BOOM! Studios is ready to release a new book, ARCADIA, on May 6 by Alex Paknadel and Eric Scott Pfeiffer.
Dealing with a large portion of mankind being saved from an epidemic by being digitized, the thought of the various depictions of Artificial Intelligence in science fiction comes to mind. Paknadel shared his top 5 favorite A.I.
1) Deckard - Blade Runner
Yep. I went there. Come at me, bro!
2) The Vera cyborg - Superman III
Not the best Superman movie by any stretch, but the climax where Vera Webster gets ensnared by the supercomputer and transformed into a murderous cyborg scared me witless as a kid. The Vera cyborg resembles a child's doll! Deeply unpleasant.
3) The GSV Sleeper Service - Excession
I'm tempted to refuse to name a single AI character from the sorely missed Iain M. Banks' magnificent novel 'Excession' - after all, the whole fascination of the book lies in observing the complex interplay of a whole group of Culture Minds as they react to an alien artifact. The Sleeper Service stands out for me, though.
4) The Telepods - The Fly
I know the Telepods aren't technically AIs, but the plot hinges on Seth Brundle teaching them to improvise in order to teleport organic material. When they see two discrete signals they elect to combine them, thereby setting in motion the most compellingly horrific chain of events ever committed to film in my opinion. The Telepods are characters in their own right; silent, uterine and forbidding.
5) Zero - Rollerball
Norman Jewison's Rollerball is one of the greatest films ever made. Its warnings about unchecked corporate power went unheeded, sadly, so it reads like prophecy these days. The best scene is where James Caan's Jonathan E. travels to Geneva for an audience with Zero, the world's most powerful supercomputer and sole repository of the world's knowledge. It's a blink and you'll miss it moment, but there's this priceless aside where the lead technician reveals that Zero's accidentally "misplaced" the entire thirteenth century. Chilling.
What about ARCADIA? What's it about?
Arcadia #1
Author: Alex Paknadel
Artist: Eric Scott Pfeiffer
Main Cover: Matt Taylor
BOOM! 10 Years Incentive Cover: Frazer Irving
Incentive Cover: Eric Scott Pfeiffer
Format: Standard comic size, 32 pages, full color
On sale: May 6, 2015
Synopsis:
What’s to Love: Our long tradition of breaking new talent—like Rafael Albuquerque (The Savage Brothers, American Vampire), Emma Rios (Hexed, Pretty Deadly), and Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later, Moon Knight)—continues with the debut of Alex Paknadel and Eric Scott Pfeiffer, two new creators whose extensive world-building in the sci-fi thriller Arcadia evokes comparisons to epics like Game of Thrones, The Matrix, and Astro City.
What It Is: When 99% of humankind is wiped out by a pandemic, four billion people are “saved” by being digitized at the brink of death and uploaded into Arcadia, a utopian simulation in the cloud. But when Arcadia begins to rapidly deplete the energy resources upon which the handful of survivors in the real world (aka “The Meat”) depends, how long will The Meat be able—and willing—to help? Featuring the first of five connecting covers by Matt Taylor.
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