A mysterious extraterrestrial transmission containing the blueprints for advanced alien technology is intercepted and deciphered on Earth. The majority of the wealth accumulated from this discovery is controlled by the elite. However, an underground black market also flourishes. In this realm of thieves and smugglers we meet SHEL, a low-level courier who has a special talent for detecting and unlocking the merchandise. It’s a dangerous and ruthless profession that she desperately wants to escape, but the cost of her daughter’s expensive medical therapy prevents her from going straight. Little does she know that the tech has its own agenda and the key to unlocking it is buried within her.
From cinema to graphic novel
I know, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing about a graphic novel. I’ll answer you with a question. Do you know Vincenzo Natali?
Natali’s background is in cinema, and he helped shape me as a cinephile, and continues to fuel my pleasure. He’s one of the few creators who manage to interest me in sci-fi. It was during my coverage of the last Fantasia that I was invited to read his graphic novel. The creator was receiving the Trailblazer award from the festival.
For the occasion, Fantasia screened a cult film that left a deep impression on me as a teenager: Cube. Natali burst onto the film scene in 1997 with his low-budget, surreal sci-fi thriller Cube. This enigmatic film tells the story of a group of people trying to escape from a dark cubic labyrinth where an accidental misstep results in their complete dismemberment by the cube itself. The movie impressed audiences and critics alike with Natali’s ability to push the boundaries of filmmaking on a shoestring budget, and became a cult film. And clearly an inspiration for the Saw series.
More recently, and rather ironically since I’m currently watching that series, he created The Peripheral, available on Prime Video.
The near future
So, with Tech, Natali offers a visually stunning Sci-Fi/crime noir graphic novel with a poignant plot.
Why does a director decide to make a graphic novel?
“Tech fulfills my childhood dream of writing and illustrating my own graphic novel following in the footsteps of my heroes Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Enki Bilal.”
Vincenzo Natali
This dystopian story had been on Natali’s mind for several years. Initially, he wanted to turn it into a film. But this kind of story requires a big budget and, above all, a big crew. It was during the pandemic and the strikes that followed that the director finally decided to take on the project. He had the time and a brand new iPad pro to do most of the work himself.
He’s no stranger to dystopian storytelling. Each of his six feature-length films plunges ordinary characters into a dark world governed by seemingly impenetrable logic, and follows the subjects as they struggle to adapt to their environment. Through his creative endeavors, Natali demonstrates a passionate study of the human condition and our place in the universe.
Here, he delves into the idea of class struggles and the destruction of our world by capitalism and man’s desire for ever more power. The drawings are highly stylized, with lines that are often barely defined. The blue hues plunge the reader into an icy universe in which little hope seems to exist.
A little more…
Natali started out in the industry as a storyboard artist (on Ginger Snaps) and has long been a comic book enthusiast. Written and illustrated by Natali, the project began five years ago between film and TV projects. Thanks to Procreate, he was able to draw it, ink it, color it, create all the layouts and lettering. He spent three months writing it, 10 to 14 hours per page, 200 pages, which represents a total of one year of his time.
And although I wasn’t convinced at first, the end result is superb. No unnecessary text, incredible images and a story that’s not too far from reality to keep it engaging. This is what awaits the reader of Tech.
The reader may need to get through the first 50 pages before really getting hooked, but the rest is devourable.
