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Undiscovered Country #7-12
Undiscovered Country Vol. 2: Unity
The smash hit series written by New York Times bestselling writers Scott Snyder (Wytches, AD: After Death) and Charles Soule (Curse Words, the forthcoming novel Anyone) with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli (The Amazing Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Hellblazer), newcomer Leonardo Marcello Grassi and Eisner-award winning colorist Matt Wilson (The Wicked and the Divine, Paper Girls) continues!
After barely escaping the deadly clutches of the Destiny Man, the expedition team has crossed over into the strange new zone of "Unity" -- a futuristic world of gleaming technology and artificial intelligence. But will it be a safe haven for our heroes, or are they destined to be absorbed into hive mind?!
Collects UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY #6-12
After barely escaping the deadly clutches of the Destiny Man, the expedition team has crossed over into the strange new zone of "Unity" -- a futuristic world of gleaming technology and artificial intelligence. But will it be a safe haven for our heroes, or are they destined to be absorbed into hive mind?!
Collects UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY #6-12
149 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2021
25 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Scott Snyder
1,714Ìýbooks4,928ÌýfollowersScott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
May 2, 2021
If you're expecting as much creativity and absurd world-building rooted in American history and patriotism, you've got it here, cranked up to 100. The story continues where it was left off but the gang finds itself in a new world dictated by a false sense of unity. The story and its countless twists continue to be over-the-top, never giving readers a chance to guess where things will go next. Still fun though.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog:
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog:
October 18, 2021
Bloated. Confident. Rushed. Boisterous. Ridiculous.
March 19, 2021
The second step of the Path brings our heroes into the community known as Unity. Could their decision already be made, or is this place too good to be true? And with the Destiny Man hot on their heels, will they even survive to make the decision at all?
Undiscovered Country probably loses a lot of its impact on me since I'm not an American. The culture references don't resonate as much as they should, but the idea of trying to build a better world and approaching it from different directions is one that I can definitely get behind, as well as a Stepford-esque community that hides a creepy underbelly, and that's what this second arc of UC gives us.
We still get a little character development for everyone as well, although the siblings are definitely the driving force of this section as well. The leader of Unity is equal parts convincing and awful, and there's at least one 'oh dear god' type of reveal that disturbed me a hell of a lot, so well done Soule/Snyder.
Giuseppe Camuncoli's artwork really shines in this volume; his new stable of inkers/colourist mean that this volume's a bit more consistent than the first where everything was kind of in flux at the end. The ropey wire constructs that appear when everything goes to hell are reminiscent of Cammo's Spider-Man work.
Undiscovered Country's second volume is a twist on a concept we've seen before, but it drives the ongoing plot forward while dripfeeding us some reveals about the greater story; a now bedded-in art stable completes the team, and god knows where they're going to take us next.
Undiscovered Country probably loses a lot of its impact on me since I'm not an American. The culture references don't resonate as much as they should, but the idea of trying to build a better world and approaching it from different directions is one that I can definitely get behind, as well as a Stepford-esque community that hides a creepy underbelly, and that's what this second arc of UC gives us.
We still get a little character development for everyone as well, although the siblings are definitely the driving force of this section as well. The leader of Unity is equal parts convincing and awful, and there's at least one 'oh dear god' type of reveal that disturbed me a hell of a lot, so well done Soule/Snyder.
Giuseppe Camuncoli's artwork really shines in this volume; his new stable of inkers/colourist mean that this volume's a bit more consistent than the first where everything was kind of in flux at the end. The ropey wire constructs that appear when everything goes to hell are reminiscent of Cammo's Spider-Man work.
Undiscovered Country's second volume is a twist on a concept we've seen before, but it drives the ongoing plot forward while dripfeeding us some reveals about the greater story; a now bedded-in art stable completes the team, and god knows where they're going to take us next.
September 29, 2021
I wasn't a huge fan of the first volume, which was just a bit too "out there" for my tastes. But this second one does a great job of defining the stakes (and the way forward, though I hope we don't have to spend 6 issues per zone of the new US). And the second zone, Unity, sure does look like a technological utopia at first glance. Until our explorers discover the dark underbelly. This is really shaping up to be an interesting comic, with all sorts of relevance to our current, dystopian society (the critique of American individualism and how we're more likely to break up into smaller groups based on our beliefs, than to come together in any kind of unified force). Excellent artwork throughout. I'm very excited about volume 3...
July 1, 2021
Undiscovered Country, the graphic novel series from the writing team of Scott Snyder and Charles Soule, is really weird. I happen to like really weird, but I can see why some might not like it.
Structurally, the story reads like a video game. You have a small group of protagonists�-your avatars�-who are stuck in a kind of futuristic version of the United States. They must make their way through thirteen different levels (representing the original thirteen colonies, each colony set up as a manifestation of a particularly American “ideal�) in order to hopefully find a cure to a world-wide plague.
In the first volume, our heroes survived the “Mad Max�-like desert frontier wasteland of the colony known as Destiny. In Volume 2, “Unity�, we learn that the experiment that was begun roughly 30 years prior to the events of the story, the one that was initiated by the complete shutdown of the U.S. borders, was an attempt by a secret cabal of scientists (for lack of a better term, a “deep state�) to create a completely self-sufficient and independent United States, one that would fulfill a growing percentage of the population’s desire to be totally isolationist. It’s basically a xenophobic dream come true.
