Madi: Once Upon a Time in the Future by Duncan Jones and Alex de Campi; illustrated by Dylan Teague; Glenn Fabry & Adam Brown; Duncan Fegrado & Jacob Phillips; LRNZ; Ed Ocana & Raul Arnaiz; Andre Araujo & Chris O’Halloran; Simon Bisly; Rosemary Valero-O’Connell & Kelly Fitzpatrick; Tonci Zonjic; Skylar Partridge & Marissa Louise; Pia Guerra & Matt Wilson; James Stokoe; R.M. Guera & Sergey Nazarov; Rufus Dayglo & Sofie Dodgson; Annie Wu; David Lopez & Nayoung Kim; and Christian Ward (2020)
Although it’s been a while since I delved into a thick graphic novel, I stumbled upon this book in my favorite little library here in Singapore and thought I’d give it a shot.
What drew me was its futuristic, Sci-Fi vibe that promised lots of action and thrills. Action it has—along with abundant violence and language—but the thrills were lacking, because the character motives weren’t easy to understand.
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Quick Summary of Madi: Once Upon a Time in the Future
This future dystopian nation (or world) is split into factions ruled by companies of peace that all seem to be at each others’ throats. Madi serves on a team of what would normally be called mercenaries, though here they seem gainfully employed.
The futuristic rub is that these soldiers are part-machine, having allowed themselves implants that give experts control of their bodies to perform tasks for which the grunts themselves aren’t trained (i.e. computer hacking, bomb diffusing, etc.). The problem with this advanced technology, of course, is that these implants can themselves be hacked, turning the grunt soldier into a tool of whichever enemy controls them.
Madi is such a soldier, and when she takes an off-the-books job that involves rescuing a child from a wealthy monster, her whole life gets upended.
Where It Gets Confusing
There’s trouble with this plot, and it all stems from characterization. First, Madi and her team seem like merciless killers from the get-go. As a sympathetic reader, I’m not naturally drawn to them as protagonists or even as reluctant heroes. This was the same problem I had recently in Louis L’Amour’s High Graders. I want to root for the hero, not because she’s perfect, but because she’s moderately likable and flawed but at least hopefully redeemable. I didn’t feel that with Madi.
The key antagonist, Steven, is also someone not easy to understand. We know he has wealth, but what other power does he have that makes him a threat? Where does he stand politically in this universe? And what the heck is the world even experiencing right now to make it matter? There’s not enough backstory to make him a believable villain.
Finally, I don’t get the kid. I understand his unique power and why he needs to be rescued, but where did he come from? Is he like a Messiah character in this universe? Is he only a threat if Steven gets ahold of him, or might Madi’s company (evil in its own way) misuse him as well?
An Incredible Team of Artists
I don’t know enough about this book or the world of comics in general to know if this is a standalone thing or of it was released as a series of comics over a period of time. The fact that they used a huge team of illustrators to illustrate different portions, though, was fascinating. This seems to be a global project judging by the artist names, and for that alone, I’d rate it as a very unique and well-executed project.
The character styles and looks change from section to section, though it’s easy to tell who’s who. I enjoyed the shifts in lines and colorations, preferring some styles over others. I can’t imagine how they all got paid for a project like this, but the group effort seems like a viable option for other authors who’ve got a full graphic novel in mind but not yet the skill to execute it.
Conclusion
Because of the heavy language and flawed characterization in this book, I can’t really recommend it to my readers. Nevertheless, as a study in graphic-novel mechanics and illustration, it’s eye candy that can offer up tons of ideas for stylization.
©2026 E.T.
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