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Tron #1
"Ghost in the Machine"
Review posted: 04 June 2006
Writer: Landry Walker, Eric Jones (data entry)
Artist: Louie De Martinis (pixels)
Publisher: SLG
4.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Louis Vitela
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Without completely dating myself, it’s a fair bet that many a
geek of my generation knows and loves Tron, the 1982 Disney
film starring Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner. Although there were
many things about the making of the movie itself to draw a 1980s geek
to the theater, Tron’s staying power undoubtedly comes
from the story and its underlying philosophy. It was the
Matrix of the day, revealing a society made of ones and zeroes,
self-aware beings who knew they were “programs” and the
spiritual among them wondered aloud about the existence of the
Users, their supposed creators. Further pursuing Matrix
likenesses, the main character is actually a User (a programmer, even)
who finds himself trapped in the digital world for a time. While
there he exhibits extraordinary powers; a messiah who understands how
that particular world really works.
Walker, Jones, and De Martinis completely understand that they’re writing for a significantly more sophisticated audience than watched Tron twenty-five years ago.
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Now, nearly twenty-five years after Tron debuted in movie
theaters, SLG has released Tron: Ghost in the Machine. I
pulled this comic off the shelf at the comic shop in a fit of pure
nostalgia. I didn’t expect much from it. What could they really
do? Retell the story in sequential art? The potential for lameness
was quite high. It turns out, however, that this particular creative
team did much, much better than a simple rehash.
The inside cover sports a full page of prose, filling in the
“Previously...” backstory. This very nearly amounts to
required reading, and intriguingly glosses over signficant, unwritten
adventures. If you’re one who hates to read the backstory
paragraphs, have a look at this one anyway. It recounts Flynn’s
adventures in the Tron movie, and all the adventures that have
taken place between then and now. One expects (and hopes) these
adventures to be told in detail one day, but for now they’re
just part of the current story’s history.
I hesitate to mention this next bit because it gives some of the
story away that might best be left to surprise the reader. Yet at the
same time it reveals the brilliance of the story and I am compelled to
share at least a little. Walker, Jones, and De Martinis completely
understand that they’re writing for a significantly more sophisticated
audience than watched Tron twenty-five years ago. But along
with the challenge of writing for a more sophisticated audience comes
a whole host of digital-age concepts that simply would not have worked
in 1982. Like what? I’ll spill, just a little.
What would (and should) any computer system of consequence have
running one hundred percent of the time? Answer: backup software. In
this Tron story, the backup software creates a copy of
everything on the system. If for some reason any programs are missing
from the main system, the backup software restores a copy of those
missing programs. Ah, the geeks among you have guessed: even if a
“program” is a visiting User from the non-digital world
above, a backup copy would still be made of him.
This simple plot element is at once brilliant and elegant, and that
feat of storytelling alone was enough for me to have Tron
immediately added to my pull list.
In addition to the excellent story concept, Tron is very
well executed. After the first page of prose, we are dumped right
into the life of Jet, a programmer who has been to the digital world
and wants no more of it. The dialogue is smooth and natural as Jet
explains some of his ordeal to a psychiatrist. A further interesting
layer here is that Jet must feel like Dorothy, resigned to the fact
that if she describes Oz in sufficient detail she’ll be strapped
to a table and subjected to a few jarring volts of electricity. De
Martinis’ art works perfectly with the dialogue, bringing the
reader directly into the story. Of particular note is the vivid
coloring, which finds a perfect balance in tones between video games
and comics.
My favorite stories in any genre are those that leave me with a
burning curiosity about where they could go next. Tron fits
that bill nicely. Which characters have been restored from backup?
Are the copies identical to the originals in every way? Can the
copies leave the digital world for the world of Users? Any story that
leaves my mind racing with this many questions gets very high marks
indeed.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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