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The New World #1-5
The New World
The United States of America -- after the Second Civil War. Two people meet and fall in love. One, a very orderly vegan hacker ready to make some mess. The other, a chaotic cop with a reality tv show that never stops. Head. Over. Heels. With the entire Republic of New California after them, they run. A ballistic SF action romance mini-series in the vein of MAD MAX and ROMEO AND JULIET by ALES KOT, TRADD MOORE and HEATHER MOORE.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2019
7 people are currently reading
342 people want to read
About the author
Aleš Kot
268 books177 followersAleš Kot is a post-Chernobyl, pre-revolution, Czech-born, California-based writer/producer who started in graphic novels and now makes films, television, and an occasional novella.
A. believe in art and community.
A. doesn't believe in borders nor cops.
A. believes in love, which they know is a very Libra answer. And what about it?
A. believe in art and community.
A. doesn't believe in borders nor cops.
A. believes in love, which they know is a very Libra answer. And what about it?
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
May 13, 2019
This is visually overpowering in a delightful way. The story, while nothing new at all, is both clunky and compelling, if such a thing can happen - In a future new world, reality star girl with political clout and little regard for other people's rules meets social activist vegan ethically-driven boy. They hook up and instalove and that's when the trouble starts.
It was fun and I enjoyed it up until the end when I was massively disappointed because all that build up, all those colors, all that jazz for a static ending?
To me, this felt like a collaboration between Jamie Hewlett and Rock & Rule but with more Asian drama masks, as colored by Dr. Seuss.
It was fun and I enjoyed it up until the end when I was massively disappointed because all that build up, all those colors, all that jazz for a static ending?
To me, this felt like a collaboration between Jamie Hewlett and Rock & Rule but with more Asian drama masks, as colored by Dr. Seuss.
October 28, 2019
The future. Stella is a rising star on a reality TV show where cops armed with the latest high tech battle armor catch--and sometimes execute--criminals. Kirby is a hacker who dreams of smashing the state. Before you can say, “Romeo and Juliet,” they're in love and on the run from, well, everybody. All together now: Can two young lovers from such different worlds ever find true happiness?
Fortunately this book has style to burn. Aleš Kot keeps the action coming fast and furious, with just enough tongue in cheek to make it a madcap romp. Tradd Moore’s art is gorgeous, looking like a collision between Moebius and Peter Max. There's an incredible amount of fun packed between these two covers.
This graphic novel brought a huge smile to my face. Recommended!
Fortunately this book has style to burn. Aleš Kot keeps the action coming fast and furious, with just enough tongue in cheek to make it a madcap romp. Tradd Moore’s art is gorgeous, looking like a collision between Moebius and Peter Max. There's an incredible amount of fun packed between these two covers.
This graphic novel brought a huge smile to my face. Recommended!
January 10, 2019
One of the best books I read from 2018.
This book is so beautifully done. First off, the art is fantastic. It’s super vibrant and all the shapes have this like curve/roundness to it, it makes the book seem groovy. It has a lot of bright neon colors that also bring out this groovy attitude. The story is set some time in the future, so there’s a lot of really cool tech outfits and sweet weapon designs! And one scene at a rave that I could not stop looking at.
Cop on the run with the hacker she refused to arrest. Evil angry grandfather out for revenge. Now, although it may seem that this book is very political (the main subject being police brutality) it’s actually a lovely story! I was really surprised by how sweet and funny this series turned out to be. Always when you less expect it too. My favorite being the cat and robots relationship. There’s just one volume out and the end seemed to suggest this was really the end. Totally fine with that, no open questions or lose ends; just hope.
This book is so beautifully done. First off, the art is fantastic. It’s super vibrant and all the shapes have this like curve/roundness to it, it makes the book seem groovy. It has a lot of bright neon colors that also bring out this groovy attitude. The story is set some time in the future, so there’s a lot of really cool tech outfits and sweet weapon designs! And one scene at a rave that I could not stop looking at.
