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The Fuse #2
Gridlock
They call it "Gridlocking"—maglev-bike races across the Fuse’s vast solar arrays. Fast, dangerous, and very illegal. So when the #1 gridlock racer turns up dead, Klem and Ralph begin their own race to catch a killer...in a case that will force them into the dark underbellies of drug smuggling and terrorism in zero-g!
Collects THE FUSE #7-12.
Collects THE FUSE #7-12.
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 3, 2015
62 people want to read
About the author
Antony Johnston
338 books394 followers** Sign up for Antony's newsletter at http://ajwriter.substack.com **
Antony Johnston is a multi-award-winning author, a New York Times bestseller, and one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.
The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.
Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. His work on Silent Hill Ascension made him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.
His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.
Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.
Antony Johnston is a multi-award-winning author, a New York Times bestseller, and one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.
The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.
Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. His work on Silent Hill Ascension made him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.
His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.
Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 30, 2020
Another good volume of The Fuse. The overall story is interesting enough and ties in well with the universe they are building. The last part of the book leaves you wanting to know more about one of the main characters.
June 20, 2015
This is the second story arc of Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood's FUSE; I reviewed the first volume here.
This is more police procedural in outer space, on a large orbiting space platform. A racer in an illegal, but wildly popular, sport (involving racing outside of the space platform, in the void of space) is murdered, and there are lots of contradictory leads to find out who did it. The problem for our pair of homicide detectives is not only to unravel the clues, but also to deal with all sorts of jurisdictional disputes. They are at odds with both the anti-drug cops and the anti-terrorism agents from Earth, both of whom are conducting their own investigations into other matters that turn out to be connected with the murder. They also have to deal with areas of the space habitat which have in effect been abandoned by the police to the drug dealers, with a homegrown liberation movement seeking (for good reasons) independence from Earth, with the hidden political influence of the extremely rich, and with media corporations making all sorts of deals and counter-deals. As in the first volume, the writing is compressed and on point, and the images are powerfully expressionistic. Traditional detective stories are about making sense of the world; but this science fiction-detective hybrid tells us how complex and convoluted and corrupt the world actually is, so that even if we unravel one group of threads, and catch one of the bad guys, there are still layers of confusion and danger that we haven't figured out.
This is more police procedural in outer space, on a large orbiting space platform. A racer in an illegal, but wildly popular, sport (involving racing outside of the space platform, in the void of space) is murdered, and there are lots of contradictory leads to find out who did it. The problem for our pair of homicide detectives is not only to unravel the clues, but also to deal with all sorts of jurisdictional disputes. They are at odds with both the anti-drug cops and the anti-terrorism agents from Earth, both of whom are conducting their own investigations into other matters that turn out to be connected with the murder. They also have to deal with areas of the space habitat which have in effect been abandoned by the police to the drug dealers, with a homegrown liberation movement seeking (for good reasons) independence from Earth, with the hidden political influence of the extremely rich, and with media corporations making all sorts of deals and counter-deals. As in the first volume, the writing is compressed and on point, and the images are powerfully expressionistic. Traditional detective stories are about making sense of the world; but this science fiction-detective hybrid tells us how complex and convoluted and corrupt the world actually is, so that even if we unravel one group of threads, and catch one of the bad guys, there are still layers of confusion and danger that we haven't figured out.
August 22, 2015
'The Fuse, Vol. 2: Gridlock' is more of the police procedural on a space station. It's not a bad story, but there isn't a whole lot of backstory on our main characters until pretty late in the book.
There is an illegal sport on the Fuse called Gridlocking. Competitors race across the solar arrays on the outside of the station. Things go badly when the main star ends up dead and floating on the outside of the station. The question is who did it and why. It could be part of a terrorist plot on the station by a political faction. It could be a jealous friend or family member. It could be a few different things. Klem gets to be cranky and Ralph gets to be not so much of a rookie this time around. We get to see more of the inner workings of the station.
It's a fairly standard mystery, but in space. The space stuff is fine and adds to the mystery elements, but it doesn't really elevate it above an average detective story. There is some further plot development about our main characters, but it's in the final pages of the book. I like the series, but I think I liked volume 1 more.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
There is an illegal sport on the Fuse called Gridlocking. Competitors race across the solar arrays on the outside of the station. Things go badly when the main star ends up dead and floating on the outside of the station. The question is who did it and why. It could be part of a terrorist plot on the station by a political faction. It could be a jealous friend or family member. It could be a few different things. Klem gets to be cranky and Ralph gets to be not so much of a rookie this time around. We get to see more of the inner workings of the station.
