Amazon:
Collected Deluxe Edition, Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3
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From JONATHAN LUNA (THE SWORD, GIRLS, Spider-Woman: Origin) and SARAH VAUGHN (Sparkshooter, Ruined) comes ALEX + ADA, a sci-fi drama set in the near future. The last thing in the world Alex wanted was an X5, the latest in realistic androids, but after Ada is dropped into his life, he discovers she is more than just a robot and takes a huge risk to unlock Ada so she can think for herself and explore life as a sentient android. Can they survive the consequences?
Available as 3 volumes, 15 issues, or 1 complete Deluxe Edition.
A guest review from Matt (that's Love In Panels's tech-wizard):
ALEX + ADA is a single single science-fiction romance that spans three volumes. It takes place in a world that you can see in the not-too-distant future, which makes the conflicts seem more real and plausible. Instead of iPhones, we have a network that can be implanted directly into your brain; some people love it, but some older people prefer the more personal touch of a video call to relatives. Just like today, but advanced so that I'm one of the old people.
The male protagonist, Alex, is somewhat heartbroken, slogging through life in an office job. His well-meaning grandmother decides to send him a lifelike robotic Tanaka corporation companion, Ada. He's immediately put off by the idea, and with good reason. A few years back, there was a robot that achieved sentience and went on a killing spree. It's not the killing spree that frightens Alex - it's the fact that this creature, who must obey his every command, might be sentient, and completely unable to grant consent. The treatment of women is definitely a prominent thread through the entire series.
Alex decides not to return the unit - something he considers to be a moment of weakness. He starts to frequent internet forums where people discuss how to "unlock" the sentience within a Tanaka robot. When Ada wakes up, neither Alex, nor the world, are ready for what happens next.
The first volume is a story of emotional exploration and confrontation of bigotry. Lifelike robots fall into the concept of the "Uncanny Valley," and make some people extremely uncomfortable. They're all tattooed so that they can't be mistaken for a "real" person. The second volume deals with the social strain of someone trying to pretend to be something they're not - Alex and Ada have broken the law by unlocking her sentience, and Ada has a huge struggle ahead of her as an illegal entity. This volume is much more centered on her than on the romance. The final volume is much faster paced than the prior two, and relatively violent (compared to the rest of the series). This should not be mistaken for rushing the ending (as many comics do) - it feels well-planned and is the end of a steady accelerative curve. Their illegal actions have real world consequences, and the ending was definitely not what I expected, but gives a really great perspective.
It's a very delicate romance that blooms between Alex and Ada, as they didn't meet in the best of circumstances. One partner has trouble treating the other as anything but a child; the other has difficulty with the brand new emotions she's capable of. Somehow, with a lot of reliance on their mutual friends, they're able to work through. The ending is satisfying and heartwarming.
The artwork is very straightforward, and simple enough to convert the messages. It's a very sanitized future, which fits in well with so many of the themes. There's a similarity between the sanitization of AI and the meticulous nature of streets, offices, houses. The robots aren't the only AI creatures, and the remaining AI force keeps everything well-groomed, and you can feel it. This also leaves the facial features of many of the characters feeling a little bland, but it's made up for in body language.
Overall, I can definitely recommend this to fans of science fiction, romance, or both!
LOVE NOT FOUND is a story about a young woman living in a time where touching has become outdated. She has recently moved to a new planet and finds that touching might not be such a bad idea. Now she is on a quest to find someone who wants to do things the old fashioned way!
Note from Love in Panels: Love Not Found is currently updated 3x/week with one print/PDF volume available. Patreon supporters get access to bonus content, as well.
LOVE NOT FOUND, by Gina Biggs, is a sci-fi romance set in a time when touching has become taboo. Main character Abeille (yes, that's French for "bee") is looking for something more than a pre-programmed session with a computer, so she sets out to find someone to "experiment" with.
