Review - Binary Gray #1

A lot of people hate their jobs. People in IT probably hate their jobs especially, as they're forced to contend with people who think they're smarter than they actually are and typically find their computer problems revolve around the computer being unplugged. Alex Gray is one such man.

Binary Gray #1 is published by Assailant Comics. It's written by Chris Charlton and illustrated by Rowel Roque. The colors are by Anthonie Wilson and letters are by Brant W. Fowler.

The world Alex Gray currently inhabits is a far cry from the world he remembers from his childhood. He has fond memories of his father, walking through the city and watching the superheroes above soar through the sky to save the day. His days now has him listening to people complaining about the printer not working. That is until he fixes a server.

In classic superhero origin fashion, Alex is treated to quite the shock when he fixes a computer problem, granting him the ability to talk directly to electronic devices. Naturally, he learns to use this to his advantage, namely to work on picking up women.

Charlton's narrative is fairly formulaic from the superhero origin standpoint. Alex goes through the expected gamut of emotions when learning about his newfound powers, running from unsure to cocky. Charlton has done a great job in giving the reader something to latch onto when it comes to relating to Alex, which helps with the storytelling.

Roque's art has a certain harshness to it. That is to say, it really stands in contrast to the panels in a sense. The majority of it follows Alex (and rightfully so) and depicts him in the various states regarding his discovery. There's little action in the issue with Alex spending most of his time doing IT work, so it remains to be seen what Roque does with intense action scenes.

There's certainly not a dearth of superhero comics out there and Binary Gray #1 sort of modernizes the traditional superhero story. Alex's transformation from IT guy to superhero will be interesting to watch. The end of the first issue seems to be setting up a potential nemesis for Alex, so stay tuned.

Binary Gray #1 is available now.

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