XenoGeist #4 is a comic written by Scott Wilke with illustrations by Cari Salviejo and colors by CF Lum. Izzy Monet is about to have her augments extracted after being apprehended by the XEA. This is a futuristic science fiction cyberpunk comic with a lot of technical talk, high-stakes crime drama, sexual moments, and hard violence; all cloaked in a veil of mystery. The leading lady here is Agent Izzy Monet, she works for the XEA and her latest case has placed her near the heart of a major conspiracy involving a group called XenoGeist. She is known for being a loose cannon and she has many top-tier augments. Her superior is Captain Javier Marquez, he is a strict and serious person who always follows rules and protocol. This story begins with Izzy in handcuffs being walked to the extractor room by Captian Marquez and Agent Lark. While on the operating table she tries to convince Lark to stop a raid that Marquez is putting in motion as she believes he’s been corrupted and is setting a trap. This takes place in a futuristic and very high tech/cyberpunky Germany. The action can get very destructive and a little bit bloody. This moves at a steady pace with faster violence and slower technical moments. This has the tone of a government agency conspiracy with strong cyberpunk elements like Shadowrun without the fantasy. The drama is high and there is always a present air of danger and violence. Dialogue here is direct and conversational with some technical talk that might confuse you and mid-fight quipping. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an exciting and intriguing issue with high drama, a dangerous mystery, strong lead characters, and a lot of augments.

            The art here is drawn in a smoothly detailed modern style with very well done realistic lighting and shading. This has a very sci-fi color palette with a lot of cool silvers and grays contrasted with the bright neon colors cyberpunk media is known for. There isn’t any natural scenery here as this takes place mainly inside buildings or on top of them. The main location is the XEA headquarters look like the standard futuristic office with long hallways and a sterile-looking environment. Backgrounds do a usually show the actual surroundings which tend to be grayish walls and a well-lit ceiling. The expression level here is around average as most of these characters hover around hard and tough looks. Anger is the most common emotion seen with confusion and happiness as well. Faces here have a high amount of detail from wrinkle lines to small hairs; most of the expressions here are very clear. When augments are used they tend to have a bright neon glow of various from green to purple. Most of the weapons are augments which can project solid light objects which seem to work in a similar way to a Lantern Ring. Though there is some blood and hard hits most of the violence is destructive. Action scenes tend to come in 1-3 page bursts with a high number of panels and straightforward flow. Izzy’s normal uniform is basically just a bra and booty shorts.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If like futuristic cyberpunk science fiction stories that star a woman in the middle of an agency conspiracy and featuring erotic moments, violence, and cop drama then this is for you.

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

NC-17. Violence, blood, nudity, sexual scenes.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I wonder how many lives that kitty of yours has.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badbugmedia/xenogeist-4/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 30

Violent Pages: 9, for 30% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 4, for 13% 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.”