The internet did not create #MattBors, but the internet would be a much poorer place without Bors and his acerbic, scorchingly funny webcomics, which he publishes at #TheNib (a site he founded), amongst some of the web's most iconic humor:
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/21/libras-assemble/#the-uz
1/
Founding The Nib and creating a home for all those great webcomics would be legacy enough for one creator, but Bors monumental accomplishment with The Nib is topped by his savage creation, Mr Gotcha, the single most effective rebuttal to the most annoying Reply Guys on the whole internet:
https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/
2/
#Dayenu: if he had only founded The Nib, it would be enough. If he had only created Mr Gotcha, it would be enough. But Bors continues to amaze and delight. In *Justice Warriors*, a graphic novel he co-produced with #BenClarkson, we get a distillate of all the weird, crazed things both grotesque and lovable about the net of a thousand lies:
https://membership.thenib.com/products/justice-warriors
3/
*Justice Warriors* is what you'd get if you put #JudgeDredd in a blender with #Transmetropolitan and set it to *chunky*. The setup: the elites of a wasted, tormented world have retreated into Bubble City, beneath a hermetically sealed zone.
4/
Within Bubble City, everything is run according to the priorities of the descendants of the most internet-poisoned freaks of the modern internet, click- and clout-chasing mushminds full of corporate-washed platitudes about self-care, diversity and equity, wrapped around come-ons for sugary drinks and dubious dropshipper crapola.
5/
Outside of Bubble City is the Unoccupied Zone, which is very much occupied with a teeming assortment of motley mutants, themselves gripped by endless crazes, fads, and trending subjects. The Uzzers are Bubble City's hated underclass, viciously policed by the Bubble City cops, who mow them down with impunity, crying about their impending PTSD as they work the trigger.
6/
*Justice Warriors* is a cop buddy-story dreamed up by Very Online, very angry creators who live in a present-day world where reality is consistently stupider than satire. As Bors told #CyBeltran in *#ComicsBeat*, "The current moment is so many things at once, it’s an omni-crisis of politics and attention—that’s what felt important to tap into, that sense of frenzy you can barely keep up with."
https://www.comicsbeat.com/matt-bors-justice-warriors-interview/
7/
That's the feeling of *Justice Warriors*, all right. As Bors puts it, they tackle "social media derangement, celebrity culture, investment schemes, mass movements, and A.I." in a tale with more sight-gags, densely packed literary references, and savage takedowns per page than anything you've ever read.
8/
The art in this book is *spectacular*, styled a bit like those ultra-busy #AlJaffee *#MADMagazine* spreads, or the #MossEisleyCantina, or the wild alien scenes from #BenHatke's YA classic #ZitaTheSpaceGirl kids' graphic novels:
But *Justice Warriors* is grosser, busier, and more frenetic than any of them. As Bors describes it, they created "a chaotic mutant-infested city that tops the most sensory-overloading cities in all of comics and animation."
9/
*Justice Warriors* is a mind-altering experience. If you liked #Bubble, #JordanMorris and #SarahMorgan's apocalyptic comedy podcast/graphic novel, you'll *love* *Justice Warriors*:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/21/podcasting-as-a-visual-medium/#huntr
This is a comic book the internet needs. In a century, when our mutant descendants wonder how it all went wrong, they can use *Justice Warriors* as a Rosetta Stone to make sense of the detritus of our civilization.
eof/
Cory Doctorow
