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17th out of 26 books
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The Surrogates (The Surrogates #1)
by
Robert Venditti (Goodreads Author),
Brett Weldele
The year is 2054, and life is reduced to a data feed. The fusing of virtual reality and cybernetics has ushered in the era of the personal surrogate, android substitutes that let users interact with the world without ever leaving their homes. It's a perfect world, and it's up to Detectives Harvey Greer and Pete Ford of the Metro Police Department to keep it that way. But t...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
September 13th 2006
by Top Shelf Productions
(first published 2006)
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My interest in this title was sparked by a trailer for the upcoming movie version. I think a lot of people discovered it about the time I did, since it took a couple months for a copy to make its way to me after I reserved it at the library.
Surrogates is a deceptively simple book. There are no confusing plot twists, no complex language, no overwhemlingly large cast of characters. However, it is a tightly-woven story filled with enough cultural analysis to keep your brain working long...more
Surrogates is a deceptively simple book. There are no confusing plot twists, no complex language, no overwhemlingly large cast of characters. However, it is a tightly-woven story filled with enough cultural analysis to keep your brain working long...more
The collected miniseries raises some interesting questions about the price of technological progress and of social appearances. Venditti knows when it's necessary to pull back the dialogue and let Weldele's art speak for him. For a story that relies on no captions, the dialogue works well to establish the background and push the plot forward.
Weldele uses an interesting mix of computer-generated effects and art to supplement his scratchy drawings. But art style seems too dark for the st...more
Weldele uses an interesting mix of computer-generated effects and art to supplement his scratchy drawings. But art style seems too dark for the st...more
I'm not a fan of graphic novels. However, if the artwork is good and the story is interesting I'll give it try. The drawing was excellent and the coloring was very similar to the 30 Days of Nights graphic novels which I thoroughly enjoyed. And the story, of course, warning us against the dangers of becoming disconnected from the world...it could have been heavy-handed but it wasn't. The ending was a bit abrupt and, unfortunately, I figured out early on who the "killer" was. Still, I hi...more
The Surrogates takes place in a futuristic world in which people live out their lives through "surrogates," advanced robots. These surrogates let them live out the lives of their dreams and protect their real bodies from harm. The Surrogates is a fast-paced, rather messy noir story about a police detective who tracks down the man responsible for attacks on surrogates.
There's nothing really fresh or new here for anyone familiar with sci-fi. The pacing is uneven, and the author...more
There's nothing really fresh or new here for anyone familiar with sci-fi. The pacing is uneven, and the author...more
Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, The Surrogates (Top Shelf, 2006)
It is by now a Hollywood cliché, not to mention a Hollywood truism, that the book is better than the movie. And that is certainly the case where The Surrogates is concerned. That said, in some ironic way, reading Robert Venditti's original source material gave me a slightly greater respect for Jonathan Mostow's bloated, listless adaptation. I can see why he made the changes he made, and some of them I actually agree w...more
It is by now a Hollywood cliché, not to mention a Hollywood truism, that the book is better than the movie. And that is certainly the case where The Surrogates is concerned. That said, in some ironic way, reading Robert Venditti's original source material gave me a slightly greater respect for Jonathan Mostow's bloated, listless adaptation. I can see why he made the changes he made, and some of them I actually agree w...more
Well done mystery/sf thriller with interesting world building. I'm not sure about some of the speculation as to the effect surrogates would have on the populace, but most of it is moderately plausible at least. The pacing is dead on, incorporating the crime investigation, the detective's personal life and background on the use of surrogates in just the right amounts at just the right times.
I would be very interested to learn what happens after the end of this story: however, I suspect...more
I would be very interested to learn what happens after the end of this story: however, I suspect...more
I've thoroughly enjoyed this series. The concept of owning a surrogate and living vicariously through it in your career, relationships, and daily life is equally fascinating as it is horrifying. I loved how much Venditti thought through the implications of this technology and what kind of an impact vicarious living could have on culture, politics, and religion. I was lucky enough to read the collected volumes which included some extremely creative advertising from Virtual Life Inc. It was so bel...more
Angel
rated it
Only thing I will say upfront not so positive is that I had a bit of mixed feelings at the end, which I will not reveal because I think this book deserves to be read. And to be honest, an ending that does make you think a bit is a good thing. It certainly is something you do not get often when you think of graphic novels and comics. So, that out of the way, let's look at the rest of the book.
The book is a nice blend of a police procedural/mystery and science fiction. In a world where ...more
The book is a nice blend of a police procedural/mystery and science fiction. In a world where ...more
I adore the premise of this graphic novel. The year is 2054 and the world population is primarily living life through androids they mentally link with and control. These "surrogates" are used for more than just entertainment; people use them for all aspects of life including jobs - police forces are now 100% surrogates with the human users for the most part not even physically capable of performing the job. But someone out there isn't thrilled with this virtual way of living, and he ...more
I figured since I worked on the upcoming movie, I should read The Surrogates to get a real sense of the story beyond the snippets here and there that I pieced together. I was pleasantly surprised. The book isn't overly complex, which is good. Instead of bogging down in the science, Venditti lets you get to know Detective Harvey Greer and gives you a feel for what society has become by looking through his eyes.
