The Future Is Dark, Depressing, And Quite Confusing In Bluefall
by James Ferguson
Technology is moving at a pretty rapid pace. Just look at the evolution of the iPhone over the past few years and how far it’s come. Virtual reality is definitely a growing area with near limitless possibility. Bluefall plays with that idea, showing how a utopia can be created in the virtual space, but there are dangers that come from this. The Circus, the company behind the most popular virtual reality system has grown into a global superpower. When its creator is killed, a detective must dive into this world looking for answers.
Bluefall has a lot of cool ideas at its heart. It was pitched as “Ready Player One meets The Big Short” which is certainly an eye-catching premise. It stops short of delivering on this as the story gets rather convoluted, bouncing between the real world and the virtual one without a clear indication of the change. It reads more like a series of interesting vignettes, but doesn’t really come together into a cohesive narrative. This creates a good amount of confusion early on that becomes a mainstay of the comic.
The lettering doesn’t help this as the word balloons are all over the place. They’re often connected by very long tails that weave all over the page. There’s not a letterer credited for Bluefall so I’m not sure who handled this or how. There are also many instances where there are just way too many words in a single balloon. It’s overwhelming.
Artist Dillon Snook does a fine job establishing both worlds. It bleeds from the reality of today (or rather the year 2045 when this is set) into the vast possibilities of the virtual space. Much of this comes down to the colors, although I’m not sure if Snook handled these too. The real world is a little more dull than the virtual one, which is full of brighter colors that really catch the eye.
Some of the forms in Bluefall leave something to be desired. They appear rather rough, like they’re unfinished sketches instead of the final product. These could be cleaned up a bit to make for an easier flow.
Writer Andrew Trainor has a number of great ideas in Bluefall, but they don’t quite come together. This premise is solid and there’s a wealth of ideas to explore. There are intentions to continue the series so hopefully this gets cleared up in the next volume.
Bluefall is currently available digitally through Amazon Kindle.
