Muscle versus metal. Wetware versus hardware. Human versus machine. Writer Zack Kaplan opens a dystopian story in the first issue of Metal Society. In a world 400 years in the future where AI has evolved beyond organic control, tribally-based humans are brought back to serve as manual labor. Artist Guilherme Balbi establishes the weirdly familiar dystopia with clean lines and dramatic shadows. While the idea isn’t terribly novel, Kaplan and Balbi craft a fun, little action world in the first issue of the series, which may lend itself to some thematic depth and weight before the mini-series ends. 

The announcer is really trying to sell the match. It’s Robot City. It’s 2420. Two fighters square off against each other in the “infamous Electric Dome.” In this corner: a human named Rosa Genthree. They refer to her as “The Lunging Lioness.” She stern and serious. And in this corner: an android named WOL-421313. It’s got a metallic grey chassis and a human face. (Looks kinda like Robocop without the helmet on.) A human in hand to hand against an undefeated solid steel robot. No contest, right? The announcer would beg to differ. Rosa’s genetically enhanced. She can dent steel. She’s going to have to do a hell of a lot more than that if she’s going to survive the match.

Kaplan shoots right back into Rosa’s life story. As her name suggests, she was a third-generation human. Humans have only been back on the earth for a decade. She was born in a tube-like every other organic...or so she thinks. Everyone knows the story: humans messed-up the environment and died out while creating an AI that evolved to a point where it needed humans as labor. It’s a breezy, little, somewhat believable set-up for a story that could end up being a lot of fun. The opening chapter establishes a sense of revolution in and within Rosa. Then it launches her at her opponent. 

Balbi has developed a clear sense of drama. With the match only just being set up, the actual action doesn’t flow into the panel in the first issue. There’s a hell of a lot of world-building to be done. The robot city and its humanoid underground look suitably shadowy as they are illuminated by the lights. Electric Dome feels massive. There IS a sense of scope that creates an impressive atmosphere. Rosa seems silent and reserved, but Balbi manages to etch a world of emotion into even her casual intensity.  

The world of Metal Society doesn’t feel like it’s been fully rendered in the first issue, which focuses largely on Rosa and the apparent need for revolution. Humans are seen being mistreated by their android creators, but there is still a WHOLE lot more that needs to be revealed about the world of Metal Society in order for any kind of thematic depth to really reveal itself. Rosa seems like an interesting person in the opening issue. And for the opening issue, that’s enough.

Grade: B