Cop on the run with the hacker she refused to arrest. Evil angry grandfather out for revenge. Now, although it may seem that this book is very political (the main subject being police brutality) it’s actually a lovely story! I was really surprised by how sweet and funny this series turned out to be. Always when you less expect it too. My favorite being the cat and robots relationship. There’s just one volume out and the end seemed to suggest this was really the end. Totally fine with that, no open questions or lose ends; just hope.
December 17, 2018
I received an ARC copy of this book from Edelweiss
The art in this is absolutely GORGEOUS. Everything is so bright and all the different character designs are great. Every page is just so visually stimulating and there's so much to look at. I would definitely recommend it for the art alone if you're really into unique art styles and designs. The plot definitely took a little while to get off the ground and for a lot of the book it seemed like a very standard 'Romeo and Juliet sci-fi update' kind of thing, but the last issue in this volume really brought everything home and I was just impressed with the whole thing overall by the end. I think you could leave the series here as a kind of 'ambiguous ending' but if the author is planning on writing more then I definitely would like to read it.
The art in this is absolutely GORGEOUS. Everything is so bright and all the different character designs are great. Every page is just so visually stimulating and there's so much to look at. I would definitely recommend it for the art alone if you're really into unique art styles and designs. The plot definitely took a little while to get off the ground and for a lot of the book it seemed like a very standard 'Romeo and Juliet sci-fi update' kind of thing, but the last issue in this volume really brought everything home and I was just impressed with the whole thing overall by the end. I think you could leave the series here as a kind of 'ambiguous ending' but if the author is planning on writing more then I definitely would like to read it.
March 2, 2019
Too soon to tell if this is going to be any good (I'm assuming it will continue past this book, which doesn't really wrap anything up or provide a conclusion). Kot is one of those writers it takes a bit of getting used to and you either love him or hate him (or is it them, I forget?). This story isn't all that original and it doesn't really go anywhere, either. And while the artwork by Moore is really beautiful, at times, it gets stylized to the point of unintelligibility. Nice coloring work by Moore's wife? (just a guess on my part) Three stars for promise, but the story better start moving...
April 20, 2020
Not really a fan of the story or the dialogue but I'm throwing in an extra star for Tradd's art.
August 14, 2020
The New World has an interesting plot and beautiful art. I would say that the world needs a little bit more building. There were a few concepts that could have had a little bit more explaining.
Basically it's no Saga, but its pretty interesting.
Basically it's no Saga, but its pretty interesting.
March 19, 2023
Stunning from start to finish. The love story wasn’t as fully formed as I would of liked but l loved this world and Stella Maris’ personality. The illustrator is so talented. This is a favorite. I ended wanting more.
September 16, 2021
A bombastic, psychedelic, dystopian sci-fi romantic adventure. Such a wild ride, with mild Black Mirror vibes. Highly recommend this visually stunning Romeo & Juliet romp if you’re a fan of Saga or Kim & Kim!
March 2, 2020
Interesting, relevant plot of two opposites (a pacifist cop and anarchist hacker) who fall in love, just in time to expose the murderous war machine of a not so distant America. A bit too condensed in my opinion, our characters rush through a simple chase scene over the five chapters this graphic novel spans. Fun colors and shapes, with an illustration style similar to a futurist Geof Darrow, The New World brings us vivid imagery with an alright story. Definitely would recommend others to check out for the art, but can't imagine myself wanting to read this more than once. Would have made a better series if made more complex; perhaps it could have followed a similar vein of The Incal or Hard Boiled.
Read
December 27, 2018A generation after their second Civil War, America remains divided. And in the new greater California, televised law enforcement is big business. A TV cop who won't kill falls for a straight-edge hacker - only to learn he's her next target, and this time she's meant to finish the job! I enjoy a nice daft Romeo & Juliet riff as much as the next sap, but this is held back both by Kot's characteristic flaws (the political preachiness verging on the Banksy even as it tries not to sound preachy, characters with clunkily referential names like Kirby Miyazaki) and weird echoes of noughties Warren Ellis. Remember how Ellis used to deploy slightly outdated tech buzzwords in slightly off contexts, resulting in shit like Bluetooth Doombots? The rebels here are planning to start a pirate radio network with blockchain! Still, it's mostly rescued by lurid, larger-than-life art from the Moores, who even manage to turn the deeply 'aaaaah' final revelation into something almost moving.
