Self/Made

Self/Made #1-6

by Mat Groom, Eduardo Ferigato (Contributor), Marcelo Costa (Contributor)

When chaos besieges the kingdom of Arcadia, warrior Amala Citlali sees it as her chance to escape her clearly-defined role, and change her destiny. But what she doesn't realize, what she could never predict, is that it will also be her chance to confront her God.

In his debut editorial role, comics veteran Kyle Higgins guides this intimate story of self-discovery that takes readers to lands of high fantasy, futuristic science fiction... and beyond.

Collects SELF/MADE #1-6

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Video Games

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

Mat Groom is a writer from Sydney, Australia, where he works on branding and narrative development at the creative agency For The People and teaches open-to-the-public storytelling classes.

Self/Made is Mat’s solo comics writing debut.

Reviews

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

fell short to the end.

Amala is a warrior in a violent world tryng to save her people from death in a cruel battle. But when she thinks all is fine, is when things get complicated. And more 'real'.

It's an interesting idea , in reverse of the usual hero get pulled into the game, a NPC is pull into the real world.

And I think the evaluation of Rebeca is acurate as some kind of DrFrankenstein btw.

[Tom LA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely a big name like Image comes up with a book as original as Self/Made. This volume 1 is huge fun and it buzzes with fresh ideas and all the enthusiasm of a first-time comic book writer, like the author explains he is in the afterword. I was sold as soon as I saw the portraits of Isaac Asimov in the background, a nice homage to a science-fiction master. Maybe the second part is a bit lighter on big ideas, but this is a 5 stars without any doubt when compared to the rest of the comic books in the market.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Actual rating is a 3.5*

Self/Made started out strong with a compelling beginning, interesting characters, and some truly gorgeous artwork. The plot started swerving in some wild directions and, while initially exciting, began to get needlessly complicated. I finished this graphic novel not quite sure what I'd read -- but not in a good way. The story has a ton of potential and I like the themes at the heart of this volume though I think they got a bit lost in what felt like endless twists delivered for shock value. I'm on the fence as to whether I'm interested in continuing the series.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool concept. Nice art. But an annying one-dimensional villain.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley

The first issue was very confusing, but once the 'twist' was revealed this title played with a lot of interesting ideas. I don't want to say too much about the plot because I feel like it's the kind of thing that is better for you to discover as your go along, but I really liked Amala and her 'creator' and I thought the story touched on a lot of interesting points regarding identity and free will at various points. Unfortunately despite all the good ideas, the plot was kind of all over the place and I don't feel like it ever really consolidated itself into something linear and satisfying. I was also not a huge fan of the ending and the epilogue especially made me roll my eyes. The art is gorgeous though.

[Demi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the artwork and the colouring of this graphic novel is beautiful, the creators’ downfall is that they tried to tell too much in the limited amount of pages they had. As a result it suffers from rather surface level characters (especially the villains) and an underwhelming story.

That said, I did still really enjoy it for what it was, so 3.5⭐️

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid scifi fantasy story. A bit confusing at the start but once the twist occurred it kicks into gear. A little overly wordy.

[cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this graphic novel was fun to read, it also was a bit confusing at times. I really liked the plot and I'm curious to see how the story continues. I also loved the art style and the colour scheme was very well done.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this first volume. It was not perfectly executed, but the premise was very intriguing, and I really liked the art and themes. I do think that too much happened in this first volume, so the pacing could have been much stronger. There were times here and there I was sure I must have skipped a page or two, but that wasn’t the case. I do think there’s a lot of potential here in terms of exploring concepts and themes, and I had a lot of fun reading the story and meeting the characters.

