Unfollow #1
Written by Rob Williams
Art by Mike Dowling
Colors by Quinton Winter
Letters by Clem Robins
Review by Steve Seigh
Larry Ferrell, the billionaire inventor of Chirper – a social media app not unlike Twitter – is dying. That’s not a big deal, right? After all, people die everyday. Well, what if I told you that Ferrell’s dying wish is to bestow 140 mobile device subscribers with a grand total of $120 million each? Now I have your attention, don’t I? Yeah, so your phone is about to receive an exclusive app that proclaims you as one of the (un)lucky few. How would you feel about that? Who would you share this information with? Whom do you trust, and precisely what awaits you on the reclusive island where you’re to learn of the details that will allow you to claim your prize? Right now, there are at least 139 others asking themselves these same questions in Rob Williams’ and Mike Dowling’s Unfollow #1 from Vertigo Comics.
For real, how many times have you day-dreamed about winning the lottery? What would be your first move? Pay off your student loans, perhaps? Take care of your parent’s mortgage? Maybe you’d invest a large sum and then travel the world with the rest? If you’re anything like me you’ve given this scenario a lot of thought, and in toying with that concept decided to pick up this comic book. Unfollow #1 does a fine job of introducing readers to the book’s wild premise, as well and serves to introduce us to a handful of those selected to be a part of the 140.
Personally, I dig a comic that gives you many of the pieces you’ll need to know what you’re in for, but shrouds enough of what it has to offer in shadow, therefore leaving its audience wanting to know and explore more. In this issue, we meet a few of our hopefuls: The petty thief, the thrill-seeker, the suicidal, the doomsday warrior, as well as others. Each of them comes equipped with their own motivations for, at the very least, seeing what being a member of the 140 has to offer.
With the rules established, Unfollow #1 gives readers plenty of reasons to come back for issue #2. The art by Mike Dowling and colors by Quinton Winter paint the characters and their varying points of origin with plenty of life, lending emotional depth to each confused contestant, and even a layer of mystery to the island destination where I assume we’ll learn more about the finer details of the 140.
Verdict: Unfollow #1 strikes a stellar balance between baiting its readers with mysterious circumstances and giving them more to look forward to in the issues to come. I’m wholly intrigued by what I can only surmise will be a “Lord of the Flies/Battle Royale” scenario as the members of the 140 make their way to Ferrell’s mysterious island locale. If you’ve got some room on your pull-list, I’d say give this one a go!
Unfollow #1 Review Soundtrack:
Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me”
Wow! I never realized until today how much this song sounds as if The Talking Heads and Michael Jackson has a love child.
