Survive the A.I. in ‘Sentient’

Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Gabriel Walta / TKO Studios Before we can talk about the strange story that is Sentient (and I do honestly mean that in the best possible sense of the word), I do want to take just a brief moment to discuss its publisher, TKO Studios, because they’re doing some interesting things since they first announced themselves way back in December 2018. They had a veritable laundry list of top writers and artists listed as creative teams for their opening line ups. They offered the ability to buy their comics in six single-issues in a collector’s box, in trade paperback, and digital download. And because they were so confident in their product, that all of their first issues are available on their site. While I had had my copy of Sentient in my possession for a couple months, I didn’t really have the time until recently to give the book its due. And what finally prompted me to open up the book was the following. https://twitter.com/TKOpresents/status/1243559709128314881?s=20 TKO is out here doing the work. I love my local comic book shop and knowing that I can still support them during strange times is comforting. And that’s the last time I’ll be using that word for the rest of the review because goodness, Sentient starts with a very uncomfortable image.

I have been a huge fan of Jeff Lemire for the longest time, so of course seeing that one of TKO’s flagship titles was a space horror that heavily featured an artificial intelligence was kind of a no-brain…