Of course, as any Great Experiment is wont to do, things immediately started going wrong. The main scientists behind the Experiment, led by Dr. Sam Elgin, tried to press the “abort� button. Unsuccessfully.
Fast forward thirty years. Now our protagonists have pulled their train-car into the next Zone, a colony known as Unity. It appears to be a utopia of technological advancement, a glorious land o’plenty. Appearances can be deceiving, though. In this volume, we learn the horrible price that the inhabitants of Unity have paid for their utopic vision.
There’s a lot of great ideas bouncing around in this graphic novel series, but, at times, it seems like a huge chaotic mess in which the authors can’t quite decide whether they are writing a straight sci-fi action/adventure, a satirical examination and castigation of American Exceptionalism, or an extrapolated fever dream parable of the post-Trump world.
Whatever. I dig it. It’s my kind of weird. It may not be yours, though.
Structurally, the story reads like a video game. You have a small group of protagonists�-your avatars�-who are stuck in a kind of futuristic version of the United States. They must make their way through thirteen different levels (representing the original thirteen colonies, each colony set up as a manifestation of a particularly American “ideal�) in order to hopefully find a cure to a world-wide plague.
In the first volume, our heroes survived the “Mad Max�-like desert frontier wasteland of the colony known as Destiny. In Volume 2, “Unity�, we learn that the experiment that was begun roughly 30 years prior to the events of the story, the one that was initiated by the complete shutdown of the U.S. borders, was an attempt by a secret cabal of scientists (for lack of a better term, a “deep state�) to create a completely self-sufficient and independent United States, one that would fulfill a growing percentage of the population’s desire to be totally isolationist. It’s basically a xenophobic dream come true.
Of course, as any Great Experiment is wont to do, things immediately started going wrong. The main scientists behind the Experiment, led by Dr. Sam Elgin, tried to press the “abort� button. Unsuccessfully.
Fast forward thirty years. Now our protagonists have pulled their train-car into the next Zone, a colony known as Unity. It appears to be a utopia of technological advancement, a glorious land o’plenty. Appearances can be deceiving, though. In this volume, we learn the horrible price that the inhabitants of Unity have paid for their utopic vision.
There’s a lot of great ideas bouncing around in this graphic novel series, but, at times, it seems like a huge chaotic mess in which the authors can’t quite decide whether they are writing a straight sci-fi action/adventure, a satirical examination and castigation of American Exceptionalism, or an extrapolated fever dream parable of the post-Trump world.
Whatever. I dig it. It’s my kind of weird. It may not be yours, though.
August 25, 2023
Note: If there was a 4.5 Star Rating, this earned it. It just fell a little bit shy of the 5 Star Rating I gave to Volume One.
I continue to be impressed with this title. The world-building, character development and slowly revealing backstories, the history of the land (a futuristic, isolated and divided United States), the imaginative areas and creatures - - - everything is well-conceived and carried out.
THE SEALING: In July 2029, the United States completely removes itself from the world stage and closes its borders. The perimeter is walled off. An “Airshield� force barrier prevents flyovers. Electromagnetic shielding prevents surveillance. The state borders of “Fortress America� are redrawn, dividing the U.S. into thirteen zones each with their own laws, industry, etc. and attracting residents based on beliefs and practices.
Six years out and zones begin accusing each other of hoarding resources, not acting on behalf of all, and conflicts arise. By Year Ten more walls are erected, completely isolating each zone from one another. The thirteen zones evolve even further, fully embracing the divergent values that attracted them.
DESTINY: In the first story arc, the group of seven visitors are trapped within the Destiny Zone (roughly the Southwestern United States), ruled over by an authoritarian warlord (Destiny Man) using slavery and torture to force his subjects to submit to his territorial ambitions. They find the artifact/key (golden railroad spike) that allows they egress through the wall into the next zone.
UNITY: In this second story arc, the Unity Zone is explored (roughly the Pacific Northwest encompassing the technology/silicon valley corridor). Unity is yet another strange land full of incredible sights and creatures, best explained by its matriarch Jain:
What shattered that dream was the discovery during exploration of Unity by Ace Kenyatta (American history expert) and Valentina Sandoval (journalist and truth-seeker) of what powers the Zone. (Sorry, no spoilers.) Destiny Man followed the group into Unity and war is on with disastrous results as the story arc ends. The group escape into another Zone using Unity’s key, a first-generation iPod. “Weird Science� by Oingo Bongo is the combination - - I love that little detail.
Another great volume to this epic. My only concern is that this could become, like the former LOST television series, too much of a good thing - - where writers kept adding different side stories and setting and then struggled to bring it together and keep it within the overall continuity. The fact that Snyder and Soule mention in the text pieces that LOST was an inspiration for the series is a reason for concern. However, they also mentioned that they have previously plotted the ending and know how this wraps up. So, until they go down the wrong rabbit hole I’m going to continue following and enjoying this series.
I continue to be impressed with this title. The world-building, character development and slowly revealing backstories, the history of the land (a futuristic, isolated and divided United States), the imaginative areas and creatures - - - everything is well-conceived and carried out.
