3 out of 5

Number 13 is a good example of sci-fi that would work given either more or less space – had it time to slowly develop its many ideas or had the creators been forced to shave it off to its core (which is what the beginning of the series, in short form in Dark Horse Presents – collected in book 0 – hinted at), then perhaps it could’ve turned into either an evolved work of fiction or a focused cauldron of ideas, but as presented its rather a mixed bag, but one with great potential and great pencils.

Note I do say pencils… Artist / co-creator Robert Love inked his work in DHP and it adds the series a bit of grit since his artwork leans toward more stylized and cartoonish.  Which isn’t a bad thing at all, given the dystopic, post-apocalyptic setting that we’ve seen done as doom and gloom a million times, and the odd blend of Saturday Morning type figures inked up all garish gave the shorts a fresh look which worked well with the minute-by-minute writing style (as necessitated, perhaps, by the short page count).  But when it was granted a 3 issue mini-series, inking duties switched over to one Dana Shukartsi, who gives everything a much cleaner, one-line look… bringing that cartoonish feel to the forefront.  Which, unfortunately, brings the muddled story into focus as feeling more silly than serious.  The colorists also changed between those beats, and the difference is minor but equally simplifying, backgrounds that found a blend now given solid colors.

The story is “60 years after the end of the world,” and something something plague turned humanity into mutants, and a crazy scientist invented some robot / human “children” to eradicate humanity because that’s the reasonable response.  Number 13 is sorta discovered by a young girl – narrator of the beginning of the DHP shorts – and we learn piece by piece that he is totes one of these cyborgs, but he’s lost his memory, so maybe he’s not so evil.

I obviously over-simplified the story there, but there are a lot of ideas tossed out even by the end of issue 1 that are either really promising or really stupid, and that’s where the shortening or lengthening of the story could’ve helped.  At some point during the 5-part DHP entries, the team must’ve been told they were getting a mini-series, because part 5 ends with a “To be continued…” which was picked up months later at the start of the full book.  Perhaps I’m making this up, but the nature of the shorts change in the middle, and I suspect it tied in to when this “To be continued” was secured.  Our narrative voice changes (literally – from the personal, understandable view of the girl who was rescued to 13 himself) and don’t we just end with a bit of a deus ex machina that screams “wait wait, let’s start over from the top.”  And then onto our mini, where the world expands to include these mutants and whatnot.  Something Neal Stephenson touched on, which brought me joy, in Reamde, was the need for some sense in fantasy world where people are named Ch’hatt’ra’har and the like.  What is it about their language that calls for that structure?  Or why do certain cultures evolve in a such and such ways?  And this is an immediate problem in Number 13, as Love seems to suffer from the same “I love monsters” disease as Brian Churilla (two similar style artists in my mind, though Love is more grounded, which I prefer), where our mutants have wings and 20 eyes and… why?  Why would they develop that way?  Is the story over-simplified because we only have 3 issues, or because we don’t have any explanations beyond our core storyline?

Questions that can never be answered.  I’m ragging on it, but the books are easy on the eyes and do have some cool ideas sprinkled through there, they just aren’t scripted all that well.  BUT – I love that this is exactly what DHP is for, giving under-exposed writers / artists a shot to shine, and lo, the kids liked it and a fuller chance to shine was granted.  I may not think much of Number 13, but I think enough of it that I’ll be keeping my eye on Love and co-scripted David Walker.