REVIEW: Old City Blues

Old City Blues by Giannis Milonogiannis

Old City Blues

Words and Pictures by Giannis Milonogiannis

120 pages / Black and white / $14.95

Archaia Entertainment

2048. Time and tumult have heaped ruin upon ruin in storied Athens, once the steward of antiquity, now a patchwork metropolis of slums and glamorous spires. Rebuilt and reconfigured by the conglomerates of Japan in the wake of a disastrous flood, the Grecian capital represents the ambitions of generations past and present, modern technologies scuttling to take purchase atop the decaying armatures of old.

Thus Old City Blues wields a dual meaning, referring both to the boys and girls in blue of the Athenian police forces as well as the pervading melancholy of their jurisdiction. To be dispatched to the markets and tenements of Old Athens is to be reminded of time’s cruelty. Our hero is Special Police Detective Solano, whose dot eyes and relative blankness harken to stock adventurers like Tintin. He is our handsome avatar upon the slick avenues of an exciting if familiar futureworld, more guide vehicle than persona. Therein lies the remarkable parallel between writer/artist Giannis Miliogiannis and his charming mutt of a universe.

Born in Maryland, raised on Crete, nourished at the teats of both European and Japanese pop culture, Milogiannis has developed an exciting visual style marrying western and eastern influences. Instantly evident are homages to 80s anime and manga, including “mobile gun” mech designs reminiscent of the armored warriors of Bubblegum Crisis or Project A-Ko. The artist acknowledges in his postscript that Old City Blues originated as a kind of calling card to showcase his artistic execution, composed largely of the stuff he loved as a kid. As such, the story and trappings of Old City Blues often register as wholly derivative of anime staples.

Milonogiannis pays homage to Toriyama

Two things, though. Milonogiannis offers clear evidence as to why those cliches became cliches in the first place; by being undeniably fun and sexy from an action adventure standpoint. Cops augmented with seemingly cumbersome,uncannily graceful, ultimately devastating battle armor make for terrific pawns in SF. But this young creator approaches such tropes with a decidedly European aesthetic and skill set. That means Old City Blues looks less like typical robot manga and much more like…something altogether different. It’s difficult to parse the exact lineage of the style, but even with the throwback mech designs scattered throughout, this book looks like it came from Italy or whatever wormhole Moebius emerged from.

From Old City Blues issue #1

You know how a downpour or waves of heat rising from the asphalt can distort the line and form of the waking world? Milonogiannis lives in that realm. The complex anatomy of his mechs and vehicles heave with energy, stretching and blurring with their incredible velocity. His art crackles. Chase sequences are enhanced by a frenetic inking aesthetic. It even carries into the hand lettering, just shy of hurried chicken-scratch. It’s as if the artist is documenting an actual chase in progress, capturing the visuals on paper from the seat of a pursuing sports car. Images of the mobile gun pilots are abstractions similar to modern depictions of Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit, svelte bodies in slipstream unitards “floating” in the nerve center of their mechanical shells. Such action sequences end all-too quickly, but while they’re happening a talented storyteller is firing on all cylinders.

Consisting of one feature story and a short, this volume of Old City Blues is largely a proof of concept. The main story of political intrigue involving the shadowy founder of the Hayashi robotics corporation and a related separatist movement on Earth’s Lunar colony isn’t the deepest plot, markedly slight in comparison to other works in the genre. Again, this was Milonogiannis’ initial intent for the project, as a kind of portfolio piece which gradually evolved into a webcomic then hardcover collection. It lacks the depth of sophistication of similar stories like Blade Runner or Pluto, but it remains a particularly exciting debut. It’s a very fun and extraordinarily gorgeous thriller marred only by anticlimax, and I’m eager to revisit this world.

Because here’s the thing.

Infuriatingly, Giannis Milonogiannis is a mere 23 years old–the bastard–with a promising career just starting to unfold. This reviewer will be watching with interest.

Story: 3 / Art: 5 / Overall: 4

(Out of 5 Stars)

Grab Old City Blues vol. 1 on Amazon.

Kudos to Archaia for printing a very cool webcomic. Recently they did the same with a series called Spera, which I’ll be back to talk about later this week!