UXB

by Colin Lorimer, Various (Illustrator)

In a shattered future London, three brothers grafted to powerful "lifesuits" squat in Buckingham Palace and load up on movies, video games, and porn. But when the city's scavengers rise against them, the brothers discover their suits aren't just for survival. Will they save the future... or bollocks it? Includes UXB stories from Dark Horse Presents, and loads of never-before-seen story material. * A dark, dystopian, post-apocalyptic tale. "Amazing art and witty dialog." —BAMFAS

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2013

About the author

COLIN LORIMER is a comic book writer and artist. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book The Hunt (Image Comics), and UXB (Dark Horse) and has co-created and worked on quite a few other properties including, The X-Files, Harvest, Hellraiser, Curse, and The Prisoner. His latest book DAISY is out now from Dark Horse Comics.

Colin is also an illustrator, conceptual artist, and award-winning story artist for film and television. Projects would include Jame's Gunn's Peacemaker, The Last of Us, Hestrom, The Stand, 50 States of Fear, Riverdale, The Exorcist, Alpha, Light of my Life, Timmy Failure, Flora and Ulysses, Peter Pan and Wendy, and many more.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

UXB's story is a very UK thing - dark, crass, sometimes juvenile, infused with a punk aesthetic, exposition heavy in its last chapter. Does it all work, does it coalesce? No, it does not. But the art is quite brilliant.

[Otherwyrld · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure that the people who like this graphic novel will use words like edgy, dark and gritty to describe it. Well, I didn't like this story, and I'm going to use words like nasty, misogynistic, homophobic and (whatever word you use to describe someone who hates disabled people).

The story revolves around three teenage boys who are sealed in an underground bunker by their ultra-wealthy and paranoid father while the world is being destroyed above their heads. He uses his extreme wealth to develop a life suit which is designed to protect them from all harm, whilst eliminating the need for basic functions such as eating and excreting. The boys do what all ultra rich boys tend to do - lounge around expending useless energy and being nasty to the hired help. A few early tests on the suits go disastrously wrong but the boys are persuaded to finally put on the suits when one of the servants children, who has been crippled by a tumour on her spine, puts on the suit first. Determined not to be outdone, the boys also put on the suits, only to find that they have to be grafted on to their bodies and cannot be removed. Circumstances cause them to have to leave their underground bunker to rejoin the shattered world above.

So what do they do? Well, being ultra-rich teenage boys, they doss in Buckingham Palace, use the remaining servants as racehorses, and basically treat everyone like crap. Their only problem is that the life suits they wear seals off their genitalia, otherwise I'm sure we would have been treated to a few rape scenes as well. Of the three brothers the worst by far is George, who is a psychopath. Muc is meant to be the sympathetic one, but he mostly comes across as just weak. The narrator is Wilfred Aka Das Bombast (no idea why) but he is so removed from reality that he sees everything through the lenses of the films he loves.

Their cosy little dystopia is disturbed by the return of Suzie, the servant girl who they thought was dead but who turns out was something else entirely. It seems that everything they thought they knew was a lie, and in order to survive they have to destroy Suzie, or at least was she has now become. I won't try to describe the twist at all, because it really didn't make a lot of sense. In the end they succeed and decide to return to the bunker, not realising that they haven't quite finished the job. And ... that's it. There are no consequences to their deeds, no indication that they have learned anything or grown as a result of their experiences, nothing to recommend continuing to read any sequel to this story. Just three overgrown kids who get to act out all their nastiest fantasies, which we get to share with them.

So, really not something I enjoyed, but if you go for edgy, dark and gritty, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and why is it called UXB? Sorry, no idea.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin Lorimer continues to create original stories with his book, UXB. In it post-apocalyptic survivors live in a decimated world, aided with specially crafted suits that grant them extraordinary abilities. Be warned, this is not a group of people that are super heroes out to do good. This is not that kind of story. Think more along the lines of self-interested teenagers given power and you will be closer to the mark. I should also note, there are twists a plenty in this story, right down to the last panel.

I enjoyed this read. As with his other work, Colin displays his trademark art and moody atmosphere to terrific effect. He has this neat ability to display dark and moody in a brightly lit room. I don't know how he does it, he just does it. It helps set the tone for this story and once I read it, I realized how perfect it was.

There is some gore in this book, and some horribly violent acts, but they are in now way gratuitous and serve the tale's impact. If you want a dark original tale that will keep you engrossed, look no further.

[Conor Mcm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed UXB. Its a great story with a wickedly dark sense of humour. The artwork is fantastic, and worth looking at for that alone.

[Linda Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this book.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic and gory. Like unnecessarily so.