Cover to ‘The Infinite Loop: Nothing But the Truth’ #1. Art by Elsa Charretier/IDW Publishing
By Brandy Dykhuizen. In the future, much like the present, humans are guided by their perceptions of truth, which contradict each other as frequently as their various moods and agendas. Pierrick Colinet and Elsa Charretier imagine a world a few centuries down the road in which people can relive their finest memories behind the comfort of virtual reality headpieces, indulging in denial to their heart’s content.
Enter Teddy, a freedom fighter of sorts, for the Anomalies, a group of people who’ve become stuck in an alternative timeline and have thus been shuffled off to the edges of society. The Anomalies’ predicament must be their own fault; they could have prevented it if they’d worked harder instead of indulged themselves. Why should society pay to pick up their slack, etc. Yeah, that old chestnut.
Variant to ‘The Infinite Loop: Nothing But the Truth’ #1. Art by Cliff Chiang/IDW Publishing
In fact, The Infinite Loop: Nothing but the Truth #1 is jam-packed with social commentary. Our healthcare and welfare systems have been damaged for decades, sticking millions of people in never-ending cycles of debt and grief, rendering social mobility all but impossible. Take Teddy’s first big mission, for example: There’s rampant denial numbing folks down in the heart of Appalachia. In the West Virginia town of Prosperity — historically the epitome of the American dream with its factory jobs and relative happiness — is now full of junkies. Everyone has a brother, mother or cousin who’s been lost to denial since the jobs left town. Infinite loop, indeed.
If Colinet and Charretier are to be believed, time travel, technology and big pharma aren’t going to improve our chances heading into the next few centuries. It’s a dismal outlook, but one with a hero at the helm. Maybe we can learn from Teddy and her time-hopping vigilantism and nip our own infinite loop in the bud.
IDW Publishing/$3.99
Written by Pierrick Colinet and Elsa Charretier.
Art by Daniele Di Nicuolo.
Colors by Sarah Stern.
Letters by Ed Dukeshire.
8 out of 10
