Gregory Suicide is a new science fiction graphic novel written by Eric Grissom (Deadhorse) and illustrated and colored by Will Perkins (Beware), published by Dark Horse Comics. Not your typical superhero tale, it is about an obsolete AI program that awakens in a world he doesn’t recognize after being asleep for 22 years. He has to figure out who he is and why he has awoken. With a compelling main character, intriguing story, and its use of color in telling the story, Gregory Suicide is a treat for fans of the sci-fi comic book genre. The narrative focuses on the AI character Gregory, an older and now obsolete AI model. He had been replaced many years ago by the current program called Gemini. Once Gregory leaves the facility, he must discover his identity and whether to assist a group of activists that want to destroy all of the AI. The group is led by Rachel, whose deceased mother created Gregory. There are themes and plot points in here that are similar to other sci-fi stories, but it’s still enthralling. It doesn’t take very long to get sucked into the story and the character that is Gregory.
The art from Perkins is simplistic, but it ends up working. It’s the colors that ultimately stand out and play such a vital part in the narrative, with three color variations and a minimal amount of black shading. Blue represents the present time, brown represents the past, and green represents the consciousness after death. The only other color used in the panels is pink, for when there is blood and for some of the captions.
-Raul Vantassle