Livewire Volume 1: Fugitive

Reviews / Votes

KIRKUS -- Move over Marvel, there are new superheroes
on the graphic-novel stands. In this thought-provoking comic series, readers
meet Amanda McKee, aka Livewire, a black former government agent whose powers
enable her to manipulate technology. Amanda and her fellow psiots are now on the
run from U.S. officials who want to control their powers and who fear their
influence. Amanda is currently public enemy No. 1 after causing a blackout that
resulted in mass casualties. While evading agents out for blood, she struggles
to reunite with her psiot friends who feel betrayed by her actions. The
narrative begins in media res, and Ayala (Twisted Romance, 2018, etc.) and
artists Allen and Martin do a credible job of creating a world that feels
realistic and visually fantastical while also orienting readers within the
story. Amanda's trio of friends are a multiethnic bunch (East Asian, Sikh, and
white), and through their dialogue, readers confront uneasy truths about
superheroes that other, more fantasy-based, characters are able to avoid. As
much as superpowered beings are revered, on some level we fear and resent them
for reminding us of our own powerlessness, a tension explored here. Given how
technologically dependent society has become, few superheroes can feel more
timely-or more threatening-than these. (Graphic novel. 13-18)