Advance Review: Contraband

If you're looking for a graphic novel that takes on a nightmare view of the age of information, where a new type of social media has gained popularity that's full of violence and pervertedness, then Contraband by Thomas Behe is going to be right up your street.

The story mainly follows Toby, a citizen journalist/internet cafe worker, who is forced to hunt down a lady called Charlotte, an activist who is sabotaging the dark web social media app - Contraband. Think YouTube, or Tik Tok, without any filters at all. Sensational content where people just do what they want. Killing, beating, upskirting. It's all about getting that popular video. Toby is blackmailed into searching for Charlotte by the two people running Contraband, who they want to kill off since she might have some information that will mess up their business.

The story is very text-heavy in parts, which some people might not like, but there are a lot of instances where this works as it allows you to see what kind of person some characters are. Tucker, for example, the man who owns Contraband, talks a lot. Mix that with what he says and it's quite believable that this kind of person would talk a lot. We've all seen them at some point, whether in person or in a film. They want to feel like they're in control, they want to express that they're in control and they need to make it clear. He will tell you whatever he wants, controlling the conversation and giving out so much information because he wants certain people to know that he's "the man". Sure, there are times where some text could be cut, but for the most part, especially when Tucker is involved, it works as that's who he is.

The art by Phil Elliot is clean with a simplistic style that still manages to pack a lot in. It's a good style to match the story and for a story like this, it's the right choice. It's consistent throughout and lets the story be told through the characters.

Readers might find this book a challenge to read. It's a challenging subject that could quite easily be a future we head towards. But I think mainly because of the timelines throughout. There are date stamps indicating where we are which become easily forgotten because of the story. There's so much to take in that you can get a bit lost on where you are in the timeline, wondering whether the date you've just read is before or after the last one. A bit more of an indication of what's in the past and the present would help a lot with this (chapter two is a good example of this when it actually says the date as well as 4 months later). A lot of thought has gone into it, clearly and at some point, I'll have to go back and unravel parts. Thankfully, it all seems to come together in the end.

Overall, Contraband is going to be a divisive book. Some will embrace the story whilst others will find the story a bit too much and too close to a real-world potential future. You'll wonder whether this is a possible future for social media, or simply a warning of how things could go if we're not careful. That's what I liked about this - it's a possible future that isn't too far fetched. And the ending... I like an ending that I didn't see coming. I thought I knew where it was going and I was wrong.

Rating: 4/5

Contraband is scheduled for release on the 10th May, 2021.

You can find out more details over at Contraband/Markosia site where you have a range of places to purchase a copy from - https://markosia.com/contraband/