It's a fairly standard mystery, but in space. The space stuff is fine and adds to the mystery elements, but it doesn't really elevate it above an average detective story. There is some further plot development about our main characters, but it's in the final pages of the book. I like the series, but I think I liked volume 1 more.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
June 25, 2015
I've enjoyed this series, which reads like Law and Order in space, but I wish it was a bit more complex than it is. The artwork is serviceable--not great, but it does give a fairly good picture of this somewhat decaying giant space station (I imagine something like the Mall of America as a space station when reading). This time around, the detectives are investigating the murder of a star "gridlocker" (an illegal racing pastime involving magnetic bikes that run on the outer surface of the space station), which ties into the station's drug smuggling culture. The whole mystery is pretty straightforward, with the detectives wandering around, interviewing people, putting clues together (I'll bet a sharp-eyed reader could put them together and solve the mystery for him- or herself), and finally coming to a solution. There does seem to be something more going on--some sort of underground rebel movement--but otherwise, this is a pretty simple, straightforward mystery. Not bad, but not all that great, either.
April 30, 2015
Too much of this was an average whodunnit that I never cared about.
I'm wondering whether to continue reading this series.
I'm wondering whether to continue reading this series.
April 9, 2024
The Fuse, volume 2 – Gridlock
This really ticks the boxes of entertainment comics. It is a detective story set on a space colony but still totally grounded in a sense of reality. The illustrations are unique in that the artwork clearly identifies each character but creatively nuanced in a way that is appropriate for the story’s context. ****
Issue#7
Part 1 – “MCPD. We need to talk.” “Shit!”
Issue#8
Part 2 – “Records can get swiped. Especially by rich parents.”
Issue#9
Part 3 – “Gotta love departmental collaboration.”
Issue#10
Part 4 – “There’s our guy. Blue Alpha in position. Red Alpha in position.”
Issue#11
Part 5 – “Trouble is, nobody down here is gonna tell us a thing…”
Issue#12
Part 6 – “When the state suppresses the people’s voice, violent resistance is the only way to be heard.”
This really ticks the boxes of entertainment comics. It is a detective story set on a space colony but still totally grounded in a sense of reality. The illustrations are unique in that the artwork clearly identifies each character but creatively nuanced in a way that is appropriate for the story’s context. ****
Issue#7
Part 1 – “MCPD. We need to talk.” “Shit!”
Issue#8
Part 2 – “Records can get swiped. Especially by rich parents.”
Issue#9
Part 3 – “Gotta love departmental collaboration.”
Issue#10
Part 4 – “There’s our guy. Blue Alpha in position. Red Alpha in position.”
Issue#11
Part 5 – “Trouble is, nobody down here is gonna tell us a thing…”
Issue#12
Part 6 – “When the state suppresses the people’s voice, violent resistance is the only way to be heard.”
Read
August 18, 2021In the niche sub-subgenre of comics procedurals set in orbit, The Fuse is definitely more (ha) grounded than Brink, not to mention markedly less depressing. This volume's case definitely feels more intrinsically space than the first's, and one of its big strengths lies in the balancing act SF crime has always required, unobtrusively setting out the rules which apply and then abiding by them such that the reader has a fair chance of working out what's happened. And as with almost any crime story, my interest in who actually dunnit takes a distant second place to my enjoyment of exploring the story's world (here even more literally closed than usual) in the company of the idiosyncratic detective/s.
November 18, 2023
This such a solid, straight forward murder mystery/crime book. The fact that it takes place on a space station is just an added bonus. Klem and Marlene are tasked with solving an intriguing mystery that might possibly involve illegal racing, drugs, terrorism, affairs, and more. Klem continues to be a great character. She's clever and determined with a great eye for what's right and wrong. The Fuse is a character itself and I've enjoyed learning more about it and its many moving pieces. Justin Greenwood's art was very good here. It reminded me of a more grounded Scott McDaniel. Overall, a page turning crime book that has me wanting more.
April 28, 2021
Klem and Marlene are at it again. This time the space-cop odd couple face zero-G extreme sports fan mania, drug running gangsters and a less than ethical news corporation. This second volume burns just as strong as the first and should provide a good read for anyone who enjoyed the first.
November 16, 2018
Maybe not quite as good as volume 1. But still very enjoyable.
February 17, 2024
A sharply realistic depiction of the future.