LOVE NOT FOUND is beautiful. The setting is Monotropa, a planet advertised as "A Nature Lover's Paradise," so Biggs has populated it with interesting plants, dryads, and tropical weather patterns. I'm an avid gardener, so I'm surely biased, but the fact that several of the central characters are botanists is fresh and interesting. The color and costume choices are sweet and fun, and reflect the flower-ful setting in which the story takes place. Characters of all gender expressions often have flowers in their hair and wear clothes shaped like or inspired by plants. Much of the comic is in shades of pink, white, and brown, with pops of yellow, green, and (rarely) blue. It's an unabashedly feminine pallette that doesn't feel childish, but rather playful.
The characters are diverse and engaging, with only one recent addition I don't much care for. Abeille is from a planet called Pasque, which seems to be mostly a permafrost-type biome. We initially don't know much about her family, background, or reasons for emigrating to Monotropa, other than that she wants to plant a garden in memory of her sister. She works in the cafeteria of a company that engineers plants to resist the bugs on the planet. She appears to be white, with pink hair and dark pink eyes.
Miel (French for honey, yep) works as a "logger" at that same company. His job is to log details about various species, including growth and transplant results. If he was from Earth, we would say that his mothers are of South-Asian and African descent. (They're such a fun couple and when you meet them you'll "aww.") Miel is more reserved than Abeille, and their awkward flirting is sweet and feels honest.
Ivy (Abeille's best friend) and her partner, Holly, have an interesting secondary storyline. They're co-researchers at the aforementioned company, choosing to live together out of convenience and efficiency. None of that messy "romance" stuff. Their relationship evolves as Ivy sees Abeille's attitudes changing and begins to want something more for herself as well. Ivy eventually meets Aster, a nonbinary therapist who uses the pronouns Zie and Zer and isn't afraid of touch. Biggs has grown the comic to include many more secondary characters, like Clove, Abeille's coworker who has a speech impediment, and Botan, the foxy head gardener who falls for him.
LOVE NOT FOUND may be adorable, but it also touches on concepts of fidelity, intimacy, grief, taboos, societal and familial expectations, ecology, and the ways in which technology both connects and isolates us. It's worth a look for fans of sci-fi romance, gardening, and/or nuanced exploration of physical intimacy in relationships.
A note on the rating: This might be categorized as PG-13 by the movie world, but I've given it an R rating because a) I've read some of the NSFW bonus content and b) even though it's not visually explicit, there's a lot of talk (and some subtle depictions) of computer generated orgasms.
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ISN’T IT BYRONIC?
He lived fast, died young, and left a good-looking (if a bit bloody) corpse—not to mention an incredible wealth of poetry and an immortal reputation for romance. He was the 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale, better known as Lord Byron—the original bad boy of British literature.
She is a 24-year-old computer genius with a serious fixation on old authors—Lord Byron in particular. Her name is Alexia Ryan, and her singular upbringing has molded her into the perfect coder to bring the struggling New Romancer dating site into the big leagues. But like a modern-day Prometheus, Lexy’s revolutionary software is built with stolen parts—and bringing it to life will have some very unintended consequences. To wit: a reanimated Lord Byron, suave and randy as ever, walking the streets of Silicon Valley some 200 years after his celebrated death. Will Lexy find a new love for the ages with this preternatural poet? Or will the forces she has unwittingly unleashed consign them both to the ash-heap of history?
Comics legend Peter Milligan and acclaimed artist Brett Parson take up Cupid’s bow in NEW ROMANCERS, a Digital Age bodice-ripper for the hopeless romantic in all of us!
I had such high hopes for this one. I didn't discover it until near the end of the print run, which means I was one of the many readers who didn't support the comic early on and therefore contributed to its early demise. Lots of factors combine to end the life of a comic early, and I don't want to go into them here. I'm assuming the story would have been better had it made it past this first arc, but there were enough problems with the book as it was that I can't recommend picking it up.
The concept was really fun! I was excited for some timetraveling romantic heroes. I was intrigued by the dating software gone wrong angle. The execution, however, was not so fun. Plot holes, uneven characterization, and a rushed ending put this one in the Nope pile for me. On the plus side, the art was pretty.