Clone Volume 1

Title: Clone Volume 1

Series: Ongoing

Publisher: Image Skybound

Publication Date: 2012 - Present

Creative Team: 

            Writer: David Schulner

Artist: Juan Jose Ryp
Colors: Felix Serrano

Genre: SciFi, Drama

Clone is overflowing with potential.  The premise is high concept and intriguing: a man realizes he is one of a great many clones.  The philosophical implications of the story are clearly not lost on its creative team.  The art is kinetic and detailed.  And if all that weren’t enough, it was handpicked by Image Comics superstar Robert Kirkman for his personal imprint, Skybound.  Clone is currently one of only 2 creator owned titles not created by Kirkman selected for Skybound (the other being Witch Doctor).  Clone could be great but it’s not there yet.

Who says you can't learn anything from comics?

Clone has two narratives running parallel (at least during the first arc).  The primary story is about a Luke and his pregnant wife Amelia.  (Amelia visually reminds me quite a bit of Amelia Pond from Doctor Who.  Note to self: Find out if Juan Jose Ryp and/or David Schulner are fans of the 11^th Doctor).  Luke learns that he is a clone.  Before long we meet fellow clone, Foster, who is trying to save Luke from yet another clone who calls himself Patrick.  Both of Luke’s new clone friends are headquartered at top secret facilities which are full of yet more clones.  With all these clones running around the question begins to crop up: Why is Luke the subject of all this special attention?  The answer lies with Amelia.  How can Amelia be pregnant when all clones are sterile?

Luke finds comfort while playing with himself.

The secondary narrative is all politics.  The republican Vice President of the United States has an important vote to make regarding the ban of stem cell research.  His daughter has Parkinson’s disease and a vote to ban stem cell research could ruin her chances of living to see a cure.  However, if the Vice President votes against banning stem cell research he risks alienating his republican base and killing his political career. These two narratives come together in a fairly typical way for this kind of story.  I’ll let you work that out for yourself but I’ll give you a hint: Who do you think paid for all the cloning?

The Vice President considers employing Tommy Lee Jones as a body double after watching Dave.

Juan Jose Ryp has a rather impressive resume.  He’s worked with Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, and Peter Milligan to name a few.  I think it’s safe to say that most modern comic artists would kill to have the opportunity to collaborate with these writers.  At a quick glance it’s easy to see how Ryp came by these projects.  His art work is excellent.  The level of detail he employs would exhaust most artists.  Beyond the detail, he has a very unique pointillist inspired shading style.  His work is easy to pick out of a line up.  However, all this having been said there were a handful of artistic choices that I wasn’t overly fond of.  Ryp likes to add a flourish to any impact in the story (ie: gunshots, kicks, punches, etc).  Because of Clone’s subject matter I was expecting a very sci-fi tone.  On the first couple pages two men are fighting and these bright yellow/orange flourishes are shown at the point of impact of landed punch and kick.  I had to stop for a moment and decide if this character had special powers or if this was simply a stylistic choice.  Eventually, I realized it was stylistic but I shouldn’t have to figure that out.  Later in the comic I was once again debating whether or not the clones had special powers as Luke the main character is elbowing his way through a fairly sturdy looking metal door in a top secret facility.  He’s smashing glass and bending metal that don’t look like they would give when up against a human of normal strength.  I admit I haven’t broken down a metal lab door but I can’t help but think my chances of success are low.  To be fair, this could have been at the writer’s request.  All in all despite these occasional quirks Ryp’s artwork is impressive.  It would be hard to deal with an increasing large cast of people with the same face and still manage to keep them distinct.  I rarely if ever had trouble telling the difference between our cloned heroes and villains.  Clone is lucky to have Juan Jose Ryp aboard.

Foster stops his assailant with strategically placed orange Fanta.

Clone is the comic writing debut of David Shulner.  He shows great skill and generally does a good job of juggling his plot lines to keep the story moving.  Unfortunately, there were a few too many clunky spots that took me out of the story.  There were at least three times when gun wielding soldiers stood only a few feet away from their targets and failed to hit anything.  I can’t hold this against Shulner too much since you could accuse almost any action film of the same but somehow seeing it in a static comic panel really drives home how ridiculous it is.  By itself this is forgivable and forgettable but it’s indicative of the story’s larger problem.  These characters feel very drug along by the plot.  You can feel that there are certain story beats that Shulner had in mind to hit.  It’s like his characters are in an old arcade rail shooter like House of the Dead or Area 51.  They might not trust someone, they may claim that saving someone is all they care about, or staying where they are might mean certain death but regardless of these concerns the plot grabs them by the arm and forces them to where they’re supposed to be.  And like dutiful children our characters abandon the task at hand and head toward the next action sequence.

No metal door can stop Luke from getting to the bathroom after eating at Taco Bell.

Still, Shulner is thinking about the implications of his story.  His characters deal with the identity issues that being a clone implies.  Luke encounters a fellow clone that seems to feel his status as one of many makes him a cog.  He is both guilty and innocent.  He is both nothing and everything.  Luke through his actions shows he is firm in the belief that he is an individual.  He doesn’t feel his life has to be defined by the existence of his brothers.  Shulner’s clearly an intelligent person and I think that in time Clone can overcome its freshmen awkwardness.  All the ingredients are there, it just needs to figure out the proper measurements and how long to cook.

With his last breath, Foster takes aim at the sickeningly cute refrigerator magnets.

Grade: B-