Writer/Artist: Alex Sheikman
Company: Archaia Studios Press

Archaia Studios, known for such immersive fantasy worlds as the ones in Artesia and Mouse Guard, offer up an equally immersive world of science-fiction in Robotika. Equally influenced by the genres of the wandering samurai and the cyberpunk future, Alex Sheikman and colorist Joel Chua turn in an action-packed, if occasionally slightly inscrutable, vision of a far-flung future and an honorable ronin trying to make his way in it.

The first thing readers will notice about Robotika is the art, and make no mistake, this is a book that is driven more by the art and cool images than a lot of plot or character development. Sheikman’s artwork features the imaginative panel layouts and design touches of JH Williams III’s Promethea, the over-the-top violence of Geoff Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy, the clean line and clear storytelling of Matt Wagner’s Grendel and the almost photo-realistic faces of Tony Harris’s Ex Machina. Artists this good aren’t supposed to just appear out of nowhere, but that seems to be what Sheikman has done, as this book is one of the best-looking comics I’ve seen in quite a while.

The world of Robotika is a neat genre blend, featuring not only the techno-fetishism of a cybernetic future full of bio-engineering but the elegant details of Japanese culture, an influence most notable in the clothing, art and some of the architecture. Sheikman and Chua show off a stylized world, more based on what would look cool than a concentrated attempt at predicting the future, and the focus in the storytelling seems to be to a large extent based on what he would find cool to draw. As a result, the book is filled with such bizarre and intriguing ideas as cyber-nannies turned Amazonian style warriors, mixes of man and machine gone feral, demonic-looking cyborgs guarding a high mountain temple and the like.

In terms of the writing, the book is also a fusion of a variety of ideas and influences. Sheikman takes his characters across the wilds of his created universe as well as into the rarified air of high society. In addition to cybernetic creations battling one another, there are fantastic, almost magical elements, such as the “god” of the second story arc or the technological butterflies of issue two. The technology of Robotika has clearly advanced to the point where it can seem like magic, and Sheikman doesn’t spend a lot of time on techno-babble explaining how cybernetics or nanotechnology works, instead offering up a world filled with strange techno-organic monsters and wonders.

The nature of the story is to introduce these wild concepts and pit them against one another in highly entertaining and visceral action sequences, rather than to offer a lot in the way of introspection or even much exposition about the world. Which is not to say that Sheikman lacks for interesting characters or any sort of plot, just that the plot is fairly simple and straightforward, basically just something to hang the action and visuals on. It seems kind of odd, actually, that Robotika was presented as a limited series, because it basically features a story more or less complete in the first two issues and a different story, featuring many of the same characters, in another story for the last two. There’s certainly not a sense that the story has ended, and indeed Sheikman announces a sequel in the final issue. It’s not that the story isn’t complete, it’s just that there’s no strong endpoint that would make it seem like issue four of a miniseries, rather than issue four of a book that will soon see an issue five.

Sheikman’s main characters are Niko, the mute cybernetic ronin seen on all of the characters, a more streetwise female cyborg named CG and a tech-enhanced gunslinger named Bronski. They all fit into the mold of action badass, but each has a style of fighting and a personality that separates them from the other.

Niko’s lack of a voice could easily have made him a cipher, but we get a strong sense of his honorable nature, and the betrayal he feels in issue two that makes him hang up his sword, through the actions that he takes or from the reaction shots that Sheikman offers up in his art. Ironically, it is the motor-mouthed CG who is harder to read, because Sheikman tries out a stylized form of conversation in which her words are written vertically instead of horizontally. A quick read of the letter columns confirmed that I wasn’t alone in finding this annoying instead of novel, and ASP Executive Director Aki Liao promises in the fourth issue lettercol that there will be “subtitles” for CG’s dialogue in the hardcover edition of Robotika. I could see what Sheikman was trying for, and it’s an interesting experiment, but ultimately, it’s an exercise in frustration for the reader rather than an effective touch of style that defines the character.

With gorgeous art, strange and wonderful ideas and the beautiful production values of Archaia Studios Press, Robotika is definitely worth a look. It’s especially worthwhile for fans of dreamy dystopian visions like Matt Wagner’s Grendel or Moebius’s Airtight Garage.