Sentient

Jeff Lemire never disappoint me. This comic was fun and had good artwork as well. I also enjoy all the bonus material at the end.

I am a big fan of Jeff Lemire’s work because it always has a rich complexity to it. I loved the character development, the twists in each chapter, and how the reader gets emotionally pulled into the storyline. The artwork is equally compelling, with interesting juxtapositions and color work to denote different AI systems. This book was really clever.

Thank you to NetGalley, TKO Presents, TKO Studios, Jeff Lemire, and Gabriel Walta for the opportunity to read Sentient in exchange for an honest review.

If you have ever read the Illuminae files, you know how an A.I. can take a form of sentience for itself, sometimes for better, but sometimes for worse. The A.I. in this story reminds me a bit of AIDAN. It tries to do the right thing, but as it is an A.I., it technically cannot understand the difference between right and wrong.

On the Montgomery, a spaceship with colonists on a mission, the ships' A.I., Val, makes a call to kill one of the adults as they seemed to be a threat to those on the ship. In an onslaught, the A.I. goes a little more than overboard.

With the children having only Val to be their parent now, they strive to survive on their ship with the A.I. When one girl notices a distress signal, she defies Val's wishes and disembarks while the ship refuels. Lil investigates and finds a raving madman (supposedly) who seems to once have been part of another colony on the ship they are refueling from.

With disastrous warnings, Lil make her way back to the Montgomery and Val, only to soon be pursued by Victor, another ship's A.I. A battle of sentience ensues. What can be determined right and what is morally wrong?

This is a fantastic work of science-fiction. The art is realistic and the story is exquisitely crafted. It has a lot to hint at the fate of humanity and Earth's future, as well as the power of technology. This is an excellent read for an older teen or adult audience.

Jeff Lemire does it again. This six-issue series is as great as you'd expect from this author. The beginning is explosive, the plot is filled with tension and the ending is full of ambiguity which leaves the reader full of theories. Because the protagonists are children and an AI (who can only follow its code) there is a bit of a question as to who is the good or bad guys outside of the ship. I love this conundrum.

This deluxe edition includes the original sketches and the script from Jeff Lemire. I really enjoyed reading some of his written explanations for the illustrations and lettering. It was cool to see how the sausage was made.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review from TKO Studios

Earth has been deemed unfit and humans have to find a way to survive in new colonies in space.
When U.S.S Montgomery takes off with different families to start off a new civilization, things don't exactly go as planned.

As always with events like these, one of the separatists (group of people who want to return to earth), finds a way aboard U.S.S Montgomery and tries to take over the ship.

After the Ship's A.I Valerie had to make difficult choices to protect the children aboard and unalive the separatist who attacked the adult crew. It's up to Val to become a sort of guide for these children and finish the mission.

I'm always a huge fan of scifi stories that follow Artificial intelligence becoming sentient. Shows like Westworld (Dolores) and even in the Green Lantern animated series (Ava).

Similarly, Val sorts of goes past her programmed codes to protect the children, when their ship is attacked months the after death of the adult crews.

I loved how realistic the characters were. With Lillian not accepting their fate and the way grief made her stubborn. With Issac, who blames himself for their misfortune. And how Lillian and Isaac learnt trust Val and even go as far as protecting the A.I.

The Beauty of Graphic Novels is you experience stories in different art styles, and this art style done by Gabriel Walta was unique and I really liked it. As well as the lettering done by Steve Wands.

If you're a cyberpunk fan and would like to read about A.I getting sentience to protect, I think you should check out This Graphic Novel.
Thank you TKO Studios for this arc.

Previously released in 6 separate issues, Vault comics is now re-releasing the limited Sentient series in a beautiful bound hardcover edition.

Right from the opening pages this story juxtaposes the differences in the crew and their children. One being a little more laid back and friendly, and the contrasting speechless and strict.

We are also introduced to the ship’s AI ‘VAL’ who keeps the U.S.S. Montgomery in running order.

It’s pretty soon after the adults have place their kids into the ‘day care’ (where they practice their lessons and engage in creative play) that we see the adults around the bridge discussing the next steps as they approach a ‘dead zone’ where any transmissible communications will be cut-off.

What happens next really engaged me into the story. It’s something about the drastic shift in dynamic and the anticipation to witness how this AI interact with these children. They’re placed into such a horrendous situation with only the logic of an advanced computer to guide them.

It’s a great story and very well executed. There are shocks and surprises, suspense and evil. Sentient has all the makings of an expansive, unique, and engrossing Sci-Fi story in visually pleasing execution.

I loved this! I found the book through a recommendation after reading all of Jeff Lemire's Black Hammer books, and was lucky enough to get a review copy through #NetGalley

The AI of a colony ship en route to a new planet finds itself in charge of a group of kids who get attached to it as it becomes their surrogate mother. A heart-warming story, kids being kids, adults being jerks, and big emotions.

I like the rustic art style, it works well with the worn, lived-in look of a space ship on a long mission, and the character's expressions are doing a lot of work in the emotional storytelling.

A beautifully drawn and plotted graphic novel that managed to inter splice strong thematic elements and keep up great entertainment value.

I really enjoyed this! I love myself a good short form character-driven scifi, and this is a good example: a ferally protective motherhen spaceship AI parenting, well, a feral pack of kids it inherits after a bloody mutiny. The art and the story complemented each other well, so a tight, compact narration was well supporter by the atmosphere.

The last quarter of this edition is sketches and drafts of the panel, for those artistically inclined or already coming to this edition with a preexisting love for the story. I hadn’t heard about it before, but enjoyed myself from page one honestly.

Thanks to #Netgalley for an advanced copy of #Sentient.