THE SEALING: In July 2029, the United States completely removes itself from the world stage and closes its borders. The perimeter is walled off. An “Airshield� force barrier prevents flyovers. Electromagnetic shielding prevents surveillance. The state borders of “Fortress America� are redrawn, dividing the U.S. into thirteen zones each with their own laws, industry, etc. and attracting residents based on beliefs and practices.
Six years out and zones begin accusing each other of hoarding resources, not acting on behalf of all, and conflicts arise. By Year Ten more walls are erected, completely isolating each zone from one another. The thirteen zones evolve even further, fully embracing the divergent values that attracted them.
DESTINY: In the first story arc, the group of seven visitors are trapped within the Destiny Zone (roughly the Southwestern United States), ruled over by an authoritarian warlord (Destiny Man) using slavery and torture to force his subjects to submit to his territorial ambitions. They find the artifact/key (golden railroad spike) that allows they egress through the wall into the next zone.
UNITY: In this second story arc, the Unity Zone is explored (roughly the Pacific Northwest encompassing the technology/silicon valley corridor). Unity is yet another strange land full of incredible sights and creatures, best explained by its matriarch Jain:
What shattered that dream was the discovery during exploration of Unity by Ace Kenyatta (American history expert) and Valentina Sandoval (journalist and truth-seeker) of what powers the Zone. (Sorry, no spoilers.) Destiny Man followed the group into Unity and war is on with disastrous results as the story arc ends. The group escape into another Zone using Unity’s key, a first-generation iPod. “Weird Science� by Oingo Bongo is the combination - - I love that little detail.
Another great volume to this epic. My only concern is that this could become, like the former LOST television series, too much of a good thing - - where writers kept adding different side stories and setting and then struggled to bring it together and keep it within the overall continuity. The fact that Snyder and Soule mention in the text pieces that LOST was an inspiration for the series is a reason for concern. However, they also mentioned that they have previously plotted the ending and know how this wraps up. So, until they go down the wrong rabbit hole I’m going to continue following and enjoying this series.
September 21, 2021
After being overwhelmed/overjoyed with the insane creativity of the first Undiscovered Country volume, I find myself disappointed with the blandness of this follow-up. Sure, we explore a new sector of the country (2 down, 11 to go!) and meet some new characters. A little more backstory for the Sealing is doled out. There's action aplenty!
But there aren't any mad eyeball-sharks. The villain from Destiny returns, vaguely, and the new villain in Unity is both unsurprising and underwhelming. I suppose it's hard to make "technology" a villain. I get enough of "Facebook is evil!" in my everyday life, thank you very much. The story moves along briskly enough and I'm still intrigued by Aurora and Uncle Sam and whatever's going to happen when our heroes complete the spiral. Unity just feels like a pit stop rather than an essential cog in the machine.
Most disappointing: the glorious, engaging artwork took a steep dive in quality. Almost unfinished at times. It doesn't help that the setting is a featureless white future-scape. But still!
But there aren't any mad eyeball-sharks. The villain from Destiny returns, vaguely, and the new villain in Unity is both unsurprising and underwhelming. I suppose it's hard to make "technology" a villain. I get enough of "Facebook is evil!" in my everyday life, thank you very much. The story moves along briskly enough and I'm still intrigued by Aurora and Uncle Sam and whatever's going to happen when our heroes complete the spiral. Unity just feels like a pit stop rather than an essential cog in the machine.
Most disappointing: the glorious, engaging artwork took a steep dive in quality. Almost unfinished at times. It doesn't help that the setting is a featureless white future-scape. But still!
June 11, 2023
3.5 stars. I was reading the singles but stopped at issue 12 and decided to wait for the trades. Now that vols 1-4 are out, I’m rereading vols 1 and 2 to get refreshed. I still feel the same about these issues. ( see single issue reviews for more ) We learn that once America sealed itself off, they broke up into 13 nation states, similar to the 13 colonies I suppose. It was only a matter of time before those 13 zones started to alienate each other and start to operate on their own. Walls were built within the sealed off America to separate these 13 zones. Seems like at the center of all this is and entity called Aurora. I’m still some what intrigued and still want to know who this Aurora is, who the Destiny Man really is and how this is all going to shake out. Well, on to uncharted territory with what have not read yet, vol 3.
November 5, 2021
A bloated boring mess of a failure. Scott Snyder continues his tried and honour tradition of explaining you the themes over and over hoping that you understand thing, confusing understanding with interest. Rather than do anything exciting with the setting this creative team wants you to understand the setting so much that spend the whole book talking it to you. You see this progressive techno society and think maybe there is some flaw, some big moral quandary here, an implication of nuance and tragedy, but no. These two dudes write some parallel to China's one child policy, some sort of pro-life forced-to-term thing, some huge question about consent and utilitarian bargaining, and the whole volume revolves around "these kids aren't alright" and throws all such interest out the window.
The first volume was loosely borrowing from Mad Max, but lacked any sort of driving action and tension. This volume is sci-fi, with the "science" of science-fiction as some big boogeyman. Every "district" in this America is some random value, taken to a supposed extreme, like some sort of cautionary tale about how America cannot be just one thing. But our characters apparently have to choose which one thing is the truest for America to save the world? Which specific value will solve world hunger and create global peace and cure the evil biopathagen megavirus pandemic? Obviously none alone, but we are slowly working our way through the country to pretend like it's a true decision. The Mad Max district was apparently a libertarian paradise, this volume is about some sort of communist science paradise, etc.
