Publisher: First Second Books

Release Date: November 13, 2012

Price: $16.99 paperback

Creator: Derek Kirk Kim

Format: 156 pgs., Black & White, Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-5964-3516-2

Age Rating: Not Rated by publisher

ICv2 Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

 

This is one of the strangest science fiction stories of all time, told in graphic novel form.  Andy, a talented but overconfident art student, quits art school in order to leap into his art career.  Sadly, success doesn't immediately knock on his door, and under pressure from his family to achieve some form of success, he takes a very unusual job offer… as a display in an alien zoo.

 

The story opens with him in his display cage, and the rest is told in flashback.  Much of the story is about his relationship with his parents, an excitable mother and a father whose face we never see, since he spends the entire book reading his newspaper.  There is also his would-be relationship with another art student, a mutual attraction to which Andy has been remarkably oblivious.  Then, there are the alien zoo recruiters, truly odd slapstick humanoids with their own agenda.

 

Kim's artwork is cartoony and enjoyable in this story, but the pacing is sometimes distracting, speeding up and slowing down at odd times.  The story is good enough that readers will find the "to be continued" notice to be mildly frustrating

 

The book is aimed at teens and adults.  Younger readers may not find it interesting.

 

--Nick Smith: Librarian Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.