Mek (comics)

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Mek
Mek01 cover.png
Publication information
Publisher Wildstorm (DC Comics)
Schedule Monthly
Format Mini-series
Genre
Publication date January - March 2003
No. of issues 3
Main character(s) Sarissa Leon
Creative team
Written by Warren Ellis
Penciller(s) Steve Rolston
Inker(s) Al Gordon
Letterer(s) Jenny Garcia
Colorist(s) David Baron
Editor(s) Ben Abernathy

Mek is a three-issue comic book mini-series published in 2003 by WildStorm, written by Warren Ellis, pencilled by Steve Rolston and inked by Al Gordon.

Comic book publication of comics art

A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, usually, dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan, comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.

In the field of comic books, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined before production, and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues. The term is often used interchangeably with miniseries (mini-series) and maxiseries (maxi-series), usually depending on the length and number of issues. In Dark Horse Comics' definition of a limited series, "This term primarily applies to a connected series of individual comic books. A limited series refers to a comic book series with a clear beginning, middle and end." Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics refer to limited series of two to eleven issues as miniseries and series of twelve issues or more as maxiseries, but other publishers alternate terms.

Notable events of 2003 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

Contents

Publication history

When interviewed about Mek, Warren Ellis explained that he felt that mechanical augmentation was "already happening", [1] quoting Stelarc and the work of Kevin Warwick as examples. In the same interview, he stated his opinion that "What is art and experiment today will be high-end consumer goods in ten years, and cheap enough to be street goods in twenty years" [1] and that "William Gibson said it smartest: the street finds its own use for things. And what is experimental, medical or military eventually finds its way down there." [1]

Stelarc Australian artist

Stelarc is a Cyprus-born performance artist raised in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, whose works focus heavily on extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centered on his concept that "the human body is obsolete". Until 2007 he held the position of Principal Research Fellow in the Performance Arts Digital Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England. He is currently furthering his research at Curtin University in Western Australia.

Kevin Warwick British robotics and cybernetics researcher

Kevin Warwick FIET, FCGI, is a British engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University in the United Kingdom. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done research concerning robotics.

William Gibson American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre

William Ford Gibson is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his early works were noir, near-future stories that explored the effects of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on humans—a "combination of lowlife and high tech"—and helped to create an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s. Gibson notably coined the term "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" (1982) and later popularized the concept in his acclaimed debut novel Neuromancer (1984). These early works have been credited with "renovating" science fiction literature.

The original three issue comic book series was published from January to March 2003 by Homage Comics, an imprint of Wildstorm Comics. The series was later collected as one half of a 'flipbook' [2] format trade paperback, accompanied by another Warren Ellis miniseries, Reload (ISBN   1401202756).

Homage Comics was a comic book publishing imprint, a subdivision of Wildstorm. It was created in 1995 to focus more on writer-driven titles. As part of Wildstorm, it was acquired by DC Comics in 1998. In Summer 2004 the imprint was merged with the Cliffhanger imprint to form the Wildstorm Signature Series.

In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme, or an earlier mini-series.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

Plot

The story is set in the near future, when the old fashioned styles of body modification have become passe. The newest fad, "MEK" (short for Massive Enhancement Culture), involves adding cybernetic implants, such as cell phones implanted directly into the skull. The founder of the MEK movement is Sarissa Leon, who has become a celebrity of the new fad. She returns to Sky Road, the place where MEK first took off, after learning of the murder of her former lover and fellow MEK pioneer R.J. Coins. Leon discovers that Sky Road is now the center of "bad MEK", which involves implanting black market weapons and stolen military technology. Leon attempts to find Coins' murderer, while trying to clean up Sky Road.

Body modification deliberate alteration of the human anatomy with the consent of the altered

Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. It is often done for aesthetics, sexual enhancement, rites of passage, religious beliefs, to display group membership or affiliation, in remembrance of lived experience, traditional symbolism such as axis mundi and mythology, to create body art, for shock value, and as self-expression, among other reasons. In its broadest definition it includes plastic surgery, socially acceptable decoration, and religious rites of passage, as well as the modern primitive movement.

Black market market in which goods or services are traded illegally

A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by some form of noncompliant behavior with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distribution is prohibited by law, non-compliance with the rule constitutes a black market trade since the transaction itself is illegal. Parties engaging in the production or distribution of prohibited goods and services are members of the illegal economy. Examples include the drug trade, prostitution, illegal currency transactions and human trafficking. Violations of the tax code involving income tax evasion constitute membership in the unreported economy.

Reception

Mek was initially met with a mixed reception - journalist Richard Johnston described the first issue as "an alright Warren Ellis book" [3] and "not his best work but then neither is it his worst" [3]

Rich Johnston Online columnist on comic books

Richard Johnston is a British comics creator, columnist, and founder of the comics news site Bleeding Cool.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 www.westfieldcomics.com - Warren Ellis interview (DEC02 Product)
  2. ↑ www.steverolston.com - Mek
  3. 1 2 www.dynamicforces.com, Richard Johnston, "Waiting for Tommy XVI - Are the Warren Ellis years over?

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References

The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project is cataloging information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful to the comic book reader, comic collector, fan, and scholar. The GCD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Arkansas.

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