Ant’s Rant: Greg Pak’s “Vision Machine”

In December of last year, Greg Pak released a free three-part digital graphic novel for anyone to use and share as they see fit. I’ve never really heard of Greg Pak before (apparently he’s really famous in the comic book world) and freely-distributed comics are unheard of in my little world, so this is something strange and new to me. Apparently he’s done a lot of work with Marvel (most notably with the Hulk series, which I never cared for). Here’s my take on this free gift by a famous stranger.

The story takes place largely in the U.S. in the year 2061. It follows the creation of a new invention that takes the world by storm, spreading to millions in a matter of weeks as the next big craze (a la the iPad or the next best cell phone). The device is called the iEyes. These are glasses that can read the wearer’s mind and visually change the world as he or she sees fit. With a constant wireless internet connection to one central server (called Sprout Server), it allows the users to edit, record, and broadcast their visions to any other person wearing a pair of iEyes. These glasses allow people to make videos they could only dream of, and live out their fantasies in a way that could never have been dreamed of before. Also, people broadcasting what they create with their mind on the iEyes get paid royalties based on how many people are viewing these visions. On the flipside, they’re also charged a small fee whenever they use copyrighted material (such as humming a jingle).

Part of the company’s (Sprout’s) policies is to not be evil, but that doesn’t mean they can’t work with the government to try to take over the world. Working with the president of the United States, Sprout sets out to record everything that any wearer sees, use this technology to spy on the entire country, and do it in the name of “anti-terrorism and crime prevention”. Because of this, crime does become almost nonexistant, but that doesn’t last long. Laws are put into place to regulate what people can see and do as well. As a commentary on modern technological dependence, people begin to lose their grasp on how to live without the iEyes. Taking advantage of this dependence, Sprout and the government continue to find new ways to tighten their grasp on the people using Sprout Server and the iEyes.

As with every piece of digital technology, it is soon hacked. Much like video game console hacking, the iEyes hackers have to keep on revising their hacks as Sprout develops updated software to kill the hacks. Thanks to the hackers, people start spending more and more time off the network Sprout uses, so Sprout devises new plans to rein the people back in. Meanwhile, the hackers are devising their own free network to replace Sprout Server, one with no “Eye in the Sky” monitoring and controlling everything everyone sees. To prevent this, Sprout has a living weapon that could destroy iEyes hacking. This weapon is a person called Jane, an “Effective Dreamer”, someone who can create or destroy anything anyone sees or experiences with the iEyes, and is only becoming more and more powerful. The hackers want to use Jane in order to replace Sprout’s network with one of their own (called World 2.0), free of the government and Sprout’s tracking, recording, and copyright functions.

Now for my take on this book. For a free read, I have to say I was very pleased with this and will buy a copy if one is ever put into print. The story is very unique for a graphic novel. I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time. It tries to stay as realistic as possible and draws a very believable image of the world of the future. It also serves a commentary and reflection for a lot of different things. The “Total Information Awareness Project” is a commentary on the Patriot Act, hackers working for Sprout and quitting is a reflection of White and Black Hat hackers, there’s a bit in there that touches on the experiences video game console hackers go through (hack, update, hack, update, rinse repeat), and lots more references that tech heads and political nuts would be able to catch.

As realistic as it tries to be, Jane is the only part of the story that is unrealistic. She ends up going from a normal person with a love for the iEyes to a Neo-like character who can change and destroy the digital world as she sees fit, and even connect to it without using the iEyes or any other technology! Being able to connect while disconnected just seems a little farfetched in the realm of what the technology deals with. It would make sense if it was explained in the end, but the story comes to an abrupt end soon after we find out Jane has this ability. Parts 1 and 2 were interesting but the final part felt extremely rushed. It was a decent climax but there was so much more build up that it just felt too abrupt and unsatisfying. I especially dislike the final panel of the book, which has the main characters sitting on clouds like they’re in heaven. I just HATE those rainbow unicorn fairy tale Walt Disney endings! They are so cheesy!

The art work was some of the better work I’ve seen. There was no deceptive or undiscernable work done, everything was detailed, and there was enough business on each page to not be annoying but to give you plenty to look at. For the amount of work put into each page, I really can’t see why this is given away for free. I can see this being worth $20. I’d recommend everyone give this a read, seeing as it’s FREE and can be shared with anyone in any way you’d like. Just head over to VisionMachine.net to download it.