Jeremy Holt and artist George Schall’s new graphic novel Made In Korea outlines a near-future world in which childless couples can purchase a sophisticated robotic kid powered by AI and designed by its Korean manufacturer to age and develop along human lines.
Bill and Suelynn, an interracial couple (Bill is white; Suelynn is Chinese–American), have purchased Jesse, a nine-year-old female proxy or robot-child, whose software has been secretly manipulated by a rogue developer. The parents (and the robot-child) are soon forced to contend with Jesse’s unforeseen prodigious abilities, as well as the challenges the robot-child faces adapting to flaws inherent in human social relationships.
In this 10-page excerpt, readers encounter the rogue developer while Bill and Suelynn receive and boot up their new (and secretly hacked) AI-driven robot-child.
Made In Korea by Jeremy Holt and George Schall is out now from Image Comics.
This piece was produced in partnership with Publishers Weekly.
