Review of
Elephantmen! #79,
comic by Richard Starkings
Dark sf premise, science at its most brutish
The premise of
this comic is very dark. Biological science has developed to the point where it
is possible to create transgenic mammalian organisms. However, once the embryos
are created, human females are impregnated with them. The story opens with what
appears to be a hippopotamus/human sitting down in front of a human male
scientist. The name of the transgenic is Seven-A and he was the first
transgenic that survived to be born. His mother died during the procedure and
the scientist is one of the most cynical characters ever to appear in an sf
setting. He states, “Thousands of women gave birth to my creations. None of
those women survived. They were no longer necessary.”
The transgenics
were carefully controlled and programmed to do what was expected of them. Elephantmen
is the generic term used to refer to them. A tiny machine was injected into
them that suppressed and exaggerated their emotions to make them more effective
and controllable. They were designed to be super soldiers, possessing the power
of their animal side. Along with the hippo, there is the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe
and crocodile, among others.
The story is
very philosophical in tone, the scientist offers not even the slightest
apologies for the death and destruction that his creations needed to be born
and what they did in their “careers.” Seven-A is seeking answers of some form,
for he is now more human than animal. He closes by saying, “It must have been a
dark time that allowed a man like you to come into being.”
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