The world is lost in We Live but there is still hope. For this, it is still necessary to succeed in reaching the meeting point. Two children, Tala and Hototo will have to fend for themselves to get there. But what would you do if only your brother could survive?
Everything goes wrong…
In the near future, nature has taken over. Natural disasters have multiplied as new animal species attack humans. In the midst of these threats, humanity has not shown solidarity, but nations have preferred to embark on a confused and endless world war. As if that were not enough, the world is completely decimated by an epidemic. With only 10% of survivors, the disappearance seems close as evidenced by a countdown sent from space. However, the same message promises to save 5,000 children. Tala and her brother Hototo will have to face the violence of a dying world to reach a beacon offering hope by a departure to space. While survivors often learn to cope, the further you go in We Live, the more the perils become gigantic. The choice of two children touches the reader more deeply as the authors point out in the introduction. Even though the world seems lost, Hototo keeps his childhood dreams. He wants to become a superhero and has fun with his virtual reality headset. Cartoonist Inaki Miranda plays with this gap between a sinister world and childish heroes. The rounded faces of the children make the violence even more brutal. The ravaged world is presented by an official television message whose design resembles a simplistic cartoon.
Hope resists
However, We Live does not focus on a sinister narrative. Characters bring a strangeness like the bus driver transporting the chosen children while he is almost blind. The bright colors of Eva de la Cruz avoid the leaden atmosphere. We feel that the two brothers have fun inserting their passions or those of their children in their comics independently. We meet zombies, totally improbable animals, a giant robot… We Live is also a parable of the relationship of adults to their offspring. It contains everything we can do to protect the most vulnerable. Their mother has given them all her love to create a new world and tasked Tala with enchanting her little brother's life. Tala wanting to protect her brother and the brother's costume also push We Live towards a reflection on heroism. How does one become a hero or heroine? We Live, still being released in the United States, has already been greeted with an Eisner nomination. This series has two peculiarities. It is created by two brothers, Inaki and Roy Miranda who share the writing while Inaki makes the drawings. Some elements show the inspirations of the two brothers but it is mainly their children and their nephews who gave sap to feed the characters. In addition, it is a connected book, QR codes bringing to YouTube to listen to the soundtrack of the comic composed by Elhombreviento and Mario "Gonzo" Lorente.
No errors at 404
As with each of its releases, 404 comics takes care of the edition. We are far from the dreary harmony of the collections, Each title is entitled to its format, paper and style. Even better, the choices are explained on the cover page. As often in comics, we find the regular and limited covers of the episodes but not only we find a map, another informative message in cartoon, sketches, the stages of the cover. The end times, love and hope has rarely been as vibrant as in We Live. But, attention readers, you will be constantly jostled in We Live as the twists are numerous and the secondary characters rarely spared. The end of this cycle augurs a very interesting sequel. Find other science fiction chronicles with the chronicles of Tomorrow and Filthy.
