They ask Clay how he feels. He says he feels expensive. He’s not wrong. They’ve upgraded him with the latest bionics in Olympus tech: Energy blades. Mini Tarmacs. Data eaters. Light transmitters. They’ve even installed a stat-of-the-art firewall device in his neuroware that had been linked to his unique biorhythm...sort of an AI the will block any attempt to hack his neurology. What the hell has Clay gotten himself into? He begins to find out in Nullhunter #1. Writer Michael Walsh opens a series with art be Gustaffo Vargas. It’s billed as sort of a weird fusion between cyberpunk and the trials of Hercules. It looks promising. 

Olympos has also upgraded his old ship. They’ve uploaded a holographic AI to help him. It’s based on someone who died in his arms the last time he saw her. So it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to get accustomed to things, but there’s little doubt that he’s more than equipped for whatever the hell it is that Olympos wants him to get to. Some unknown Olympos employee has hijacked a shipment of warbots. Those things are dangerous. Anyone who would want them would be equally as dangerous. Clay has his work cut out for him.

On the surface, Nullhunter seems more or less identical to the type of s tory that has been circulating around since the dawn of heroic fiction a long, long time ago. There really isn’t much in the substance of the plot that is terribly new. The spacefaring cyberpunk feel of the story DOES add something to it, but precisely what that is isn’t all that clear. Walsh will likely reveal a bit more about it as the series runs its course over the course of its full 123 issues. 

Vargas hits the page with a dreamy sketchiness that feels deeply immersive in places. The gritty realism occasionally feels pretty intense as it dances around with traditional sci-fi imagery. Steely heroism marches itself across the page as Clay faced the danger of the potential head-on. The snowy night where Clay encounters his first warbot feels particularly immersive as the snow falls and the lion-like bots eyes and maw glow green in the darkness. Cyberpunk generally calls for a more precise sort of rendering, but Vargas does a good job of getting across the feeling of the genre with a robustly aggressive sense of action.

The yearlong cycle that Nullhunter is opening with the first issue feels generally quite promising. The big journey could go in quite a few different directions. The fusion between cyberpunk and ancient heroic legend has always been at least kind of inherent in the genre. It’s nice to see it openly embraced with Nullhunter. A slightly cleaner approach to storytelling might improve things. Walsh and Vargas are throwing-in a few too many details around the edges to really be all that satisfying, but the core of what the series reveals in the first issue is pretty impressive.

Grade: B