The storytelling is crisp and compelling, and I liked the inter-chapter...more
The storytelling is crisp and compelling, and I liked the inter-chapter...more
In this graphic novel, Robert Venditti depicts a world in which people no longer interact face-to-face and instead rely on androids and virtual reality. As the story progresses, the readers begin to realize just how twisted the society is. The wife of the protagonist refuses to be seen by her own husband because she'd rather appear as a young and beautiful android than an aging woman. Mortality and human interaction play a large part in the story and, when his surrogate is damaged, the protagoni...more
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
This is a special five-issue comics miniseries from 2006 by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, apparently made into a big-budget Hollywood movie starring Bruce Willis that I have no recollection of ever even being in the theatres (strange for me and science-fiction), which takes as its premise...more
This is a special five-issue comics miniseries from 2006 by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, apparently made into a big-budget Hollywood movie starring Bruce Willis that I have no recollection of ever even being in the theatres (strange for me and science-fiction), which takes as its premise...more
Brandy
rated it
Shelves:
2011,
boy-books,
comics,
dystopian-post-apocalyptic,
library,
mystery,
speculative-fiction,
adult
Virtual reality technology has come so far that leaving the house is completely unnecessary. Nearly everyone has a Surrogate, an android with a VR link-up to ferry physical input back to the user. Violent crime has been almost completely eradicated. Police officers sit safely in the station while their surrogates walk into danger. All in all, it's a perfectly safe society, allowing interaction without any of the dangers. Except for the techno-terrorist bent on destroying surrogates and forcing ...more
This was one of the most interesting science fiction premises I've read in a long time (and even then, the best ones were, of course, from the 70s). I think Venditti sets us up to explore an interesting set of social issues that could, in the context of the story, have run very very deep. The premise cleverly addresses the obvious social implications of our present forms of socializing (the alternatives offered by facebook, etc) and it, along with our contemporary attitudes toward identity - bot...more
Everything I've read recently has been mutated/adopted by another medium (mostly movies, but Wicked is a musical and icanhascheeseburger is a website...and yes, I 'read' icanhascheeseburger the book).
Thought the Bruce Willis flick looked kinda interesting, so I thought the graphic novel would inspire me enough to finally add the movie to my queue. It has, but it's number 478 or something. There were a couple of cool extra stuff between chapters (brochure from company selling surrog...more
Thought the Bruce Willis flick looked kinda interesting, so I thought the graphic novel would inspire me enough to finally add the movie to my queue. It has, but it's number 478 or something. There were a couple of cool extra stuff between chapters (brochure from company selling surrog...more
I loved this book. The writing is top notch and the art, though a bit too scribbly for my taste, worked well with the "sci-fi noir" feel of the story. I think Venditti did a good job of making his social point without becoming preachy, perhaps partly because you get the feeling that he'd like to operate a surrogate as much as most of his characters do.
Reading this off the back of Moore's Black Dossier, I can't help but praise Venditti's intelligent use of the "ancillia...more
Reading this off the back of Moore's Black Dossier, I can't help but praise Venditti's intelligent use of the "ancillia...more
Wow, what a spectacular book. Venditti mapped out a whole world, culture and dialect to go with what could've been a pretty superficial story setting. This is the kind of thing I used to expect of the authors of sci-fi or future-fiction *novels* I used to read, but I've come to accept that most graphic novels can get away with a real simple shorthand of the mythos and worlds in which they operate (mostly because the DC/Marvel/etc universes have been overrun with so much oft-trodden ground that...more
Fresh from reading Venditti's sci-fi GN about a world where humans have become ridiculously over-dependent on technology, I feel a little guilty using the intertubes to announce my reading habits. But The Surrogates does what science fiction is supposed to do: it reflects on the ethics of technology while telling a good story.
A quick read that will stay with you, the most poignant part of the tale is the relationship between Lt. Greer and his wife. Also deeply affecting, for differ...more
A quick read that will stay with you, the most poignant part of the tale is the relationship between Lt. Greer and his wife. Also deeply affecting, for differ...more
I just didn't want to finish the book. Cause that's all folks.
Man, I haven't read a graphic novel this well written in a while. I was a dedicated comic collector as a kid and most of them were nicely done and worth a quick read.
But this drama is not only written extremely well, but it flows effortlessly with the sparse duotone drawings. They don't get in the way, but accentuate the multiple story lines--even with the sublte change in color from scene to scene. Seeing thi...more
Man, I haven't read a graphic novel this well written in a while. I was a dedicated comic collector as a kid and most of them were nicely done and worth a quick read.