I’d recommend this to fans of artificial intelligence, gaming, and both science fiction and fantasy, and I look forward to what comes next.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating SF-story. I though the ideas fascinating even though Tron Legacy is an obvious parallel - but the art doesn't look like Tron so the similarities are not that obvious. And where Tron focuses more on the impact on one side of the equation (the human characters and their world), this story zooms in on the other side. It also delves into simulation theory (in a way that The Matrix-trilogy ultimately didn't dare to). I was along for the ride, after being dropped in a bewildering (in a fun way) opening situation, due to the main character being sympathetic - in her commitment and in her bewilderment after finding herself in strange circumstances. The villain of the piece is a bit (a lot) one dimensional and could have used a bit of depth, but the other side characters are fun to read about. The several worlds visited in the story are well realised, with the art not photo realistic but detailed enough to convey them well to my imagination. The only thing taking this story down a notch was the ending - the conclusion felt like a bit of a let down, the final revelation not giving me satisfaction. But then I am not enthused by existentialist philosophy that poses that we ultimately have to create our own meaning as there is none bestowed upon us. I find that empty, and thus I thought the ending here felt empty.
However, the road getting there was entertaining and thought provoking enough, and I am a bit disappointed the suggested sequel never materialised, as a further exploration of this world would maybe have alleviated my feelings about the climax. However, this works perfectly as a stand alone. Recommended for fans of thoughtful SF comics.

[yen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.8 stars.
A DnD sess with this premise would be so much fun. I absolutely loved the confusion and unanswered questions. In conclusion, my bi ass has a huge crush on Amala.

P.S. James deserves everything. All he wanted was for Rebecca to be happy.

It was not a particularly outstanding story, but I will say it was very engaging. I liked how it took place in Australia and Brazil. The villain is more one-dimensional, but maybe that was the purpose to meta portray the in-real life characters could also be in a simulation with contrast to Amala's NPCness at the start. Amala accepting you don't have to strive to be special at the dispense of others and not engaging with Brycemere left me satisfied. Thanks, interdimensional therapist. I may be reaching, but whatever flaws it may have, it makes up in the originality of what was intended from the start.

Rebecca as an older woman with all her wrinkles is refreshing to see in art. A small detail with one of the characters I particularly clung to and gave me more feelings than it should, had been when Jonas expressed how afraid he was to go after his wife into the unknown, even when he had more than one opportunity. It's an honest feeling that can reflect what a lot of us might feel when we think of death. Personally, I greatly enjoyed the premise and had fun reading it all.

[Geoffrey Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up after the cover for issue 1 caught my eye at my local comic shop and overall this book didn’t disappoint. The story was compelling enough to keep me interested and the artwork is pretty close to top tier stuff. The characters lack a little development but I can’t hold it against this book too much considering the amount of world building this story required across only six issues. Amala is a really compelling character and could have some good potential if they are able to continue the series in the future. Where this book really stands out on is the art side. I mean, just look at the single issue covers and that’s a pretty great preview of what you’ll get inside. So many great character designs and splash pages. The pencils and inks are great but the color work on this book is just spectacular.

Overall this is a great debut for this creative team and I really hope that we’ll get more of this down the road. 4 out of 5.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story that it's best to go into blind. It's a bit confusing at first, but at the end of the first issue there is a twist that explains what's going on.

I love this one, and I want lots of people to read it. The art is stunning, and slightly different for each of the settings we find ourselves in over the course of the story. Same with colors (and Marcelo Costa does incredible work on the colors). The page layouts are gorgeous. It also says some interesting things about learning who you are, and does it in a thought provoking way. It's pretty world-building heavy, so if that isn't something you look for in a graphic novel you might want to pass. But it's one of my favorite titles I've picked up recently, and I hope new issues come soon.

[lili.darknight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Na tento komiks som narazila úplnou náhodou a ihneď sa mi zapáčil (veľkú úlohu v tom zohral fakt, že ho vydalo moje najobľúbenejšie komiksové vydavateľstvo). Okamžite som sa zamilovala do kresby a neskôr aj do príbehu. Úplne som sa doň ponorila a milovala som ho. Problém však je, že takýto typ príbehu (ktorý mi niečím neskutočne pripomínal film Ja, robot) je trošku príliš veľký na to, aby ho bolo možné spracovať len v šiestich krátkych zošitoch. Tak pevne dúfam, že si čoskoro budem môcť prečítať to sľúbené pokračovanie.