(Edelweiss ARC)
(Edelweiss ARC)
December 4, 2018
A strong four stars.
This is a very good comic, that manages to be both gaudy and trippy but gritty and edgy at the same time. Heck, it even turns from being The Running Man into The Truman Show and gets away with it. In some post-nuclear America criminals are hunted down as spectator sport, one by one, by enhanced and augmented police officers, who are also reality stars thanks to their inbuilt video camera streams and suchlike. The audience also has a vote on whether the perps get killed after the arrest. For some reason, some people think this is a bad idea, like our hero – who just so happens to have boffed one of the main cops. What will happen when she ends up on the hunt for him? There's a lot of hi-tech and a lot of soul, and aside from the slightly dodgy father figure most of the characters are worth spending time with. It's certainly a distinctive book, the way key scenes are presented in the most day-glo, hippyish visual manner possible. A very enjoyable opening arc.
This is a very good comic, that manages to be both gaudy and trippy but gritty and edgy at the same time. Heck, it even turns from being The Running Man into The Truman Show and gets away with it. In some post-nuclear America criminals are hunted down as spectator sport, one by one, by enhanced and augmented police officers, who are also reality stars thanks to their inbuilt video camera streams and suchlike. The audience also has a vote on whether the perps get killed after the arrest. For some reason, some people think this is a bad idea, like our hero – who just so happens to have boffed one of the main cops. What will happen when she ends up on the hunt for him? There's a lot of hi-tech and a lot of soul, and aside from the slightly dodgy father figure most of the characters are worth spending time with. It's certainly a distinctive book, the way key scenes are presented in the most day-glo, hippyish visual manner possible. A very enjoyable opening arc.
March 17, 2019
Aleš Kot brings a post-apocalyptic tale in which the United States are transferred into a divided states after being hit by several nuclear explosions. The story starts off really good and stays really good until an unsatisfying ending leaves you with a lot of questions. It feels like Kot started his own 'Saga' but the sales numbers forced him to limit this to five issues.
The artwork is stunning, a mixture of Incal-Moebius, Manga influences, psychedelic pop art, ... a lot of the pages are amazing but don't distract from what the writer wants to tell.
The artwork is stunning, a mixture of Incal-Moebius, Manga influences, psychedelic pop art, ... a lot of the pages are amazing but don't distract from what the writer wants to tell.
August 21, 2019
Middle of the road for me, didn't love or hate it. I heard some buzz about this book so i grabbed it but honestly I underwhelmed. The story is about a futuristic world where two unlikely people meet and form a relationship. The writing is fine and so is the story, it kept me interested. So the art.... I was not a fan of, its unique and different but just not for me. Overall its a tough one to recommend, to me it didn't shine in anyone element.
March 16, 2019
It was okay. An interesting story but wish there was a little bit more background to the creation of this dystopian universe. However, I did lose my interest half way and then it picked up towards the end.
October 20, 2020
ACAB until you fall in love with a lady supercoo at which point she proves to you the prior assertion is legit because she has to quit to purify her soul. All you have to do to erase the police is be super cute. byootiful art on this one
June 14, 2019
Loved it! Worth reading!!!
June 26, 2019
Well I love Tradd Moore's work. This book is no exception. His figures and sci-fi ideas are just great. The colors though are a touch simplistic, and don't do much to make the art pop. They look like flats rather than finished work, which is too bad, because some of these images could really use more dynamic lighting and depth to give Moore's work that surreal element that makes it so fun to look at.
