KILLTOPOIA: NANO JAMS / Curated and Edited by DAVE COOK / Scripts by DAVE COOK, OLIVER GERLACH, DAN WHITEHEAD, CHRIS SIMMONDS, CHRIS MOLE, GARY CHUDLEIGH, ANDREW CLEMSON, NICK BRYAN, CASSIE PARKES, LUCY SULLIVAN, SIMON BIRKS, MARK ABNETT, DAVID LUMSDEN, ASHLEY COOPER, LUCY JAMES, AMY CHASE, THOMAS S. BROWN, LIAM KAVANAGH, MATT ADCOCK, DAVID TAYLOR, CHRISTA HARADER, SKY HAWKINS, BEX OLLERTON, ANAS ABDULHAK, SCOTT BRYAN WILSON, SHANEFACED, JAZZLYN STONE, JOSEPH OLIVEIRA, UMAR DITTA, KACEY FLYNN, SARAH MILLMAN, PHOEBE HEDGES, CONNOR TIERNEY & JOE GLASS / Art by CLARK BINT, ALEX MOORE, GUSTAFFO VARGAS, CHRIS SIMMONDS, MAU MORA, MATT GARBUTT, CHRIS IMBER, STEVE GREGSON, SEBASTIAN PIRIZ, LIANA KANGAS, DERKAS ART, JESS PENG, JAIME HUXTABLE, JASON LOO, CRAIG PATON, DARREN VOGT, KAT D’ALMAINE, KIM HU, SEAN NORTHRIDGE, LAURA HELSBY, PHIL APPLEY, ZAK KINSELLA, SKY HAWKINS, BEX OLLERTON, LYNDON WHITE, SKYLAR PATRIDGE, SHANEFACED, LIANA KANGAS, SOPHIA MELOCOTON, TORIA, STIPAN MORIAN, SARAH MILLMAN, KELSEY RAMSAY, CONNOR TIERNEY, & YISHAN LI / Colors by CLARK BINT, ALEX MOORE, GUSTAFFO VARGAS, CHRIS SIMMONDS, MAU MORA, MATT GARBUTT, REBECCA GOOD, FABIANA MARQUES, SEBASTIAN PIRIZ, JP JORDAN, DERKAS ART, JESS PENG, JAIME HUXTABLE, CRAIG PATON, DARREN VOGT, KAT D’ALMAINE, KIM HU, JIMMY SAVAGE, PHIL APPLEY, ZAK KINSELLA, SKY HAWKINS, BEX OLLERTON, LYNDON WHITE, AHG, SHANEFACED , BRITTANY PEER, SOPHIA MELOCOTON, TORIA, STIPAN MORIAN,SARAH MILLMAN, CONNOR TIERNEY & YISHAN LI / Letters by MICAH MYERS, CRAIG PATON, DARREN VOGT, SKY HAWKINS, BEX OLLERTON, SKYLAR PATRIDGE, SHANEFACED, TORIA, STIPAN MORIAN, SARAH MILLMAN & CONNOR TIERNEY / Published by DAVE COOK COMICS

The original Killtopia was a cyberpunk masterpiece. The brainchild of Dave Cook, Killtopia presented a horrific vision of the future, where bloody esports, nanotech plagues, and sentient mechs threatened humanity slightly less than mankind’s own inhumanity. That theme continues in Killtopia: Nano Jams – the first anthology set in the Killtopia setting.

Many of the comics featured in Nano Jams are only a page long. This is meant to simulate the nature of media in the setting, which is made up of short sound bites and quick imagery. This is dispensed through a frame story, written by Dave Cook himself, in which a hapless salaryman finds himself too tired to do anything after a long day at work but vegetate in VR watching the short stories of other people. Stories about people who fry their brains pursuing nostalgia, cops who fake heroic rescues for the sake of social media, and the failure to consume enough in a consumerist society.

The themes and concepts here will be familiar to anyone who has ever read Neal Stephenson or played Shadowrun. The main recurring themes are how technology separates people instead of bringing them together and how we sell our souls for subpar simulations of our basic human needs. Some of this is well-trod territory, such as gamers taking control of real world soldiers or companies repossessing the bodies of people who paid for surgery on an installment plan. (Remember Repo! The Genetic Opera?)

Thankfully, the flow of the stories is solid and anything that misses is likely to be forgotten after you jump to the next jam. I honestly should be concerned about what that revelation says about my own reading habits. But hey, I’m too busy laughing at the clever gags that tickled my fancy.

A prime example of this is OnlyJams by Bex Ollerton. This quick advertisement promotes a new service that allows you to take control of your favorite camgirl/cosplayer/influencer as they offer 24/7 content thanks to new technology that eliminates the need for sleep – Sleep Immunizing Mental Proxy (SIMP). It isn’t subtle, but it is funny and it’s the sort of thing Douglas Adams might have come up with if he tried to parody William Gibson.

There are other stories which put neat spins on the classic tropes. My favorite in this regard is Smuff, in which a foodie influencer finds himself at ground zero of a crisis. Said crisis is born of a disastrous combination of crazed fans, corporate greed, and a minor zombie apocalypse. While these themes are nothing new to the genre, the execution is hilarious.

Killtopia: Nano Jams managed to make me laugh more than once. More than that, it made me think and it made me feel. Quite ironic for a comic I read on-line based on the theme of how technology makes us lose our humanity. If that fact amuses you too, or you just like to laugh at the insipient collapse of society, I think you will enjoy Killtopia: Nano Jams as much as I did.

Killtopia: Neo Jams is now available for digital download and physical copy pre-order.