IN HIS OWN IMAGE #1 – Review

IN HIS OWN IMAGE #1, from Source Point Press on February 23rd, 2022, imagines a future where the most depraved vices imaginable are enabled through technology, but even synthetic vices come with a price.

The Details

• Written By: Gabriele Schiavoni
• Art By: Gabriele Schiavoni
• Colors By: Gabriele Schiavoni
• Letters By: Gabriele Schiavoni
• Cover Art By: Gabriele Schiavoni
• Cover Price: $1.99 (digital)
• Release Date: February 23, 2022

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Was It Good?

Before we get into it, be warned that IN HIS OWN IMAGE #1 is a hard Rated-R, NSFW comic. The themes and visuals are definitely not suitable for youngsters.

IN HIS OWN IMAGE #1 has something to say on multiple levels. For a first issue, the message may not be fully formed yet, but there’s enough here to act as a cautionary tale. The creator could be making a statement about the consequences of giving in to the animalistic urges for violence and domination. Or, the creator could be making a statement about the abuse/misuse of technology to indulge humanity’s weaknesses rather than using it to enhance humanity’s strengths.

Whatever the message intended, it’s wrapped in a brilliantly harsh and disturbing sci-fi story about technology turning against its abusive creators.

Within the first few pages, this comic lets you know it wants to shock you. People with money and the willingness to spend lots of it in pursuit of rare pleasures, seek out a technologist who knows what people want and how to give it to them in a legally-sanctioned way for the right price.

We see people hooked up to Augmented Reality (AR) contraptions to live out brutal revenge fantasies. We see people willing to pay ridiculous sums for life-like robots programmed to suffer and plead through every abuse imaginable.

To be clear, this isn’t a simple grindhouse story intended to titillate and shock for its own sake. There’s a seed taking root in this story, and I’m keenly interested to see how it blooms. Again, this story isn’t intended for readers with delicate senses, but if you’re curious about the consequences of depravity, this issue just might speak to you.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with a High School reunion. James arrives to catch up with former classmates, many of whom mercilessly bullied him in his younger years. Just as the festivities begin, James has maimed, killed, and brutally assaulted his former bullies… until we learn it’s all part of a simulation James has richly purchased.

A wealthy man has arrived to see this fantasy play out as a demonstration of the techno-pimps wares. A simulation, however, isn’t to the man’s liking as he wants something more tangible. The techno-pimp offers him something else – a robot with all the physical characteristics of a human woman, including the capacity to feel pain and suffering.

Later, the wealthy man engages his worst whims for abuse and torture but the experience doesn’t meet his expectations. There’s no blood. No emotion. Nothing to take the edge off his cravings for violence. He discards the robot with no more thought than a pile of trash.

We conclude the issue with something picking through the trash, a new lease on life, and a painful reciprocation.

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