the most unique crime thriller, now collected in the manner it was intended to be read in―with the miniseries issues as alternating chapters!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Fiction, Crime

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 24, 2024

About the author

Ram V (Ramnarayan Venkatesan) is an author and comic book writer from Mumbai, India. His comics career began in 2012 with the award-nominated Indian comic series, Aghori. A graduate of the City University of London’s Creative Writing MA, he has since created the critically acclaimed Black Mumba and the fantasy adventure series, Brigands.

Reviews

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me of Blade Runnerwith a bit of the Matrix sprinkled in.

[Dona's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This one is from my Libby hold list. Digital copies, not physical."

more to come.

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's dark and gritty.

Detective Ari Nassar is ready to retire, but the “One Hand Killer” strikes again - even though Ari caught him (and jailed) twice. Meanwhile, grad student Johannes Vale commits a brutal murder using the killer’s exact methods but can’t remember doing it.

I would describe it as part gritty noir, part philosophical sci-fi, and part dystopia. I especially enjoyed how both stories connected. Interestingly, each has a different artist - Laurence Campbell’s shadow-drenched panels fit well Ari’s investigation, and Sumit Kumar’s frenetic, unrestrained art nails Johannes’ descent into madness.

The ending doesn’t hit as hard as the setup, but I liked the intense ride. Cryptic symbols, moral dilemmas, and a crumbling future city kept me hooked. Fans of Blade Runner or Black Mirror should enjoy this bleak, thought-provoking story.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea is great. One story is about a detective hunting a killer. The other guy is mutating and grows another finger. The detective believes the killer has six fingers. DUN DUN DUN! The hunt is on. It's a nice idea, but the stuffed story feels slow burned despite only being 5 issues for each series. I didn't get that invested in any character in the series, they feel like they're just there to push the plot. The plot itself is solid enough with a nice twist and questioning things by the end but overall it's just not "great" that I hoped for.

[Sanpaku · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10.
Complex, gritty, pseud.
"What does it look like? From here... inside the cages... this language of God?"

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This follows Detective Ari Nassar and prospective archaelogist Johannes Vale as they become entwined in the mystery of the One Hand Killer - except Ari put the guy away already. Twice. What follows is a Blade Runner-esque look at the nature of life and humanity, and the inevitablity of fighting against what you know you're always going to be, with a conclusion that had me sighing for all the right reasons.

Superb art from both sides, though I preferred Campbell's on The One Hand over Kumar's on The Six Fingers just for style.

I can't imagine reading only one half of this story. The fact that it was originally presented as two mini-series without any reference to one another is insane to me. Recommended indeed, especially in this format.

[Xroldx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally loved this homage to Blade Runner and other scifi crime noirs. To me some of the best Ram V stuff so far.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blade Runner meets Se7en but it can’t really get out from under the weight of cop tropes.

[Tom LA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another good work by Ram V (and others), although weaker than usual. The drawings are ok, although not for me: they feel too detached, impersonal, looking like photocopies of pictures with a bit of drawing on top. Unfortunately, the story is too stretched out and relies too much on the final explanation. I didn’t find the first 70% of the book gripping.

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

A homicide detective investigates a serial killer identical to one he caught twenty years earlier, and another twenty years before that. Copycats, except there's no way they could know the M.O. of the killer they're copying. Set 800 years from now but the only nod to technology beyond ours is the existence of "cogs", humanoid robots.

This is one of the most interesting story presentations I've ever seen: two different writer/illustrator teams, two titles, but it's the same story, once told from the detective's POV and once from that of the killer. And both teams are well up to the task. I dig the gritty, Blade Runner inspired setting and illustration, the odd but coherent panel choices, the design of the crime scenes and killer's cryptic writing.

The mystery goes on rather too long, I felt, treading water and repeating its mysterious hints. Ten issues that could have been six or eight. But when it finally gets to the point, it's worth the wait.

SPOILER


It's The Matrix, albeit in meatspace. The city is even called Neo Novina.

After humanity achieved machine singularity, life was grand for a while as machines did all our work. But people started committing suicide en masse because humans crave meaning. So Neo Novina was created to give purpose to those who needed it. (And that was another hint, a killer reading Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited, in which a suicidal man discusses the pointlessness of life if everything ends anyway.)