[Mosaic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kinda just okay. A video game character accidentally gains sentience and is brought into the 3D world by the dev that created her, but the company (moreso a very annoying one dimentional villain of a the devs colleague) is trying to destroy her before news gets out that all the characters in the game they made —the NPCs the players have been killing—are in fact people, just digitize ones, which would obviously ruin the game company. It’s about free will and layers of existence, but not in a very interesting way, I must say. Also I somehow ends simultaneously w the bad guy crossing a portal in another layer of reality (probably to terrorize more people) AND with Rebecca (creator dev) waking up from a dream as her younger self (maybe this was supposed to be implied to be the universe Bryce was going to, but I’m not sure. I didn’t get that feeling but the thought has occurred to me now). Idk man. If this was written by a high schooler I’d be like this rocks!! But it’s a grown damn man who’s had so much time to think of any other way to craft a narrative so it just feels a bit sloppy. I will say, this was also his first published original work so it likely feels amateurish bc it’s literally a debut, but I also still can’t help but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ bc this wasn’t very good. It earns a passing grade from me but just BARELY.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can get why developers might have personal conflicts, but not so much when one of them tries to destroy another's work. That's just not cool. Also does anybody actually believe that you can destroy code by breaking a storage device? Like any self-respecting dev company wouldn't have backups? I get it, it was for dramatic purposes, but it was pretty lame. This comic is made in the image of those hacker movies or stories featuring arms dealers with animated 3D models of their advanced weaponry. Coding is boring, I get it, but all this graphical stuff is not realistic. The story begins with coding, but still ends in fantasy land. This is no I Am Robot.

Every once in a while, time resets to a previous moment. Is it parallel universes? No, this is fantasy... Then I suppose it's old-fashioned time travel. But who controls it? It's a player from a scifi world, in a video game, reloading saved checkpoints. The game's Amala Citlali should fall in line with the other AIs when dealing with Brycemere, the real-life player's avatar. But she seems to have a mind of her own. Rather than simply delete her from the software, the developers investigate Amala's behavior further.

The company's owner Stuart Busuttil demands that Amala be fixed or removed, since she poses an insurmountable threat to the human-controlled character. Rebecca, the lead character developer, discovers that Bryce assigned Amala to an intern named Craig who simply reused other code for the character. That code was also written by Rebecca, so she wants to find the root cause of Amala's unexpected behavior - of her sentience. Sentient AI is a nig thing in our world as well. Somehow I think nobody would want to destroy it. We want our sex bots, already!

Amala willingly sacrifices herself to allow her partner Rebecca to win a 'last man standing' game against Bryce. Still, Rebecca is fired and her storage device for Amala's personality is destroyed. Weeks later she fixes it and transfers Amala into an android. Now that part is magic. You can't just transfer stuff between systems that aren't specifically designed to be compatible with one another. Amala parts ways with Rebecca. She sees the real world as another game and wants to defeat its creator.

Amala investigates the real world with the help of a disgraced scientist who also believes they live in a simulation. He develops a device that transported his own girlfriend somewhere. Or it might be that she simply died, because she never returned. Rebecca is forced by Bryce to bring him to Amala. Rebecca dies by his hand and Amala uses the scientist's device to make her escape. She ends up in a world between realms. She finally understands her purpose - it's one she can define for herself. She chooses to return home.

Back in Rebecca's world, Amala explains to the people how the company's AIs will be augmented based on her own code and allowed the same choice of self-determination. It is unclear what happens next, but the potential is great.

[The Northern Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting insight into what would happen if a character from a video game gained sentience and entered our world.

