‘The Smart Division’ Asks What Happens When the Perfect Crime Is Just an App Away
Dark Horse Comics announced The Smart Division, a five-issue limited series from writer Zack Kaplan and Eisner Award-winning artist John Pearson, arriving August 5th. The two previously worked together on Mindset at Vault Comics, a series that was subsequently optioned for TV development, and The Smart Division marks their first collaboration since.
The series is set in a near-future where a mysterious AI app is helping people evade law enforcement and pull off seemingly flawless crimes. When the technology appears connected to a perfect murder, an unlikely pair of investigators team up to launch the FBI's first dedicated AI crimes division: a veteran agent and a Gen-Z tech prodigy whose approaches to the job couldn't be more different. Eisner-winning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou and designer Tom Muller round out the creative team.
"John Pearson and I have been planning our second series for years, looking for the right story and right time," said Kaplan. "The Smart Division takes everything you loved about our first series Mindset, the playing with form, the thoughtful commentary on technology, and the tense character drama, and raises the bar, with more danger and dread. Artificial Intelligence is the hot topic of our time, but we're exploring it like you've never seen - what happens when it helps us commit the perfect crimes."
"Like the work myself and Zack have done before together, The Smart Division aims to raise a lot of questions about technology and humanity," said Pearson. "If we continue to exploit increasingly advanced Artificial Intelligence, what are the consequences that we will have to face? The contrast of the digital and the traditional is a huge driving force for the artwork in the series, exploring the creative process through painted pages to contrast with the technological abundance the characters face."
The Smart Division #1 (of 5) is on sale August 5th. The main cover is by Pearson, with variants for issue #1 by Matt Taylor, Jacob Phillips, and Jesse Lonergan.
