Finding a new world for characters to inhabit is tricky because it requires a certain motivation with otherwise acceptable human structure because if the concept is too far out then it might not work. With something like “The Names”, a little political incorrectness goes a long way though it might be slightly unyielding for a mainstream audience. The story here starts with a patriarch being killed when he is told to walk out of a 50 story window nto his death by a man calling himself The Surgeon…and he does it. The journey however involves his young wife Katya… beautiful, dark and apparently programmed and his autistic son Philip who, by extension, and not knowing his real mother, has the hots for his stepmom. Tricky but makes sense in the overall structure. Apparently like any good zombie structure, there is an intelligence looking to overtake the planet but here it is a presence called The Dark Loops who use internal brainwashing to take down power structures. Their motivations aren’t clear but the fact that they need to be stopped is. However what makes this work is almost the gumshoe nature of the journey Katya and Philip take on and some of the people they meet along the way. The dialogue is brisk and with real cadence and talkability unlike some other titles in this genre. The words are fluid and not verbose because you can actually see the characters saying these things. The colors are lurid but still burnt at times and steel at others. In many ways the tone and at times the look can be reminiscent of “Cowboy Bebop”. The addition of some subplots involving the head of The Names organization, his mistress who is a cop and then Philip’s supposedly dead mother who herself is brainwashed with deadly sociopathic tendencies gives the proceedings a definite kick. However, then, in another way, there also is a structure reminiscent of “Spawn” that could be overplayed. This is true in the case of the character of The Surgeon, specifically with his distorted appearance. These are simply style critiques but overall “The Names” is something not found often in the current genre: something original.

A-

By Tim Wassberg

A lot of Peter Milligan's recent work has felt faintly silly in a bad way, but this one served to remind me how much fun he can be when he's being flat out ridiculous and yet somehow harnessing it right. Most of the components are the standard furniture of the conspiracy thriller - a secret society of the 1% with the world's governments and authorities in their pockets (actually, that bit's basically established fact now, isn't it?), a conspiracy enforcer so terrifyingly unhinged that even the conspiracy are starting to lose trust in him, a hot young widow bent on busting it all wide open and handily equipped with the martial arts prowess and autistic savant sidekick she'll need for the job...this is the stuff of sub-Dan Brown airport bookshop doorstops. But Milligan turns it all up to 11 with inappropriate sexual tension, coded clues that really don't make any sense, rogue algorithms possessing first markets and then people...and it's all utterly ludicrous but thoroughly entertaining. Fernandez' art, the slinkiness of which is the best thing about his subsequent Milligan collaboration The Discipline, is likewise in a more OTT mode here; in particular, the homicidal Surgeon looks like Prince Charles' Spitting Image puppet is running amok with a scalpel. And that's a perfect fit. If anyone tries to tell you this is remotely serious, be careful what they say about steel beams. But considered as a lark, it's Milligan's best work since the sad demise of Hellblazer.