February 27, 2017
Another murder on the Fuse, this time of a Gridlocker, a racer of magnetic bikes across the station's solar discs. Gridlocking is dangerous and illegal bit very popular. Murder is also all these things, or so it seems. Ralph and Klem do the necessary and chase down the killer through a maze of television rights, drugs and political terrorism. Solid, fun and engaging with a well-realised setting and great characters.
June 8, 2015
Ristovych and Dietrich are on the case again, this time investigating the murder of the #1 racer of an illegal grid-locking league. But Starlight’s murder soon reveals connections to drugs, weapons smuggling, terrorism, and fights over television rights. The two detectives have to contend with the I-SEEC side of the wall, the DA, vice and homeland security if they want to solve this case. And what’s the real reason Ralph volunteered for this assignment to The Fuse?
Johnson’s second outing on The Fuse continues to be full of intrigue, humor and suspense. We get a better picture of the different social strata of The Fuse, not just the wealthy on level 50, but also the station’s slums, and the wall separating Midway city from the engineers and workers who don’t want all these civilians around. We also get some clues as to Ralph’s real motives for volunteering for this post (the last page is a real shocker). We get some softening of Ristovych both in the way she interviews certain witnesses, and a grudging respect for Dietrich, consenting occasionally to calling him by this real name. I’m still loving this character, her determination, dry humor, and take no prisoners attitude.
The case itself is a lot more complicated than the first arc, but Johnson does a good job of tying all the loose ends together in an understandable frame. I read a lot of these issues as they came out, and my only complaint is that it can be a little hard to keep things straight month to month, but that makes reading these trades all the sweeter. Overall I’m really liking this 6-month case structure, with ongoing mysteries throughout.
This collection does not include the backup story “Tabloid” though frankly that story didn’t live up to Johnson’s standard for the series. Getting a story in 1-page chunks over six-months never seemed like a great structure, and read together there’s only so much story that can be told in that few pages. Though the world of The Fuse is intriguing, it’s the relationship between the two detectives that keeps me coming back. The cover montage for the six-issues is pretty cool, and would make a decent poster for fans of the series.
I can’t wait for the new arc in August. In the meantime I’ll have to content myself with reading these two trades again.
Johnson’s second outing on The Fuse continues to be full of intrigue, humor and suspense. We get a better picture of the different social strata of The Fuse, not just the wealthy on level 50, but also the station’s slums, and the wall separating Midway city from the engineers and workers who don’t want all these civilians around. We also get some clues as to Ralph’s real motives for volunteering for this post (the last page is a real shocker). We get some softening of Ristovych both in the way she interviews certain witnesses, and a grudging respect for Dietrich, consenting occasionally to calling him by this real name. I’m still loving this character, her determination, dry humor, and take no prisoners attitude.
The case itself is a lot more complicated than the first arc, but Johnson does a good job of tying all the loose ends together in an understandable frame. I read a lot of these issues as they came out, and my only complaint is that it can be a little hard to keep things straight month to month, but that makes reading these trades all the sweeter. Overall I’m really liking this 6-month case structure, with ongoing mysteries throughout.
This collection does not include the backup story “Tabloid” though frankly that story didn’t live up to Johnson’s standard for the series. Getting a story in 1-page chunks over six-months never seemed like a great structure, and read together there’s only so much story that can be told in that few pages. Though the world of The Fuse is intriguing, it’s the relationship between the two detectives that keeps me coming back. The cover montage for the six-issues is pretty cool, and would make a decent poster for fans of the series.
I can’t wait for the new arc in August. In the meantime I’ll have to content myself with reading these two trades again.
July 24, 2015
"Gridlocking" is a sport, magnetics bikes across the Fuse's mile-wide solar dishes, in space, in a vacuum. Looks a bit like Tron! (the Fuse is a space station)
The "best gridlocker" is found dead, on the grid, on the outside of the station.
As advertised, the lead murder detective is "foul mouthed", so expect the f-bomb occasionally, as well as other curse words. She's sharp though-- her partner is new to the Fuse, a rookie. But he's not a bumbler. There is a mystery about him though… maybe we'll find it out in Vol 3.
The dead woman, secretly a gridlocker by the looks of things, was a newscaster for the illegal game of gridlock; and born rich -- why then would she have a large brick of white powdered drugs with her dead body? Was she setup? Framed, in death? A warning to someone? Sergeant Ristovych, the oldest cop on the station, we'll get to the truth of the matter…
Many readers complain about the art. And honestly, it's not a classic style -- nor is it photoshopped from images. This is the style of the artist. I've seen some of this other work, and have accepted his expressive style. I've certainly seen much worse! The art flows properly through the panels, fitting the writing with little jerkiness.
