Wizzywig: Portrait of a Serial Hacker

The whole plot revolves around early hackers, back before the term was actually commonly used. It starts with cracking the phone systems before moving on to computer systems and early networks. Kevin Phenicle, the hacker, eventually ends up being on the run from law enforcement and was later held without trial. So I guess a sub-theme is the oppression from a system and people who knew a lot less than they think about the true state of things.

The graphic novel failed on several counts for me. For one, Kevin himself is no saint. Sure, another theme is about how harmful media speculation and sensationalism can be. But Kevin himself is a loser most of the time. He does what he does out of selfishness - just because he can. He may not have done it out of spite, but he certainly didn't do it with any good intention. I just find it odd that he would have a friend who would stick up for him so much, considering their childhood didn't seem that way. His friend seems to exist only because the story needed someone to champion him later on.

Another thing that doesn't work is the imagery. There are plenty of pointless imageries. I can't be bothered to type out the spoilers, but suffice to say, there are a lot of frames where characters would be having a dialogue, and then the frame would be picturing something crude or pornographic - just because - just like Kevin. I have nothing against them, but they were just completely irrelevant and seemed to be included “just because”.

Overall, the plot is ok, along the lines of what has probably happened already, and some portrayal of interesting early “hacking”. But everything feels too over the top for me and none of the characters were even a little appealing.