Rai #1 Discussion

[Phoenix8008]

Not sure why this just occurred to me for the first time, but I am completely sure that Harada is Grandfather and he uses Silk's mind transfer technology to keep him self alive for thousands of years and creates Rai's out of Bloodshot Nanites.

What if "Father" is Bloodshot, or at least his consciousness and nanites. Especially with the recent talk of Bloodshot being central to the universe for years to come.

Ooooh! That would be creepy. I may just like that theory more than the 'Harada is Father' theory!

**Edit: That was my 2000th post! Woot!

[erwinrafael]

Story is good. Art is meh. Crain needs to learn how to tell a story.

[kjjohanson]

What if Father is Derek Henderson, who has his mind tossed around into all sorts of things over the next 2000 years?

[hawkeyeps]

What if Harada instigated the first conflict on Earth as "Grandfather" and the nanites or "Lysander" retreated to outer space after Harada's defeat by Gilad.

One thing that has been established is protein is the raw material for nanites, what if orbiting Japan is a protein farm for Lysander to produce PTs and take over earth again?

What's up with all that "recycling" going on in Japan? PT's are given to people at birth and are life long companions, could this be nothing more than sophisticated way of raising livestock? A nice content chicken coup where people are raised by Father for raw materials to build an army to attack the Earth once more? Is there a grey goo connection here?

Rife with possibilities!

[Phoenix8008]

What if Harada instigated the first conflict on Earth as "Grandfather" and the nanites or "Lysander" retreated to outer space after Harada's defeat by Gilad.

One thing that has been established is protein is the raw material for nanites, what if orbiting Japan is a protein farm for Lysander to produce PTs and take over earth again?

What's up with all that "recycling" going on in Japan? PT's are given to people at birth and are life long companions, could this be nothing more than sophisticated way of raising livestock? A nice content chicken coup where people are raised by Father for raw materials to build an army to attack the Earth once more? Is there a grey goo connection here?

Rife with possibilities!

Hmmm...

What happens to the PT's of people who die? Recycled to be made into another PT? Or are there drop pods filled with thousands of them hanging from the bottom of Japan, waiting to drop and take over Earth?

[The Dirt Gang]

Does Kindt's map of Japan look sort of organic to anyone else? In particular, the bottom looks flesh like.

[bygranddesign]

What if Harada instigated the first conflict on Earth as "Grandfather" and the nanites or "Lysander" retreated to outer space after Harada's defeat by Gilad.

One thing that has been established is protein is the raw material for nanites, what if orbiting Japan is a protein farm for Lysander to produce PTs and take over earth again?

What's up with all that "recycling" going on in Japan? PT's are given to people at birth and are life long companions, could this be nothing more than sophisticated way of raising livestock? A nice content chicken coup where people are raised by Father for raw materials to build an army to attack the Earth once more? Is there a grey goo connection here?

Rife with possibilities!

Good observations ... it sounds like when people die they get recycled which may just mean feeding the nanites which power and control the country.

I'm not sure if specifically Lysander will have any connection to all this - he was supposedly re-absorbed into Bloodshot. I know there was speculation that he wasn't completely absorbed and part of him is still out there but I think Kindt will build this future off the things he is doing in Unity.

Dr, Silk's original body in Japan (at the end of Unity 7) was I think a pretty big signal that Dr. Silk's influence will be part of future Japan. I also think Livewire will also be part of future japan. In fact I think she might end up being the new "Grandmother". We see in various covers that she has mechanical arms (even though it hasnt happened in the books yet) I think eventually she will be more machine than human and she will be able to upload her consciousness into a mainframe and essentially live forever. I think future japan will have an underlying battle between various A.I beings for control ... Father has control now ... but maybe Livewire, Dr. Silk and other A.I "viruses" are also present within the country. In fact, we know that nanites can capture a soul so potentially millions upon millions of souls can be part of this "living" country of Japan.

[bygranddesign]

Does Kindt's map of Japan look sort of organic to anyone else? In particular, the bottom looks flesh like.

I agree ... I think it looks very much alive.

As Hawk said .. and I speculated in my previous post - Humans that die and are recycled might be fuel for the nanites needed to control this world and keep it running.

[Sven the Returned]

What if Harada instigated the first conflict on Earth as "Grandfather" and the nanites or "Lysander" retreated to outer space after Harada's defeat by Gilad.

One thing that has been established is protein is the raw material for nanites, what if orbiting Japan is a protein farm for Lysander to produce PTs and take over earth again?

What's up with all that "recycling" going on in Japan? PT's are given to people at birth and are life long companions, could this be nothing more than sophisticated way of raising livestock? A nice content chicken coup where people are raised by Father for raw materials to build an army to attack the Earth once more? Is there a grey goo connection here?

Rife with possibilities!

Hmmm...

What happens to the PT's of people who die? Recycled to be made into another PT? Or are there drop pods filled with thousands of them hanging from the bottom of Japan, waiting to drop and take over Earth?

How do PT's die? How long do they live?

