If a weapon had a conscience, what would its choices be? Cult cartoonist Darick Robertson reflects on it in this 160-page book published by Glénat comics on February 14.
In a bleak future, a gang leader in Repo City has an air conditioning problem during a beating. He calls on Butch, his favorite repairman. This arrogant man dreams of becoming a gangster and intends to take advantage of his trump card, Bang-Bang, his living weapon. Very quickly, Butch finds himself embroiled in conflicts that are beyond him.
A crazy world
Ballistic, imagined by Adam Egypt Mortimer, is a science fiction detective story. Panting like a good thriller, the reader never knows what to expect. Science has made it possible to merge living matter and objects are therefore also made of flesh. This fusion between machine and flesh is gory when the shots come.
A cartoonist accustomed to trash
Flipping through the pages, these images can disappoint with surprising colors but, start reading and you will not be able to let go of the volume. Darick Robertson is already a reference in comics through his work with Garth Ennis – The Boys – and with Warren Ellis – Transmetropolitan. We find here the spirit of mixing science fiction and societal criticism. The story is not made for everyone but we take a lot of pleasure. Roberston is very good at making very strange ideas real.
Ballistic is certainly a very fun story to follow with very funny losers lost in shootouts, futuristic delusions and very trashy dialogues. However, there is real political depth. Bang-Bang is Chuck's only friend, making him think about the contemporary place of guns in American society.
A quality edition
Published in the United States by Black Mask, Glénat comics does a great job for this volume in French. At the end of the volume, the bonuses are very interesting. Robertson's sketches with Mortimer's commentary reveal to the reader the creative process. Even funnier, there are notes for the different pages of the story as in a scientific essay but completely diverted.
Once the volume is closed, the reader is delighted to have spent a moment following the adventures of a looser certainly unsuited to gangsterism but very touching.
