User:DuckFeet/The Fuse (comics)

The Fuse
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Genre	Science fiction, Cyberpunk
Publication date	February 2014
Main character(s)	Klementina "Klem" Ristovych, Ralph "Marlene" Dietrich
Creative team
Writer(s)	Antony Johnston
Artist(s)	Justin Greenwood
Colorist(s)	Shari Chankhamma
Collected editions
The Russia Shift (1–6)	ISBN 1632150085
Gridlock (7–12)	ISBN 1632153130
Perihelion (13-18)	ISBN 1632156571
Constant Orbital Revolutions (13-18)	ISBN 1534300406

The Fuse is an on-going American comic book series created by writer Antony Johnston and artist Justin Greenwood.

It is a science-fiction police procedural that takes place on the pressurized ship, the Fuse, 22,000 miles above earth.The main characters, Klementina ‘Klem’ Ristovych, the veteran, and Ralph ‘Marlene’ Dietrich, newly assigned from earth, are detectives in the Midway City Police Department (MCPD).

The first issue was published by Image Comics February 12, 2014.[2]

Plot

The Russia Shift

Series One of The Fuse is “The Russia Shift.” The story centers on the murder of two homeless people, called cablers, within a few minutes of each other. The lead characters, veteran detective Klementina ‘Klem’ Ristovych and detective Ralph ‘Marlene’ Dietrich, are introduced.[3] This first volume explores the culture, infrastructure, and brief history of the Fuse.[4]

“The Russia Shift” spans issues #1 to #6 and was first published monthly from February 2014 to June 2014.[5]

Gridlock

Series Two of The Fuse is “Gridlock.” The story centers around the murder of the daughter of a very elite family on level 50 of the Fuse. The victim was also involved in the illegal, but well known, sport of gridlocking.[6] This series introduces I-SEEC, Smacktown, and the illegal drug activity on the Fuse. “Gridlock” spans issues #7 to #12 with monthly release dates from November 2014[7] to April 2015[8].

Characters

"The Fuse" is a character driven story which can be seen by the pairing of the two detectives that drive the story.

Klementina "Klem" Ristovych is the veteran detective on the Fuse.[19] We don't know her actual age except that she was part of the 'FGUs' (First Guys Up) who built the Fuse (#2 page x/x).

Ralph "Marlene" Dietrich is a 28-year old detective from Germany who has a mysterious background, especially since he volunteered for the Fuse, which is unheard of.

Klem, an older Russian female, and Dietrich, a young black German, are examples of the diversity found in the story. The characters are a melting pot of nationalities, gender, classes, vocations, and orientation.

Publications

Issues

#	PART	TITLE	DATE	LETTERER	COVER ART
1	1	"The Russia Shift"	Feb 2014	Ed Brisson	cover
2	2	"The Russia Shift"	Mar 2014	Ed Brisson	Johnston & Greenwood Variant: Riley Rossmo
3	3	"The Russia Shift"	Apr 2014	Ed Brisson	Johnston & Greenwood Variant: Jamie McKelvie
4	4	"The Russia Shift"	May 2014	Ed Brisson	Greenwood & Chankhamma
5	5	"The Russia Shift"	Jun 2014	Ed Brisson
6	6	"The Russia Shift"	Jul 2014	Ed Brisson
7	1	"Gridlock"	Nov 2014	Ryan Ferrier	Justin Greenwood Variant: Jenny Frison
8	2	"Gridlock"	Dec 2014	Ryan Ferrier
9	3	"Gridlock"	Jan 2015	Ryan Ferrier
10	4	"Gridlock"	Feb 2015	Ryan Ferrier
11	5	"Gridlock"	Mar 2015	Ryan Ferrier
12	6	"Gridlock"	Apr 2015	Ryan Ferrier
13	1	"Perihelion"	Aug 2015	Ryan Ferrier
14	2	"Perihelion"	Sep 2015	Ryan Ferrier
15	3	"Perihelion"	Oct 2015	Ryan Ferrier
16	4	"Perihelion"	Nov 2015	Ryan Ferrier
17	5	"Perihelion"	Jan 2016	Ryan Ferrier
18	6	"Perihelion"	Mar 2016	Ryan Ferrier
19	1	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Aug 2016	Ryan Ferrier
20	2	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Jul 2016	Ryan Ferrier
21	3	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Sep 2016	Ryan Ferrier
22	4	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Oct 2016	Ryan Ferrier
23	5	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Nov 2016	Ryan Ferrier
24	6	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Dec 2016	Ryan Ferrier