But this drama is not only written extremely well, but it flows effortlessly with the sparse duotone drawings. They don't get in the way, but accentuate the multiple story lines--even with the sublte change in color from scene to scene. Seeing thi...more
I didn't expect this book to be this good. I picked it up because there is a movie adaptation coming out soon. However, it is my impression that the movie will be quite different.
This is a fantasy story of our culture in the year 2054. Robots have been created that take the place of human interaction. These robots, called surrogates, are basically puppets in the real world. People sit at home with a headset on and direct their surrogate however they want. They feel, taste, and ex...more
This is a fantasy story of our culture in the year 2054. Robots have been created that take the place of human interaction. These robots, called surrogates, are basically puppets in the real world. People sit at home with a headset on and direct their surrogate however they want. They feel, taste, and ex...more
I didn't love it, but I liked it pretty well. I'm not really a reader of graphic novels so I may have missed some of the subtelties that the author talks about at the end of the book. The work is fairly long, but I think there was enough meat of a story here so that it could have been considerably longer. I'd like to see the story told as a novel, since a lot of the background information could be developed.
You can clearly see the influence of The Watchmen in how the story is pres...more
You can clearly see the influence of The Watchmen in how the story is pres...more
I admit to picking this up after seeing a trailer for the upcoming movie. I really want to read and enjoy graphic novels, but some (like The Watchmen) have been disappointing. This book was not. A smart story, told well and with mature, sophisticated treatment of the important themes. Like all good science fiction writers, Venditti takes something we have in the present (virtual worlds like MMOs with avatars that we control) and forecasts a worrisome future, using the text to explore the potenti...more
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This graphic novel only gets three stars because of the beautiful art. The story itself, only two stars. I found the climax of the story to be a big, "That's it?" If anything, I feel as if this five chapter story is either a prequel or an epilogue. With a world where most of the US who can afford a surrogate uses one, there were so many possibly far more interesting storylines could be told, instead we get a ho-hum mystery with people I didn't really care about. You know it's a wasted ...more
I read this because I just got the DVD from Netflix. In a very short span the writer brings up what some of what the problems of VR and living your life through it could be. Most people link into an android surrogate to do their daily work. The sudden destruction of surrogates including that owned by the police department's investigator leads the cop to give up his surrogate and to experience the investigation using his real body. Doing so he becomes convinced that for several years he has n...more
I decided to buy and read "The Surrogates" because, of course, the movie was coming out soon and it had Bruce Willis in it, and I've lately been drawn into the graphic novel universe. So I said, why not? I've read a few other graphic novels and the concepts presented in this one were interesting.
First off, the graphic novel is significantly different from the movie, so you should probably read it even if you have already seen the movie. It starts off with the same initia...more
First off, the graphic novel is significantly different from the movie, so you should probably read it even if you have already seen the movie. It starts off with the same initia...more
I had high hopes and maybe it was my fault hoping for a really gripping read accompanied by high-level artwork. It turned out to be something of a dud. There is definitely the seed of a great story but it never quite blossomed and the hastily presented resolution is dissatisfying to say the least. The crude artwork is without raw energy often associated with such style and the Surries, perfect and sleek and are such an improvement of "vanilla" humans, do not to be so. I believe the...more
An interesting story told very well through text and pictures. In some ways, this is classic Sci-fi. Venditti has built a world around a simple what if and investigated how life would change if we could have surrogates do all of our work for us. Unfortunately, I think he didn't have enough time to really explore all the questions of morality and personal appearance in depth. Hopefully later books collections will look more at how the surrogates have changed the way we live our lives and less at ...more
I really love the concept here: in 2054 cybernetic robot "surrogates" have become the virtual replacement for real people. You stay in the comfort of your own home controlling your beautiful surrogate at it navigates the world at your behest. Work, travel, human interaction all have this surrogate buffer, but you feel all the sensations as if you are really there. The immediate upside is that violent crime and disease have mostly been eradicated. People can do jobs their real bodies wo...more
I am glad I read the graphic novel before seeing the movie. The story is compelling. The characters rich and interesting. The style of the art (and graphic novels in general) may not be for everyone, but as a person who likes graphic novels this is in the upper echelon. The supplemental material at the end of each chapter is a wonderful touch adding greatly to the depth of the story. I wish more non-super hero graphic novels would reach this standard. 4/5
Good story. Heavy philisophical questions on what it means to live, to be human. I thought it was too short and the story over way to quick. I also was not a fan of the drawing style as I felt it took away from the really tense moments, leaving me to try and fill it in with my imagination, which is NOT what a graphic novel should be doing.
I honestly do not understand the movie and where its going to go. This could easily be a short 1 hour movie but lets see where it all goes.
I honestly do not understand the movie and where its going to go. This could easily be a short 1 hour movie but lets see where it all goes.
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Robert Venditti is the New York Times bestselling author of the sci-fi graphic novel series The Surrogates, the first installment of which was adapted into a feature film starring Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames. He also writes the graphic novel adaptations of Rick Riordan’s bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians novels. His most recent book is the political/medical thriller The Homeland Direc...more
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