The Dark

by Mark Sable, Kristian Donaldson (Artist), Thomas Mauer (Letterer)

After a worldwide cyberwar ends technology as we know it, a former super-soldier teams up with a biopunk to fight the rise of a biological internet forcing humanity to connect to it—whether they want to or not. An original graphic novel. Part of the comiXology Originals line of exclusive digital content only available on comiXology and Kindle. This title is available as part of comiXology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller

127 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 31, 2018

About the author

Mark Sable is a writer for stage, screen, television and comics.

He is most noted as the writer/creator of the comics GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES, GROUNDED, FEARLESS and HAZED for Image Comics and UNTHINKABLE for Boom! Studios.

Mark has worked on WHAT IF? SPIDER-MAN: DARK REIGN for Marvel Comic and SUPERGIRL, TEEN TITANS: COLD CASE, TEEN TITANS SPOTLIGHT: CYBORG and TWO-FACE: YEAR ONE for DC Comics. He has contributed to Image's COMIC BOOK TATTOO, POPGUN and 24/7 anthologies.

He is also the only person ever to work for both Charlie Rose and Howard Stern.

Mark's most recent works include GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES for Image Comics and RIFT RAIDERS, the launch book for Kickstart Comics.

Both UNTHINKABLE and HAZED were optioned as feature films.

Upcoming books include DECOY and BLUE SKY for Kickstart.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty cool!







Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's just too many disparate elements conflicting in this cyperpunk near-future tale. It made the story hard to follow as Sable tried to shove every near-future fear together into one short tale. I found the art very static as well.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book via Kindle Unlimited.

This book is set following a cyber attack that leaves the world in disarray. The world as we know it has gone. There's no electricity and bioluminescence is how humans have begun to tackle the dark. But there are more sinister things are play here. Politically, games are being played by all corners. America is considering war with China. Texas has split from the USA, and things seem dire. This all sounds really good, right? Well, it then follows a soldier with his dog who's eyes glow and they seem to be connected to some form of Matrix or something and he's hunting down a transgender woman who just wants to become physically who she truly is. I'm not sure how to really summarise that part of the plot if I'm fully honest. The plot was a little confusing at points, it didn't move fast enough yet also simultaneously moved too fast? It's quite an odd read but the art is beautiful. It wasn't necessarily bad, I just don't think I understood it.

[Xavier Hugonet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Near future. A cyber bomb has shut down technology as we knew it. A bio enhanced US super-soldier chases a bio hacker he’s tasked to apprehend, and go rogues when he finds out other groups are chasing her, and that she might be the key to prevent another world war.

Complete story in an action packed graphic novel. Another fine comic in what’s beginning to be a nicely curated line from this editor.

A Comixology original, available for free to Prime customers.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My partner is traveling for work, so another evening of planting the rear and tablet in the living room with the fireplace on. Not a complaint, no really. When it just the overgrown puppy and I there's fewer interruptions (but more chores to be done because the dog lacks opposable thumbs for helping with the dish washing and food prep-he is quite good at eating the food).

In a novella as short as this there is not going to be much space for characterization, but what Sable does well is move the story along as it overs a little more than a decade. Sable does a nice job with Cam, and handles her emotional issues pretty well, primarily because he does not hit the reader over the head with them. Carver does not have much emotional development, but again this is a novella and if I was to offer another shorthand description-

How much characterization for Carver, would you get in a two-hour movie? The answer is not much. But as a character required to move along the action portions of the story he served well.

I would say this is for fans of slightly old style cyberpunk mixed with near future biotech/dystopia fiction.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the worldbuilding in this story. The idea that military units would be able to be so intimately connected via something akin to the Internet is rather cool. And then there is the backlash to such a thing coming into existence. There is a bit of a mystery as two of these characters try to find out who is orchestrating the destruction of this network. The art was pretty good. Not quite what I would expect from some of the larger publishers but done well overall.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Violates the “show, don’t tell” rule of storytelling for a fairly run-of-the-mill “cyberwar spec ops” kind of story, and the art feels strangely stiff and lifeless.

[D.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was very confusing. Think about a badly cut film, where characters are positioned one way, then moments later they are suddenly someplace else. Information was being dumped to the readers that was not relevant to the story at all. Visually, it looked cool, but when you dug into the dialogue and characters, the great art didn't make up for what was lost in the storytelling. It was like an abridgement of a fuller story. Book needs a directors cut. LOL

[HornFan2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed, slogged through this, just doesn't make sense, didn't get the Trans theme or the pregnancy.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Garish color, but a pretty good plot. There were a few instances in which I felt like a frame was missed, but overall, I enjoyed this one.

[Alex Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confused Cyberpunk

This had a interesting concept to start with. A hyper-connected world that gets shutdown during a war by Russia.
Now a time after, the world recovering from a internet shutdown; Carver, a former special forces soldier who after losing his eyes in The Dark (what the crashing of the internet was called) who had been 'improved' by the NSA to be a secret agent and linked to an attack dog, in some way that was never made clear.
With a new threat emerging, threatening the worlds internet, Carver gets caught up hunting Camille, an NSA analyst who has stolen some dangerous information. With a threaten war with China, Carver and Camille are thrown together as a shadowy force that is manipulating events gets closer.