[jakgrimm]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic? I nearly fell over when I saw it. Its a cool easter egg. I wonder if it distributes and disperses electricity

[The Dirt Gang]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic? I nearly fell over when I saw it. Its a cool easter egg. I wonder if it distributes and disperses electricity

Yeah. That was a great little easter egg.

[jmatt]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic?

Very much so.

[Chiclo]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic? I nearly fell over when I saw it. Its a cool easter egg. I wonder if it distributes and disperses electricity

So his tunic is energy diffusive?

[jmatt]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic? I nearly fell over when I saw it. Its a cool easter egg. I wonder if it distributes and disperses electricity

So his tunic is energy diffusive?

Apparently not enough. And the cop was some kind of a PT, right? Not a true human as I recall.

[Phoenix8008]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic? I nearly fell over when I saw it. Its a cool easter egg. I wonder if it distributes and disperses electricity

So his tunic is energy diffusive?

Apparently not enough. And the cop was some kind of a PT, right? Not a true human as I recall.

I assumed as much since they were only talking about one murder (the person in the body bag that got dumped in the aquarium), not two (including the cop).

[Carson]

Did anyone else notice that the cop that gets killed in the beginning has a shirt on that is very much like Magnus's tunic? I nearly fell over when I saw it. Its a cool easter egg. I wonder if it distributes and disperses electricity

So his tunic is energy diffusive?

Pretty sure that antique gun wasn't an energy type gun, but an old school gunpowder fueled metal projectile type gun. Maybe that's why the tunic was ineffective?

[jakgrimm]

Maybe that's why the cop was unafraid to be shot at first, until he saw it was an unidentified type of gun (ie one that shoots projectiles). I remember Magnus' tunic always disbursed electricity, but just enough to not kill him it seemed

[Captain Craig]

After reading issue #2 I went back and re-read issue #1.
OMG the OHC for this book is going to be so AWESOME! Please let Crain be far enough along to have at minimum a 2-arc, 8 issue run on this book VEI!! I'll take one of those hiatus instances to get 12 issues out of him!!

[Phoenix8008]

Ok, now that I have my physical copy and I've reread this issue again, I want to lay out some detailed points. Maybe now that some of you have read #2, some of these questions can start getting answers. (apoligies for anything already discussed to death, I'm just gonna throw everything in together and feel free to ignore anything already covered.)

Page 2 - (Presumably a PT) Cop gets shot and 'killed' by the Raddies before they dump the body. If this is a PT, I would expect it to be networked into 'Father' and they would have video of the pink mohawk sporting, wookie coat wearing, perpetrators. So why then does Rai... (see Page 12, below).

Page 8 - Rai 'teleports' throught the tree in his home. Assuming that this is the same as the 'traveling the nerveweb' from the original series. Looks like he's digitizing himself. Can he do this through ANY surface in Japan?

Page 10 - The Raddie in the blue fur tells Kappa (the PT abuser) that his name is known because he's "on the LIST"! Wow. The Raddie's have a LIST of all PT abusers?! Was it coincidence that he was there when Kappa was coming in? For him to already know Kappa's name, I'd have to guess it's not coincidence. Unless the Raddies have a database and face scanning tech that the PT Cops DON'T have that would enable him to do a quick search and come up with the name?

Page 12 - So, why does Rai say to the Raddie with the gun "Father believes you are the human responsible for the murder in Blackwater." Rai didn't get there till the guy had drawn his gun. And that type of gun is the only connection point I see to the other Raddies who we saw on pages 1 and 2. Other than also being a Raddie, he claims to not be involved in the first murder (which Rai hasn't even been to yet). Why did Father believe this was the human responsible?

Page 13 - The Raddie blows himself up with some big bomb (after claiming that nothing is left to chance) that was in his stomach? Seems to activate the same way that their pistol did. But the longer duration buzzing sound seems to corelate to the bigger boom. Before exploding though, he gives Rai another bread crumb to lead him to...

Page 15 - Spylocke. Looks like the fictional character right down to the cyber eye? Check. He's not a PT because Rai can't link to his systems, but he's not Japan born because there are no birth records of him. (Unless there is an underground group living out from under Fathers rules about birth control?) Another bread crumb and he urges Rai to go visit the actual crime scene.

Page 18 - What the heck is up with that corpse that it burns Rai's finger like that? Who or what is it? Why did the killers need to run through the street with the body to deposit it in that tank? Is that the same buzzing that precedes the big booms from the Raddie weapons/bombs? Is Rai 'electric' enough that his energy could detonate the corpse? Is that why Spylocke was encouraging him to go see it?

Page 19 - After finally checking out the murder scene and talking with Lula, Rai goes off in the direction of the Raddies who dumped the body. At that point he gets a report about several more deaths in the Blackwater sector that we don't see. The he promptly runs into the cyborg monstrosity that punches him out of the city. I'm guessing this monster was involved in the other deaths, but we have no proof yet.