Compilations

VOL	TITLE	DATE	PUBLISHER	ISBN
1	"The Russia Shift"	Sep 9, 2014	Image Comics	1632150085
2	"Gridlock"	Jun 16, 2015	Image Comics	1632153130
3	"Perihelion"	May 10, 2016	Image Comics	1632156571
4	"Constant Orbital Revolutions"	Feb 14, 2017	Image Comics	1534300406

Timeline

The current date for the story line is not stated specifically but there are several time references made.

The "Race Riots of ’97" (or the "Fires of ’97") were a little more than twenty-five years ago (#2 page 2/1)[9] so the current date is around ’22, but the century isn't specified.

The cover of issue #3, Part 3 of "The Russia Shift", shows part of a re-election poster for Rocky Swanson ("RE-ELECT ROCKY") with "22" in a star.[10]

Some have suggested "The Fuse" takes place a hundred years in the future[11] but that is unsubstantiated within the comics.

The Fuse

At the beginning of the series the Fuse is 42 years old.[12] Originally intended to be a power station, (#4 page 5/4)[13] it became an illegal settlement when a bunch of the engineers decided they'd rather make a new life in space than return home to earth. Shaped like a barrel turned on its side, atop each end are two, round solar grid panels. During tours that lasted six months at a time, thousands of engineers constructed the Fuse (#5 page 4/4)[14], a retrograde, geostationary satellite. The earth rotates under the Fuse therefore, the top of it "always faces the sun, and the base always faces the earth, where it is constant noon"(#6 page 21/2).

   “Normal geostationary satellites stay in one position relative to earth. But the Fuse is in retrograde geostationary orbit, to make us stay in one position relative to the sun. The earth effectively rotates under us” (#6 page 21/1).

From an observation deck during certain times of day, citizens of the Fuse can see different locations on earth. 0100 Fuse – over Los Angeles and crosses the Pacific; Midway lights go down (#6 page 21/3) 0800 Fuse – over Tokyo and Russia; Midway lights go up; MCPD day shift starts (#6 page 21/4) 1600 Fuse – over Berlin and Munich (#6 page 21/3) 2400 Fuse – over Denver (#6 page 21/3)

Levels

There are fifty levels to the Fuse (#5 page 20/4). From the outside, its barrel shape looks like it cracked open and all fifty levels are trying to spill out (#1 page 4-5). Of the Midway City levels, Klem says, “…anything below 20 is a shithole" (#2 page 21/5). This applies to the living conditions and the class system[15]. Elite families, like the mayor (#6 page 1) and original investors, the Kuangs (#7 page 13/4), live on level fifty. The table below shows how things change from level to level.

LEVEL	HLANDMARK	TYPE	ADDRESS	ISSUE	PAGE
0	Midway City Police Department	Municipal	Sadler & 1st	1	16
0	City Hall	Municipal	Adams & 1st	2	1
0	Central Park	Public	Central Park	4	4/3
0	Coffee on the Green	Restaurant	Central Park	4	4
0	I-SEEC Checkpoint 0-1	Border	Reid & 1st	8	7
0	Fusion Burger	Restaurant	Demitrius & 5th	9	21
1	Fuse Broadcast Network Offices	Retail	Wade & 1st	10	14
2	Medical Examiner's Office	Municipal	Hagans & 1st	2	9
2	MCPD Forensics Lab	Municipal	Williams & 4th	4	3
18	Shuttleport	Transportation	Gagarin & 30th	1	6
24	Lao's General Store	Retail	Church & 17th	2	14
24	Air 'Em Out Laundromat	Retail	Kamen & 10th	10	5
36	Dietrich residence	Personal residence	15th & Amadeus	2	21/4
44	Smacktown	Region	Midway Gravity Generators	7	24
44	Earthlight Viewing Area	Public		6	20
50	Rocky & Jenn Swanson residence	Personal residence	rAdams & 6th	6	1

I-SEEC

The Global Policing Co-Operation Network, or GP-CON, has had legal jurisdiction on the Fuse for over thirty years. MCPD officially works for GP-CON, not Midway City (#8 page 8/2). When Midway City demanded sovereignty from earth it created hostility between MC and I-SEEC (#8 page 7/2). Called the “End of the Midway” or "The Wall" (#8 page 8/1), I-SEEC is still earth territory while MC waits for its sovereignty (#8 page 8/2).

