The Transmutation of Ike Garuda

*The Transmutation of Ike Garuda*
The Transmutation of Ike Garuda
	Cover of the 1st issue.
Publication information
Publisher	Epic Comics
Format	Prestige format mini-series
Genre	Science fiction;
Publication date	July 1991 – January 1992
No. of issues	2
Creative team
Created by	Elaine Lee
Written by	Elaine Lee
Artist(s)	James Sherman

The Transmutation of Ike Garuda is a two-issue prestige format mini-series published by the Epic Comics imprint of Marvel Comics, with the first issue being released in 1991 and the second issue in 1992. It was written by Elaine Lee, with art by James Sherman.

Like some of Elaine Lee's other work, The Transmutation of Ike Garuda is science fiction of the noir space opera genre.

Setting

The Transmutation of Ike Garuda is set in a future in which interstellar spaceflight transportation has been obsoleted by the Galactic Access System (abbreviated G.A.S.), an interstellar transportation system that uses teleportation devices called wombs that function in a way similar to the transporters of Star Trek. Wombs are not entirely reliable: luggage is frequently lost, and, less commonly, people are lost as well (it is also implied that the Tranzit Authority may deliberately "lose" its enemies, thereby assassinating them). Furthermore, a few planets, like New Saxon, are off-line, meaning that, for unknown (at least, at the beginning of the story) reasons, they cannot be reached by G.A.S.

The universe is dominated by four organizations:

the G.A.S. Tranzit Authority (abbreviated T.A.), the most powerful megacorp in the universe due to its monopoly over G.A.S.
Diamond Minds (abbreviated D.M.), a smaller megacorp, rival to the Tranzit Authority; it specializes in mind-related technologies and controls a planet also known as Diamond Minds
Cybertronics Systems (abbreviated Cy-Systems), a megacorp specializing in cyberware and organ growing
Hermeeze Elite (abbreviated Hermeeze or Elite), a very reliable courier service whose Grade A couriers may be trusted to safeguard the messages they carry with their lives

Some terms are different from modern-day usage. Computers are known as brain-banks, or more simply, as brains or banks. The calendar uses, instead of years, periods of time known as kics or kiks (the spelling differs through the comic).

Plot synopsis

Private detective Ike Garuda is called in by Diamond Minds, ostensibly to investigate the theft of a prototype of one of its experimental technologies, a sending platform or soloflight transport device. As Garuda investigates, he learns that rather than being involved in a simple industrial espionage case, he is actually caught up in a deeper and much more complex conspiracy that threatens to upset the balance of power in the universe.

Characters

Characters, in order of their appearance or mention in The Transmutation of Ike Garuda, with descriptions of whom they apparently are when they are first introduced (by the end of the story, many of the characters are revealed to be something other than what they initially seemed):

Ike Garuda, the protagonist, a private detective who has had some of his memories artificially erased against his will
Frankie Pongo, a Grade B (second-rate) courier sent by Jim Diamond to meet Garuda when Garuda arrives on Diamond Minds
Jim Diamond, owner of Diamond Minds, who hires Garuda
Lark Diamond, daughter of Jim Diamond and manager of Diamond Minds, who deals with Garuda on her father's behalf
Barry Reasoner, a stuttering engineer who witnessed the robbery of the sending platform
Billy Argent, head of Cybertronics Systems, dying of a degenerative disease
an unnamed Ontean, an alien from the off-line planet Onté who desperately wants to return home, working as a supervisor for the Tranzit Authority
Maera Lethe, a Tranzit Authority agent and interrogator-through-torture who has history with Garuda
Lark Too, a biodroid copy of Lark Diamond
Lirren Vyne, owner of the pleasure planet Vyne's World, a member of the three-sexed Rhodbydysawd
Eddie Argent, nephew and representative of Billy Argent
Director Paloma, a representative of the Tranzit Authority
Xavier Swann, head of Hermeeze Elite, living on his generation spaceship (or gen ship, for short) Swannsong
Lekbah, a Grade A Hermeeze Elite courier working for Xavier Swann
Boote, Xavier Swann's guard, born in and adapted for low-gravity environments
Jerry Diamond, Jim Diamond's cousin

Themes

The Transmutation of Ike Garuda explores a number of science fiction existential themes and asks bioethical questions, such as whether a person who enters a womb has the same identity as the same person reconstituted in a womb on another planet, and whether biodroid copies are just as real as the people on whom they are based.

References

The Transmutation of Ike Garuda at the Grand Comics Database
The Transmutation of Ike Garuda at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
The Transmutation of Ike Garuda at the Big Comic Book DataBase

External links

The Transmutation of Ike Garuda on Atomic Avenue