Unlike few other mediums, comics have a kind of mid-arc, standalone-y issue that they can bust out from time to time. Sometimes it’s a winner, giving people a chance to breath between the action. And in other instances, it can deflate people’s enthusiasm and motivation. In the case of Uncanny Valley #6, it was certainly the former as we take time to explore the origins of the cartoon world.
Just such a move could’ve easily spelled doom considering where we’d left off after Uncanny Valley #5. Oliver’s journey to discover his roots, and understand his role in amid man and toon, reach an apex with the youngster abruptly disappearing. The creative team (writer Tony Fleecs, artist Dave Wachter, and letterer Pat Brosseau) could’ve could’ve opted to simply show us where Oliver is at in a move that would’ve been instantly satisfying. Instead, they do what they’ve done across Uncanny Valley thus far: subvert our expectations and tell a deeply real story about family, fate, and finding your place in the world.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
And by moving the spotlight to The First, and letting him chronicle the origins of the toons, that emotionality grew ever deeper and more robust. We see just how The First helped forge and shape the toons’ world, and how his origins connect him to our own world (in a really awesome little twist that I dare not spoil). This could’ve also backfired and made the series villain appear overly soft, but then Uncanny Valley has never been too concerned in that regard. Because as we see in issue #6, the toons’ reaction is deeply human, built out of a mix of confusion, self-preservation, and general distrust (that’s totally merited) that makes them acutely aware of mankind’s devastating potential.
The First’s evolution and presence across this issue casts his people as unwilling victims, seeking not only to save themselves but perhaps right some wrongs that mankind has no interest in fixing. In that way, their cause isn’t just more morally complicated, drenched with added sympathy, and generally heaps more textured, but it shows that we’re active participants. Yes, even us readers — our perceptions of the toons’ silliness belies the society they’ve forged and the world they wish to save. They are the best, most capable version of ourselves, and we understand our own selves infinitely more as we see these “creatures” battle for a place they’ve long been denied. It’s no longer fun and games but this very real confrontation between our good nature and our destructive ignorance as a species. In short, it’s a profound realization of the true power of art/creation.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
And speaking of best versions, I’d have to say that this is truly Fleecs’ most excellent showing as writer thus far. His narration, especially, feels so deeply warm and folksy, as he breaks down the toon world and Oliver’s role in a way that widdles away a lot of the context and gimmickry of Uncanny Valley and instead shows how utterly real this story is to its core. His little yarn includes the intro of a new character, whose very presence furthers this issue’s efforts to tie the world of man and toon together to get us thinking about these connections and what insight they offer. But it’s an approach that’s always about a softer touch, and allowing the characters to dictate the story and the world to open up in layers.
As such, the bulk of this issue, then, is really about giving an even bigger showcase to Wachter’s artwork. Across the first five issues of Uncanny Valley, Wachter has built two great worlds: our own has real heft and texture, and the toons “dimension” is increasingly bonkers and baked in warm nostalgia. While these worlds have slowly flirted and coalesced before, it’s Uncanny Valley #6 where that unification feels even more robust and important.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
The new character introduced, for instance, does a lot to foster the ways the two worlds interact — what we get, then, is this visual language or code for how connected they are, and how one can influence the other in such a way that their familiarity is undeniable. There’s several scenes in this issue where it seems like the worlds have truly combined (like when said newbie finds a certain miner to fall in love with), and in that we see the way reality and fantasy are either two sides of the same coin, and how fantasy is just a response to a world where we find the best parts of ourselves.
In a similar method, Wachter leans into certain elements from the public domain to do much of the same — which is to say, take things we know, evolve and extend them for this story, and get us to really feel the tenuous nature between reality and fantasy. This function, especially, is just such a fun and inventive way to bring us in and remind us of these connections-relationships, and to demonstrate that this story isn’t new but something we’ve been telling and adding to for years. In that way, it’s all the more vivid and undeniable, and we as an audience are forced to fill our own lives into a chapter that’s about, among other things, coming home and all the corresponding joys and reconciliation. It’s an issue where Wachter’s work isn’t just fun and interesting, but very much engaged with the narrative and bringing us to the table in an ever more compelling manner.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios.
But of all the accomplishments of Uncanny Valley #6, there’s one more thing it still had to do: let us know about Oliver. (Duh.) I also won’t spoil that, but you’ve probably guessed the state of our young hero. What I can say, however, is that his presence toward the very conclusion really feels like the last puzzle piece: how meta this book has become. It’s always been meta to some extent, but it feels like the creative team is turning it up a notch, and to get us thinking about the nature of creativity and fiction and the role we play in its development and meaning.
But as with all great meta stories worth a damn, Uncanny Valley is doing it the right way — with ample heart and personality. Bringing us into this story even more isn’t about showing off or mere razzle dazzle, but another layer to this book’s campaign to make us see this world in vivid, unflinching detail. We don’t have all the story yet, and things are very much just getting started (for us and for Oliver). But one thing’s clear, this was no mere “break” but the start of something even more poignant and joyous for Uncanny Valley.
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