Terminology

The world of the Fuse is not explained through exposition but simply revealed through the day-to-day events of its citizens. As a result, it may take the reader some back-and-forth to pick up terminology specific to world.[20] Although "The Fuse" is science-fiction, the future is merely the setting for what is really a character driven police procedural.[21] Like any community, it develops its own terms, like 'cablers'--the homeless on the Fuse who live in the ducts and walls between levels.[22]

The sci-fi technology in "The Fuse" pertains mostly to travel to, from, and on the Fuse ('loopevator' (#3 page 20/4)), and what's required to live in a giant space ship. For instance, projectile weapons are illegal so 'bouncers' (#1 page 11/2) are used instead.

The following table shows how simple and infrequently the sci-fi elements are in the world of "The Fuse". The ISSUE column lists the first issue in which the term appears in the series.

TERM	ISSUE	PAGE/PANEL	DEFINITION
Bouncer	1	11/2	The weapons used on the Fuse because projectiles should not be discharged in a pressurized environment.
Cabler	1	7/4	Homeless people on the Fuse. They live inside the ducts and shafts of the Fuse, between the levels, behind the walls. Known as dirty, diseased thieves. They keep to themselves. They do not recognize MCPD authority.
Dazzle Makeup	10	3/2	Makeup used to baffle facial recognition algorithms by altering the shapes a computer expects to see.
Double Z	4	12/1	Zoldipoline, a very strong sleeping pill.
FBN	3	10/8	Fuse Broadcasting Network
FGU	2	10/1	First Guys Up. The engineers who built the Fuse who decided to stay instead of returning to earth.
FLF	2	2/1	Fuse Liberation Front. A militant group involved in domestic terrorism on the Fuse. Known to smuggle guns on the I-SEEC energy shuttles until eleven years ago. The shuttles stopped running because "...they perfected the microwave beams. I-SEEC retooled the compression chambers, shut down the cube runs, shuttles went to maintenance-only."
FuseTube	7	1/1	Midway television channel.
GLL	7	1/3	Gridlocking League.
GP-CON	7	23/1	Global Policing Co-Operation Network. MCPD is employed by GP-CON, not Midway City.
Green Tree	8	18/1	New street drug. High quality heroin.
Gridlocking	7	1/2	Running for about ten years, it is an illegal racing sport that takes place on the solar array on the surface of the Fuse with magnetic bikes. The racing is described as a "stripped-down scooter at full speed through a vacuum with no tether."
I-SEEC	7	22/4	A section of the Fuse called the "end of the Midway" or "The Wall." Still considered earth territory.
Kazak Orbital	1	2	Earth-to-Fuse transportation company.
Loopevator	3	20/4	Public transportation system used to move around the Fuse. It looks similar to an elevator.
MFC	1	15/2	Midway Freedom Council. A political party on the Fuse.
MoMa Territories	2	2/3	Mentioned in issue #3 but has not been explained in "The Russia Shift" or "Gridlock."
Russia Shift	1	21/3	Klem Ristovych, Ralph Dietrich, and Yuri Brachyinov are the only detectives in the homicide division working during their 8-hour shift. At 0800 the MCPD day shift starts.
Sucking Black	7	8/4	Slang for the death that results from sudden exposure on the surface of the Fuse, like getting a tear in an EVA suit; "...lungs rapidly decompress with perimortem internal freezing."

Reception

Crime procedurals are a fairly rare genre in modern comic books and the inclusion of "The Fuse" has been very positive. Another highly praised element is the lead character, Klem. Being significantly older than most mainstream characters, she has been praised by men and women alike for being dramatically different.

Besides Johnston's full characters and sharp dialogue[23], Greenwood's economical artwork conveys the cramped and gritty "lived-in, run-down, commonplace feel... in a satellite that's barely holding together."