Fluorescent Black

by M.F. Wilson, Nathan Fox, Jeromy Cox

THEY DON'T CARE

You ain't worth it.
You sick, what? You need medicine? They don' care.

You got problems. You burden to the state. But you can't pay for pharma? You can't fix your genome?

They don't care. But we do.

We care because we o'ready like you, lah. We got problems too.
Join us.
We can train you.

Learn to spike your stems. Learn to mix ribo-cocktails. Learn to scrap bodies for the bank.

We can make lobang drugs that are cheaper than theirs. We can make splice animals to plague them. We can kidnap them from their homes. We can make them pay for ignoring us.

FREE THE GENE!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Sequential Art, Comic Book, Fiction

196 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy buena premisa. Muy buena ambientación. Dibujo y diseños bastante buenos. Muy buena cronología alternativa del mundo. Lástima que la historia en sí no tenga la fuerza que debería tener la suma de sus partes, y que hay unas cuantas escenas de más (y alguna de menos). De todos modos, fue una lectura bastante interesante.

[Elh R' · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comic to read in a radioactive-hot-sticky-Thai-night rounded by neon fluorescent lights and lot of junk food.

100% Bio Punk, dystopian future, anti-heroes characters, and lot of Fluorescent (sticky) Black.

[Justin Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wilson and Fox don't mess around. From the beginning to the end, this book is like getting slapped in the face with one of those mutant fish in the fish farm. Highly recommend this to anyone who loves near future dystopias and who isn't afraid of a couple naked people and nonstop ownage.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

comparison with the likes of this almost exposes watchmen as gimmicky. true hope for an emerging high art form imho.

[Valerie Crump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. This comic is genius.

**

I needed to revise my review here because I can't stop thinking about it. If I had to take back every 5 star rating, I've ever given any sci-fi story ever, and only give back one, I would give it back to this story.

The art is not beautiful, which is what I tend to gravitate towards, but it is perfect for this story. It's raw. It's crude. It's rough. It's actually kind of ugly at times.

The story is SO good. It's a dark, harsh, relevant, heart-wrenching story. It lacks modesty and any kind of filter. There is nudity, copious amounts of carnage, and outright filth at times.

I'm not very good at putting the other stuff into words, so I'll leave it to you to figure out on your own. The fact that this came out almost 15 years ago makes it even better.

I would recommend this to everyone... but I wouldn't read it if you don't have a strong stomach.

Enjoy ❤️

[fire_on_the_mountain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book positively rips, and between the electric style of Fox and Wilson's frenetic pacing, you won't want to stop. I crushed this in one sitting. Fox's art really makes you feel like you're in the oppressive, sweaty slums and jungle of a nightmare future-- so much so that you can't always track the focal point of the action. But I was pulled along by a surprisingly human story, and more than once, I caught myself feeling some sort of way. Based on the dialogue along, you can see the tremendous amount of work Wilson put into learning the setting and the subject matter, so I hope that he gets more opportunities to tell stories like this. He does his homework.
I was lucky enough to catch this copy on Heavy Metal's clearance sale, so if you have such luck, grab yourself a copy!

[Bill Coffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This happens a lot with Heavy Metal: a story either has outstanding art or outstanding narrative, but rarely both, or if they do, they are so out of step stylistically that they don’t work. Such is the case with Fluorescent Black, an abortions bio punk tale that aspires to be a meat sack version of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, but features such distracting artwork that bailing out early on seems like the best course of action. Alas. Surely there are those who will really enjoy this. More power to them.

[dromoman · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of a kind adult horror about bio-science gone mad, fueled by capitalism -how some people imagined Singapore would become in future back in 2010 during the LKY genetic-obsessed policies. singlish is a bit out of place and definitely banned in Singapore.

I came here after finding Nathan Fox amazing artwork from a couple of Brian Wood's DMZ. this is Nathan's earlier work but a standout, and the 4 star rating is 90 percent for him alone. the story and script is meh.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a lot.

[İlteriş · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Artwork is so detailed yet too messy. So, It's not my type. The plot would be better with a proper writting or just getting rid of all plot holes because there are so many. I assume I should have care the characters but I didn't. The characters introduced us very shallow way. Even though there were some tragic events happened I didn't really care because I didn't feel any symphaty to any character. The pages should have more and and let readers get the know all the characters throught the pages. It feels so rushed without those.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came across this at Comic-con this year. Why is it so much of the stuff Heavy Metal puts out are books you feel like you should have heard of but you just haven't? This book is heavy with mood; it's engrossing post-apocalyptic body-modification-obsessed sci-fi set in culturally-divided Singapore, a self-styled genre its author calls "biopunk." Like Paul Pope with an injection of neon, dripping with pure pulp. An interesting read, but not a cheery one.

[Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nathan Fox is a phenomenon. This is full on, scuzzy brilliance. Designer genes initiating the bio-organic apocalypse. The collapse of civilization in vibrance & violence.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this is ambitious, but lacking in execution and characters. The art however, HOLEEEE CRAP it is amazing. Worth picking up just to stare at the giant oversized pages of Nathan Fox art.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily the best graphic novel I've read all year. Singapore late 21st Century.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did absolutely nothing for me. Tuned out at the pubic hair.

[João · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect.