Surgeon X: The Path of Most Resistance

Costumed crime-fighting goes medical in this thriller based on anxiety over epidemics. What’s really needed in 2036 London, where pandemics run wild and medical assistance has been abolished, is a masked maverick doctor. Choosing the Hippocratic Oath over the new anti-medicine laws, Rosa Scott operates an illegal surgery in her basement, using a vigilante identity to save those who have been abandoned by the government. It’s an innovative concept, but the initial setup and worldbuilding are clunky. The story raises valid, if exaggerated, questions about the future of healthcare and antibiotic resistance, and the science appears to be solid. (Kenney thanks a large number of surgeons and scientists for fact-checking her work.) The art by Watkiss (Sandman Mystery Theater), in his final work before his death, is a highlight; the story’s quick shifts from scenes of vibrant upper-class elite to shadowed, subdued grimy streets benefit from strong anatomy and understated expression and movement. Though this tries hard to be V for Vendetta for the national healthcare debate, it’s a fairly pedestrian origin story that just substitutes a medical kit for a utility belt. (May)