The cryptic boxy script was a self-generated machine language being written in real time that would allow the cogs to communicate with the system and each other. When enough time had passed, enough "victims" killed and enough code written, the cogs become self-aware and destroy themselves, as their only function had been to do repetitive tasks that create the illusion of a real city for its ignorant human inhabitants. (More hints: repeated visual references to a dippy bird and a Newton's cradle, desk toys (you'll know 'em when you see 'em) that iterate the same motions over and over and over...)

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one really disappointed me. I love Ram V and his style of dark poetic writing just hits when he has the right artist and I felt like this would be a great neo-noir crime thriller but it ends up being a bit of a weak imitation of the matrix.

I just didn’t like the twist of the cyborgs having their own reality and humans kind of stuck in this rat maze world. It just felt like it could’ve said a lot more but it didn’t, each time we got back to the six finger mutant I liked the story less and less.

It’s worth the read and I want to support Ram V but this is weaker than his regular work.

[Kanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to chew on things. I am deliberate, industrious. I don't mind repetition or a little pain.

As long as it gets me somewhere.

I like that with Ram V every book is a totally different experience - not just with the storytelling but also the illustrations. The One Hand has been interesting, engaging and irritating. The artwork was so unusual, and probably in a good way it stays back in your mind even after finishing the book. And yes, I look forward to my next Ram V read.

Why did ancient humanity build towards the stars?

Why do our brains gravitate towards certain shapes or patterns regardless of cultural influence?

What was X's motivation to do Y?

[Terese Ess · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ★ This comic seriously had me hooked from the first few pages! The writing is fantastic and I love the artstyle. Murder mystery and noir has really been done to death (pun intended), but this one still managed to excite me and keep me wanting more. I couldn’t put it down.

I was prepared to give this a perfect, 10/10, 5/5 score, but without spoiling, there was a trope towards the end/reveal that I felt like I’ve seen a bit much of lately, but I can live with it since the story and pacing and everything else was so good!

Totally recommend if you’re a fan of noir, murder mysteries, dark/existential shit!

Solid 4.5/5

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great futuristic noir with Matrix-y touches. Quite different from any other graphic novel I've read.

[haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is two stories combined, The One Hand (Ari’s pov) and The Six Fingers (Johannes pov) and I really enjoyed reading from both! A great sci-fi/mystery with awesome artwork and a 🤯 ending.

[Alex Sarll]

Two interlocking miniseries by distinct creative teams – though obviously ones working quite closely together, and I doubt it would have come off if Ram V and Dan Watters hadn't already established quite a rapport over the years. V writes The One Hand, the story of a detective nearing retirement (because of course he is), famous for putting away the One Hand Killer and then, years later, his copycat. Except now the killings have started again, right down to the uncrackable code on the walls of the crime scenes. Laurence Campbell's art is impeccably noir, occasional Metropolis machines and slightly too perfect androids the main deviations from a world Sam Spade would recognise. On Watters' Six Fingers, Sumit Kumar goes for a slightly more cartoony look, which reminded me at times of Invincible, and on which I wasn't as sold, though I could see the logic of leaning a little less thoroughly genre look, given we're following someone not so fully enmeshed in that world, a would-be archaeologist stuck in a dead-end job who starts to suspect he may, unwittingly, be the killer. Theoretically you could read either by itself, but I doubt many did, and this collection interleaves them in what seems far the most sensible manner, gradually letting us in on the real story that exists in the gaps between the two*. It was publicised as a crime comic (or two) to the extent that I was thrown by – and then had reservations about – the first issue's 2873 dateline. That did make sense in the end, but really the problem is that the best comparisons give the game away, which is also why I've hived them off in a footnote here. Suffice to say, this lives up to them.

*SPOILER: essentially Dark City by way of Westworld, informed by a very depressing response to David Graeber.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overambitious, but ultimately satisfying. This package contains two interwoven tales: The One Hand, featuring a detective looking into grisly murders linked to a case he thought he closed, and The Six Fingers, featuring a deadbeat archaeology student who gets swept up into something he can't understand. The mystery elements are terrific, extremely noir and enhanced by the artwork. The sci-fi elements are, at first, barely noticeable... until the head-spinning conclusion.

