Ascender #1 Review

Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Dustin Nguyen / Image Comics The long-awaited return to Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s rich galaxy has finally arrived. But things are very different from the last time we were here. Some time has definitely passed, as some familiar locations have been neglected so long that vegetation has grown over towering cityscapes. There’s also no more technology. No ships. No robots. No appliances. Our biggest evidence that lets us know how long it’s been is Andy. He’s the one constant so far that connects both series. In Descender, he was a young scrapper turned rebel who helped the oppressed robots fight for their freedom. And so far in Ascender, he’s a grizzled middle-aged man who’s seen a little bit too much. He’s also got a daughter named Mila, our new protagonist. And she looks a lot like Tim-21. With Andy as our barometer, we can guess that it’s been about 15-20 years since the events of Descender. This galaxy is so different from when we last saw it. It’s almost the polar opposite. Lemire and Nguyen have created a universe that explores what comes after technology. And it’s as fascinating a concept as it is in their execution. Because we’re in the thick of a technological revolution right now in real life, it’s hard to imagine what life would be like in a world that had advanced mechanics, and then lost it. That’s a huge vacuum, and there would have to be something void to fill. But the two things that take its place are the two things that make …