Man. Machine. The way man interacts with the machine. The way man continues to build the machine, innovating, breaking down the barriers between both, aiming to reach for an apex where we can control them with thought.
Back in 1995, when Neon Genesis Evangelion showed it off, the idea seemed impossible. Nowadays, not so much, with Neuralink being in the testing phase. But that’s still something small. The idea of controlling a giant robot, now that’s a dream for someone who grew up with that, with the various Gundam series, with Pacific Rim.
And now Dawnrunner joins the fold.
Written by Ram V, with art by Evan Cagle (cover artist on Ram V’s Detective Comics), colours by Dave Stewart and letters by Aditya Bidikar, this book wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but its not hindered by it, rather taking the sum of its parts and finding its own corner, its own space to breathe, allowing it to stand out in a sea of titans that all have their own merits.
This issue is cool, that much is evident off the bat from the name itself, the cover, and the aesthetics it employs, but there’s also so much more to it than that. If you’ve been looking at Cagle’s beautiful covers of Detective Comics and wondered how that translates to interiors, prepare to get your mind blown. Every page of this is a showcase of not just understanding how the medium works, but also understanding how to really make a page stick with you – and also how much a writer trusts the artists at work, allowing sequences to go without any dialogue, just letting the art do the talking, allowing you to be fully immersed into not just the action, but also character building.
The writing is just as excellent. Ram V manages to strike a real balance between characterwork and worldbuilding, where the exposition is never boring – partly because it’s written interestingly, but mainly because there is an understanding that this is a visual medium, and thus allowing those words to be married to artwork that keeps you engaged from beginning to end. So much of the world operates is also delivered through conversations between characters that give you an idea of how things work in there while leaving you interested.
In that same vein though, like its inspirations, Dawnrunner isn’t just about “mechs fighting monsters and being cool about it.” It understands the metaphorical implications of it, the political ramifications of a world where aliens exist, where weapons of mass destruction are bigger and stronger than ever, and in some ways direct and some ways subtle, shows you exactly what that looks like. That ending also caught me off guard, but the way it’s presented visually and narratively just has me begging, clawing for more.
Run to your local comic shop NOW and pick up Dawnrunner #1, and then also add it to your pull list if you haven’t already. It’s phenomenal, and I can’t wait for what’s in store.
