UNDER THE INFLUENCE VOL. 1

A federal agent goes undercover at a college to investigate a social media phenomenon gone out of control in Rahal’s graphic novel.

The opening of this thriller takes cues from a digital-era pastime—social media “challenges.” The one in question here is a seemingly harmless stunt in which wired-up young people eat hot dogs in odd or inappropriate circumstances while streaming the video. When a fatality results (a hot dog thief is shot by an angry store owner), the vengeful online “community” built around the gag (a faceless horde called the Hot Dog Party) spreads rumors that a major hot dog manufacturer uses tainted meat; the collapse of the corporation’s stock leads the government to intervene. Federal agent Cara Cole is tasked with infiltrating a college as a teaching assistant and gets close to a student named Paul Kovac; as a boy, Paul’s selfie showing him eating an oversized hot dog became a viral meme. Now, as a young adult (and secretly behind the Hot Dog Party), he claims that a hot dog maker “exploited his likeness for profit.” He recognizes Cara as law enforcement and seems to ask for her help in dealing with the bizarre cult he’s fostered. Or is the onetime internet phenom playing some kind of mind game? Cara befriends Charlotte, another student close to Paul and a self-anointed influencer. Soon there’s another fatality, and worse. Is Paul responsible, or are other malicious forces at work? Rahal’s timely premise, concerning the potential of an unleashed mob of glued-to-their-phone types (and of heavy-handed law enforcement reaction), recalls various real-life hashtag-boosted movements, from Black Lives Matter and #MeToo to Occupy Wall Street. The nimble, stylized artwork by Italian comics specialist Simeone has echoes of Japanese manga. A violent finale (aside from which the most explicit material is the frequent appearance of F-words) seems to wrap the case up, but the script drops enough hints and loose ends (including dark suggestions of trauma in Cara’s past) to set up a second volume.

This psychological thriller of digital discord has some relish, but the real meat may lie in future installments.