Amala, the main character, is first introduced to us when she's standing alongside her countrymen, about to do battle with a long time enemy. The story then appears to cut away to where she meets an opponent who is also seeking to prevent the villian from gaining ultimate control of their country/planet - it isn't wholly clear what exactly they are fighting for.

The story flicks from the 'game world' to the world of the developers, following the story of Amala's creator, Rebecca, as she tries to protect her creation from her colleagues. I have to admit to finding it a little confusing, initially, whether Rebecca had deliberately created Amala or if it was a happy accident. It also seemed a little confusing once Amala joined our world, if indeed it is our world.

With great art work, this is a story that raises a number of questions, including whether humans and A.I., if this is the right way to describe Amala, can peacefully coexist. Hopefully future editions of the series will answer this and other questions including, what happened to the mouse and girlfriend of Rafael.

[Kathleen Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story pretty well and thought Amala Citali was a kick-ass, inspiring character. My only hesitations in rating, aside from my issues with the pacing - it really could have been a longer work, delving into more meaningful conversations - are the implications of race and gender in the plot. Amala is a badass Black woman, who is a sentient NPC in a video game created by a white woman (who at one point literally claims ownership of Amala). As a character, she is not only forced to remake her own identity in light of this information, but she must also break free of her enslavers. Racial implications are less clear in this book (than the rather heavy-handed sexism/feminism portrayed by the badass ladies vs fucking Brycemere ughh hate him); personally, I can't tell if portraying Amala as a Black woman who breaks free in multiple different, inspiring ways was purposeful, or if she was unintentionally resubjected to slavery. If it was purposeful, I think the writers could have done a lot more to bring this discussion forward (as they do with the blatant sexism of the gaming industry). All in all, I enjoyed the book and the discussion it has fostered thus far.

[Alex Sarll]

I was on the verge of abandoning this for being a grab-bag of fantasy cliches – and then the story wound itself back. And again. And again. And it became clear that something quite different was happening, something revealed at the first issue's close but deducible before then, yet still something I would still feel bad giving away straight off. At its best, this feels like Westworld filtered through Paranoia Agent; elsewhere, it barely transcends being the grab-bag it initially appeared, albeit with cyberpunk rather than fantasy cliches. And ultimately, it gets a little Grant Morrison as it goes a level past its more obvious inspirations. Which, even if it doesn't entirely come off, does feature a beautiful line as our heroine tells the toxic masculinity poster boy who's pursuing her "You are fascinating. Every time I beat you, you become more convinced of your superiority." No classic, but certainly an awful lot better than first impressions suggested, and I'd definitely check out more from the same creators.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seeming to start from the classic high idea "What if video game characters were like, real??", Self Made morphs into a scattered, intermittently interesting, and gorgeously illustrated exploration of AI and multiverses. In the book, Rebecca seems to have brought an AI to life in creating Amala, a character in a fantasy video game. Both characters lack detail, though they're wildly more complete than the sneering villain, competing game developer Bryce. He's painfully one-note.

Rebecca helps Amala escape the video game world, at which point Amala strikes out on her own in a confusing secondary story involving multiple universes. There's like, a Portuguese guy too? It gets weird. This all concludes in a "profound" ending and many hints at sequels before the author admits in an awkward afterword that this one volume is probably it. The art is great, though, and several of the action sequences are intense and cool. Self Made is a hard one to grade, but it's likely worth a perusal.

