Staff Picks (May): Equilibrium — The Half-Light #1

Equilibrium, a 2002 indie movie directed by Kurt Wimmer and starring Christian Bale may have flown under the radar for some but it is now getting a new life from writer Pat Shand (Wonderland) and artist Giancarlo Caracuzzo (Iron Man).

Humanity had just survived our third World War and we had paid a heavy price. Vast swaths of the planet now referred to as the “Nethers” had been laid waste in the conflict and were subsequently abandoned. The city of Libria, determined to not see another world war identified emotion as the source of our conflict and made it illegal. Citizens were required to take a drug called prozium which rendered them emotionless. Material that might invoke an emotional response such as paintings, video games, and comics were banned with a rating of “EC-10”. Possessing EC-10 rated material or going off of the drugs was an offense that carried the punishment of death.

Those death sentences were often carried out by Christian Bale's character John Preston. As a Grammaton Cleric, Preston was an elite killing machine, a master of a fighting style called gun kata that combines material arts, gun fighting, and probability. Throughout the movie he transforms from an unfeeling executioner to a man struggling to learn the value of emotion, art, and human relationships. Ultimately he turns on his masters and leads the charge against an emotionless society using his two guns to slaughter all that stands in his way from allowing humanity to feel again.

We never got the chance to see what happened after John Preston's rage brought the fascist society in Equilibrium to its knees. There was no sequel. Was the revolution successful? Did John find his redemption for allowing his wife to be executed for feeling emotions? At long last in Equilibrium: The Half-Light #1 we will finally have the answers that we have waited for.

—Matthew Demory

Publisher: American Mythology Item Code: MAY161060 Release Date: 07/27/16 SRP: $3.99