Political satire is particularly relevant these days, in a world with seemingly daily gaffes from the White House. It’s so easy to trump political satire up and make it more important, or the other side look dumb, but ultimately we’re all just spouting nonsense anyway. Just like in D4vocracy where the robots talk like teenagers on iMessage who have had too much coffee and brain damage. We’re checking out issue #2–is it good?
D4VEocracy #2 (IDW Publishing)
So what’s it about? The synopsis reads:
With the internet now coursing through his circuits, S4M makes his public debut as a presidential candidate. Meanwhile, D4VE’s campaign trail gets rough when scandal rocks his public image, forcing the planet to choose a side. But for app developer bro GL3NN, world domination might be just a click away.
Why does this book matter?
There’s probably no better time for a series like this since politics seems to be the #1 news item every single day. The stupidity of the masses is on display in this series, which also seems very relevant.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
D4VE has this as long as nobody else runs…
D4VE thought he had this election in the bag, but unfortunately for him a robot was made with the entire internet inside his head. He has what it takes to beat anyon, though that mostly involves just talking like a complete moron. The masses bite on S4M’s platform which is shown in this issue via an unveiling of the candidate (at the funeral of the previous president…yeesh) and through a debate. Ryan Ferrier utilizes these moments to show how pointless catchphrases and baseless claims can win favor. Meanwhile, D4VE is trying to be honest and clear and the masses couldn’t care less. They want big empty promises and grandeur, which D4VE ain’t so good at.
The dialogue continues to be great fun too. Ferrier spins some interesting ‘af’ lines in the issue and quite frankly I want to use some of them in real life. I also wish newscasters spoke like they do here in real life. When RNN’s anchor says “The whole planet is poppin’ their gooch” you listen! There’s also a fun dig at Fox News via a news agency called F4K News (I see what you did there Ferrier). The dialogue translates to good character work with D4VE too. By issue’s end you’ll feel like you know the guy just a little bit more, which includes his family dynamic.
Uh oh…
Art by Valentin Ramon continues to look fantastic. The man is a genius when it comes to design, with some inventive robot heads and bodies scattered throughout the issue. There’s an attention to detail that makes this outlandish world just a little bit more realistic. There’s also a fantastic display of the internet via typewriters that’s quite something taking up an entire page.
It can’t be perfect can it?
Once again there isn’t much humor outside of the way characters talk unless you count the crippling realism of the stupidity of the masses. There’s less here in the variability of the satire as it’s mostly playing on how gullible and dumb the masses are, which left me wanting a bit more. What’s here is great, don’t get me wrong, but this issue seems to hammer the same nail all the way through.
Is It Good?
This is another good issue in a series that aims to shine its satirical light on the profound stupidity of campaigning. This series would be a lot funnier if it wasn’t so damn close to reality, but D4vocracy is the strongest satire you’ll find in comics today–incredibly imaginative satire at that.
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