We Promised Utopia #1

We Promised Utopia #1

Literati Press 2021

Written by Adrian Morales, Robert Holman & Charles J. Martin

Illustrated by Eric Osborn, Chloe Elimam & Jonathan Koelsch

Lettered by Charles J. Martin, Jonathan Koelsch & Jeo Creations

What if humanity saved the world today... only to destroy it tomorrow? Charismatic idealist Isabel Bari and her development of the Equivalent Carbon Credit (ECC) tied every element of the global economy to a carbon-based currency, and changed wealth accumulation principles. The comic focuses on three separate eras of humanity: the rise of the ECC in the present day, the establishment of a utopian world that adopted the ECC to create harmony between human civilization and nature, and a dystopian future after the mysterious collapse of the ECC.

I was super intrigued when I discovered this through Previews, the magazine which I still utilise every month, and this certainly hasn’t let me down in the slightest. One aspect of this that I’m on the fence about is that there are obviously three creative teams and each one does their own segment and I kind of get why but it does make the story feel more disjointed like each have their own identity and don’t necessarily go with the other two. Each of these should feel like they are in the same timeline just at different points.

I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter do wonders in fleshing these characters' personalities out. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the world, the story and the characters it certainly piques our curiosity to know more.

The way we see this being structured is odd to me, but that’s because three teams are doing three segments one writer for the entire issue would’ve been much more efficient. How we see the layers within the story emerge and grow is nicely done and then the depth, dimension and complexity this adds to the story is great to see. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is well achieved.

The interiors here are also done by different creative teams and I think that my favourite is the utopia as it’s all sleek with metal, class and greenery. The linework we see is fantastic and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create the detail in the work we see is extraordinary. Backgrounds, some need more, some are perfect and I have to say that overall we see how the composition of the panels reflects when in the timeline the story takes place thanks to how we see the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some remarkably talented eyes for storytelling. The colour work we see through the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is marvellously rendered.

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The interest, intrigue and wow factors are all here. The premise for the story is incredibly solid and I like the idea of seeing all three facets of one society at different stages without any kind of preamble, just thrown right into the deep end as it were. It really helps to engage the reader in the story and become invested as you make up ideas in your head about possible scenarios that could lead from one segment to the next. I don’t mind the three different artistic teams but I do wish there was one single writer pulling this all together. Still the writing and characterisation are solid stuff and the interiors do wonders in creating the right mood, tone and feel that the reader should experience. If you haven’t ordered this please do, give it a shot and I know you’ll be pleasantly surprised.