Anyway, story is not much. It's a neat world, but the exposition is sinfully spat up on the reader by inconsistent narrators and characters who lack heart. They just didn't feel real to me, with inconsistent behavior and dialogue that kept me from understanding who they were or why they were attracted to each other.
Good time with the art, didn't hate reading it, was totally entertained. Don't know if I'll stick around, haven't really had any good experiences with Kot's books.
Anyway, story is not much. It's a neat world, but the exposition is sinfully spat up on the reader by inconsistent narrators and characters who lack heart. They just didn't feel real to me, with inconsistent behavior and dialogue that kept me from understanding who they were or why they were attracted to each other.
Good time with the art, didn't hate reading it, was totally entertained. Don't know if I'll stick around, haven't really had any good experiences with Kot's books.
December 25, 2018
One day Ales Kot will stop devolving into a sentient puddle of self-cliche and lazy pitches about being open-minded and futuristic and anarchism and all that noise. For now, though, enter "The New World", the comic book version of a "Greatest Hits" album, except instead of hits it's largely garbage.
Basically, if you've read the majority of Kot's prior works, you'll be hard-pressed to spot a single new idea or beat here, except, perhaps, for the ill-advised inclusion of memes that were outdated even as the single issues of the story were being published. There's the rebellious offspring of a government person, there are the continued references to vivid tech and hacking, there's the running political commentary that comes with all the gentleness of a car fender, and there's, of course, the inclusion of polyamory and overly ironic dialogue. And yet there is a noticeable lack of other things that I loved Zero for. Every single would-be emotional moment is ruined by a poorly timed (and, predominantly, poorly executed) joke, thus adding this to an ever-growing list of media that seems to twist the concept of vulnerability and sincerity in characters into a punchline. Haha, having feelings is so lame, right?
And, god, where did the Ales Kot that wrote Zero go? The person that managed to write compelling dialogue and a mysterious story, how did that treasure of a writer turn into the Kot of Now that writes clumsy exposition for 10 pages, sprays in a smattering of cringy lines, and tops it off with literal "record scratch, freeze frame, yup, that's me" references?
And even Tradd Moore, the juggernaut of amazing art and cool action, drops the baton halfway through, resorting to panels that are simultaneously beautiful and incomprehensible. Not to mention the fact that it's just plain offensive to have someone that talented on drivel of this caliber.
Last but oh so very much not least, let me say a hearty "what the hell were you thinking?" to that joke of an ending twist. That is just... wow.
Ales Kot gets the generous award of "The Glow Down of 2018" and I get to, hopefully, never think about this awful comic again.
Basically, if you've read the majority of Kot's prior works, you'll be hard-pressed to spot a single new idea or beat here, except, perhaps, for the ill-advised inclusion of memes that were outdated even as the single issues of the story were being published. There's the rebellious offspring of a government person, there are the continued references to vivid tech and hacking, there's the running political commentary that comes with all the gentleness of a car fender, and there's, of course, the inclusion of polyamory and overly ironic dialogue. And yet there is a noticeable lack of other things that I loved Zero for. Every single would-be emotional moment is ruined by a poorly timed (and, predominantly, poorly executed) joke, thus adding this to an ever-growing list of media that seems to twist the concept of vulnerability and sincerity in characters into a punchline. Haha, having feelings is so lame, right?
And, god, where did the Ales Kot that wrote Zero go? The person that managed to write compelling dialogue and a mysterious story, how did that treasure of a writer turn into the Kot of Now that writes clumsy exposition for 10 pages, sprays in a smattering of cringy lines, and tops it off with literal "record scratch, freeze frame, yup, that's me" references?
And even Tradd Moore, the juggernaut of amazing art and cool action, drops the baton halfway through, resorting to panels that are simultaneously beautiful and incomprehensible. Not to mention the fact that it's just plain offensive to have someone that talented on drivel of this caliber.
Last but oh so very much not least, let me say a hearty "what the hell were you thinking?" to that joke of an ending twist. That is just... wow.
Ales Kot gets the generous award of "The Glow Down of 2018" and I get to, hopefully, never think about this awful comic again.