But science is often pushed through capitalism, with innovation made for commercial success, the American ideal of creation done through backstabbing and screwing over the little man to make millions for the 1%. How does the ethos of invention come up against the reality of American greed? How does individual ingenuity compromise in the face of complete and total unity of mind and body? How does this series tackle any of that? It doesn't! We've got our own plot about daddy issues and cloned Uncle Sams and time dilution and mega pandemics to deal with. Who cares about engaging with our values at all, let's spend the whole time explaining that these values are not perfect!
One of the most exciting things about the dystopian future genre is watching values corrupt and erode, watching slow compromises lead to terrible ends, seeing human nature play out in the long run as society crumbles and reinvents itself. Undiscovered Country hasn't embraced these things. Instead of using metaphors or engaging with the philosophies in a meaningful way it explains that these philosophies are literal, that this whole thing is a literal experiment at the behest of whatever American government was in power at the time, that our characters are not going to discover but are literally tasked with discovering the root of all evils, and I have no faith that this creative team can do any of that in a satisfying way.
This is a mess of failed promises and a boring alt-future textbook about prophecies and rigged experiments. It is a boring read that took me more than a week to go through because I dreaded picking it up. It is not worth reading in the slightest.
The first volume was loosely borrowing from Mad Max, but lacked any sort of driving action and tension. This volume is sci-fi, with the "science" of science-fiction as some big boogeyman. Every "district" in this America is some random value, taken to a supposed extreme, like some sort of cautionary tale about how America cannot be just one thing. But our characters apparently have to choose which one thing is the truest for America to save the world? Which specific value will solve world hunger and create global peace and cure the evil biopathagen megavirus pandemic? Obviously none alone, but we are slowly working our way through the country to pretend like it's a true decision. The Mad Max district was apparently a libertarian paradise, this volume is about some sort of communist science paradise, etc.
But science is often pushed through capitalism, with innovation made for commercial success, the American ideal of creation done through backstabbing and screwing over the little man to make millions for the 1%. How does the ethos of invention come up against the reality of American greed? How does individual ingenuity compromise in the face of complete and total unity of mind and body? How does this series tackle any of that? It doesn't! We've got our own plot about daddy issues and cloned Uncle Sams and time dilution and mega pandemics to deal with. Who cares about engaging with our values at all, let's spend the whole time explaining that these values are not perfect!
One of the most exciting things about the dystopian future genre is watching values corrupt and erode, watching slow compromises lead to terrible ends, seeing human nature play out in the long run as society crumbles and reinvents itself. Undiscovered Country hasn't embraced these things. Instead of using metaphors or engaging with the philosophies in a meaningful way it explains that these philosophies are literal, that this whole thing is a literal experiment at the behest of whatever American government was in power at the time, that our characters are not going to discover but are literally tasked with discovering the root of all evils, and I have no faith that this creative team can do any of that in a satisfying way.
This is a mess of failed promises and a boring alt-future textbook about prophecies and rigged experiments. It is a boring read that took me more than a week to go through because I dreaded picking it up. It is not worth reading in the slightest.
February 11, 2021
A bit better than the first volume since some of the tedious worldbuilding is already done, but an anticipation of exhaustion is looming as well - if they intend to devote six issues to each arc and have established a need for 13 arcs (at least, based on the current track record) that's a promise for (or a demand to keep buying for) more than 5 more years of story. Good Luck.
June 10, 2023
2,5 â�
Ahora que ya sabemos por dónde va la trama, o algo asÃ, se pierde interés. Snyder y Soule me tienen un poco perdido en esta segunda entrega, pero no para bien Queda las imaginativas viñetas de Camuncoli y unas escenas de acción muy logradas. Ahora, a los personajes que les den. Esta parte se me ha hecho larguÃsima y muy repetitiva. Y la tercera pinta mal, pero... ahà estaré.
Ahora que ya sabemos por dónde va la trama, o algo asÃ, se pierde interés. Snyder y Soule me tienen un poco perdido en esta segunda entrega, pero no para bien Queda las imaginativas viñetas de Camuncoli y unas escenas de acción muy logradas. Ahora, a los personajes que les den. Esta parte se me ha hecho larguÃsima y muy repetitiva. Y la tercera pinta mal, pero... ahà estaré.
June 21, 2021
It only get weirder.
April 3, 2021
A significant improvement over the first volume. The characters don't evolve past their basic personality traits, but the world-building is far more exciting and paced far better than the breakneck chaos of the first arc. The series isn't as smart or unique as it thinks it is, and I still wish Soule and Snyder interrogated the Americana ideas and themes they introduce instead of co-opting them for fun, wild fantasy. But...if fun is their goal, this volume achieves that.
Camuncoli, Grassi, and Wilson's art remain a big draw. Camuncoli's dynamic layouts and creative, grotesque designs give the book a style and originality that easily outshine the serviceable but rote script. I'm definitely going to be sticking around for the series, which wasn't something I was sure of after finishing the introductory volume. I wish this series was something more than it is. When taken as it is––a rollercoaster of a science-fantasy series–�Undiscovered Country is an enjoyable, easy, and sometimes exciting read. 3.5/5.
