24Seven (v. 1) (Paperback)

by Ivan Brandon (Author), Adam Hughes (Author), Eduardo Risso (Author), Becky Cloonan (Author), Alex Maleev (Author), John Ney Rieber (Author), Ben Templesmith (Author), Jim Rugg (Author), Matt Fraction (Author), Frazer Irving (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Editor Brandon, co-writer of the NYC Mechcomics series, invites well-known names to play in that world, a New York populated by robots. The stories are mostly about crime, violence and urban life. Contributors include Eduardo Risso, Phil Hester, Alex Maleev, Michael Avon Oeming and Eric Canete. The book is classed as sci-fi/noir, but the genre trappings are often overshadowed by the obvious fun contributors are having drawing robots. There are plenty of concepts, but most stories take familiar conventions, like the petty thieves holed up with cops outside, and simply populate them with metal people. One of the best of these is the story of a squealer by Frank Beaton and Ben Templesmith. Less typical standouts include a quiet story about urban interaction by Neal Shaffer and Ryan Brown, Jim Rugg's tale about a pigeon-keeper and one by Miles Gunter and Lakota Sioux appreciating the strangers a city-dweller sees. Kelly Sue DeConnick and Andy MacDonald take the rare female perspective. Even where concepts are thin, the art, in a terrific variety of accomplished styles, is impressive. (July)
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Product Description
24seven features a who's who of today's best writers and artists from comics, film and animation, telling tales of robots in the city that never sleeps. In the vein of Flight, these stories run a cross-genre gamut, from robot zombies to a prison break to a bizarre feud between a Siamese DJ team. 24seven has romance, action, horror... everything you want, all told by a cross-section of the most diverse writers and artists you'll find on the printed page.

Product Details

• Paperback: 225 pages
• Publisher: Image Comics (August 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582406367
• ISBN-13: 978-1582406367
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #749,610 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robot Potluck Dinner, October 11, 2006

By	Terry L. Tyson (San Clemente, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Imagine if Nick Hornsby, George Romero, Ray Bradbury, Candace Bushnell, Bret Easton Ellis and Isaac Asimov were having a potluck dinner at Ed McBain's house (McBain brought the appetizer) and began to contemplate a city filled with robots. No people, just a bunch of happy and sad, overworked but loved, hopeful and despondent, logical and insane robots. Stephen King then drops in late, (he brought desert) and joins in the already engaging chat. A couple of over-filled wine glasses later the talk would begin to get juicy.

24seven is like that - "juicy."

An anthology of loosely connected (largely by theme) stories finely written and drawn by some of the best comic book writers and artists currently working today, 24seven is a book to read and peer at repeatedly. It's one of those books you have on your night stand that once finished can be enjoyed over and again by discovering details not noticed at first glance.

It would have been easy to merely make the stories sardonic throughout (there are a few, thankfully...one needs hefty doses of sardonic at times) but some of the stories are, well they are actually sweet. A dude-bot finds his future love at a bar while enjoying a night out with his pals, while in another story a Carrie Bradshaw-like fembot retreats to a butterfly exhibit to merely enjoy nature's power of renewal.

But it's not all butterflies and unexpected sexy babe-bot smooches. Robofiremen answer the call to root out robot bad guys on the lam, ala "Fahrenheit 451" and a depressed husbandbot succumbs to the voices in his head, literally, in a final tale of robotic psychosis.

It might be easy to say that the use of robots instead of people is a gimmick. If it is a gimmick, more of a "hook" actually, then it is a gimmick that works and is utilized quite well. They are not mere mirrors of our own selves. The robots are like us, but they are different. Sometimes they are very different and it is in these differences, perhaps that the mirror is brought into analogous focus.

The stories are short, well crafted and the art is an absolute delight. Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad., November 5, 2006

By	Kristopher Bajtelsmit "Comic Guru" (CO, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's pretty much what it says it is. It's fairly entertaining. I haven't read any of the other NYCMech books from Image, but I'd bet they're along a similar vein.

My only real gripe is that for the most part all of the robots in the stories are pretty much just people that look slike robots. They act and do things exactly like any robot would with the occasional robot-thing that sets them apart. It's a good comentary on human behavior, I suppose. The art is entertaining as well.

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfuly dark Cyber Punk, January 30, 2009

By	Brennan B James - See all my reviews

This volume is a collection of cyber punk short graphic novels. Anything recomended by Warren Ellis is got to be good.