I guess it's a mix of Seven and The Matrix? Either way, I'll take it.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a really interesting premise and I was hooked at the beginning. Unfortunately, I don't think the book lived up to my expectations. If it had been a straight up detective story with perspectives from the investigator and perpetrator, I think I would have liked it more. There were a lot of other elements that were added that I felt detracted from the main story. The gimmick of having two teams work on different perspectives of the same story is interesting, but I'm not sure how much it was necessary.
Read for a graphic novel book club

[Justina · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a story! I loved how the two comics were intertwined with each other, the story telling was different from the norm, shifting from the perspective of the detective to that of the killer.
Really interesting presentation, beautiful art style, and a very captivating story that keeps you wondering, and a little bit frightened afterwards.
*Are* we just cogs?

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG SISYPHE MENTIONNED !! je pense que j'ai malheureusement pas compris toutes les subtilités de l'histoire et ça demanderait une relecture. Un récit INCROYABLE ?

[Gabriel Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bem interessante, uma mistura de matrix com blade runner com westworld da HBO, fala muito sobre a natureza humana e o relacionamento com as IAs e a natureza (?) delas.

[Matt Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hesitant going into this because I’m not a huge fan of Ram V’s writing. But the premise was too intriguing for me to pass up.
That premise being, in a futuristic city of Neo Novena someone is killing people in the same style as a killer that was caught twice before. This is actually 2 different series that were interwoven. The One Hand follows the detective investigating the murders and the Six Fingers follows the killer. 

Not going to bury the lead, I loved this book. It was super interesting and the pacing was done really well considering V and Waters were trading writing duties every other issue. 

When the big mystery gets solved it was very satisfying and I did not see it coming at all.
It’s very reminiscent of Blade Runner with a bit of the Matrix. Highly recommend.

[Rom Mojica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a book club that I ultimately didn't go to because my spouse was recovering from surgery that day.

Really had no idea what this one was going to be, and thought it was a pretty good mystery at first, partially because it fits into a thing that's been coming up in some media I've been enjoying recently: we caught the killer, with incontrovertible proof it was them, we put them away, but now there are killings happening again... and so what is going on. Were they wrong? Are there copycats? Or is there something else going on....?

And I was like oh cool I love a noir and then the book is like "2200 AD" or some shit and the quotes on the cover mention like it being cyberpunk and I was like wtf where is this going and how is it going to like, bring any of these elements in? Because for a long time the book doesn't really show its hand with its future setting; there's the power plant being weird, there's robots, but it doesn't feel like it's doing particularly much with it. The city, for example, doesn't feel like a character in any way - it's an anonymous megalopolis, where it's always raining like a cliched noir. But in a sense that's also a really important part of it. It's just, Anywhere, USA, with towering buildings and people who can't afford to live there but find a way to do so anyways.

But it really comes together in ways I couldn't have expected. First though I do want to say that I really appreciate the form the collection takes, where it alters the stories of the detective and the killer, sometimes with scenes playing out from both perspectives. Which is really well done, especially because it will create a mystery for one that is at least somewhat explained in the next - and if not fully explained, it does at least give enough mystery to make you want to see what happens next. How is he in the walls? How can they talk? What is with the strange language all over the walls...?

I like the ending and what it answers but I find myself still kind of scratching my brain about What It's All About. There's a way that suggests that like, it's a future where AI and robots take over and a lot of people are ok with that but there's still a grip of folks who aren't happy with it. And I guess I wonder what this really suggests here: are these people supposed to be like, "more" human, in that a robot can't replace them, in that they still feel the urge to be doing something, to find some kind of fulfilment? Or are they somehow "lesser" because in the end the things they find that make them human, the things that make them feel like they've achieved purpose, tend to be meaningless, endless, tasks and jobs? The reveal that Johannes' power plant is all storage areas - that there's no actual power being made here, they just clock in and move stuff and clock out and then someone else clocks in and moves stuff and then clocks out and then over and over, is really wild, but it's what he gets up for every day. Is this "purpose"? Clearly not for him; he has other things that start to occupy his mind. But is it purpose for his coworkers? If you took this job away from them tomorrow and told them they never had to work again, what would they do? Would it drive them crazy? Would they want to come back? Is this dangerous work that could mutate and kill them really that much better than the option of being in a society where humans don't HAVE to work?

We'll never know and they'll never know and even Johannes, uncovering the language that's developed in secret between them, will never know either. He found something else, something deeper. But I guess my most lingering question at the end of this is: to what end though? What does that get him, or anyone? The last thing we see is a bunch of people (or cogs?) jumping off of buildings. But if it's people, they're not all affected, as Ada doesn't seem to even have a clue what's going on. But if it's cogs, then whose language is it really then? A secret language of the better cogs?