Camuncoli, Grassi, and Wilson's art remain a big draw. Camuncoli's dynamic layouts and creative, grotesque designs give the book a style and originality that easily outshine the serviceable but rote script. I'm definitely going to be sticking around for the series, which wasn't something I was sure of after finishing the introductory volume. I wish this series was something more than it is. When taken as it is––a rollercoaster of a science-fantasy series–�Undiscovered Country is an enjoyable, easy, and sometimes exciting read. 3.5/5.
April 17, 2021
OK, glad I stopped buying this story in single issues....
As I was reading, I was having fond memories of the first volume, back to a time this story was new. I have now gone back to read my review and in the end I did not like book one much.
This section of the story is all but a retread of the first story arc. The team arrives, the team is attacked, they meet the locals. The locals are "friendly" this time and try to talk the team into believing in Unity.
But in the end we learn nothing new, we learn there are people doing horrible things to children in pursuit of the American Dream. We still don't know what the final goal of this new grand experiment of the "American Dream". We don't know what is going on. I'm not sure Mr Snyder or the other creator know what is going on. The art is great.
There is a plan for 13 total volumes of this story and how many single issues? It must be nice to be able to sell anything based on your name alone.
As I was reading, I was having fond memories of the first volume, back to a time this story was new. I have now gone back to read my review and in the end I did not like book one much.
This section of the story is all but a retread of the first story arc. The team arrives, the team is attacked, they meet the locals. The locals are "friendly" this time and try to talk the team into believing in Unity.
But in the end we learn nothing new, we learn there are people doing horrible things to children in pursuit of the American Dream. We still don't know what the final goal of this new grand experiment of the "American Dream". We don't know what is going on. I'm not sure Mr Snyder or the other creator know what is going on. The art is great.
There is a plan for 13 total volumes of this story and how many single issues? It must be nice to be able to sell anything based on your name alone.
May 29, 2021
This series continues to be weird for its own sake, but this volume nails down a bit more of the reasoning behind it. The survivors enter the Unity zone, a cybernetic utopia, and they are the targets of a persuasion campaign to throw their vote behind the zone's apparent paradise. Of course things go awry, with a fairly predictable twist, but the entrance of Destiny Man into Unity adds one ball too many to the zone's leadership, and things end chaotically.
I appreciated the style of the art throughout, and this volume really does clear up a lot without stealing too much from the overall mystery of the world, answering some questions while raising others. There's a couple of twists that are fairly effective as well, setting up the next volume. While perhaps not quite as chaotic as the first volume, it doesn't lose much energy even as it straightens its plot out a bit.
I appreciated the style of the art throughout, and this volume really does clear up a lot without stealing too much from the overall mystery of the world, answering some questions while raising others. There's a couple of twists that are fairly effective as well, setting up the next volume. While perhaps not quite as chaotic as the first volume, it doesn't lose much energy even as it straightens its plot out a bit.
April 9, 2021
With a lot of the world-building out of the way, it becomes more clear in this second volume that the authors will be using the narrative framework they've created to comment on different aspects of American politics and culture. This is fine, but the science fiction they're couching it in is still a little on the basic and predictable side. Still, this volume was just compelling enough to make me want to read further, which is really the only thing an ongoing series needs to do.
September 8, 2023
While this series remains wildly imaginative, I didn't find this volume as engrossing as the first. Instead of feeling like I have to acquire and read the next installment, I'm content to wait until I can buy it economically.
November 23, 2021
As much as I was unimpressed by the first story arc, this second one was right up my alley. Bonkers science fiction bordering on horror mystery, with a moral conundrum at its core.
January 7, 2022
Unity at the cost of freedom. Feels a lot like the Hunger Games combined with an Alhoon. I'm ery interested to see where this series goes.
June 15, 2022
Like DMZ the scifi version.
March 27, 2022
Fucking bonkers
April 16, 2021
Even though it’s not as inventive as the first volume (though it is quite inventive), the storytelling is improved. That could be because we know the characters and world better now. But also, I think, this reads better as a whole volume rather than the individual issues (which is how I read volume one).
There are some interesting ideas, but due to the episodic nature and the number of characters, there’s not a lot of depth. We get an idea of the six chosen to enter America: (I can’t recall names off the top of my head) two are interested in the business side of things, two are siblings whose parents were involved in making America what it’s become, one has an innate knowledge of things in America, and the last has a drone. We do t get to know these people in much more depth than that, since other characters get somewhat higher billing: the Destiny Man, Sam, and newcomer Jain, who runs Unity. But Snyder and Soule do a nice job incorporating all of the key characters.
This is certainly an ambitious project. If each volume will focus on one zone of America, that’s at least 13 volumes, not to mention what else the story needs to tackle. I hope they can pull it off. It’ll be tough in the fickle indie market though.
There are some interesting ideas, but due to the episodic nature and the number of characters, there’s not a lot of depth. We get an idea of the six chosen to enter America: (I can’t recall names off the top of my head) two are interested in the business side of things, two are siblings whose parents were involved in making America what it’s become, one has an innate knowledge of things in America, and the last has a drone. We do t get to know these people in much more depth than that, since other characters get somewhat higher billing: the Destiny Man, Sam, and newcomer Jain, who runs Unity. But Snyder and Soule do a nice job incorporating all of the key characters.