November 9, 2025
Tradd Moores art is actually eye candy. I could look at his pages forever.
December 13, 2018
Not A Dreary or Sappy Futuristic Actioner - This Is A Smart and Funny Futuristic Actioner
This TP collects the five issues of the "New World" series, which is described as a complete mini-series.
The idea here is that we are in a post-apocalyptic world, with the U.S. divided into five major regions. The action takes place in New California. This isn't a tale of famine and violence, though. New California is doing quite nicely, thank you; it just needs authoritarian rule and diverting entertainment to keep everything running smoothly. Police in augmented mech-suits star in reality shows and go out of their way to kill miscreants on camera. Hackers hack away trying to undermine the settled order. Everyone is kept safe by a big wall on the border, (ha, ha).
The Romeo and Juliet angle arises from the fact that our hero, Kirby, is a straight-edge, vegan, hacker, good guy who's trying to put it to the Man. Our heroine, Stella, is the most popular cop on TV. She also refuses to kill anyone, which creates tension back at the TV station and with the government, but hey, that's the way she rolls. The most surprising and engaging zig to this zag is that while our Romeo is totally straight-laced, our Juliet is a hard drinking, hard partying, drug abusing, polyamorous, potty mouthed whirlwind.
They meet cute, she's assigned to kill him, they fight cute, they team up cute. Talk about the battle of the sexes. But here's the fun part. Stella is witty and deadpan funny. Kirby's Dad is an old-school burnout who teases Kirby mercilessly. Kirby has a slow-burn throwaway sort of humorous style. There's an AI who mixes sarcasm and irony, and offers comments on the action. These characters are smart and funny in the way most buddy-action comedy-dramas could only dream of.
I wasn't sure about the art here. It's sort of manga-ish, with big and bright colors and a lot of trippy Peter Max-style colored rainbows. Except that whenever the plot needs to be clear and sharp the drawing becomes clear and sharp. So it's comprehensible and accessible when necessary, but then gets wilder and more impressionistic as the action rises and falls. The artist is very much in command of which style and approach fits which elements of the story, so it always seemed to work. The characters are expressive and recognizable even when the backgrounds are getting fantastic, and as a consequence you never lose your attachment to the flow of the story. I was a little surprised this worked, but it really did.
So, this ended up being an entertaining find, with a good main story, but also lots of angles, bits, and throwaways that jazzed it all up. This TP ends with the characters on the verge of a New World experience, so I guess it's open ended if the author ever wants to revisit the characters. I was a little surprised by this, but it was a good surprise.
(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
This TP collects the five issues of the "New World" series, which is described as a complete mini-series.
The idea here is that we are in a post-apocalyptic world, with the U.S. divided into five major regions. The action takes place in New California. This isn't a tale of famine and violence, though. New California is doing quite nicely, thank you; it just needs authoritarian rule and diverting entertainment to keep everything running smoothly. Police in augmented mech-suits star in reality shows and go out of their way to kill miscreants on camera. Hackers hack away trying to undermine the settled order. Everyone is kept safe by a big wall on the border, (ha, ha).
The Romeo and Juliet angle arises from the fact that our hero, Kirby, is a straight-edge, vegan, hacker, good guy who's trying to put it to the Man. Our heroine, Stella, is the most popular cop on TV. She also refuses to kill anyone, which creates tension back at the TV station and with the government, but hey, that's the way she rolls. The most surprising and engaging zig to this zag is that while our Romeo is totally straight-laced, our Juliet is a hard drinking, hard partying, drug abusing, polyamorous, potty mouthed whirlwind.
They meet cute, she's assigned to kill him, they fight cute, they team up cute. Talk about the battle of the sexes. But here's the fun part. Stella is witty and deadpan funny. Kirby's Dad is an old-school burnout who teases Kirby mercilessly. Kirby has a slow-burn throwaway sort of humorous style. There's an AI who mixes sarcasm and irony, and offers comments on the action. These characters are smart and funny in the way most buddy-action comedy-dramas could only dream of.