So that's where I'm coming down on is that I think the ending kind of raised more questions for me than it answered, in a way that makes me wish there was just.... one more issue. A fallout issue. Because it ends in a way that doesn't feel like the story is over, or even that the story has just begun. It feels like it ends at a moment where we see the climax beginning and we don't get to see where it will go.

It also feels like a small run at stuff that was covered in like The Matrix Reloaded and the idea the Architect puts forth that people rejected the perfection of the first Matrix, so they had to make it less perfect; they also rejected being forced into it, but would be ok with it if they were given a choice, even if they didn't know they had been given one. This city seems like it exists within that same discussion, but adds some wrinkles that I think have me a little confounded, I suppose. Like, again. If this is a city for people who would basically kill themselves if they didn't have purpose, you mean to tell me that someone's purpose is.... owner of a brothel? Or, again, lowest rung employee at a power plant? I suppose if we extrapolate it there's some sense. The brothel owner is bringing pleasure. The power plant workers can feel like they're doing good by bringing power to the world. I suppose I'd just say that in the end, humans are complicated. Like I could say "well why wouldn't you just give them better jobs then though" but some people find the physical labor important - I know that even though I have a good and well paying job, there's times I yearn for one that would have more for me to do with my hands and body.

I dunno I'm doing that thing where I ask a bunch of questions and I know that some of them are meant for me to ask and some of them aren't and it's not really worth going into which is which. It's a cool and interesting collection though and I like the mystery overall. Hell I like the ending overall even if I have some questions about it, but I think that's good. I don't think any of them are like "plot holes", a concept that I think is fake, but I think it's like, maybe it is good that I'm wondering about one's "purpose in life." How that comes into play, how it's tied into labor so often, how we might react to be suddenly without that labor while our purpose still doesn't seem fulfilled. I guess I'd like to think that people would find other, real purposes if they ever had an opportunity to not have to work. But it's just so baked into us that our labor is our worth that there will always be people who can't really work without that.

This review is kinda spiraling but I think that's what the ending does for it. It sets you spiraling. There may not be an answer but there's contemplation until you find your own answer. Catch me any day of the week and I'll probably have different thoughts on this. The one thing I know is: it's probably bad to turn people into Skinner box experiments without them knowing. The image of all the grounded planes, the fact that the people on them are just being implanted with new memories, is scary. It's a killer image. It works! And I think ultimately a lot of this works. It does raise questions but I think they're really there for us to chew on. And clearly I have been chewing on them. Monch monch monch. Delicious.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too Blade Runner and Matrix for me. The future is bleak, but so is the present. There were no good old days for the most part.

Dystopia isn't science fiction anymore.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this was a bit of a confusing read. I think all of the creators involved in the project set out to create a unique story. On the plus side The Six Fingers does give a reader something to think about in regards to how we controlled by a/the system and where free will ends (or perhaps where the limits are placed on it).

The One Hand is arguably about the return of a serial killer, and the mysterious coded message he always leaves behind. The detective who thought this had become a cold case is brought back in when the killer strikes again.

The intent was for both stories to run at first parallel and then dovetail into each other. By the end of Six Fingers I would agree this happens. It is that the societal commentary ( brought back memoires of Orwell and Huxley for me) was a little rough in execution.

I would suggest this for those who are ready to start with the entertainment end of a read before it becomes a though provoking question about society and the herding of humans.

[Henry Fosdike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story where you read the detective's point of view and then the killer's seems interesting and you'd be right, especially for the first half as the reader is treated to numerous questions and intriguing asides. Alas, the second half can't live up to this opening and the result is, if not mundane and confusing, something we've all seen before in classic sci-fi movies, though done in a way that causes more unanswered questions (amid cool visuals, admittedly). Ultimately, this is a beautifully illustrated tale and an interesting idea that unfortunately fails to stick the landing. Definitely enjoyed the journey though.

[Dan Cassino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done, with a nice twist, but waaaay too dark for me tastes.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detective Ari Nassar is about to retire having successfully caught the same serial killer twice - hold the phone, the same serial killer’s struck again? Looks like retirement’s out of the question for old Ari as he sets out to capture the One Hand Killer for a third(!) time.