This is certainly an ambitious project. If each volume will focus on one zone of America, that’s at least 13 volumes, not to mention what else the story needs to tackle. I hope they can pull it off. It’ll be tough in the fickle indie market though.
June 7, 2021
Still going strong in volume 2. I like the concept of a bizzaro America cut off from the ret of the world and conducting wild experiments in social engineering. The recurring, slightly varied, sometimes crazed uncle Sam character is fun.
The characters are still a little shallow. I kind of like that Undiscovered Country gets right to the action and doesn't veer off into backstory, but I'm having a hard time bonding with the characters. At the end of volume 2 they are just as flat and remote a at the beginning of volume 1.
I also feel like this wants to be an incisive criticism of contemporary American life, but it doesn't do that very well. It's mostly caricatures, gun mad anarchy in Destiny and alluring but amoral technocracy in Unity.
I will keep reading and am looking forward to volume 3!
The characters are still a little shallow. I kind of like that Undiscovered Country gets right to the action and doesn't veer off into backstory, but I'm having a hard time bonding with the characters. At the end of volume 2 they are just as flat and remote a at the beginning of volume 1.
I also feel like this wants to be an incisive criticism of contemporary American life, but it doesn't do that very well. It's mostly caricatures, gun mad anarchy in Destiny and alluring but amoral technocracy in Unity.
I will keep reading and am looking forward to volume 3!
February 24, 2022
Brutal! So good in every aspect. Wonderful art that depicts the story in the best way possible. Tons of action, interesting characters and a oh-so-interesting plot.
I loved how in this volume we get to know much more about what happened in the old USA and how it got divided into 13 uniquely distinctive territories, every one of them taking heart and inspiration on one of the so call qualities of the original country. Unity is so different from Destiny, and still so equally captivating, one just wants to stay and know more... but also keep going and get to immerse oneself in the next magical territory.
This graphic novel really means business, and the show runs so much deep than just the mere spectacle. Tons of food for thought very wisely disguised as entertainment.
I loved how in this volume we get to know much more about what happened in the old USA and how it got divided into 13 uniquely distinctive territories, every one of them taking heart and inspiration on one of the so call qualities of the original country. Unity is so different from Destiny, and still so equally captivating, one just wants to stay and know more... but also keep going and get to immerse oneself in the next magical territory.
This graphic novel really means business, and the show runs so much deep than just the mere spectacle. Tons of food for thought very wisely disguised as entertainment.
May 23, 2021
Another 3.5. The story becomes more clear, but not by too terribly much. The writers created interesting societies and explore some of the core American ideals. There is also action galore. It is intriguing. I wasn't sure after volume 1 how far I'd go, but this one has aroused my curiosity. I want to know where this series goes.
March 24, 2022
Not sure what the heck is going on here. This gives us a bit more backstory but at the same time I have no idea.
September 18, 2021
In my review of the first volume of this series, I talked myself out of my original two-star rating. The more I thought about the worldbuilding, or rather the "worldbuilding," the less I liked it. But one must remember this is a comics-verse, where a great deal of the time ridiculousness is the name of the game. Even more so with this series, which unapologetically tips over the edge into batshit crazy.
At any rate, when I visited my local bookstore on Free Comics Day, I ran across this second volume. I picked it up and looked it over and decided it looked intriguing. The art was better and the characters seemed to be more interesting. And possibly enough time had gone by that I didn't remember how over-the-top gonzo the first volume really was. At any rate, I took a chance on it. It's definitely not in the running for the best comic of the year, as far as I'm concerned, but I will say I was pleasantly surprised. That's not to say the story and world still isn't more or less batshit crazy, but it does appear....how can I put it, more grounded in its craziness? More restrained? Giving the characters a bit of nuance?
In this future alternate history, the US has sealed itself off from the rest of the world, and no news and/or information (and precious few escapees, apparently) have emerged from the country for thirty years. In the age of the internet and globalization, this is of course the huge hurdle one must get over to read the series in the first place. Now I'm quite capable of granting one impossible handwave to a story I like (one must automatically do this with any SF story involving faster-than-light travel), but I will say this is by far the biggest eye-rolling handwave I have ever talked myself into granting. Maybe it's because the immediate problem the characters are trying to solve is the Sky pandemic, which has an 80% mortality rate and which the US claims to have a cure for. On the other side of Covid, that hits you a little differently.
It helps that this volume digs into its crazy bananapants premise and provides at least a few explanations. It's also not trying to throw any and every nutty over-the-top thing at the wall to see what sticks...no talking carnivorous bison, for example (although the jingoistic, sermonizing Destiny Man from the first book still makes an appearance). The characters are more fleshed out and more appealing in this volume, and the art is definitely better. There's also a moral dilemma in this story, as our group winds up in the zone of Unity, one of thirteen "united sovereign territories" the newly isolated US has divided itself into. (If you think that harkens back to the original thirteen colonies, you're right. And once again, the Native American genocide is not mentioned, except for some genuinely offensive shit spouted by the Destiny Man about "what made us feared and obeyed, were our weapons. With the Colt .45 pistol...along with Winchester's rifle and Gatling's cannon, the lands inside our borders were tamed." Yeah, by murdering the Indigenous people who were already there. This is the huge elephant in the room that needs to be addressed.) In Unity, no one suffers...at the cost of being a compliant zombie. Of course, our six characters blow this all to hell. At the end, still on their quest to reach the place in the US that has the cure for Sky, they pass from Unity to the next territory, Possibility.