I wasn't sure about the art here. It's sort of manga-ish, with big and bright colors and a lot of trippy Peter Max-style colored rainbows. Except that whenever the plot needs to be clear and sharp the drawing becomes clear and sharp. So it's comprehensible and accessible when necessary, but then gets wilder and more impressionistic as the action rises and falls. The artist is very much in command of which style and approach fits which elements of the story, so it always seemed to work. The characters are expressive and recognizable even when the backgrounds are getting fantastic, and as a consequence you never lose your attachment to the flow of the story. I was a little surprised this worked, but it really did.
So, this ended up being an entertaining find, with a good main story, but also lots of angles, bits, and throwaways that jazzed it all up. This TP ends with the characters on the verge of a New World experience, so I guess it's open ended if the author ever wants to revisit the characters. I was a little surprised by this, but it was a good surprise.
(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
March 2, 2021
This garish love story takes place in New California, one of the four countries emerging from the rubble of the second American Civil War of 2037. On one side of the tracks is Stella, one of the stars of a hyped-up version of "Cops" whose live takedowns of criminals are beamed across the country. Viewers text their votes to execute the criminal or show mercy, but Stella is the only cop who refuses to ever follow the polling and execute. This is something only she can get away with because her grandfather is the head of New California, ruling from his mansion at Griffith Observatory.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks is Kirby Miyazaki (a lame literal namecheck of masters of the sequential arts), who is a vegan, Billy Bragg-singing, hacker seeking to fight the system with his kooky friends and a pirate radio station. Naturally the cop and hacker meet at Long Beach rave and after a quickie in the bathroom they appear to have bonded for life. But the day after their tryst, Stella's next assignment is to take out Kirby! And for this assignment, she's paired with another TV killer cop, and he just happens to have a dark past with Kirby's father...
As the above demonstrates, the story is a little slapdash -- and feels cobbled together from pieces of pop culture in a way that's not as inventive as I would have liked. The reality-TV trope has been done to death over the years, from that 1980s Stephen King short story that got turned into The Running Man to Battle Royale and Hunger Games. The connection between Stella and Kirby amounts to little more than a hookup. Stella's AI home system is kind of amusing, but has also been done before. The use of her cat as comic relief is cute. I dunno -- the story just felt kind of dashed off.
The artwork, on the other hand, is quite distinctive and worth a look. There are some interesting and unusual forms and shapes that lean hard into both pop art and psychedelic sensibilities. Couple that with the ultra-vivid coloring, and you get something that's different from the average graphic novel. The paneling tends toward simple 3-5 frame widescreen panels per page, with the occasional showstopper full-page image. All in all, come for the art, but don't expect too much from the story.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks is Kirby Miyazaki (a lame literal namecheck of masters of the sequential arts), who is a vegan, Billy Bragg-singing, hacker seeking to fight the system with his kooky friends and a pirate radio station. Naturally the cop and hacker meet at Long Beach rave and after a quickie in the bathroom they appear to have bonded for life. But the day after their tryst, Stella's next assignment is to take out Kirby! And for this assignment, she's paired with another TV killer cop, and he just happens to have a dark past with Kirby's father...
As the above demonstrates, the story is a little slapdash -- and feels cobbled together from pieces of pop culture in a way that's not as inventive as I would have liked. The reality-TV trope has been done to death over the years, from that 1980s Stephen King short story that got turned into The Running Man to Battle Royale and Hunger Games. The connection between Stella and Kirby amounts to little more than a hookup. Stella's AI home system is kind of amusing, but has also been done before. The use of her cat as comic relief is cute. I dunno -- the story just felt kind of dashed off.
The artwork, on the other hand, is quite distinctive and worth a look. There are some interesting and unusual forms and shapes that lean hard into both pop art and psychedelic sensibilities. Couple that with the ultra-vivid coloring, and you get something that's different from the average graphic novel. The paneling tends toward simple 3-5 frame widescreen panels per page, with the occasional showstopper full-page image. All in all, come for the art, but don't expect too much from the story.
