These words are initially being written into a phone that their author would have great difficulty living without. There is an uneasy peace between humans and the technology that we use. Science fiction is littered with ideas of what could happen when the tech becomes sentient. Writer Mark Russell constructs an entertaining vision of the present masquerading as the future in the first issue of the new series Not All Robots. Artist Mark Deodato Jr. wittily renders a world in which clunky, metal robots are the primary breadwinners of the humans they are forced to serve. Complex, dramatic satire takes on an enjoyable form in a promising new series from AWA Upshot Studios. 

Razorball is having an existential crisis. Every day, he goes out to work a thankless job only to come home to inane questions from the human family he supports. The Walters have an uneasy relationship with Razorball, but they’re not in any position to confront him about it. Beyond the home, tensions between humans and robots reach a boiling point when automation results in the deaths of a large number of people in Orlando. There’s been talk of robots removing their empathy chips in order to take charge of their existence. Could an all-out civil war be far off?

Russell’s script is fascinating on a number of different levels. The strange mash-up between social satire and drama are mirrored in a deliciously imperfect comedy that mixes domestic issues with gender issues with questions of techno-human relations. Russell never dives so far into the satire that it overcomes the essential domestic drama that he’s constructing for the page. A closer examination of the culture and tech in Not All Robots makes it all seem pretty absurd. Russell isn’t looking to present a valid notion of the future. He’s casting a weird funhouse reflection on the nature of power and responsibility in the present world. It’s a fun read so far. 

Deodato walks a fine like with the art in the first issue. The design on the robots has the very pulpy quality to it that calls to mind the feel of mid-to-late 20th century-looking sci-fi. There isn’t a whole lot of emotion in the faces of the robots. Their entire emotional reality comes in from dialogue alone. Throughout the issue, they are largely talking to each other, so the emotional tension that Deodato is drawing into the faces and postures of the humans amplifies the tension between human and robot in a rather clever way. The visual reality of dramatic tensions between humans and robots is actually subtly dramatic thanks to Deodato’s straightforward rendering of Russell’s basic concept.

Not All Robots is a pleasantly weird mix of comedy, drama, sci-fi, and satire. The social mix between humans and others has been a major topic of sci-fi exploration for decades. Russell and Deodato have found a slightly novel approach to the basic premise that could prove to be satisfying in a variety of different ways as the series progresses into the future. 

Grade: A