Metal Society #1 has a sci-fi Earth taken over by robots, but a woman will make a stand for humanity! It features a cover by Guilherme Balbi, the artist worked on the limited series, Alien The Original Screenplay for Dark Horse. He is also the interior artist. It has a pale robot, who look likes a slim flyweight boxer in armor with a face like the robot, Dennis, in Bill & Ted Face The Music (2020). He is against an orange, city background and facing his competitor, a woman with dark hair, two braids, and a red top and shorts looking like a MMA fighter. The comic is written by Zack Kaplan who also wrote the Port of Earth series for Image Comics. The story begins with spotlights flashing in the night while a commentator notes that the focus is the Shrine of Battle. An arena for a battle with robots and humans, an expansion of the sci fi movie, Real Steel (2011) that was like the Rock `Em Sock `Em Robots game.
Holograms project the contest, “Robot v Human!”, on one is robots and androids and the other with a human crowd. Preparing for the fight, wrapping her hands in bandages is the human fighter, Rosa. We get a closeup of her face. Her team tells her the fight mantra, “We fight to survive… and our spirit is strong.” Then, we have a closeup of the robot battler, WOL-421313, who is calibrating his fight programming. The exposed face and cybernetic back of his head makes WOL look like Robocop with a little Borg. His coach bot tells him to stop continuing his diagnostics. He seems a bit nervous. The arena explodes with large panel spread with two panels on the bottom of the page. The announcers notes that humans have returned to Earth for a decade. The set up is interesting since robots have likely remained on Earth, shades of WALL-E (2008), so humans would be occupiers.
Also, we get that Rosa worked in trash fields, until becomes a fighter. Rosa Gunthree is introduced and it is noted that she is “genetically enhanced” to crush steel! This reminds me of the comic character, Magnus Robot Fighter. Then, WOL is introduced, once a construction bot that trained to become a fighter. The waiting robot audience members have the clean, detailed European lines. WOL comes from this city, Robot City 2420. The rules are laid out; no hitting the head or eyes for the human, and no strikig robot power source or CPU. The fight will last until there is a knockout or tap out. The announcer says the fight was almost stopped by the two human leaders and the Robot Fight Commission. Rosa is blinded by intense light. This flashes back three years, Rosa is dropped from a birthing pod. Fully formed as an adult like the Matrix films or Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Rosa is told by bot that she is “Human Generation Three.”
We see that there is a robot instructor who is teaching a class elementary school lessons. He then goes onto explain that robots became the dominant species. Another classmate, Simon, whispers to Rosa, about showing her afterschool the sprawl of the human city. It looks like there is a tower like the Space Needle in Seattle. We see the two make their way through the crowds onto upper levels, an interesting design with the panels capturing moments around the poeople to the rooftop all in the top page spread of the city. Rosa and Simon have a moment wanting to live in the human city. We get the clearing of trash by the human workers supervised by drones and robots. Rosa is surprised that Simon has collapsed. She argues with the supervisor bot to get help for Simon. She sees the inequality of the robot system. The work shift finished, an older man takes Simon to get some medical attention, Rosa is angry at getting left behind.
Then, she sees Challenger’s Gym, and walks inside. Rosa sees the fight raining for security officers. She leads to get some fighting time. The owner points out a spare bot. Small panels show her pummeling the sparing bot. Later, she has a purple cloak, to check on Simon sleeping. Rosa then makes her way on the night streets while robots fill the streets. She carries a spray can in closeup, wears a football helmet, and leaves a message for the robots on a statue. Robots inquire about the incident to a human council. The leader, Noa, calls for an investigation and talks with another member, Abe. They argue over Rosa’s dedication. We see him later at the Challenger’s Gym, Abe watching Rosa practicing. Abe was part of Rosa's team when she is about to get into the ring. He commenting on Rosa’s fight style. She recognizes him as the part of the Six, the first humans made by the robots. Abe later takes her to a human camp with children which stuns Rosa. They are not produced by robots. Abe wants her to join the human rights group. The setup for Metal Society #1 gives an interesting, robot-controlled world, fighter Rosa is a hope for the human resistance!
Four Spray Cans out of Five!
#MetalSociety, #ZackKaplan, #GuilermeBalbi, #ShrineOfBattle, #RosaGunthree, #WOL, #RobotCity2420, #Noa, #Abe, #ChallengersGym
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