[D P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of an interesting premise, but the plot is just all over the place. The personalities of the characters is told to us as often as it's shown, which kept me from really connecting to any of them. The world around them (and the contexts these characters inhabit, including side characters) is shortchanged because of how quickly the plot jumps around (and don't get me started on who the side characters are--they're gone moments after they're introduced). I have no idea what Amala's experiences have been before we meet her at various points of time, which makes it even harder to relate to her. Her choices and comments at times too just don't make much sense because we lack any real understanding of what's going on. Rebecca gets fleshed out the most, but even then it feels like her behavior toward Amala is inconsistent. It's all just...odd. I finished the book confused about what had happened, unclear on who these characters are, and unsold on how they relate to each other and the world. Cool art, though.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm… After a hokey opening, we discover that our lead character is actually a character in a computer game, and one who's been gifted extra coding to make her breach the boundaries of her plot – in other words, she's alive, or at least too alive for the games company. Her creator implants her into a robot, which is fair enough – even with the sense of deja vu, the story had me up to here, once I could work out what was going on. Unfortunately it then all goes a little too Matrix-ey, with signs from elsewhere in the universe that this existence is fake, a weird sort of Guardian character, and no end of other nonsense shoved in. It's a real melange of old ideas, all told, almost given enough freshness to make it work. Worth a try, but I couldn't pretend I really loved it.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool concept, and if you're like me you'll prefer to find it out by yourself, so I won't spoil the fun.

The art is generally very good. A few faces looked slightly off if I'm being very critical but characters are easily recognisable, the action looks good and is easy to follow, and the environments and colour schemes are top notch.

Nice to see some familiar scenes from a city I know well too, bit of a novelty.

The plot was fine, a couple of twists, but the dialogue, is unfortunately on the cheesy side at times.

Overall, I liked it, glad to have read it and supported some local and upcoming creatives, but it didn't hook me as an absolutely essential read. It has potential to improve, if they ever revisit it I'd probably grab the next volume.

[Elska Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story with beautiful art. It's hard to talk about it without spoiling it and I think going in, like I did, knowing nothing is the best thing you can do.

This comic definitely relies more on its exploration of concepts such as what it means to be alive, sense of life purpose, and the act of creation (oh and evil corporations, this time it's an Australian one!), than particularly rewarding story or character arcs. Then again it is rather short at only 185 pages to tackle as much as it aims to. Ultimately I left feeling satisfied, though it left itself open to sequels (nearly five years later I'm not sure it will happen, but I'd like it to!).

[Paul Allard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Science fiction / fantasy comic series which is unusual and engaging.

Amal’s fights for survival in her fantasy world while Rebecca is a programmer of video games. Their lives become intertwined and I am trying not to give too much away. The characters are well-developed and the story moves along at a healthy pace. This is a review of the first 4 issues and there’s more to come. The artwork is clear, detailed and enjoyable. So far so very good.

[Olivera S.S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was full of twists, good characterization, and truly interesting and introspective questions. The ending was good, delivering what many other stories that deal with "meaning-of-life" questions fail to deliver. The Art style and the colors was superb, it made you want to analyze every little detail of the page. I also appreciate how the lettering was done, changing colors and/or fonts when it wanted to empathize something. All in all, really well done, I read it in one sitting.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting story, and I really love how it all seamlessly blends together. I am very excited for volume 2, since there were several cliffhangers as well! Art is great and the dialogue is good as well. There is not a dull moment in this story! Highly recommended to any comics fan, any sci fi fan, anyone looking for a story of self discovery.

[A M H · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting enough concept that started off great. The majority of the storyline was nice to watch unfold, and see what directions it would take. The ending was alright and worked fine enough for the philosophical point it may have been trying to get across, but I'd definitely understand if it's a bit hit or miss for some.

[JC Cornell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has me wanting more by the end of the volume. Interesting concept. Hope it continues in the vein of finding "higher creators" and doesn't fall apart in the classic "struggle to be accepted as a member of society because of what you are" scenario. Really could go either way based on how it ended. Really hoping its not the last option.

[Paul S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accountability.

"Why did you- - why did you have to make me do that...?"

Thoughtful story and themes.
Art and coloring is great quality; contemporary; easy to understand.
Pacing was too fast. Not enough time spent on anything.

Reminds me of an old song:
"You should make amends with you
If only for better health
But if you really want to live
Why not try and make yourself?"