Review: The Sci-Fi Satire ‘Not All Robots’ #4 Takes A Darker Turn In Tone

First it was humans that became obsolete, and now its the robots themselves as better, more human looking mandroids are fast-tracked off the assembly lines and into homes, with convenience trumping any concerns over their dangerous glitches. And again, one is encouraged to draw links with our own seemingly blissful ignorance to the terrors that technology raise in our own times. Like this future society, we are all too aware of technologies shortcomings, but we choose to ignore that. And this future dystopia is the result as envisioned by writer Mark Russell and illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr.

Giving all sides of the argument, as ever, are the gathered talking heads of the ‘Talking ‘Bots’ TV show of the future. But in this issue, for the first time ever, the voice against increased technological advancements to the detriment of human advancement grows stronger, with the now defunct robot-servants suddenly seeing themselves in the same perilous situation as their human counterparts. As with the end of the last issue, there is a more chilling tone now evident in this satirical sci-fi series. More chilling still is the now obsolete robots willing to plan some kind of uprising that us humans never even considered. It’s a been elegantly seeded in throughout this series by Russell, and now those seeds of despair and high tech horror are beginning to bloom. What was once a clever, witty satire is morphing into a sci-fi horror series. This really is a well-plotted, well paced series in which Deodato Jr.’s realism only helps nurture and establish a darker, terrifying tone to the back end of this series.

And while all of this is playing out in the larger society, we get another look in with an increasingly worried family. At least someone is beginning to worry about the danger of too much reliance on A.I. tech. 

Not All Robots #4 paints a future society we should all relate to. Another well-observed satire from one of the leading satirists working in comics toady, if not the leading satirist. The genre of science fiction has long mirrored our fears as a society, and this books is a great example of that tradition. And while this is a dark satire, there is also some hope too.

Not All Robots #4 is out now from AWA Upshot