XenoGeist #3 is a comic written by Scott Wilke with illustrations by Cari Salviejo and colors by CF Lum. Izzy’s investigation becomes much more difficult to carry out as she no longer has the use of her body. This is a futuristic science fiction cyberpunk comic that has danger-filled criminal drama, cyberspace maneuvering, erotic moments, and a high-stakes mystery with a running clock. The leading lady here is Izzy Monet, she is an agent in the Cybernetic Law Enforcement Authority and she has a reputation for breaking protocol and going rogue in pursuit of suspects/leads. Her immediate superior is Captain Javier Marquez, he is a by-the-book no-nonsense kind of person who is regularly annoyed by Izzy’s antics. This story begins with Izzy’s nude consciousness being reprimanded by Captain Marquez while her battered body is suspended in a tank. Due to the role she played in an explosion that harmed people and caused over 42 million dollars of damage she will be stripped of her augments and fired. She attempts to plead her case but Marquez ignores her as he has an important lead to follow. This takes place in a futuristic and very cyberpunk world with the specific location appearing to be Germany. The violence can get a bit gruesome and hard-hitting. This moves at a slightly slower-than-steady pace with a cyberpunk hacker stealth investigation-like tone. Though this does get violently intense most of the spikes are cause by drama and suspense. The dialogue here is very conversational with heated and aggressive back-and-forth. There aren’t any word-heavy pages but one does get close. This is an exciting and revealing issue that raises the stakes for Izzy and shows us just how skilled she is at thinking outside of the box.

            The art here is drawn in a smoothly detailed almost glossy modern style with a notable focus on lighting. This color palette is overall very cold with a lot of blue and gray but Izzy tends to bring the bright neon green whenever she is on the page. This primarily takes place in cyberspace or a downtown area of a city with no natural scenery. There are three main locations here including a Captain Marquez’s office and the city streets which are both winding and bustling. Backgrounds usually show the immediate surroundings which helps showcase the cold and high tech environment. The expression level here is around average as there is almost an even split between set looks and “live” reactions. Emotions shown here are frequently aggressive from anger and rage to irritation and annoyance. Faces have an above-average quality to them which helps make the expressions easy to decipher. When some high tech abilities are used they have a neon glow to them, usually green or blue. Projectiles, piercing and blunt weapons are the main choice here. The violence shown is very destructive with heavy hits, gruesome attacks, some gore, but not much blood. Action scenes have a smooth flow with huge moments and a high panel count. Izzy is in cyberspace for a significant portion of this issue and when she’s in cyberspace she is fully nude.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like futuristic science fiction cyberpunk stories that star a woman in law enforcement and features hacking and traveling via cyberspace, crime drama, eroticism, and urgent mystery then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

NC-17. Violence, gruesomeness, gore, lewdness, nudity, sexual scenes.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“This is all your fault, you know.”

 

Digital Link: https://badbugmidnight.com/products/xenogeist-3-digital?variant=46942893015261

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badbugmedia/xenogeist-3/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 30

Violent Pages: 6, for 20% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 7, for 23% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 2

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 1

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 5

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”