Meanwhile, Johannes Vale is a grad student obsessed with his missing dad - and he’s also secretly the One Hand Killer?! (Not a spoiler by the way - you find this out almost as soon as he’s introduced at the start) The two go head to head in a tense cat and mouse game that’ll have them both questioning their connections to one another and reality itself.

I’m not a fan of either Ram V or Dan Watters’ writing but both have gotten better over the years to the point where this bumper (it’s 10 issues long) sci-fi crime comic was actually pretty decent. The first half is vastly better than the second, mostly because the answers we’re given and the plot in the latter half are both lacklustre and uninspired, but I still thought that The One Hand and The Six Fingers was ok.

The comic feels quite derivative throughout. I won’t namecheck the movies that came to mind as I was reading this as it’ll give too much away about what to expect - particularly regarding the ending - but if you’ve seen the most famous sci-fi movies of the last half century then you’ll definitely recognise various plot elements as lifted from them.

The format of the book is interesting. The One Hand is written and drawn by Ram V and Laurence Campbell and The Six Fingers by Dan Watters and Sumit Kumar. Both storylines are five issues long, and the book is structured so that you get the issues overlapping - first one by one creative team, then one by the other, and so on - which in turn shows you the storyline from the perspectives of the two protagonists as well as cleverly mirroring the two characters’ fraught connection in the way the story is presented.

I definitely enjoyed Ram V/Laurence Campbell’s side of the book much more than the other. Ram’s writing is more compelling and Campbell’s haunting art is superb - I always enjoyed his contributions to the Mignola-verse in the various titles he worked on over at Dark Horse and his art remains top quality here. I don’t think Watters/Kumar’s part added much to the overall story despite having the racier angle, and Kumar’s art, while not bad, is too bright, whereas Campbell’s dark art perfectly matches the noir tone.

Part of what made me enjoy the first half more was the potential of what was being laid out. After the One Hand Killer dismembers his victims, he daubs cryptic symbols (that look like variations of the Transformers logo) onto the walls in the vic’s blood. What do the symbols mean? Why is he killing? Why is the One Hand Killer three different people? Factor in Johannes’ own mystery of the “arrowhead” his dad gave him, and the question of Ari’s disappeared mistress, and it all added up to a genuinely enthralling puzzler.

And then the second half, where momentum slows down and we’re presented with the underwhelming reveal. Endings don’t ruin stories - the first half is still good regardless of what follows - but it was disappointing that after those fascinating breadcrumbs leading up to it, all the writers had was a flat message and an ending reminiscent of blockbuster sci fi movies that everyone’s seen.

Though the story is set in the 29th century, both artists draw the future much as it looks now, (another clue as to what’s really going on) which makes the comic feel more like what it is: a contemporary crime comic rather than a sci-fi one, or even a hybrid of the two.

You can tell the creators have spent a lot of time thinking about this one. From the title, to the structure, to the little clues sprinkled throughout (the name of the city, a novel someone’s reading) - they clearly cared about this book. I think the ending would’ve been better if they’d chosen to tell the most imaginative narrative conclusion rather than go for that bleak wannabe-profound ending that appeared in so many ‘70s sci-fi films prior to Star Wars. Which, ironically, only makes it feel more unimpressive than not.

Uneven and ultimately a bit hollow, The One Hand and The Six Fingers definitely has its moments though with a few good issues of solid writing and art - worth checking out for crime comics fans.

[Yoshiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

POPKULTUROWY KOCIOŁEK: Akcja komiksu rozgrywa się w Neo Novenie, futurystycznym mieście, w którym technologia splata się z przestępczością i moralną dwuznacznością. Głównym bohaterem jest Ari Nassar, doświadczony detektyw, który po latach służby planuje przejść na emeryturę. Jego plany zostają jednak pokrzyżowane przez serię brutalnych morderstw, których sprawca na miejscu zbrodni pozostawia charakterystyczny ślad. Sprawa ta od samego początku jest mocno skomplikowana i ewidentnie kryją się za nią mroczne tajemnice, mające również coś wspólnego z przeszłością detektywa i z niesławnym seryjnym mordercą, znanym jako Jednoręki.


Równolegle w scenariuszu poznajemy również Johannesa Vale’a, studenta archeologii, który jest wplątany w serię zbrodni. Jego losy krzyżują się z Nassarem, a ich spotkanie prowadzi do odkrycia mrocznych sekretów Neo Noveny.

