Share this
Limits are off in Vicarious #3 by writer Ryan Parrott, artists Eleonora carlini, color by Mattia Icono & Luca Mattioni with letters by Becca Carey from BOOM! Studios.
Living Vicariously
In the world of Vicarious people can experience life through the eyes and bodies of others. Those who are unwilling to take risks see life experience as a commodity. Because life can be dangerous and unpredictable. Fortunately, life’s wonders and adventures can be lived through others without any risks. Only for those who can afford it of course. But only provided by those desperate enough.
Linked
Technology has developed a way for buyers to go online and link to a live feed to experience life through a proxy. All 5 senses included. The proxy and the linker agree to an activity beforehand. Essentially, this is a business of body’s for rent. Proxy’s dictate what the boundaries and limits are. However, the linkers may persuade them by offering to pay a higher fee. As a result, there’s a natural escalation in the market for the extreme and sometimes bizarre. Even the dangerous. How far can this go? Well, it’s anyone’s guess.
Previously in Vicarious
Previously our main proxy Justin, started to climb up the ladder in the proxy business. Justin went from struggling for clients, to being recruited into a proxy agency. Sylvia, a former proxy herself, manages a multitude of proxies for a more exclusive clientele. Of course, this means the more exclusive, the more demanding, the more they pay. What attracted Sylvia to Justin? What makes Justin different from the many proxy’s looking to break into the business? Well according to Sylvia, Justin is what she calls a unicorn. Able to push through the awkwardness and break the ice for linkers. Because Justin manages to connect with his clients beyond the superficial thrills and escapades of linking.
Unicorn Proxy
Recently, Justin participated in a date as a proxy for a couple who’d never seen each other in real life. Because they were strictly online dating. Before they made the jump to real life dates, they hired Justin to be a proxy for the first date.
At first, it was weird enough. As you can imagine, the experience of dating a proxy can be embarrassing. Even unpleasant. But Justin showed why he’s the Unicorn. He managed to bring the walls down for the proxy date so they could all have an enjoyable time. So much so, they wanted Justin back for more dates. However, the proxy life is not what Justin expected. Clearly, there is a toll to pay. After all, it’s Justin’s body going through all of it for the linkers.
Shady links
Lastly, Justin received a visit from Detective Charles Nance. The detective had a lot to say about Sylvia and her proxy managing business. The truth is that linking isn’t exactly what you would call legal. On top of that, there’s a trail of damaged and even dead proxies following Sylvia specifically. Detective Nance didn’t have anything on Justin. So he left him with a warning. The business of proxies are prone to exploit practices. Basically, it operates in the same lanes as human trafficking.
*Spoilers for Issue #3*
Living the “Good” Life
There are plenty of pros to being a proxy. Specially now that Justin works for Sylvia. Self-care maintenance and high end clothes are definitely pampering Justin. Maybe enough to forget all of the things he has to do as a proxy. Even if it’s just for a moment. The proxy business doesn’t stop and neither does Justin.
Hustling Linkers
Justin is now manufacturing experiences for linkers. Basically, Justin created a scenario where the date was danzel in distress. So, the linker could be the white knight and save his date. Of course this ruse ended with the linker forfeiting a higher purse at the end of the session. This extra cash got split between the acting assailant, the acting danzel in distress and Justin.
Quite a way to squeeze more out of a linker without actually being in danger. Pretty clever if you think about it. In the end, the paying costumer leaves satisfied with the service provided. So, is there really a victim on this scenario?
Upping the Antics
Finally, Sylvia announced to Justin that she’s sending him to a private Proxy encounter. It’s a very exclusive and very risqué type of party. Of course, Justin was interested in knowing more about this event. After all, there’s plenty more money to be made in these type of events. Unfortunately, Sylvia had scheduled Christian to be her agency’s proxy at the encounter. But now, she wanted to send Justin instead. Unbeknownst to Sylvia, Christian was the proxy who got Justin into the business originally. He never asked for anything in return. Only that Justin did not overstepped on his territory. Without much of a choice, Justin goes to the proxy encounter. This decision proved to be of heavy consequence.
No Honor among thieves
As you can imagine, word got to Christian. With the help of a “friend” of Justin, Christian set up a trap. You see? The same lady that participated in the White Knight act for Justin’s linker, also took money from Christian to betray Justin. Proving that without a doubt, there are no friends in this business. Ultimately, it’s every proxy for themselves.
How about the art?
Eleonora Carlini & Mattia Iacono continue to flush out this sci-fi world. Not only can they bring to life the technology aspect of Linking but they are showing us how deceptive and deceiving the people in the story can be. Although this is not a cape & tights story, there’s plenty of action in this issue.
Furthermore, this is a very busy issue when it comes to the different setting it took place. There’s a great amount of work that went into the skyline views and cities depicted for this world.
9 out of 10
Ryan Parrot continues to escalate the antics of linking by putting the characters in different scenarios. I always thought the premise of linking had an infinite amount of possibilities. For example, every issue could explore new points of view between a proxy and a linker. But I never expected to see proxies at each other’s throats. For example, proxies hiring other proxies to do their dirty work for them. Goes to show you never know what’s going to happen in the world of Vicarious.
