A science-fiction horror series about social media, big tech, and influencer culture.
It's The Social Network meets Hellraiser. When the world's biggest influencer posts something irredeemably horrific online, the world changes in an instant. Now it's up to his social media manager, Anne Stewart, to fan the flames of outrage and create a sensationalist campaign that rewrites the rules of "banned content." Thus begins a carnival of lust, revulsion, desire, and disgust - all for viral videos.
Written by Zac Thompson (LONELY RECEIVER, UNDONE BY BLOOD, X-Men) and illustrated by Andy MacDonald (Multiple Man, Rogue Planet), I BREATHED A BODY is a horror series about the voyeurism of violence and the Big Tech companies who engineer patterns of fear in society.
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Regular Cover Artist: Andy MacDonald w/ Triona Farrell
Publisher: Aftershock Comics
Release Date: January 20, 2021
Cover Price: $4.99
Score: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Not to be confused with the Zack Snyder Universe, the Zac Thompson Universe is a lot less polarizing and home to fantastic tales of body horror blended with technology, allegories for our society's devise-focused obsession. The author of 'Come Into Me' and 'Lonely Receiver' is back with another twisted and relevant story of our times that chills the spine and breaks the heart.
The real-world horrors of social media influencers are already a reality. We've seen despicable behavior by people online willing to do anything to gain a following, to retain a following, or for simple shock value. One, in particular, visited another country, entered a location nicknamed "Suicide Forest" and was "shocked" to find someone who had hung themselves all while going live on their social media feed. The depths of one's perversion for fame and the desire to continually feed the beast, whether that's one's own ego or the public's insatiable hunger for viral-worthy content is vast and unyielding. Thompson knows this world well having been a producer for some real-life influencers although I doubt those individuals were borne from some grotesque supernatural event however I wouldn't rule it out completely.
Here, Anne Stewart has to wrangle an out-of-control influencer whose recent post caused an outrage forcing him to issue a public apology. He's no ordinary influencer. Without spoiling it, the social media star has some nefarious origins and his unpredictability is cause for concern to everyone including the media corporation behind the technology. It's a confluence of science fiction, horror, social commentary, and satire. 'I Breathed a Body' brings together the lessons of Thompson's other work into a more focused horror story where the tension doesn't have to come from the fantastical to be unnerving. Sometimes holding up a mirror to the real world is scary enough.
Andy MacDonald, Triona Farrell, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou as penciler, colorist, and letterer respectively, give a detailed and disturbing look into Thompson's imagination with a stellar interpretation that hums with dread. From the first page on, MacDonald provides an unflinching look at horrors both big and small. The choreography of panels and scenes aids in moving the pieces into one shocking reveal.
'I Breathed a Body' #1 is an impressive debut issue that forces us to look at society's obsession with social media and its influence with both a figurative and literal lens as inherently evil. The machinations behind one such influencer and the dangers that entail. With a killer art team, Thompson has once again put together a smart and wickedly conceived cautionary tale of horror and commentary that recalls David Cronenberg mixed with Philip K. Dick.
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