EXIT CITY

An alternate-history graphic novel, written by London and illustrated by Mostert, tells the story of an unlikely pair of cops investigating a complicated first case together.

In the 1980s, tech billionaires built Exit City, an “artificial island city-state” in international waters off the coast of California. Its lack of regulation quickly turned it into a hotbed for corruption and unethical experimentation. Curmudgeonly, straitlaced Exit City police Det. McCormick is partnered with loose cannon Eve Miller, much to his dismay; their very first case together is bewildering. The crime scene includes a shredded car with two dead bodies inside, but there’s no CCTV footage to be found—which, to McCormick, makes it feel more like an “operational strike” than a random killing. Miller quickly notices some eccentricities about her new colleague; for example, he talks to his inner coat pocket. She does some digging and learns that he used to be Black Ops; after a mission went wrong, he saved his team members’ neural chips, which lets him converse with their “recorded minds.” As the killing spree continues and bodies pile up—all related to one suspicious building—Miller and McCormick use their expertise to pursue separate threads of the mystery, which reveals a widespread conspiracy. London and Mostert conjure a fast-paced, immersive plot with strong worldbuilding. The narrative explains the complicated inner workings of Exit City and its ultramodern tech succinctly and engagingly, drawing readers in without getting too far into the weeds. The illustration style is well suited to the genre, but some spreads are more effective than others. The images of a killer’s murderous rampage are gory, for instance, but could have used some adjustment; when a man’s head is ripped apart in a cloud of blood, with eyeballs floating in the air, for example, it lands closer to silly than macabre. Miller and McCormick’s relationship follows a path that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen a cop drama with reluctant partners, but it still feels fresh in the context of the futuristic plot, which ably sets up further installments.

An illustrated SF story with skillful worldbuilding that raises intriguing ethical questions.