Despite my lingering reservations, this is a definite improvement from the first volume. Enough so that I will probably check out subsequent books in the series.
At any rate, when I visited my local bookstore on Free Comics Day, I ran across this second volume. I picked it up and looked it over and decided it looked intriguing. The art was better and the characters seemed to be more interesting. And possibly enough time had gone by that I didn't remember how over-the-top gonzo the first volume really was. At any rate, I took a chance on it. It's definitely not in the running for the best comic of the year, as far as I'm concerned, but I will say I was pleasantly surprised. That's not to say the story and world still isn't more or less batshit crazy, but it does appear....how can I put it, more grounded in its craziness? More restrained? Giving the characters a bit of nuance?
In this future alternate history, the US has sealed itself off from the rest of the world, and no news and/or information (and precious few escapees, apparently) have emerged from the country for thirty years. In the age of the internet and globalization, this is of course the huge hurdle one must get over to read the series in the first place. Now I'm quite capable of granting one impossible handwave to a story I like (one must automatically do this with any SF story involving faster-than-light travel), but I will say this is by far the biggest eye-rolling handwave I have ever talked myself into granting. Maybe it's because the immediate problem the characters are trying to solve is the Sky pandemic, which has an 80% mortality rate and which the US claims to have a cure for. On the other side of Covid, that hits you a little differently.
It helps that this volume digs into its crazy bananapants premise and provides at least a few explanations. It's also not trying to throw any and every nutty over-the-top thing at the wall to see what sticks...no talking carnivorous bison, for example (although the jingoistic, sermonizing Destiny Man from the first book still makes an appearance). The characters are more fleshed out and more appealing in this volume, and the art is definitely better. There's also a moral dilemma in this story, as our group winds up in the zone of Unity, one of thirteen "united sovereign territories" the newly isolated US has divided itself into. (If you think that harkens back to the original thirteen colonies, you're right. And once again, the Native American genocide is not mentioned, except for some genuinely offensive shit spouted by the Destiny Man about "what made us feared and obeyed, were our weapons. With the Colt .45 pistol...along with Winchester's rifle and Gatling's cannon, the lands inside our borders were tamed." Yeah, by murdering the Indigenous people who were already there. This is the huge elephant in the room that needs to be addressed.) In Unity, no one suffers...at the cost of being a compliant zombie. Of course, our six characters blow this all to hell. At the end, still on their quest to reach the place in the US that has the cure for Sky, they pass from Unity to the next territory, Possibility.
Despite my lingering reservations, this is a definite improvement from the first volume. Enough so that I will probably check out subsequent books in the series.
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December 24, 2021Less satisfying than the first volume, though part of that might be because America has taken at least a tentative step away from loopy isolationism since I read that one. I don't think that's the whole of it, though. The set-up becomes a lot clearer here; at the same time as sealing itself off from the rest of the world, the erstwhile USA divided itself into 13 regions, each defined by what they saw as the nation's key attribute. Since which time, inevitably, because the urge to withdraw is seldom the sort of urge which says 'enough', they have also been sealed off from each other. So, after the vaguely Mad Max* Destiny, the story moves to the Pacific Northwest tech utopia of Unity, surely a more likely place to find an antidote for the virus ravaging the world**. The explanations of how all this has happened involve some suitably handwavey science fiction science, but they're not offensively Sunshine stupid; some of the narrative decisions, on the other hand, feel cheap. Having a rampaging hangover from the previous volume make it through the barriers between the zones feels like it subtracts from the distinctiveness and the firm transition far more than it adds in return. And yes, obviously we know from the off that there's going to be some kind of flaw to balance out how much better Unity seems than the savage Destiny –Ìýbut plenty of little hints as to what that could be are steamrollered by the daft and OTT reveal that [SPOILER] their fancy nanotech is powered by babies' brains.
Despite which, I am still enjoying the series at least enough to persevere –Ìýthough whether it will make it through the 13 or maybe even 14 volumes implicit in its volume titles thus far and 'walking the spiral' structure is another question. I like the little details, the hints that this is an alternate timeline rather than the future, and what that might signify; I like seeing the line "you have no authority here" in a fight between the representatives of different regions, and assuming, correctly or not, that this apocalyptic battle for the soul of America is referencing an English parish council meeting. I like the sincere attempt to reckon with America as experiment, the staggering scale of its achievements but also its crimes, and the willingness to do so in a format which also has room for robot sharks. And I really like its readiness, without ever letting things tip right over into spoof, to raise an eyebrow at itself, whether that be the whole trope of enigmatic guide figures who never give out quite enough information, or the specifics of this warped future world and its weird riffs on the American past:
"A city? Let me guess, it's a city but it's actually made out of Mount Rushmore, except the presidents' heads are giant lobsters or something. And we need to beat up Davy Crockett and steal his coonskin cap and use it to unlock a secret door hidden in Abraham Lincoln's asshole."
"Davy Crockett? Oh no, Chang, not in Unity. You'd find him over in Possibility."
