Eric Heisserer, the man who will bring the Valiant universe to the silver screen, is a good writer. I like his work, but Lone Wolf 2100’s premise is a mix between an overtly complicated story and a series of ideas that I have seen before. It doesn’t surprise and it only provides brief moments of entertainment.

A virus has changed most people into these violent creatures called the Thrall. Our “cub,” in this case a young girl named Daisy Ogami, has the antidote in her blood and a robot Itto, our “Lone Wolf,” who wields a blade like a samurai has to protect her while getting her somewhere to save humanity.

I was vaguely underwhelmed by the first issue, and here that same lack of interest has befuddled me. Maybe it’s because I’m such a fan of the original manga, Lone Wolf and Cub. A probing search into the world in which our samurai death dealer and his son must journey, each tale focusing on a selection of characters they run into on their journey. There’s a melancholy weight to their journeys that’s poetic. Here, it’s zombies and viruses and fighting. Of course, with any premise there can moments of enjoyment, and Heisserer and his artist, Miguel Sepulveda, allow themselves to have some fun. The action is well-paced and clever. Heisserer takes time to throw in some fun and witty moments. The last line of this issue made me chuckle.

I wish Heisserer was taking more of a page from World War Z (the novel) than Resident Evil (the movie): more humanity, less situational. I wish he was digging into the psychology and sociology of what living in this world would be like. I would love it if he was capturing the spirit of the original series and not just kind of a similar premise, but not really. Alas, the path our heroes take, while the odds they are up against are great, lacks the immediate depth I would greatly appreciate. I’m hoping Heisserer is pulling a fast one, luring in a crowd with action and sci-fi tropes to dig into something more interesting. Fingers crossed.