Mechanism, Vol. 1

Mechanism #1-5

by Raffaele Ienco

In the aftermath of an alien invasion, a prototype military robot is rushed into the field before it is combat-ready. Now attached to a group of survivors, it studies them to learn what it means to be human. Will it come to understand man as a noble creature worth preserving or that the human race isn't worth saving at all?

Collecting: Mechanism 1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Aliens

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2017

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dystopian future where aliens have sent frog people to attack humans. There's also some sentient software that wants to take over. The story doesn't make sense in quite a few places. I was constantly checking to see if I had skipped a page because it felt like I had missed something. The entire series take place in pouring rain yet no one wears coats or hoods nor does their hair look wet. An artist who is the sole creator of a comic should probably notice that.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series is ongoing, but it might be on hiatus. This first volume is pretty impressive story-wise and the artwork is detailed and expressive. It's a fast read, so it's unfortunate that it stopped. I feared a cliffhanger at the end of this book, since I initially thought that the series was standalone.

Aliens named Geckos have invaded. The humans have been fighting a war that has reached a stalemate. A scientist named Thomas Burg has been developing a new type of android to win the war. It's been assigned to a couple of police officers as an observer, but it may be shelved by the powers that be who want to maintain the status quo.

The android is soon left alone after the two officers are assaulted by Geckos and one of them dies. It's guided by a boy named Ben to his shelter where his father's old mech is still kept. The android activates it and many other nearby mechs, ultimately forming an impressive army for an as yet unclear purpose.

Burg is declared a terrorist. He is saved from the automated sentries by Six Janes who works for an organization that is trying to reveal the thuth about the powers that rule the world. Their plans are threatened by the Geckos who have mobilized worldwide and are moving to destroy humanity.

Burg's research created an AI named Protos that became too intelligent and wanted to escape its confines. The android has its intelligence, but with limitations programmed in to keep it under control. It can save humanity, but might be unwilling to do so, since its cold logic dictates that 3,000 is the minimum required number of people needed to propagate the human race. The Geckos are viewed as a forest fire that can clense humanity and heal the planet.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

Mechanism is a tough one to review. It's an incomplete saga and this is why I've stopped buying random issues like Mechanism. The artwork is amazing but like Alex Ross, not all artists can write. It's a bit like filmmakers who are writers and attempt directing as well. The storyline is a bit all over the place and it's tough to stay engaged. It's a mixed result for me and sadly it never connected with characters or the storyline overreaching arc.

Why the 2.5?

This ended on a cliffhanger and considering this was made in 2016 I won't expect closure. Image Comics are notorious for this single volume books. I now check the website and the talent involved. Mechanism has a single talent and quite unknown talent at the helm so I should've known better. The property never gained mainstream traction so it's not the authors fault that it never ended, but it is the author's fault the volume is underwhelming. There's a great idea here but you cannot have such an uneventful first volume. The artwork is amazing and if you pick this up for cheap, it's worth checking out.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Against the backdrop of gecko alien invaders, giant robots, surrendered earth, one man has the power to save the earth. What an exciting new debut.

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this a couple weeks ago yet remember nothing about it. My personal list gives it 2 stars without any notes. Weird. I guess I didn’t like it much.

[Marti Dolata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently became aware of Ienco while reading the collection Postal
Ienco did one issue, and IMHO, his art stood head and shoulders over the usual artists. So I checked out this collection next. Why are there SO many comic series which are vile dystopias with corrupt governments and a hopeless prognosis for the human race, not to mention coupious illustrations of people brutally dying? I found it kinda edgy back in the Seventies, but tedious now, and not what I enjoy at all, nowadays. But Ienco did raise some questions as to the intentions of the AI. What was it doing with all those Mechs? Could it save the Human Race? Was it even interested in trying? that I wanted the answers to in the next volume. Alas, it doesn't exist. Since this was published in 2017, I think it is obvious that Ienco has moved on. So why read this? I think that Ienco has solved the question of how to illustrate multiple electronic transmissions in an understandable and interesting way. I really liked it. So if anyone you know is thinking of doing the graphic novel of the Murderbot Diaries , suggest that they steal (with appropriate acknowledgement of course) Ienco's method in this title.

[Bahman Naraghi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a lot of potential but at least the first arc doesn't really take it very far until literally the last few pages of the final issue. Was a little confused by what appears to be a conspiracy theory thrown in about the origin of the geckos, but which seems to not really play a part in later issues. The shifting timelines and focus on different characters within single pages also got to be confusing at times. You assume the different threads will finally be draw together, but it jumps from one to the other seemingly haphazardly and actually ignore a couple by the end of the arc.
The art is fantastic, though the 4-6 panel/page layout style gets a bit boring after a while. Some really nice splash and double-splash pages thrown in throughout but the the basic layout is very formulaic.

[Paul Allard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Post-apocalyptic tale of man using mechanoids in their fight against an enemy

On a post-apocalyptic Earth (i.e. Philadephia is destroyed), man wages war against an alien underwater race named the Geckos using mechanoids. However everything is perhaps not what it seems. There's a lot of fighting and killing and the story is not always clear as it jumps from one scenario to another. The artwork does not help either – painted art, not my favourite.

Alas this is not really good enough to keep me reading further volumes. A miss as far as I'm concerned.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

After picking up the individual issues from a used comic book store, I blew through all five issues. I really enjoyed the story and setup, and was looking forward to more issues. Sadly, no more seem to have published.

The characters were established very quickly, and I found myself caring about them almost immediately. The varied stories about the origin of the antagonists created just enough mystery to have me second-guessing. The art grabbed and held my attention.

I highly recommend this story!

[Andy Clarke · Rating 1 out of 5]

An example of style over substance. Great artwork, but poor storytelling. A story that is no doubt a great concept, poorly executed. Confusing and hard to track jumps between past and present events. New characters appearing with little to no explanation, as though the reader should know them already. This felt like reading a book with pages missing.

[theGraveyard Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good artwork. Storytelling disjointed and confusing at places but enough action and compelling plot to keep me interested.

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this book happened...

[Niche · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story's kind of disjointed. It's set in a future where alien invaders released amphibious soldiers while terraforming the planet. There was some battle against them using giant mechs, but now they've mostly been abandoned with people living in walled cities. A super-advanced AI gets put into a humanoid robot to get it to learn about the outside world with the intention of it becoming the new weapon against the aliens. Throw in some geo-political conspiracies, "is humanity worth saving?" tropes, and some random side-characters that don't exactly contribute much.