Alex + Ada, Volume 1
Art: Jonathan Luna
Script: Sarah Vaughn
Published: July 29, 2014
Publisher: Image Comics
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Romance
Format: Paperback
Length: 128 pages
Alex + Ada opens with its sad-sack main character, Alex, waking up to yet another mundane workday. Alex, we discover, is still pining after his most recent ex-girlfriend after seven long months, and his friends just want him to get out there and do something about it.
The only mildly different note in this parade of clichés occurs when Alex talks to his rich (and horny) grandmother on the phone and she secretly decides to order him a nearly life-like android companion. Complications ensue when the newly arrived Ada turns out to have the personality of an eager-to-please talking mannequin and Alex finds he can’t relate to her.
You can probably guess where the story goes next. The problem is that this first volume is all about getting there, and nothing about it stands out from the crowds of stories that have dealt with very similar material. Spike Jonze’s Her was a flawed movie at best, but it still had a far more original approach to relationships between human beings and artificial intelligences.
Ultimately, Alex + Ada treads familiar ground and doesn’t even try to change things up while doing it. The most interesting part of this story arc happens at the end of the book, but it still doesn’t feel like enough to make this series unique. Honestly, I’d rather read this story from the perspective of an AI instead of yet another lovelorn social misfit.
As for the art, it’s reasonably competent, but the clearly digital nature of the backgrounds is jarring enough to become distracting. Overall, however, I just found it uninteresting and ultimately forgettable.
Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from NetGalley.
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