ONe very excellent thing about this series: It's not white. As in, not every character in it is caucasian. There are people of all colors here -- and they don't look "token". It looks perfectly ~right.
___________
Errrors: In Part 2- "We may got a problem." "Got" should be HAVE; In Part 6- "And you thought you had got away with it, did you not?" Again, "got" should be GOTTEN.
The "best gridlocker" is found dead, on the grid, on the outside of the station.
As advertised, the lead murder detective is "foul mouthed", so expect the f-bomb occasionally, as well as other curse words. She's sharp though-- her partner is new to the Fuse, a rookie. But he's not a bumbler. There is a mystery about him though… maybe we'll find it out in Vol 3.
The dead woman, secretly a gridlocker by the looks of things, was a newscaster for the illegal game of gridlock; and born rich -- why then would she have a large brick of white powdered drugs with her dead body? Was she setup? Framed, in death? A warning to someone? Sergeant Ristovych, the oldest cop on the station, we'll get to the truth of the matter…
Many readers complain about the art. And honestly, it's not a classic style -- nor is it photoshopped from images. This is the style of the artist. I've seen some of this other work, and have accepted his expressive style. I've certainly seen much worse! The art flows properly through the panels, fitting the writing with little jerkiness.
ONe very excellent thing about this series: It's not white. As in, not every character in it is caucasian. There are people of all colors here -- and they don't look "token". It looks perfectly ~right.
___________
Errrors: In Part 2- "We may got a problem." "Got" should be HAVE; In Part 6- "And you thought you had got away with it, did you not?" Again, "got" should be GOTTEN.
April 2, 2016
This graphic novel starts with a race between sci-fi snowmobiles in space around a floating station, televised though illegal. When they come across a dead racer, the plot takes off.
Despite this being second in a series, the world-building, or rather the description of such, is excellent; don’t feel like I need to see the first to get it. Also interesting was watching a crime scene investigation, now so usual on TV, in micro-grav. And despite the sci-fi setting we’ve got typical police detectives, with the typical hard-bitten banter, though with a German accent; funnily enough, one of the narc cops is obviously French. Lawyers, corporations, and slums also feature, just like Earth. And there’s regular shuttle service, so it’s not too far away; Mars is also mentioned a few times as possibly the Australia of its time, as in prison.
The plot flows from murder to drugs to terrorism and back. I don’t know if each issue has different writers, but at the beginning there was a lots of clichés in the dialogue. It also annoyed me that it took me a while to realize why the lead detective called her black male partner “Marlene,” but that’s just me. A blurb called the artwork “stark,” and that’s a good description, except from me that’s not a compliment. Still, overall it’s a fun read, a well-done mystery for a graphic novel.
3.5/5
Despite this being second in a series, the world-building, or rather the description of such, is excellent; don’t feel like I need to see the first to get it. Also interesting was watching a crime scene investigation, now so usual on TV, in micro-grav. And despite the sci-fi setting we’ve got typical police detectives, with the typical hard-bitten banter, though with a German accent; funnily enough, one of the narc cops is obviously French. Lawyers, corporations, and slums also feature, just like Earth. And there’s regular shuttle service, so it’s not too far away; Mars is also mentioned a few times as possibly the Australia of its time, as in prison.
The plot flows from murder to drugs to terrorism and back. I don’t know if each issue has different writers, but at the beginning there was a lots of clichés in the dialogue. It also annoyed me that it took me a while to realize why the lead detective called her black male partner “Marlene,” but that’s just me. A blurb called the artwork “stark,” and that’s a good description, except from me that’s not a compliment. Still, overall it’s a fun read, a well-done mystery for a graphic novel.
3.5/5
June 4, 2015
This second installment of The Fuse was entertaining, but it didn't have any bang (excuse the bad pun). I enjoyed this volume about as much as I enjoy story arcs of prime-time police procedurals, but it didn't take much advantage of its space setting, in terms of visuals or story-building. Except for the last few (admittedly intriguing) pages that set up the cliff-hanger for the next story arc, the character development was largely ignored. It also felt like this volume jumped around a lot, making it slightly confusing. In addition, I tired of hearing "This isn't Europe," from the characters to repeatedly remind us that The Fuse was supposed to be a gritty frontier, although it merely seems like the present day versus "Star Trek" Federation cleanliness and happiness.
July 17, 2015
In the next installment in The Fuse series, we have Klem still being all badass for a 70 year old [total favorite character right here] and the new guy Ralph being all sneaky and up to something.
