In a post-event landscape a woman becomes a scavenger for inorganic parts. She is shown to be compassionate, ruthless and creatively direct in both speech and action. And the way this Mohawk-styled woman capably wields a rather large firearm proves that she is well deserving of her name. Fred Van Lente’s “4001AD: War Mother†is currently taking place during Rai’s confrontation with Father. In this instance New Japan’s collapse may be earth’s benefit as War Mother’s tribe has been siphoning off technology from bits that have fallen from the sky. Still, this is only the surface layer of this deliciously, complex narrative.
With the ability to simultaneously straddle subtle and action packed moments “War Mother†has an agenda. In part it could be to rewrite the idea of the post-apocalyptic construct. In films like Mad Max and books similar to Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ devastation has led the world to become a ruthless place of survival, with renderings back to an age of marauding survivors, roasting infants over a spit. Essentially it is usually an outside force or event that creates a near-hopeless existence. The thing about 4001 is that it has been centuries since New Japan has been hovering above this mud ball. For the people who are living in that time, it is their normal. This is the way they’ve always existed. Who is to say that these characters are adapting to their environment rather than be bogged down by it? War Mother alludes to this as she willfully breaks the most important of her community’s laws.
Another aspect of this comic is its willingness to have intimate, self-reflective moments when a sense of urgency is needed. War Mother takes time to reflect and assess the situation in front of her. Instead of being solely a warrior, she is a complete woman. Incidentally you may just be querying your own humanity, particularly when she stands up to her superiors. War Mother doesn’t do anything by half and questioning authority when your existence depends on the collective is dangerous, perhaps suicidal. But there is something more human than her fellow tribespeople within her that gives her this perspective. What this spark is will unfold in the oncoming issues.
Artist Tomas Giorello shows War Mother’s defiance on every page. From her stance to her fighting movements, at times, she is literally drawn outside the framework of her world. This speaks to her importance in the Valiant Universe. There is no other like her. The Eternal Warrior is a protector of the geomancers, Bloodshot is a soldier with a scrambled history, X-O Manowar is a man out of time, wearing sentient armor and Rai is having major daddy issues. But War Mother has what these others don’t, perspective without the angst and self-doubt. She doesn’t have to journey back from the land of the dead or deal with the lies and manipulations of a secret agency. This may make her the most dangerous out of all the players. Here’s this unknown variable who isn’t a psiot, who doesn’t have an enemy hunting her through the galaxy. Then who is she and how large is her role?
Leave a Reply