Ad1997 is a black and white comic colored with greytones. The linework is interesting, with a great variety of line and lots of black. It’s fun to look at.

The choice of view in the panels reminds me of a movie storyboard. For some reason, the movie Die Hard comes to mind but I’m not sure exactly why that movie in particular. Over time, the art gets a little crisper and easier to follow, too.

The comic is an ongoing adventure story. Sometimes it’s hard to jump into one of those, but ad1997 provides a recap of the major story arcs and a description of each character. I have to admit that I found it difficult to closely follow the storyline. I was much more intrigued by the style of the art than I was interested in delving into the deep story. The characters were all having deep, brooding conversations and doing exciting science fictionish sorts of things in a shifting sands sort of setting.

The featured hero of this comic is Naomi, a seventeen year old girl that’s now caught up in things much bigger than she is. I don’t envy her situation - she’s caught up in corporate politics and a murder.

The “ad” in ad1997 stands for the name of the international corporation that the action revolves around. It’s very murky. You find yourself asking “who are the good guys” Are there any? What don’t we know?” I found it very amusing when Deckard was put before the AD council and was found guilty of “crimes against the corporation.” A little research calls that Oligarchy or maybe Timocracy - neither of which would be considered a good thing by most citizens.

In any case, that’s very good to be mentally involved and wondering about the events and characters in a comic. Ad1997 is and engaging comic with little science fiction twists. The story is completely scripted out for twenty six episodes and at the time of this review it is only up to episode six. Since it updates weekly, there’s a lot more ad1997 left to enjoy.

Rating:

ad1997
by Joachim Lipski
http://www.ad1997.com/
review by Delos Woodruff

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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