“Arcadia” #2 quickly expands upon the already at critical mass premise of the first issue by introducing a heaping plate of new concepts, conflicts, and characters to both the virtual Arcadia and The Meat. While it occasionally confounds, “Arcadia” sweeps us along in a grand narrative of conspiracy and imagination in a world so completely conceived it warrants consideration for what might come to be in our own future.
WRITTEN BY: Alex Paknadel
ART BY: Eric Scott Pfeiffer
PUBLISHER: BOOM
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: June 3, 2015
Probably the best thing about “Arcadia” is how entirely “fleshed out” it appears to be. Like the greatest dystopian sci/fi stories, “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Brave New World”, the details of time and place make the world of the story seem so real part of the reason you come back to it is just to live in that world. “Arcadia” is a rare immersive experience because you don’t have to fill in any of the gaps yourself. It has the acceleration of an international thriller, ping-ponging us around as mysteries develop and factions are exposed, and it has a sense of scale that feel like an entire world.
At one point it feels as though there might be too much intrigue stuffed into this issue. At which point we get to Coral and the Homesteader in the park I started to feel little overloaded with new ideas. By my second read through I thought I had a pretty good grasp on everything that was happening, but there is a lot going on and if you have to reread some pages you aren’t alone. I’m torn on whether this is a good or bad thing, as I find it not to be terribly uncommon with some of the high concept books I’ve read lately (“Material”, “Injection”, and “Intersect” come to mind) and whether the author can be faulted for writing at too high of a reading level or including too many new concepts too close together. It may alienate some readers, but then, the author may not be interested in the readers after all. If we assume the goal of every book is to sell as many books as possible, it may it that case be a bad thing. Personally this level of writing only hurts the book in my opinion when it comes across as pretentious or intentionally highbrow, which “Arcadia” does not.
Alice tells Lee that his immunity is a “miracle giftwrapped in barbed wire”. That is a description that applies to this book in many ways. Living comes at the price of inhospitable conditions and agonizing loneliness. You might live in a utopia world of endless possibilities where you can live forever, but the cost is first dying a horrible death. There’s a price for everything Arcadia and two sides to every coin. If this series can continue to walk the line between introducing fresh ideas and overloading us with concepts I imagine it will turn out to be a remarkable story.