After the murder of a prominent resident and somewhat outlaw [not the bad kind, more the rebel seeking freedom through illegal sports kind] Klem and Ralph have to investigate and find out which of all the shady characters did it.
The story was good, especially because we see the relationship between Klem and Ralph grow, I mean, it has to be progress when she occasionally starts calling him Ralph instead of Marlene. Not only that, we get a nice cliffhanger that leaves us wondering what is Ralph really doing on the Fuse.
Rating 5 out of 5
Read@Book
After the murder of a prominent resident and somewhat outlaw [not the bad kind, more the rebel seeking freedom through illegal sports kind] Klem and Ralph have to investigate and find out which of all the shady characters did it.
The story was good, especially because we see the relationship between Klem and Ralph grow, I mean, it has to be progress when she occasionally starts calling him Ralph instead of Marlene. Not only that, we get a nice cliffhanger that leaves us wondering what is Ralph really doing on the Fuse.
Rating 5 out of 5
Read@Book
July 22, 2015
While nothing was really going to beat the original book of this series, this runs it pretty close. It doesn't feel completely welcoming to the newcomer, as if that isn't a theme of the books anyway, but it doesn't take long to get into the swing of things. An illegal sport's big name representative gets found dead, and all manner of low-lifes and dubious activities come to the fore. Oh, and just at the end we find this whole thing has got legs – which is just as good, for the world- and character-building the creators have managed is brilliant. I would never say I loved this book, or declare it essential, but it still provides a meaty and intelligent crime book, if the sci-fi trappings aren't quite as necessary as before.
September 18, 2016
This volume isn't quite up to the standards of the first volume as it works to flesh out the world created in the first, all the while walking through a fairly standard police procedural story tying in illegal racing, drug trafficking and secret lives. The mystery is okay, but it isn't as innovative-feeling. And the characters, now that they've all been introduced, don't seem to develop as much (although there are some hints of it in the final few pages). It's not bad, by any stretch of the imagination. It just doesn't quite live up to the excellent caliber of its first volume.
June 23, 2015
Not as good as the first volume: the central mystery is a bit of a mess, and though the cliffhanger ending sets up a really interesting premise for future issues, I very much thought it came out of left field. (Although, this last may simply be a symptom of having read volume 1 months and months ago.) Nevertheless, I will pretty much read about Klem and Dietrich doing...really anything at all because they're fucking hilarious and sharp, and the world they inhabit is fascinating.
May 28, 2016
More detective work on the Fuse out in space
This time our space-bound detectives investigate the murder of a illegal space racer and discover links to drug dealing and a terrorist group. This is basically a detective story in the old-fashioned way but set in the future: more dead bodies, corruption in high places.
Well-written and quite enjoyable, it has reasonable artwork although I sometimes forgot who was who.
This time our space-bound detectives investigate the murder of a illegal space racer and discover links to drug dealing and a terrorist group. This is basically a detective story in the old-fashioned way but set in the future: more dead bodies, corruption in high places.
Well-written and quite enjoyable, it has reasonable artwork although I sometimes forgot who was who.
June 12, 2015
Sergeant Ristovych and Ralph Dietrich have a murder to solve on the Fuse space station. The murder involved illegal racing, smuggled drugs, political revolution, and hidden secrets. In the end, more hidden secrets are hinted and likely to be revealed in the next volume. Plenty of action to keep the reader entertained.
February 2, 2016
The series has found its rhythm. Very much police procedural in space and good at it. Bonus: a nice back story starts to develop. I'm in for good, but I will continue reading volumes instead of single issues, as they contain complete cases.
January 5, 2017
OK, I liked Vol. 1, but I really like Vol. 2. Klem is seriously who I want to be when I grow up, and I'm so intrigued by the deeper looks we're getting into Midway history and politics. Now to gently poke my LCS about where my Vol. 3 is--just in time for Vol. 4 to be released.
December 10, 2015
Vol I was not quite a full on four stars. This one is. Totally dug it.
April 24, 2016
I'm not into procedural cops shows at all but this comic series is BOMB! Can't wait for vol. 3!
November 13, 2015
This continues to be excellent.
June 10, 2016
Sports murder mystery in space and someone is infiltrating the revolution to find a missing person. Who's to trust?
November 7, 2016
Fun read. Recommend.
Read
December 21, 2016Race found dead in space, connected to terrorist/revolutionaries, drug smugglers, high powered lawyers. Good and dense story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews