Cognition Vol. 1 – Review
Cognition is a supernatural comic series written by Ken Reynolds and illustrated by Sam Bentley. It recounts the exploits of a steam-powered automaton with a human soul and a demonically possessed mouse. They are spiritually linked, and cannot escape each other.
Using their shared demonic power they battle ghouls and monsters for The British Occult Secret Service (B.O.S.S.), under the eye of spymaster magician Silas Pope, at the height of the Golden age of the Victorian Era.
Now, if you know me at all you’ll know that I adore all things steampunk, and I’m a big fan of historical tales with a fictional twist. Chuck in a demonic mouse and I am 100% on board.
Ken asked me if I could take a look at Cognition as he is currently funding the Vol. 1 Trade on Kickstarter. It’s not got long to go, so let’s get into it.
The Characters
Our main protagonists are Cal, a steam powered Robot with a soul and Sigma, the demonically possessed mouse with whom he shares a psychic bond. It’s a strange combination I grant you, but one that works. To often hilarious effect.
Sigma is a caustic little beast who made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions. As Vol.1 progresses, we being to learn more about the demon that inhabits this mouse body, and just how powerful it really is. I feel quite a kinship with Sigma, he is as sarcastic as they come.
Poor Cal bears a great burden. Not a physical one mind you, Sigma is only a mouse, but the burden of letting the demon take over the body they share with no guarantee of return clearly wearies the poor bot.
Working alongside Cal and Sigma are Silas Pope, a magician/spy, and Hattie Griggs, genius inventor and scientist. Part of the brief of B.O.S.S. is to root out supernatural frauds and charlatans, as we see early on in #0. Hattie proves invaluable in this regard, being able to spot the tricks used by the fakes in their chicanery. She’s also responsible for keeping Cal running smoothly, and has a kick ass wardrobe!
Volume 1
Volume 1 of Cognition comprises the first 5 issues of the comic, numbered 0-4. #0 consists of a couple of short stories which allow you to get a feel for the dynamics between the characters, as well as some (in some cases heavily redacted) B.O.S.S. personnel files giving you a little more background. From then on Things get a whole lot darker. Delving through British folklore, from Black Shucks in East Anglia, to Celtic myths in North Wales, all while building up to a thrilling climax in #4.
I love the over-arching story of the Neo-Luddites versus the British Empire, especially when the “B-story” in #3 reveals exactly what the Empire is really all about. Speaking of the “B-story”, each of issues 1-4 contains a secondary strip which focuses on what was going on while Cal and Sigma were doing whatever they did in the main story. This means more of Pope’s spy shenanigans, and how Hattie came to be part of the B.O.S.S. team.
The black and white interior art by Sam Bentley is absolutely perfect. It’s the little things like the light reflecting off Cal’s glass ‘eyes’ in a panel, or the ever present wisp of steam escaping from him that add a uniqueness to what could otherwise be a fairly run of the mill supernatural comic. He also has a great talent for the period details, notably (as mentioned before) in things like Hattie’s clothing.
As things progress to the conclusion of this initial story arc, and the tension ramps up, so too does the artwork. Bentley’s demonic creations, such as the monster below, again show that unique flavour that he brings to the story.
The Kickstarter
With a little over a week to go, the kickstarter has already surpassed its funding target and is in to stretch goal territory. One thing that has really impressed me with this Kickstarter is that Ken and his team have take into account those who may have been with him from the beginning. If you already own all the single issues of Cognition (first off congratulations, I’m a little jealous) then rather than discounting them and making you get the trade as well, Ken is offering a rather beautiful collectors box to put all the single issues in. There are also chances for you to grab all those single issues, if you’d prefer them to one TPB volume.
My favourite reward might just be the beautiful hook bookmark, laser printed with cogs. It’s simple, on brand without being over the top, and I don’t know about you but I ALWAYS need more bookmarks.
If you want to try before you commit, there’s a link on the Kickstarter page to download #0 for free. Issues #0-4 are also available on Comichaus if you’d like to check them out there. But you’re going to want to back this one, so do hurry!
