Comic review: The Empty #1- What about the boys?

Creator, writer, and colourist: Jimmie Robinson
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 11th February 2015



This one isn’t too bad. It has a lack of positive male characters, and a female taking the masculine role as main protagonist and tribal hunter, but apart from that it has a couple of themes that resonate a bit deeper than most contemporary comic books.

The main, overarching theme is of a desert country that is poisoned because of a ‘root’ that is leaking toxic gasses. For desert country read ‘the Middle East’ for ‘Poison’ read oil, and for ‘Roots’ read pipelines. That’s how I read it anyway.  This is a book set in an apocalyptic future, but the problems seem very familiar.

The main protagonist is a young woman, and she is a hunter, bringing sustenance to the tribe. That is a role traditionally taken on by men, in every culture in world history, and at every time in world history, so why is it different here? It’s a sign of our times in the west. Times where gender roles are being reversed and the roles traditionally occupied by the genders are becoming blurred, leading to a lot of misery, and a lot of confusion.

It’s a terribly sexist thing for me to say, but women are designed to nurture the young, and men are designed to hunt and provide for the nurturer and next generation. That is why men are stronger, faster, and more physically able in the hunt. Is it sexist to point this out? Yes, today it is considered as sexist, in the west at least anyway, and that is one of the main reasons why the west is collapsing at the moment. When a society is turned upside down things begin to break, and fall apart.

I would have been happier with this book if the female character had been shown to be a strong hunter with a group of men, proving herself and earning their respect. But to have her as the sole hunter, with the men of the village standing around like useless lumps dependent upon her skills? What happened to the men? Can they no longer even look after themselves?  It didn’t feel right, plus the added drama of her proving herself amongst a group of traditionally male hunters was lost as well. Perhaps she could have worked with her father, and elder hunter who were passing on his skills? That would have worked, but to have a lone female as the hunter felt a bit too politically correct to me, a bit too PC in a 2015 sense, and to me it just felt a bit unnatural, a bit forced.

There were two male characters in the book. An eye candy, undeveloped boyfriend, and an evil and superstitious (meaning religious) elder, the first passive, the later an obstacle to change. In that sense the book can be classified as a feminist book, or a book that is placing the role of the masculine onto the female characters, thus emasculating and diminishing the role of the male within the text. Was this deliberate, or is this just a product of our times, the product of a writer coming through a mainstream education system that is Rockefeller funded to disempower males, confuse gender identities, break up families by giving women the false impression that emancipation from patriarchy is their role, their duty in this brave new age of the new world order?

I accuse the writer of nothing. All I am doing is questioning, and if I continue to read this book (which I will) and find an abundance of positive male characters as it progresses then my questions will have been answered. All I am saying is that at this early stage it’s extremely noticeable that the role of men has been diminished, or made to look like a threat to the female heroines at the beginning of this narrative.

As for the art, it does the job. The colouring sets a tone, it’s bright, washed out, and it looks barren, dry and thirsty. Hey, it’s set in the desert, so that’s exactly what you want. The characters are drawn as noticeably distinct individuals as well, so that’s good. You always know whom you are dealing with, and that’s essential in a comic book, and it doesn’t always happen with far too many comic book writers not able to make their characters faces in particular stand out from each other.

Looking at it from a strictly narrative viewpoint I was impressed. It begins with a narrative tease, then jumps immediately into action, the main protagonist is introduced, her role within the narrative is clear, and we know who she is. The script then details the main narrative conflicts to be resolved, the context of the world is set very quickly and clearly and a new element is added, thus creating some immediate source of tension/conflict. This source then offers something new, tension is ramped up amongst the characters and it turns into an action quest with the main protagonist setting off on a daring, exciting and action packed adventure where she will get to prove herself by battling evil monsters, showing that she is the dominant member of her tribe, and proving that you have to look outside of your immediate circles to find an answer to your problems. It’s a tale about helping yourself, and your society by looking outside of the dominant paradigms that holds your society entrapped and stop it from improving, and dare I say the word, progressing.

The only difference between this and many other stories of heroes told throughout human history is that the gender of the main protagonist is reversed. It’s normally a man, but this time it’s a woman. It would take a brave, stupid or bigoted man to complain about that, especially in these globalist feminist liberal times where we are supposed to pretend that there’s no difference between the genders, and supposed to pretend that there’s no such thing as feminine or masculine characteristics and roles. Well, guess what? I’ll take on that badge of dishonour, and happily point out the elephant in the living room.

I liked the comic. It was very well structured and a pleasure to read. The theme of a ‘foul gas’ that poisons the land has great resonance, and can be developed in more detail as an allegory of the times in which we live. Times where the US/Western 'elites' status quo is essential maintained by a poison that is destroying the planet, and all for the benefit of a handful of rich families.

 The characters in this book were interesting and likeable and I’ll be picking up a copy of issue #2, but what about the men? Perhaps men are no longer needed? Are you sure?

Take away strong independent men and what do you have? A society with something missing, and who fills the gap? Who takes the role of the hunter, the provider and the ? Strong, independent women? Sometimes, yes, but more often than not and read it in any history book if you don’t believe me, it’s the state, and you know what happens when the state is in control, don’t you? Prison camps, censorship, torture, slavery, uniformed order followers, morals diminishing, nihilism, misery, death. So, although I like the book, there needs to be an asterisk added to my review. That asterisk indicates-* Strong, brave, kind, intelligent, loving, moral male protagonists needed. Without them, and whether you are conscious of this or not, you are playing into the hands of the New World Order.

Rating: 7/10*