Scott's Take: Rook Exodus Vol 1: Fight or Flight by Geoff Johns, illustrator Jason Fabok, and illustrator Brad Anderson

 

Rook Exodus Vol 1: Fight or Flight by Geoff Johns, illustrator Jason Fabok, and illustrator Brad Anderson is another series set in Geoff Johns universe that he is setting up. There are several series starring different main characters set in different times that somehow tie together in these reads all written by Geoff Johns. For this reader, they don’t mesh at all right now and don’t feel like a shared universe.

 

They are all classified under the “Ghost Machine Universe” which was originally called Mad Ghost, but now has a new label, What is the ghost machine? No Idea. They are all part of the Unknown war? What is that? Also, no idea. Some of the Geoff Johns books are labeled as the Unnamed Universe which is a subset of the whole Ghost Machine universe. What are the Unnamed? Also, no idea. Cool names, but not a lot of info.

 

Image Comics, the publisher for this read, is doing the actual publishing for all these creator owned series. Like with this read, they are supposed to be accessible, but interconnected. Standalone, but meant to be read together. I know that all this means that there are a lot of contradictions and it all seems to be setup to be deliberately confusing. There are also at least three other universe books that exist to tie into the “Ghost Machine multiverse.” I know they really made this confusing. I am doing my best to explain it all.

 

This series was advertised as superhero horror which it is not. I would classify this as dystopian sci-fi.

 

Set in the far future of this shared universe Rook (a man wearing a helmet in the shape of a crow) lives on what is left of a failed outer space colony. He and a small handful of survivors are all that is left of the workers who were abandoned by the rich when the world-engine responsible for the terraforming of the planet failed. Rook has the ability to control crows with his helmet. Since the animals were brought from Earth, various people were given helmets allowing them to connect to the wildlife through a neural interface. The interface works best when the animals are connected to someone with a similar personality, so there are various survivors left with personalities based on whatever animal is depicted on their helmet. These people travel with their nuralinked animals. Rook left Earth after his family farm was destroyed by a fire made worse by ongoing climate change. In the here and now, Rook is attempting to build a ship to take himself off away from the failed planet. Of course, things do not go as planned.

 

The art is good and Rook is a likeable character who grows as the book continues. I liked it a lot, but it is a little cliched. The book ends with a teaser for the future. This is a bit annoying as there are a lot of questions left and the reader is left hanging. Since Geoff Johns is writing everything, he is bouncing back and forth between series so it will be years at least before we get a second volume.  There is also a conspiracy that is set up, but nothing of that is really fleshed out.

 

This series for this reader does not gel with the Geiger series already set in the same universe despite the timeline depicted at the end. In Geiger, there is a nuclear war in the modern era that decimates at least the United States, if not more of the world. Somehow, by the time of Rook, humanity has rebuilt enough for climate change to finish off the planet. Somehow, humanity has also regrouped enough to have colonized several planets. Also, in Geiger, most of the animals have been mutated by the radiation, yet somehow by the time of Rook, there was enough not mutated animals left for mass experimentation to create the neural tech for colonizing Exodus. I am unclear how that happened. I am unclear how any of that has worked.

 

Maybe other books in the universe will explain that. I have only read Geiger, Junkyard Joe, and Rook so far, but there are several others out there. Other people say online that Rook does not tie into Geiger and instead it’s another universe that is untitled now unlike how it was originally planned. But, the timeline in the book says it does, so I guess we go with what the book says over what people say on the internet. I honestly don’t know.

 

I am interested in reading more of this series, but knowing that it will be a long time before Rook’s story is continued is a bummer. I feel like Rook has only just started. I like Geoff John’s work, but I wish he would finish a series first before moving on creating new series at different points.

 

I think my next read in this universe will be Redcoat Vol 1 which sees a man given immortality during the revolutionary war who then goes through adventures throughout time. There is a cabal who is planning on using him to destroy America so maybe that ties in to Geiger. I am on the hold list at my local library for that. Then after that, I think Hyde Street is next. That is supposed to be a horror series set on a magical street.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4jlHZc2

 

My digital reading copy came through the Hoopla App through the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025