Arca

by Van Jensen

Jesse Lonergan (Illustrator) and Patricio Delpeche (Colorist)

The planet is dying, the rich are escaping, and absolutely nothing is what it seems in this thrilling new dystopian graphic novel.

The world burned. But the rich and powerful...they had a plan.
When society fell apart, a select group of billionaires had an escape hatch: a rocket aimed at the nearest habitable planet, a ship equipped with many of the luxuries of life on Earth—why survive if you can’t survive in style? Their every need is tended to by teenagers who are willing to act as slaves in return for the promise of a new life. This is a good story. But, like so many stories, it is not true.

Inside a great, sealed survival chamber, one slave—a teenage girl named Persephone—discovers that the promised future of comfort is a myth. And with that knowledge, she must fight for her survival against the billionaires, who would gladly kill her to protect the hidden truth.

• ISBN10: 1684059984
• ISBN13: 9781684059980
• Publish Date: 11 July 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Idea & Design Works
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 176
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781684059980

Reviews

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Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review Arca by Van Jensen!  

 

Arca is a sci-fi graphic novel published by IDW Publishing. It comes out on the 11th of July, 2023, and will be 176 pages long. If you liked Snowpiercer, this is the sci-fi graphic novel version! Arca is one of 9 original comics series that of IDW will publish in 2023. On on the one hand it’s said to be an attempt to mitigate the loss of major comic licenses, like the “Ghostbusters,” “Transformers,” and “Star Wars” books, according to one source! On the other hand, it could be a really interesting way for the publisher to experiment with its already fairly successful graphic novelists.  

 

I liked some aspects of Arca. The art style isn’t my favourite, but I did enjoy it! I wish the ARC given to us had been fully coloured because the black and white stuff became a bit harder to read. I loved the references to literature such as Dorian Grey and how the written word is still so powerful regardless of where humans go. I liked the introduction to the setting, which was a good way of ensuring the reader didn’t get too confused.  

 

That being said, the graphic novel was far too rushed and not significantly different from other things I’ve seen or read. Like I said, Snowpiercer but space. I feel like the contrast between the rich and the poor wasn’t made too evident; for the longest time, I thought after turning 18, the kids would become regular citizens. I didn’t understand the point of Meda and meeting Effie’s mentor. I also didn’t understand the ending and what I thought was a pregnancy reveal.  

 

If I find Arca on a platform like comixology I’ll probably read the rest of the series. If you tell me I need to shell out money for it separately, that’s unlikely. Of course, this is also because I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi or graphic novels. If you are, then you might feel completely different!