Panel Mania: ‘Made In Korea’

February 18, 2022 | 1 book mentioned

Jeremy Holt and artist George Schall’s new graphic novel Made In Korea outlines a near-future world in which childless couples can purchase a sophisticated robotic kid powered by AI and designed by its Korean manufacturer to age and develop along human lines.

Bill and Suelynn, an interracial couple (Bill is white; Suelynn is Chinese–American), have purchased Jesse, a nine-year-old female proxy or robot-child, whose software has been secretly manipulated by a rogue developer. The parents (and the robot-child) are soon forced to contend with Jesse’s unforeseen prodigious abilities, as well as the challenges the robot-child faces adapting to flaws inherent in human social relationships.

In this 10-page excerpt, readers encounter the rogue developer while Bill and Suelynn receive and boot up their new (and secretly hacked) AI-driven robot-child.

Made In Korea by Jeremy Holt and George Schall is out now from Image Comics.

This piece was produced in partnership with Publishers Weekly.

is senior news editor of Publishers Weekly and editor of PW Comics World.