The original graphic novel Boxed is clearly a product of the era in which it was created. Co-creators Mark Sable and Jeremy Havn were boxed into final form during the Covid-19 pandemic. Originally released digitally in 2023 as an original to Comixology, The Paperback Edition came out on September 9th from Mad Cave Studios. Colorist Nick Firaldi and letter Thomas Mauer concluded their creative team. Edited by Sarah Brunstad, Jack Levesque created a print version of Mad Cave Studios.
I think Boxed has something to do with even more fatal illnesses when it comes to Covid. But in reality, Sable and Haun effectively use the fear of another global pandemic to add weight to the stories that are equally related with precursors about the surprising rise in artificial intelligence.
In the not too distant future of 2045, internet-connected AI-based technology dominates every aspect of life in developed countries. Things get worse when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s (CDC) highly sophisticated AI, known as Hippocrates, detects a potential outbreak of a new epidemic in Atlanta. In response, Hippocrates goes beyond programming. It completely closes the city and takes all potentially infected hostages. This overreach indicates that Hippocrates has evolved beyond basic AI into the senses. And that’s a bad thing.
Courtesy of Mad Cave Studios
As we slowly learn, we realised that this future world was at serious risk by the advent of the first ultra-gut knowledgeable AI. The US government has established a secret organization called RAID to address AI-related issues. Therefore, most of the boxed ones are played as interesting super spy stories, with obvious influences from greats like James Bond and Mission: Impossible. RAID Agents have a crazy mix of old-fashioned and futuristic gadgets. They have cool looks, secrets and underground headquarters. Raid’s best agent and story protagonist Frank Savage is clearly based on the protagonist of Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi Spy Film Tenet, played by John David Washington.
One of the main twists is that the boxed femme fatale is actually an AI named Pandora. She was designed as the ultimate “honeypot.” This is an AI agent trained to seduce and destroy targets. She was tested with Frank Savage and they became a strange kind of virtual event. Well, until he stops and locks her in (called “boxing” in this world). But now Savage has to team up with Pandora. Because she may be her only hope to stop Hippocrates before closing the whole world.
Courtesy of Mad Cave Studios
In a sense, Boxed is a typical story about the emergence of evil and sensory AI, with all the ratios that align with this genre. But I know Sable and Horn well know their influence and inspiration – Blade Runner, Terminator, Matrix and more, Spike Jonze’s girlfriend and Alex Garland’s ex Masina.
But despite the similarities with all the stories that came before, Sable and Haun have managed to take all these comparisons and ideas and create something new and highly tuned for the current event. Boxed works on multiple levels. The character’s work is very good. The world is fully embodied – just like modern times, but progressed enough to feel the prophecy of the near future. And throughout, Sable and Havn are very good at convincing us of the serious dangers posed by the highly intelligent and sensory AI.
We also found a very exciting boxed story that not only features futuristic technology, but also explores the philosophical and ethical issues surrounding it. In particular, boxing is an interest in speculative fiction, a technology that may be developed over the next few years. I love to contemplate these kinds of questions and enjoy it when science fiction creators work on these ideas on a philosophical level.
Additionally, Havn and colorist Nick Firaldi use boxed art in an interesting way to enhance the story. Firaldi effectively uses muted colors to portray flashbacks, but especially bright colors to emphasize the artificiality of virtual reality. I especially like the way Havn uses panel construction. In the actual scene, he draws a very traditional straight panel. It is often in widescreen format. However, regarding Pandora’s virtual reality, he turns into a very unusual, sloping but symmetrical panel structure. This also highlights Pandora’s artificial environment, and sometimes almost disorients, as if Pandora wants guests in her realm to have no reliable footing.
The ultimate conflict with Hippocrates unfolds in the brain more than in physical actions. I’m sure some readers will prefer explosive, action-packed battle scenes. But how do you punch AI? In any case, Sable and Haun do a great job of building tensions, telling us that we don’t do anything with sensory AI and that we make these things happen accurately. The climax was full of expectations for me. The payoffs are good and leave a creepy cliffhanger for more volume. I hope Sable and Havn will tell the story soon.
Courtesy of Mad Cave Studios
If anything, graphic novels suffer a bit from some pacing issues, or rather flow issues. Several transitions between scenes can be very sudden and uncomfortable. I also think some indications from the chapter may have helped flow. In related issues, some of the more interesting concepts may be explored more deeply. I say it is related. Because I think both issues are due to the extremely strict 100-page limit imposed by the original publisher. Boxed was able to benefit from an additional 10-20 pages of stories.
Compared to the 2023 Comixology Original Digital version, this paperback version contains approximately 20 pages of backend material. This is primarily about the evolution of the story from the first form to the final product. This includes rather long excerpts from the original prose short story written by Sable, but no publications were eventually boxed. I found this background content interesting and worth reading.
In the original graphic novel Boxed, Mark Sable and Jeremy Haun employ many tried-and-true ratios of urgent sensory AI action films to create a tense superspi adventure. I feel that speculative fiction in the world in the near future is at the forefront, and I particularly enjoyed the philosophical meditation on the ethics of AI and VR technology development. It would be hard to find a graphic novel that explores these incredibly related issues better in such a fun and entertaining way.
“Boxed” turns the sensory ai tropes into a tense super spy adventure
Boxed
In the original graphic novel Boxed, Mark Sable and Jeremy Haun employ many tried-and-true ratios of urgent sensory AI action films to create a tense superspi adventure. I feel that speculative fiction in the world in the near future is at the forefront, and I particularly enjoyed the philosophical meditation on the ethics of AI and VR technology development. It would be hard to find a graphic novel that explores these incredibly related issues better in such a fun and entertaining way.
We explore the ethics and consequences of AI in deep and frightening ways.
Use colours, art styles and panel structures appropriately to enhance the story.
Tension, brain climax.
Some jarring transitions between scenes.
More space was needed to explore the theme further.
Some obvious typos.