*Yes, I know that's Australian, but I reckon the majority of people who mistake its dystopia for a wank fantasy are American, so I'm sticking with the reference.
**No, not that one � it's far nastier.
Despite which, I am still enjoying the series at least enough to persevere –Ìýthough whether it will make it through the 13 or maybe even 14 volumes implicit in its volume titles thus far and 'walking the spiral' structure is another question. I like the little details, the hints that this is an alternate timeline rather than the future, and what that might signify; I like seeing the line "you have no authority here" in a fight between the representatives of different regions, and assuming, correctly or not, that this apocalyptic battle for the soul of America is referencing an English parish council meeting. I like the sincere attempt to reckon with America as experiment, the staggering scale of its achievements but also its crimes, and the willingness to do so in a format which also has room for robot sharks. And I really like its readiness, without ever letting things tip right over into spoof, to raise an eyebrow at itself, whether that be the whole trope of enigmatic guide figures who never give out quite enough information, or the specifics of this warped future world and its weird riffs on the American past:
"A city? Let me guess, it's a city but it's actually made out of Mount Rushmore, except the presidents' heads are giant lobsters or something. And we need to beat up Davy Crockett and steal his coonskin cap and use it to unlock a secret door hidden in Abraham Lincoln's asshole."
"Davy Crockett? Oh no, Chang, not in Unity. You'd find him over in Possibility."
*Yes, I know that's Australian, but I reckon the majority of people who mistake its dystopia for a wank fantasy are American, so I'm sticking with the reference.
**No, not that one � it's far nastier.
December 18, 2021
I'm sort of fascinated by the divisiveness of this title, and the vitriol in many of the reviews.
I've seen it labeled as too complex and hard to follow, too repetitive, I've seen it called out for over-explaining a simple theme, and too difficult to remember from issue to issue. I'm not sure why anyone would have a problem with this series more than they would have a problem following , 's , or really any decent run of a modern superhero comic. The premise is pretty simple: America sealed itself off from the rest of the world both literally and figuratively, and then divided itself into thirteen colonies. Our main characters are a mix of non-Americans and Americans who left the country before the sealing, who've come back to find a cure for a plague. That's it.
Volume one showed us one of the colonies as a violent Mad-Max like landscape, and here in volume two we see a technocratic utopia.
The characters aren't as fleshed out as I'd like, but this is a series about post-apocalyptic world building, and on that front I'm enjoying it. The art shines a little more than the writing, but it's a straight-forward This Is How America Is Coming Apart At The Seams And Inviting An Apocalypse tale, which has become a believable trope in the last decade. I think if you liked East Of West, but with it were a little more contained, you'll love this book. I really don't understand why anyone would hate it, but I do see it being boring if it's not your type of story.
I've seen it labeled as too complex and hard to follow, too repetitive, I've seen it called out for over-explaining a simple theme, and too difficult to remember from issue to issue. I'm not sure why anyone would have a problem with this series more than they would have a problem following , 's , or really any decent run of a modern superhero comic. The premise is pretty simple: America sealed itself off from the rest of the world both literally and figuratively, and then divided itself into thirteen colonies. Our main characters are a mix of non-Americans and Americans who left the country before the sealing, who've come back to find a cure for a plague. That's it.
Volume one showed us one of the colonies as a violent Mad-Max like landscape, and here in volume two we see a technocratic utopia.
The characters aren't as fleshed out as I'd like, but this is a series about post-apocalyptic world building, and on that front I'm enjoying it. The art shines a little more than the writing, but it's a straight-forward This Is How America Is Coming Apart At The Seams And Inviting An Apocalypse tale, which has become a believable trope in the last decade. I think if you liked East Of West, but with it were a little more contained, you'll love this book. I really don't understand why anyone would hate it, but I do see it being boring if it's not your type of story.
July 27, 2021
I really didn't like the first six issues of Undiscovered Country. I thought it had a good concept at the right time, but it feels like they went too far into the realm of horror and fantasy with it when I wanted something a little more grounded (even for a comic book). The premise posits what happens if the US decides to literally wall itself off from the rest of the world and, decades later, a group of people find their way in and reestablish contact. What would they find? In retrospect, finding the hellish nightmare that is what happens in the first six issues of this book makes sense, and in volume 2, it makes even more sense, as we find out the US has re-divided itself into 13 distinct, mostly independent colonies that operate completely differently in order to create their version of the American dream. The first one the book decides to visit experiments with animals, which is why it looked the way it did. In Vol. 2, the second state is about technology, and that allows us to find out more about what happened in that time, and things start to make a little more sense.
But I still have a lot of problems with the book. I still think they went too extreme with the fantasy stuff, and I don't think any of the characters are particularly well-written, and it feels like something maybe 20% more grounded would make for a much more interesting story, and going this far with it makes it impossible to actually ever see that version of this.
But I'm intrigued enough with what's happening to maybe continue reading casually. And others might like it more than I did.
But I still have a lot of problems with the book. I still think they went too extreme with the fantasy stuff, and I don't think any of the characters are particularly well-written, and it feels like something maybe 20% more grounded would make for a much more interesting story, and going this far with it makes it impossible to actually ever see that version of this.
But I'm intrigued enough with what's happening to maybe continue reading casually. And others might like it more than I did.
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