DateBotz #1 is a comic written by Todd Vicino with line art by Omar Zaldivar and colors by Hedwin Zaldivar. A man has a very eventful evening with a robotic lady of the night. This is a futuristic science fiction romance comic that focuses on the unique relationship between a man and a robot with a decent bit of drama, cyberpunkness, and violence. The main man here is Deke Halpert, he is a single man with money who has decided to spend his evening in the company of a DateBotz woman. The woman in question is Qualia, she is a robot built for sexual purposes that is advanced enough to enjoy things and have opinions. This story begins with Deke sitting on his bed scrolling through potential dates on the DateBotz app before making his selection. After making his choice he tidies his room, cleans his house, takes a shower, and shaves, then he hears a knock at his door as Qualia has arrived. This comic takes place in a futuristic world with advanced technology in robotics and VR and there are some cyberpunk vibes. Violence here can be brutal with some heavy gore and blood. This moves at a generally steady pace with some fast scenes and an upbeat sci-fi rom-com like tone. There are a few violently intense moments with some spiking drama. The dialogue is very conversational with witty back-and-forth and the occasional deep topic. There is one word-heavy page and more than a few thick text bubbles. This is an intriguing and fun debut issue that shows the beginnings of a unique relationship between a lonely human man and an exciting robot woman.
The art here is drawn in a soft and smoothly detailed modern style with a focus on lighting and shading. This comic has a color palette familiar to science fiction and cyberpunk with bright and cool tones usually courtesy of the lights and buildings in the city. There isn’t any natural scenery as this takes place deep in a city with most scenes inside a building. The main location is Deke’s apartment which is on one of the upper floors of a high rise building with a few other places visited from an arcade to restaurants. Backgrounds are frequently showing the actual living surroundings though on occasion it’ll just be a gradient color. The expression level here is around average as these two leads react to the different situations realistically. Emotions shown include happiness, joy, fear, shock, and nervousness. Faces have a good amount of detail which usually results in the various expressions being obvious. The violence gets ferocious with gory explosions via laser guns and body part separating blows. There is one action scene and it has a high panel count with a flow focused on major moments and changing perspectives.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like futuristic science fiction romance stories that star a human and a robot and that features drama, violence, and cyberpunk vibes then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gore, gruesomeness, nudity, sexual scenes.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Of course. I always take care of my clients.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/definitearticle/datebotz-1/description
***** I received this review copy for free. *****
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22
Violent Pages: 3, for 14% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 2, for 9% 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 – 4
“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 – 3
“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 – 4
“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.”