Overall, it seems that Rai is dancing to someone else's tune and is blundering through the script that everyone else has a copy of. But if he's being played, then Father is in on the con too... and what would that mean?

Very cool stuff once again and I can't wait to read # 2. I think I'm gonna have to get it on Comixology tonight!

[jmatt]

Overall, it seems that Rai is dancing to someone else's tune and is blundering through the script that everyone else has a copy of. But if he's being played, then Father is in on the con too... and what would that mean?

Great observations, I hadn't looked at it like that before.

[Ramses818]

It means read issue 2! Lol. Some of those questions are answered, just not maybe the way you want. Of course more questions come up, then you read the preview for 3 and even more.questions come up! The sign of a great writer...you want and come back for more.

[leonmallett]

While the artwork blew me away and I found myself studying it and admiring it and loving it a little bit more with every page, I was a bit disappointed with the scripting. The narrative jumping around was distracting. Who is telling the story here? Lula or Rai? What's the voice that Rai hears a few times? Is that "Father?" It's not very fatherly and doesn't even appear to be addressing Rai directly. Is he picking up a news cast? An emergency announcement? What happened at the diner? Was Rai able to save anybody there? Did he even try (other than yelling "get out!")? What happened to him in the explosion? Did he "teleport" out the same way he left Sector 4001? Is that what the blue electric sparky looking things around his body was supposed to imply? Or was that him healing from the explosion? I found some of the details like that a little confusing.

Despite my problems with it, it was still pretty good. I really liked the characterization of Lula and Rai. There wasn't enough of Spylock to get a sense of his character, but what was there interested me. I think it was a great start at building the world of Rai. But I just wouldn't rank it has highly as everyone else here seems to. I'd give it more like 6 out of 10 as a standalone issue. But I do have a feeling that once a few more issues are out and an initial arc has completed, the overall ranking for that arc will be much higher than for this one issue alone.

I too think Kindt needs to work on his storytelling a bit more; readers deserve a greater sense of the characters and setting IMHO.

[leonmallett]

While the artwork blew me away and I found myself studying it and admiring it and loving it a little bit more with every page, I was a bit disappointed with the scripting. The narrative jumping around was distracting. Who is telling the story here? Lula or Rai? What's the voice that Rai hears a few times? Is that "Father?" It's not very fatherly and doesn't even appear to be addressing Rai directly. Is he picking up a news cast? An emergency announcement? What happened at the diner? Was Rai able to save anybody there? Did he even try (other than yelling "get out!")? What happened to him in the explosion? Did he "teleport" out the same way he left Sector 4001? Is that what the blue electric sparky looking things around his body was supposed to imply? Or was that him healing from the explosion? I found some of the details like that a little confusing.

Despite my problems with it, it was still pretty good. I really liked the characterization of Lula and Rai. There wasn't enough of Spylock to get a sense of his character, but what was there interested me. I think it was a great start at building the world of Rai. But I just wouldn't rank it has highly as everyone else here seems to. I'd give it more like 6 out of 10 as a standalone issue. But I do have a feeling that once a few more issues are out and an initial arc has completed, the overall ranking for that arc will be much higher than for this one issue alone.

I understand the concerns.

I've read enough Kindt at this point to see a pattern in the way he likes to tell a story. He seems to skip the setup a lot of times to a plot point and get right to the meat of what he wants to show us. For example, the Unity team breaking out of the cannister that ends up killing all the brainwashed workers in this past Unity issue - He didn't feel the need to tell us how they got there - it was more important to show the results of that situation.

In this issue - I think Kindt has developed so much detail and so much background on these characters and in this futuristic environment - that it makes us lost because we don't know what Kindt knows. And Kindt is not going to give us the breakdown of how everything works in one issue. Rai seems to run around in the traditional superhero fashion .. but he also has the ability to transport himself. In the original it was called the nerveweb. Kindt doesn't bother going into those details just yet - I think he just wants us to feel like a fish out of water.

In regards to specifically the explosion - and the diner. Rai says the med pt's will help the survivors - so most likely there were some deaths. Rai expressed confusion and concern over the chaos .. but getting to Spyloke was top priority. I think for better or for worse, Kindt wants to skip the emotional devastation of a scene like that and get us right back into the story. He sort of the opposite of Pak in that regards - where Pak likes to tug on our emotions and focus on relationships - Kindt is more interested in showing us the next cool thing about this world he built for us. I don't think its a perfect issue but I give it a 9/10 because he achieved his mission in immersing us into this world.

Starting in media res as Kindt seems wont to do needs to be predicated on having a sense of the players and the place.

I think Kindt packed a ton of world building in her, but ultimately Rai becomes a cipher of sorts; we see him but don't really know too much about him from this first issue.

[leonmallett]

A good start. I felt the art was stronger than the writting, but not a bad issue by any means

I did generally enjoy the issue, but I am a little *SQUEE* off that VEI seem to have restricted the bonus content version to the US market, at least in print form.

Yes the USA is their prime driver in terms of customers, but it is not the first US-centric decision they have taken. They and their books have fans elsewhere they should know.