Genre Science fiction Creator(s) Elaine Lee Artist James Sherman | Number of issues 2 Writer Elaine Lee Publisher Epic Comics | |
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Format Prestige format mini-series Publication date July 1991 – January 1992 Similar The Last American, Six from Sirius, Captain Confederacy, Void Indigo, Starstruck | ||
One shot the transmutation of ike garuda
The Transmutation of Ike Garuda is a two-issue prestige format mini-series published by the Epic Comics imprint of Marvel Comics, with the first issue being released in 1991 and the second issue in 1992. It was written by Elaine Lee, with art by James Sherman.
Contents
Like some of Elaine Lee's other work, The Transmutation of Ike Garuda is science fiction of the noir space opera genre.
Setting
The Transmutation of Ike Garuda is set in a future in which interstellar spaceflight transportation has been obsoleted by the Galactic Access System (abbreviated G.A.S.), an interstellar transportation system that uses teleportation devices called wombs that function in a way similar to the transporters of Star Trek. Wombs are not entirely reliable: luggage is frequently lost, and, less commonly, people are lost as well (it is also implied that the Tranzit Authority may deliberately "lose" its enemies, thereby assassinating them). Furthermore, a few planets, like New Saxon, are off-line, meaning that, for unknown (at least, at the beginning of the story) reasons, they cannot be reached by G.A.S.
The universe is dominated by four organizations:
Some terms are different from modern-day usage. Computers are known as brain-banks, or more simply, as brains or banks. The calendar uses, instead of years, periods of time known as kics or kiks (the spelling differs through the comic).
Plot synopsis
Private detective Ike Garuda is called in by Diamond Minds, ostensibly to investigate the theft of a prototype of one of its experimental technologies, a sending platform or soloflight transport device. As Garuda investigates, he learns that rather than being involved in a simple industrial espionage case, he is actually caught up in a deeper and much more complex conspiracy that threatens to upset the balance of power in the universe.
Characters
Characters, in order of their appearance or mention in The Transmutation of Ike Garuda, with descriptions of whom they apparently are when they are first introduced (by the end of the story, many of the characters are revealed to be something other than what they initially seemed):
Themes
The Transmutation of Ike Garuda explores a number of science fiction existential themes and asks bioethical questions, such as whether a person who enters a womb has the same identity as the same person reconstituted in a womb on another planet, and whether biodroid copies are just as real as the people on whom they are based.