The Magazine 'Heavy Metal'... In its' September 2008 issue, presented Part One of the 'Fluorescent Black' story. 

Nathan Fox was the artist of this special feature, and he tells me that he is hard at work on Part Two of the story, which he hopes will be published this Summer of 2009 during the height of the Comic Con Season.

Nathan's artwork in the 'Pigeons From Hell' mini-series was recently released in TPB format by Dark Horse. This was mentioned in an earlier blog post when Nathan was appearing at the 2009 New York Comic Con (NYCC).   

The story of 'Fluorescent Black' Part One is not one of the standard fares that I quite often read.   The genre this story is in actually does not always appeal to me.  Indeed one earlier reviewer who loved this story called it 'biopunk' in his blog review of Part One.  Which is actually not bad for the name of this genre of story. 

However, in this case, the story enthralled me and kept me reading till the end of Part One.   The writer, M.F. (Matt) Wilson, took the subject matter and ran with it and made the story believable, although it is set in a grim n' gritty future.  The storyline was realistic and the dialogue, although using  some foul language, fit the background and the scope of what was being described to the reader. 

The storyline starts from the 2003 SARS outbreak in Singapore and other parts of Asia.  The work that is done by pharmaceutical and biotech laboratories to combat this outbreak leads to new discoveries that changes the world.  The outline to this story is that it is set in a genetic dystopian future.  Mankind has been divided into two different living areas. Those persons that don't meet the 'norm' are then exiled out of Singapore.  They basically are 'forced' to survive by selling body parts in exchange for gene therapy and medicine. Not a real happy future for those outside of the 'norm'.  Fluorescent Black is hoped to be published in graphic novel format when completed.

The artwork by Nathan Fox, although using some nudity, some gross looking persons and some carnage scenes, did fit the storyline.  Nathan's art, which I like, is compatible with the dark future presented in the timeline.  If a reader was to take what is being currently shown on TV, ala C.S.I., Fringe, etc., then this could be considered an extrapolation into the future of what may happen and is vividly shown here.  

As this story was published in the magazine 'Heavy Metal', that alone should tell you that the story is not one for young kids or tweens.   However, the specific storyline as told in illustrated format is one that I found interesting, with the disclaimer that it does contain some nudity / some language / some carnage scenes that would not be for all readers.  I will be checking out the Part Two when it is published to see what the writer does in continuing the future he has started in this Part One.

There was a news story a while back that another company had bought the film rights to this storyline in 2007.   The film may be released in 2010.   

For those of you that want to know more about this 'Fluorescent Black' story, then their web site is at:  http://www.freethegene.com

(Please Note: A complimentary copy for this mention / review was provided.)