"Upgrade Soul" A Fantastic Little Graphic Novel

    I did not expect to love this little graphic novel as much as I did, but boy does it have it all. The art style is fine, if not acceptable, that's probably the most I'll have to say about it. It's nothing crazy. But premise-wise, story-wise, execution-wise, thematically. I'll say this was a very, very interesting sort of pseudo-horror, near-future, sci-fi kind of graphic novel that asked a lot of interesting questions. I remember reading the first two chapters and putting it down going huh, that's pretty neat. Then I picked it up before I went to bed and I simply devoured the rest like it was nothing. Let's talk about it.

    By far the most interesting part about Upgrade Soul is the premise. It's fresh, it's great, and it really makes you think a lot about ownership, individuality, and sort of the cost of immortality. Basically, without revealing too much. An elderly couple Hank and Molly, who in their twilight years (and thanks to their considerable wealth), decide to undergo a very under-the-table and experimental procedure which will in theory double their lifespan, and even increase attributes like their intelligence, strength or memory retention. The only issue? Well it doesn't actually "upgrade" your body like the title of this novel might suggest, instead it recreates a "better, improved" copy.

    Even worse, the procedure goes horribly wrong, leaving them with two very imperfect copies, who are less human and more three foot-tall potato fetuses that have an odd smell while their original host bodies become this shriveled up mess. This is where the dilemma came in. Yes they were failed experiments, but at this point they're far too intelligent and alive to really be aborted. So these four individuals must learn to cope with each other, as they come to realize that while they may share the same genetic material, and the same memories, they're not quite as alike as they'd thought they'd be. So who exactly were they doing this for, and who is alive?

    To make matters worse, eventually down the line they determine that only one copy can survive, and through the power of "brain waves" they'll eventually kill each other. I don't quite know what I'd do in their situation. I mean on one hand I could tell them to kill my fetus clone. After all while it has my memories, it is simply not me. It does not have my body and even after a few weeks the clones begin to differentiate from their original copy. On the other hand is it really living if you'd never be able to live a normal life? If you need a machine to speak for you, and you're the farthest thing from a human?

    I suppose you could draw a parallel to abortion or similar cases, sort of this debate about whether it's kinder to let fetuses with potential deformities or defects into the world, or simply never have them at all. Of course, in this case these clones are much too intelligent to have that argument, and can live relatively independently after some training so the comparison falls apart in that regard. Even still this graphic novel has quite a compelling side-story on ableism and disabilities. Especially through Lina, one of the people who falls in love with the fetuses. Though frankly I think them randomly throwing the grenade of incest and then proceeding to basically ignore it past the panel of that reveal is a bit bizarre.

    On the topic of the ending, I would say it was a little rushed, but not too rushed. I was just surprised that both Hank and Molly ended up surviving. I was so convinced that they'd at least let one of Manuela or Henry to be alive. I'm not saying Lina or her brother got off relatively scott-free but the ending was surprisingly tied up nicely. I thought like one of the clones would run off and live their own lives freely or something. I suppose that was the moral of the whole comic anyways. This idea that they tried so hard to chase another chance at life they simply accelerated their twilight years to the point that they might have wasted what little they had left.

Final Score: 80/100 

    In terms of the short little contained graphic novels I've been reading I would recommend this one very much. I think it's got a mix of everything for everyone. It's not too high concept that everything would go past your brain, really the cloning is the only "futuristic" aspect of the novel. Otherwise everything is relatively normal. It understands and has enough room to really focus on the characters of Henry, Hank, Molly and Manuela. It even poses some interesting questions like if given a second chance, would the same people fall in love, or would they quickly look in other places. Manuela seemed completely asexual, unable to feel attraction in her potato form, while Hank quickly moved on and looked in other directions. It's not a particularly happy book, but it's sure to make you think, and that's the beauty of it.