City of Tomorrow [Paperback]

Howard Chaykin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2006

When Eli Foyle's utopian city of Columbiabuilt with super-advanced nanotechnology and run by an army of robot supermenbecomes a robotic police state, prodigal son Tucker Foyle returns to put his house in order as loudly and violently as possible.An action-packed, futuristic tale written and illustrated by comics legend, Howard Chaykin.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writer/artist Chaykin's latest depiction of the rotting American Dream may be his most bitter yet, but it's also one of his most exciting. Young Tucker Foyle watched his father use nanotechnology to create Columbia, a utopian community served by biomechanical robots. Then he realized what a stifling, monomaniacal vision the place embodied, so he stomped off to explore life. Now, after serving as a clandestine wetwork operative, he returns home to find the robots corrupted, and Columbia even more vile than the rest of the world. He decides he wants to fix this society, even if that means fighting his father, gangs of robot mobsters and the U.S. government. Back in the '80s, Chaykin's American Flagg! showed materialistic, willingly manipulated masses at the mercy of a cynical elite; however, that comic kept its tongue in its cheek, unlike City of Tomorrow's prevalent sneer. Evidently, Americans have been fed too many lies since then to smile easily. Still, this book is full of angry wit, such as a cemetery full of interactive gravestones or the copyright symbol on a robot whore's rump. And Chaykin's art has never been more dynamic, complemented by Michelle Madsen's unusually subtle and vibrant coloring. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Satiric comics creator (American Flagg, 1987) and TV scripter Chaykin mines familiar ground in this tale of a cocky, dashing hero fighting to set aright a near-future dystopia. In billionaire Eli Foyle's crime-free, Norman Rockwellesque Columbia, robotic servants are supposed to keep the peace and otherwise serve their human masters. But a viral worm has turned the robots into gangsters and hookers and transformed Foyle's paradise into a despotic police state. Renegade Navy SEAL Tucker Foyle, Eli's black-sheep son, comes home to save Columbia and reconcile with his father. En route he falls for sexy blond robot Ash Wednesday and learns the unsettling secret behind Columbia's creation. Square-jawed, wisecracking Tucker too strongly resembles previous Chaykin antiheroes from Reuben Flagg to Harry Block in American Century (2001), who are all oversexed, overgrown boys full of swagger and charm. Chaykin's sf noir formula, heavy on macho antics and kinky sex, still works, largely because his stylish artwork, with its distinctive panel layouts and punchy graphics, is so compelling. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Wildstorm (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401209459
• ISBN-13: 978-1401209452
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,893,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gaps in construction, August 1, 2007

By 

Tom Knapp "Rambles.NET editor" (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Tomorrow (Paperback)

Columbia is a sovereign nation, an independent island city created through nanotechnology where the American Dream reaches its fruition through the labors of lifelike, subservient robots. But Tucker Foyle, son of Columbia's creator, grows increasingly disaffected with his father's perfect society and flees to the U.S. mainland, serving for years in a variety of clandestine military operations before returning home to find Columbia changed.

A virus in the system has altered the robots' programming, and they're no longer content to serve. And the "perfect" society has become a front for increasing corruption, gambling, prostitution and murder, all run by robot-led gangs. Tucker vows to fix it all, but his father doesn't prove to be the ally he'd hoped; on the other hand, the pleasure robot Ash Wednesday turns out to be both an ally and romantic partner.

"City of Tomorrow" is a fresh dystopian setting for writer and artist Howard Chaykin's political commentary. The story is fast-paced and action-packed -- and that's its major weakness.

Unfortunately, the action unfolds so quickly that readers never get a solid sense of Chaykin's society, either in Columbia or back in the U.S. of A., where a popular president is planting WMDs on foreign soil to justify a bloody war. Chaykin should have slowed down just a bit, taken some time to explore the utopian Columbia before turning it into its own dark mirror.

With more development, "City of Tomorrow" would be a much more fulfilling place to visit. Chaykin's writing is strong and his art makes it a pleasant visual experience; it's a shame there are so many gaps in its construction.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor