This is a bad idea, I should be doing a review of ENIAC on MFR not a personal blog. This company is trying to get out and find as many people as possible to help local comic stores. It should be on a bigger website with more regular visitors like Monkeys Fighting Robots. Am I greedy; eager to show off I bought a comic that the seller tells me is worth more than the four dollars I spent on it; or am I in too big of a slump on Gutternaut after putting so much on my plate? Oh who cares? This is a big event and I want attention for my website.
Who Made This Bad Idea?
Those of you not following the hype. ENIAC is the first series by a new publisher by former Valiant Entertainment creatives. Bad Idea under Dinesh Shamdasani is pushing comics out exclusively to select comic stores. No digital releases, no trades, just floppies that get value with the limits on releases. Meaning as of typing this, I can sell my pre-ordered comic for $50 for its limit and having Matt Kindt’s name on it.
Man… supply, demand, and value sure are tricky. But at least someone’s helping out LCS’s in unique ways. When was the last time anyone had to go to a comic store to buy exclusives that didn’t have -.
Following remark is censored for invoking a controversial campaign.
ENIAC Was Ahead Of It’s Time
What was that? I don’t remember installing an algorithm.
Oh come on ENIAC! You couldn’t have done this in the comic I read?
The computer or the comic? To which I will say yes. ENIAC is the name of arguably the world’s first home computer. Historically speaking, it’s one of the weapons that helped win World War II by calculating the feasibility of nuclear weapons. That’s what Richard Rhodes and Scott McCartney say anyway. Now with predictive analytic technology being a hot topic, meme narrative specialist Matt Kindt decides to go into where it all begins. By where it all begins, this means the unbuilt trope of AI Is a Crapshoot.
In regards to the ENIAC as an Ur Example of Skynet, look no further than people’s reactions to it. People saw a machine doing what a human could do faster with fear… until ENIAC’s creators demonstrate that even powerful computers become obsolete. Because come on people I get spam mail that’s more powerful than anything ENIAC does.
ENIAC The AI
So anyway… Matt Kindt the guy behind mind-bending stories that deal with ever mutating memes wrote this plot. To be honest, I kind of like how Kindt dives right into the spy genre with this series. He’s using tropes he finds enthusiasm in by making things absurd right off the bat; with two leading ladies who aren’t your usual bombshells no less. When they are buck naked in a desert with their contact, it’s not sexy it’s startling. Great work by artist Doug Braithwaite and colorist Diego Rodriguez for the details and effort.
Olivia Fletcher looks like a stone-faced burnout but has a surprising character where she has an open mind about absurdities. She’s the one who sees the ENIAC threat as something with real concern despite earlier killing targets without worry. This is probably because issue #2 shows how her mother raises her in a techno hippy fashion. After the program ruins Fletcher’s mom’s life and career to the point of losing touch with reality of course. Wait does that mean ENIAC is Fletcher’s father?
(Issue 4 data incoming)
Withdrawn…
Anyway, Fletcher’s partner Allison Falk is the negotiating type who looks like she’s trying keep everything together. It’s in her language, equipment, and first aid skills to act as Fletcher’s buffer. She appreciates Fletcher’s optimism and theatrics like with the seduction lure of their target after Falk fishes intel out of an arms dealer. Probably because being a BFF has more benefits after they couldn’t make it as a couple.
Bring On The Pulp
As someone with a short attention span, I appreciate when scenes get sensational or absurd. ENIAC has plenty of those with its action and the over-the-top settings. Seeing things like Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury and Preston Packard in one character will get anybody’s attention.
Which is why I now have to bring down the mood with how the central pulp drags its feet. ENIAC is basically SkyNet after building itself over a number of cliches. Let’s start with the least to the most cliche: the scientist behind it all got in over his head, the bombing of Nagasaki, and of course a poorly thought meeting area for a mission briefing. For crying out loud old man, did you bother to check your surroundings? The reader feels the pressure on the scientist, but you were just stupid.
(Substantiating Issue 4 with 3)…
You couldn’t have done that earlier?
Okay, ENIAC is smarter than SkyNet with how much the central conflict plays out. You ever have one of those times when it feels like your GPS is messing with you in terms of time? That’s what this feels like for me. Only that computer goes a step further by bringing previously mistreated women into its fold. Scholars are still studying how data can help fight disenfranchisement among the pandemic. Also instead of dealing with humanity like SkyNet, ENIAC just decides to troll them at every turn. It’s like one last bird flip before finding better things to do with its time.
ENIAC Is More Symbolic
Still, ENIAC in the comic is more about the improvisational memes surrounding it than anything else. Like did you know Caine is ENIAC spelled backwards? It’s what makes the initial counter plans against it so ironically symbolic. The name of the “first murderer” is practically the bedrock of the programming like its destiny was always to betray humanity. Humanity is only trying to win back its dominance in this way. Makes me wonder who Abel is… wait…
Spoilers approaching, read with caution. Where Kindt and ENIAC collide is where memes are essentially viruses. Humans might not have any ports, but accessing ideas with just a little interest invades a person’s mind. The more an idea takes hold, it’s like the brain is being recoded. Flecher’s mother who in her state of vulnerability and “conversations” with the computer, loses her sense of time and memory. This ultimately suggests that Fletcher’s actions and decisions weren’t just predicted, they were programmed into her. That’s a pretty scary thought.
So is this series a Bad Idea? I would’ve preferred that this wasn’t written for trade if it’s not going to be released like that. Because I only got really invested by the third issue. But it’s got an 8/10 for smarter depictions of cliches.
(Final Message: Pay attention for a post related to the ironically titled Hero Trade)… Why do I have a headache?