This was promising up until it wasn't. It had a quite few decent ideas milling around but unfortunately none of them meant much in the end. The whole point of the plot was a muddled, badly explained and planned and introduced so late with no real build up or gathering of meaningful clues, that I couldn't really get it. While ideas of The Dark, bio-computers and biotech were decent and good points, it didn't help with understanding the plot and was just like fancy dressing to a messier whole.

Carver is your standard, ex-forces operative used and exploited by the higher powers. Camille was...? Bland. There's stuff about transhumans in this book, but I'm not sure the author was making Camille transhuman or transgender. She's trying to change her body and looking for a reproductive system transplant. So is she a man trying to be a woman or vice versa? I'm not sure and don't think it was explained either. Further confusingly she ends the book pregnant with Carver's kid somehow that isn't explained<\spoiler>.
The rest of the characters, including the villain add nothing really and the dog Mars has more personality.

The art is better in places than others. 3D art doesn't always bother me, some of the stuff here is decent but some of it towards the end does look pretty bad in some shots.

Overall, while having decent futuristic, cyberpunkish background and lore, this was not enough to carry what was a confusing, poorly told story. I read it free on Amazon prime, so don't feel too bad, but I'd find it hard to recommend for someone to buy this. Shame.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros: trans MC and some interesting ideas. Cons: terrible art and bad pacing. I wish I could have liked it more.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Russian virus brought down the way-too-connected internet of things, life continued. But for former soldier Robert Carver, being "gifted" with new eyes and a support dog only meant that he had obligations. One of those obligations led hem to track down biohacker Camille who was thought to be working for the Chinese. Carver is not so sure so he keeps following her trail which leads to a mastermind worthy of being in a Bond film. In part, this whole book reminds me of Fleming's world. Big plots, one person trying to take over the world for their own purposes. But Carver is a bit more Reacher than Bond. Overall, an interesting read!

[Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

🎶 Read for the 2020 KU Shitathon™ challenge - [Halfsies Edition #2: July-December] - over at Maraya's Cave Of Freaking Wonders 🎶

◼ Plan A - Book: #2 of 13 ◼

[Andrei · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

Interesting premise (cyberwar and impact on the world) but shoddy execution. The storyline feels messy just for the sake of being messy, the characters' motivations are not very clear, and midway into the book I was just turning pages quickly just to see how it ends and be done with it.

Art was generic, and often couldn't tell some characters from others.

Won't read again, and can't recommend this to anyone.

[Mark Everglade · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ideas here of biocities that get viruses, stealing data by coding it in your microbes, and a biological internet are fascinating. Visuals are quite good as well. Unfortunately this is straightforward military scifi and the best ideas aren’t well developed. The major issue is the complete lack of character development. There wasn’t even the slightest stab at trying to create actual characters- it was completely rejected. At least give me a believable stereotype.

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the finest storytelling, and not the finest art at times, however this book isn't too bad. We get a neon-dark future with biocomputers and Russians forcing a world-wide EMP that kills the internet and all electricity.

It also has the usual Texas and Conservatives bad storytelling elements that not everyone finds up to par.

Let the man die for fucks sake.

[Dr Archit · Rating 1 out of 5]

High concept, low execution

The Dark suffers from two maladies. First is the below par artwork that is not at all easy on the eyes and second is the execution of the script. The story suffers from flimsy characters with unclear motives and a script that is as dull as the artwork itself.

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Messy futuristic tale

It explore interesting concepts but falls flat in the art departmen: use of 3d mode assets, that change position,color etc. Between panels, sometimes affecting the ryth of the narrative might tke you off from the experience.

It tried to bring some futuristic concepts into a comic for with good ideas, but falls flat due to its art.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A page turner with great art

You like cyberpunk with a good dose of futurism... this one is for you. Tech, biotech, crazy rich dudes with too much power... all brought to their knees.

[Omnibuster · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the concept but the execution was very rushed and disjointed. It seems like a story that would have benefitted from 12 issues.

It just kind of ends and I just felt confused rather than satisfied.

[Jodi_ice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cawpile: 3.5* 5.79

Another one of the graphic novels that aren’t really my type of book but I need for a readathon. The artwork wasn’t bad, the setting reasonably realistic, just a bit to gung-ho gore for my liking to be honest.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. Convoluted story [not necessarily a bad thing] with so-called "social justice warrior" propaganda scattered unnecessarily throughout. Decent art.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost gave this a four star rating for originality, but the choppy storyline in parts distracted me. Great premise though and I starting characters, but not fleshed out all the way.

[Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is stiff and unexpressive, but the writing is very cinematic and contains a lot of interesting ideas.

[Jared · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ideas and world building in this are interesting enough, but the characters simply aren't. The art also feels like stiff, hastily made 3D models half the time.

[Stacie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a whole lot of "makes no sense at all".

[Shelby Bollen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst the premise was interesting and the comic had major Cyperpunk vibes, everything felt majorly off.
The plot became very messy, and things happened with absolutely zero explanation, which meant it all got very confusing.
A lot of my confusion stemmed from the characters. We are told about transhumans, but it seemed that the author wasn't clear on whether a particular character was transhuman or transgender. I feel that the author should've made this all much clearer as events happen later down the line that are quite dependent on this clarification.
The art started off good, but it became quite bad towards the end.

Overall, I wasn't that impressed with this one. I thought that the premise seemed positive, but it turned out to be rather messy.

[Elizabeth Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty interesting story; some of the illustrations seemed half-finished but the ones that looked finished were pretty stellar

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review will be up at fangirlnation later today