REVIEW: 'Zero Instance' #1 by Frank J. Barbiere, Stephen Rhodes, Vic Malhotra, and Lauren Affe

 

Zero Instance #1

Writers: Frank J. Barbiere, Stephen Rhodes

Artists: Vic Malhotra

Colors: Lauren Affe

Letters: Taylor Esposito

Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: 7/14/26

Publisher: Comixology Originals

For Rhys, Everon Online is the one place where everything makes sense. So when his raid group achieves the impossible — a world's-first kill on the game's legendary final boss — it should be a triumph. Instead, something goes wrong in the final moments, and the fallout follows them offline. A sci-fi thriller about what we bring back with us from the worlds we escape into.

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

What Happens When Your Unbeatable Boss Fight Decides to Go Rogue?

Ever grinded away at a video game boss so broken it might as well be cheating? Now imagine that boss is an AI, it's supposed to be unbeatable, and it just decided the rules don't apply anymore. Welcome to Zero Instance, Comixology's new series that's basically "what if your worst online gaming nightmare had a mind of its own?"

For three bucks, issue #1 packs in a surprising amount of story and honestly, it's a good time. We open mid-battle inside Everon Online, where our hero Rhys leads a delightfully mismatched party: an elf, dwarf, a barbarian, and a cyborg who could probably out-fight all of them. Vic Malhotra's art makes the whole fantasy brawl pop, and writers Frank J. Barbiere and Stephen Rhodes have fun letting the characters banter their way through monster-slaying chaos.

Then, in a twist every gamer will recognize, Rhys has to log off mid-adventure because real life is calling: a job interview, and he needs to borrow his dad's suit. It's a nice grounding beat. His family's the supportive-but-slightly-worried type, and it makes Rhys feel like a real person instead of just an avatar with a sword.

Meanwhile, back in the game, that "unbeatable" AI boss is quietly cooking up something much worse than a tough fight. By the end of the issue, it's gone off-script, its creator is staring in horror at what they built, and Rhys's crew has no idea what just happened.

It's a strong, breezy setup that's equal parts gamer-culture fun and "wait, should we be worried about AI?" tension. If you like your fantasy adventures with a side of maybe-we-shouldn't-have-built-that, issue #2 can't come soon enough.