Obscure Comic of the Month was a column I wrote from 2015 to 2017, where I would take a look at a comic or series that wasn't really talked about. This covered independent comics, zines, weird spins-offs, webcomics and more. It's been away, but now it's back.
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Metropo by Magnus Aspli with art by Vivian Truong, Rob Croonenborghs, Mary Safro, Niomi Franquiz, John Jamtili and Emerson Dimaya - 2018 - Present
Contains Spoilers
When glancing over at Magnus Aspli's stall during Thought Bubble 2018 he had a sign displayed sating that he accepted payment by cash, card or Wayland-Yutani stocks. This humorous gag alone made it likely that I was going to grab a copy of his book, but it's cover, being a beautifully illustrated homage to the opening scene of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Incal, practically guaranteed it. Though I dud have to let him know I left my Wayland-Yutani stocks in my other pants.
Metropo is a short story collection with a mix of both comics and prose. You may question whether that means it doesn't qualify for this column, but I don't care, I do what I like.
If the name of the book and the cover doesn't tip you off, Metropo is set in your typical cyberpunk city. You've seen this place before in dozens of sci-fi stories. There is no new conceit or unique spin that Metropo brings to the setting, but that's okay. Metropo's setting exists to serve as a baseline normal for it's individual stories to expand upon.
The the stories are all pretty much great, and the visuals the artists bring to the project sing with life, but some of the stories stories resonate more than others do. You can't score a hit 100% of the time when it comes to a well covered sub-genre like cyberpunk, and Metropo is no different. As well written as the stories are, many of them sit so comfortably within the mechanics of the genre to such a degree that they sink from your memory into the vast ephemera of half remembered cyberpunk tales at the back of your mind.
Fortunately, the ones that do resonate are so good that I'll still be sitting thinking about them for years to come.
Stand outs include the opening comic strip, Raindrop Hatch, that tells of one of the cities great forgotten workers forced to part with the only family he has. Temporal is an absolutely banging day-in-the-life story of cyborg cops constantly questioning their identity while serving an uncaring state. Automobile, with absolutely fantastic art by Rob Croonenborghs, serves as a dire warning about the dangers of automated vehicles, something that feels more resonant now than it even did four years ago.
Easily the standout of the collection is Sunrise, the story of a young girl who has spent most of her life living in a city where seeing the sky is a luxury only for the privileged few, and who's quest to make it to the top of a high-rise building becomes epic in it's own right. The prose is not only beautiful and intense, but the story also culminates with the final moments illustrated vibrantly by Emerson Dimaya. A wonderful way to conclude the story.
Standing out in the cyberpunk genre is no easy task, not least because a lot of the concepts you are predicting or satirising often come to pass and become common place as our society gets vastly more mechanised. What's important is the heart of the story and an understanding that while spans of time can be epic, our humanity does not fundamentally change. The decision to open the book stating it is 'Based on future events,' shows that Aspli understands this.
Metropo is intended to be part of a larger and more developed fictional setting, though Aspli seems of have been off the grid since 2019, such is the way of things in the world of obscure comics, but I hope a return to the endless city is forthcoming.
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Jack Harvey 2021. Metropo (c) Magnus Aspli. Images used under Fair Use.
