Art for The Smart Division #1 Cover B
The Smart Division is a dark and modern sci-fi detective series set five minutes in the future. When a mysterious new predictive artificial intelligence program appears responsible for assisting someone in the perfect murder, a pair of unlikely investigators - a chaotic Gen-Z savant and a veteran FBI agent - must hunt down the killer by starting the FBI’s first AI crimes division. It is written by Zack Kaplan (Kill All Immortals, Masterminds, Port of Earth) and Eisner-winning artist John Pearson (In Bloom, The Infernals, The Department of Truth) - a reunion long awaited since their fan-favorite sci-fi horror series, Mindset.
We got a chance to look at the preview of Issue #1, and there is a lot to like about this new series. The painterly artwork and mix of chat bubbles and hand-crafted-like lettering combined create a feeling of two battling worlds, even in the comic’s fundamentals. This gives the story and its emotions more depth, placing you deeper into the down-and-dirty world of this mystery.
Its sci-fi elements expand on current technologies and problems they create, as well as where they could very possibly lead. By following a very skeptical FBI veteran, we can see how AI can threaten everything that has already been built. By having him team with a younger and tech-savvy partner, we can see the friction between a self-destructive past and a new but equally self-destructive future.
The AI craze, along with the oversaturation of LLMs and how they can be used, is a theme tackled a lot recently and by multiple mediums. However, a lot of these stories usually feel like a monologue of an idea. Zack Kaplan, by choosing to partner these characters, gives the promise of a dialogue of ideals rather than a monologue of beliefs. This promises a murder mystery with a lot of food for thought.
If you enjoy detective murder mysteries and highly realistic sci-fi ideas, this story is a must read as it feels like a sci-fi philosophical twist on True Detective season one’s format
The Smart Division #1 releases on August 5th and it will be a 5-issue limited series.