Review by Booklist Review
Pursued by a massive robot, a boy flies his jet pack into the life of Roman Taylor, and, after a desperate battle to fell the automaton, Roman realizes that rebuilding and reprogramming the machine is the key to saving his failing farm. Meanwhile, young pilot Jet Jones is surely more than he appears, as he claims to have fought in a war between man and machine that ended decades ago. Though it takes place in the present, the World War I aesthetic of the flashbacks places it in a rural everywhen, and the sepia-toned art, with its pulp-inspired robots and jet packs and its modern faces and figures, effectively borrows from a century's worth of influences. Roman's struggle is sharply portrayed with minimal words, allowing the art to carry much of the emotion while delivering clear and thrilling action sequences. Though it feels like just the tip of a much larger story to come, it will be much enjoyed by readers of lyrical fantasy adventures like Matt Phelan's The Storm in the Barn (2009).--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A boy named Jet turns out to be a flying robot who helps save the family farm in this steampunk comic that includes elements of other classic "boy and his robot" tales like The Iron Giant. The setting is an alternate world where in the past a huge war was fought with mechanical men increasingly standing in for humans as the war progressed. Forty years later, Roman Taylor is a teenager struggling to keep his family's farm afloat in his father's absence with the aid of Jet, who appears one day locked in battle with a larger war robot. This first volume of a proposed four-book series is heavy on setup and planting seeds of future mysteries: Why are so many children around the farm crippled? Where is Roman's dad, anyway? Lepp tells the story as an animated storyboard-whole pages of moment-by-moment breakdowns make the action easy to follow, and the beautiful sepia-toned art gives a strong sense of both windswept wheat fields and clanking robot battle. However, the story is marred somewhat by flat dialogue, and some of the action sequences drag on. Still, a promising beginning for an intriguing tale. Ages 12-up. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