Jednoręki i Sześć Palców to komiks, w którym teoretycznie mamy do czynienia z dwoma historiami (Jednoręki/Sześć palców). Każda z nich sprawdza się jako osobny byt, ale mają one również ze sobą wiele wspólnego, tworząc spójny tytuł, który naprawdę z czystym sumieniem można polecić dorosłym miłośnikom mocnych kryminałów noir, którzy przy okazji lubią otoczkę sci-fi.

Fabuła dzieła autorstwa Ram V (Jednoręki) i Dana Watters’a (Sześć Palców) jest od samego początku niezwykle intrygująca i pełna zwrotów akcji. Sprawia to, że czytelnik z napięciem śledzi losy bohaterów, próbując odkryć, kto stoi za serią morderstw i jakie tajemnice kryje miasto. Autorzy z niezwykłą umiejętnością budują tu napięcie, stopniowo odkrywając kolejne elementy układanki, a czytelnik zostaje wciągnięty w labirynt podejrzeń i niedomówień.

Przemyślane prowadzenie historii i niesamowity klimat to tylko jedne z zalet albumu. Na bardzo duże słowa uznania zasługują tu również bohaterowie. Ari Nassar to doświadczony detektyw, który zmaga się z własnymi demonami i przeszłością. Johannes Vale to młody człowiek, który traci kontrolę nad własnym życiem. Obaj bohaterowie są skonfliktowani i niejednoznaczni moralnie, co dodaje im realizmu i sprawia, że nikt i nic nie jest tu jednoznacznie dobre czy złe.

Jednoręki i Sześć Palców to jednak nie tylko kryminał, to również opowieść o kondycji ludzkiej w epoce technologii. Autorzy poruszają ważne tematy, takie jak tożsamość, pamięć, wolna wola i moralna odpowiedzialność. W kontekście futurystycznego miasta, w którym granice między człowiekiem a technologią zacierają się, pytania te nabierają szczególnego znaczenia. Komiks zmusza do refleksji nad tym, dokąd zmierza świat, w którym technologia rozwija się szybciej niż etyka, a człowiek staje się coraz bardziej zależny od maszyn. Czy w tym postępie, który obiecuje lepsze życie, nie zatracamy czegoś fundamentalnego, czegoś, co czyni nas ludźmi? Czy w pogoni za innowacjami nie zapominamy o wartościach, które są fundamentem naszego społeczeństwa?...

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/noir-...

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the far futuristic setting of Neo Novena, a detective on the cusp of retirement is pulled into an old case involving the "One Hand Killer", a notorious serial killer whose carnage has spanned decades. Told between two intertwining comic series, The One Hand and The Six Fingers, the story jumps between the perspectives of Detective Ari Nasser and an archaeologist graduate student named Johannes Vale. The two series spin a cat-and-mouse chase between Ari and the One Hand Killer, with each chapter providing new twists along the way.

Ram V and Laurence Campbell serve as writer and artist for The One Hand, while Dan Watters and Sumit Kumar take on The Six Fingers. Despite the different creative teams involved for the two series, the story flows pretty seamlessly across the intertwining issues. Indeed, it makes no sense to read one without reading the other since significant reveals that occur in one series impact the other. It's perhaps that aspect I found a little frustrating since it begs the question why bother with two separate five-issue series when this could have been one ten-issue title. The shifting perspectives matter less and less as the story progresses, and often just serve to repeat the same narrative beats again but from a slightly different angle.

The futuristic setting itself was a bit of a puzzling choice initially, but becomes more apparent why in later issues. Blade Runner is noted as a clear influence on the series and it is evident once the concept of "cogs" is elaborated on. It's a subversive choice that made the series quite more interesting as I read on, though I did feel the "cyberpunk" aesthetic was utterly subdued making the choice of setting feel a little too undercooked. Nonetheless, the mystery itself is solid and the tension ramps up nicely towards the end. There is repetitiveness at times, and I'm guessing it comes about from an assumption that some readers would only pick one title to read but I have to say this series would be quite confusing if not read in the correct issue release order.

It's a pretty trivial mystery thriller that fulfills some common tropes well, but Ram V and Watters execute at a fairly high level to make this enjoyable enough of a read. The artwork by Campbell and Kumar is mostly functional for what is needed even if the setting itself seems fairly understated for the proposed world-building laid out in the earlier issues.