DARKMINDS: MACROPOLIS #1

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002

Special Investigations Unit Agent Tedashi Nagawa is being honored with the Macropolis "Man of the Year" award, much to the amusement and admiration of his fellow detectives. But the celebrations are short-lived as a mysterious package containing a severed hand and a note promising more to come arrives at his office. He arrives at the scene seemingly too late?but the mystery simply gets more confusing as the headless corpse turns out to have a heartbeat.

I can't say I was looking forward to a third volume of DARKMINDS (which appears to be written all as one word now. My, how times change). The last time I reviewed the series, I criticized it for being far too derivative and far too much of a letdown, especially the final issue of the second volume's run. With a new writer and new artists, however, it appears the old DARKMINDS magic is back.

My only real concerns stem from the odd design of the opening expository captions: a "futuristic" white font on a greenish-blue transparent background is hardly the best way to present information that new readers?and for that matter, returning readers?need to get into the flow of the story. But once that design madness is over, this book grabs you and doesn't let go. It's also a perfect introduction to the reader who may have been vacationing off-planet and who hadn't heard about the last two series. In fact, I'd venture to say it's actually an improvement on the previous two series?Sarracini doesn't waste loads of time bringing us up to date on backstory, and the plot proceeds at an amazing pace. So far, it's also far more of a true crime-style story in the vein of Brian Michael Bendis or Ed Brubaker than a dark anime-style police story. It's a subtle difference, but it's a welcome one.

Artists (and sisters) Jo and Christina Chen also make just as subtle a difference?this is less a Westernized manga and more a true manga in its own right. In the former two series there was always the sense that the artwork was so close to Japanese-style comics that it might as well be manga?and yet it still wasn't. The Chens' artwork manages to cross that invisible line, bringing a far more authentic style to this book than any of the previous DARKMINDS series have had. Instead of comparing this image to something from AKIRA or that image to something from GHOST IN THE SHELL, as it was all too easy to do with volumes one and two, you'll find yourself marveling at the stark freshness of the images and the sheer darkness of it all. Even the gore factor is kept to a minimum?our horror is invoked by suggestion rather than by the visuals. It's a skill that few Western artists can pull off, and it's an asset that already sets this book apart from the rest of the DARKMINDS productions.


Sometimes the offspring of a successful comic series can be mediocre at best, a nightmarish diminution of the original at worst. This time, though, the kids are all right?even more so. Talk about doing your parents proud.

DARKMINDS: MACROPOLIS

Grade: A-

Issue: No. 1

Author(s): Chris Sarracini, Jo Chen, Christina Chen, Alan Wang

Publisher: Image

Price: $2.95