This week on Collecting Issues, we’re talking about The One Hand and The Six Fingers—two five-issue series from Image Comics (2024) by Ram V, Dan Watters, Laurence Campbell, Sumit Kumar, Lee Loughridge, and Tom Muller.

Set in the gritty, retro-future city of Neo Novena, these stories unfold from two perspectives: a weary detective facing a familiar case on the eve of retirement, and a brilliant student who wakes up with memories of a murder. What starts as a ritual killing slowly unspools into something much stranger—where nothing is real, everything loops, and the world might just be a cage.

We’re talking:

• Murder, glyphs, and glitching cogs
• Noir tropes used with purpose—not irony
• Robots doing people jobs, people thinking like machines
• How these two comics were written in conversation, not collaboration
• The big existential ending (and why it works)

If you like Blade Runner, The Matrix, Memento, or Dark City, this one’s worth your time. But seriously—read the comics before listening. It’s impossible to talk about them properly without giving things away.

Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction to 'The One Hand and the Six Fingers'

01:13 Spoiler Alert: Read Before Listening

01:30 Engaging with the Audience

04:22 Plot Overview: The Future and Parallel Stories

05:00 Detective Ari Nasser's Last Case

05:49 Johannes Vale's Mysterious Journey

07:04 Creative Teams and Artistic Styles

08:08 The Noir Aesthetic and Setting

10:09 The Mystery Deepens

30:54 Existential Revelations and The Matrix

38:14 Literary Influences and Themes

40:01 Post-Capitalist Themes and Inspirations

40:42 Philosophy Bites and Post-Work Societies

42:17 The Sunset Limited and Philosophical Debates

43:05 Comic Book Collaboration and Glyph System

47:27 Art and Visuals in the Comic

59:20 Character Analysis and Stereotypes

01:04:18 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Reads

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