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Reset #1 of 4 comic review

By Dan Horn
April 24, 2012 - 15:58

Is it any wonder that with Image Comics' renaissance occurring just across the comic store aisles Dark Horse is now pumping out some serious competition? Multiple-Eisner nominee Peter Bagge presents his newest creation, Reset, via Dark Horse Originals, a new line of Dark Horse comics meant to showcase the publisher's original content. It's fantastic to see this kind of effort from Mike Richardson, a publisher often laden with an excess of licensed properties.

In the case of Reset, Peter Bagge's original content presents an immediately interesting premise: a down and out B-list celebrity is approached by a researcher to take part in an experiment. The experiment involves an apparatus, through which the wearer can relive moments of his past. However, the research may have some rather sinister implications, and its endorsers may be equally as malevolent. It's a painfully simple idea that becomes something unique as guided by Bagge's Sunday-funnies cartooning, perverse sensibilities, and wry wit.

Though $3.50 might seem like a steep price for a black-and-white book printed on newspaper stock (and it probably is), there's quite a bit of content here. Bagge does a wonderful job of establishing the miniseries' themes and ensemble cast in this first issue and loads the pages with dialogue balloons and illustrations. There is an odd juxtaposition of anachronistic cartooning and archaic sci-fi with modern pop-culture relevance, but it's an unevenness which can easily be taken in stride given the irreverent levity of the content. However, whereas some of the language contained within reflects Bagge's strange and caustic sense of humor, other areas of concern elucidate a loose grasp of grammar and vocabulary, producing certain annoying misapprehensions; "skewer" in place of "skew" is the example that comes instantly to mind. Of course, that is an editorial issue, and a miniscule one at that.

Minor grievances aside, Reset by Peter Bagge purports bizarre and wonderful things in the near future. It's an entertaining trip down a theoretical memory lane.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12