April 11, 2019
I'm typically not a fan of Ales Kot. Every piece he's written features a dystopic future, the rebellious child of an authority figure, strange, almost incomprehensible artwork, and a general downer attitude towards everything. The New World, despite meeting almost all of those criteria, completely caught me by surprise: I really liked it.
Set in New California after a nuclear war ravages the United States, The New World stars Stella Maris, child of New California's leader and current star of a Hunger Games-style police show. So far, so Ales Kot.
But then Kirby comes in. He's a chill, straight-edge hacker who disrupts an episode of Stella's show, landing him on the shitlist of some very important people. Kirby's fun! Kirby's cool! Kirby is a new type of character for Ales Kot. So it's especially nice to see him form a relationship with Stella and for the two of them to flip the bird at New California's police state.
Sure, the story takes some dark twists and turns, but for the most part it's unexpectedly fun. And romantic! Can't believe I'm saying that about an Ales Kot book. The back cover references Romeo and Juliet and it's not wrong. All of this general upbeatness is furthered by Tradd Moore's incredible art. If you just open to a given page, you'll probably think, "oh gross, who could ever read this mess?" But if you give it a chance, Moore's art will grow on you, coming into focus to reveal all sorts of exciting hidden details. I often found myself going back to a previous panel to check out the contents of Kirby's kitchen. Yes, the art can get overly outrageous, but the psychedelia largely adds to the hip, futuristic, positive nature of the book.
I can't say the ending was amazing, though I give it credit for trying to drop a big twist on the reader. And, well, the main story beats have been done before, many times. But this new iteration is fantastic! And fun! And upbeat! So upbeat that I still can't believe The New World is a product of Ales Kot. Maybe he's turning over a new leaf.
Set in New California after a nuclear war ravages the United States, The New World stars Stella Maris, child of New California's leader and current star of a Hunger Games-style police show. So far, so Ales Kot.
But then Kirby comes in. He's a chill, straight-edge hacker who disrupts an episode of Stella's show, landing him on the shitlist of some very important people. Kirby's fun! Kirby's cool! Kirby is a new type of character for Ales Kot. So it's especially nice to see him form a relationship with Stella and for the two of them to flip the bird at New California's police state.
Sure, the story takes some dark twists and turns, but for the most part it's unexpectedly fun. And romantic! Can't believe I'm saying that about an Ales Kot book. The back cover references Romeo and Juliet and it's not wrong. All of this general upbeatness is furthered by Tradd Moore's incredible art. If you just open to a given page, you'll probably think, "oh gross, who could ever read this mess?" But if you give it a chance, Moore's art will grow on you, coming into focus to reveal all sorts of exciting hidden details. I often found myself going back to a previous panel to check out the contents of Kirby's kitchen. Yes, the art can get overly outrageous, but the psychedelia largely adds to the hip, futuristic, positive nature of the book.
I can't say the ending was amazing, though I give it credit for trying to drop a big twist on the reader. And, well, the main story beats have been done before, many times. But this new iteration is fantastic! And fun! And upbeat! So upbeat that I still can't believe The New World is a product of Ales Kot. Maybe he's turning over a new leaf.
January 30, 2019
*I received this book as an eARC from Image Comics via Edelweiss. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
This comic takes place in the near future after a Second American Civil War. A nuclear event has destroyed most of the United States. This story takes place in the New Los Angeles, within the New California. The Guardians is an entertainment franchise that streams cops taking down perps and involves the audience voting on the outcome. One of the protagonists is a reality star cop, the other is a hacker that ends up a perp. And somehow, they connect.
I really liked the modernity included in this future world. Often future worlds in media look like our own past's idea of the future instead of moving forward from now. I was a little confused by the "Millennial" lingo being used by the Millennial aged characters considering that they would be a few generations ahead. The middle-aged characters were shown not familiar with terms like "poly" and making an effort to show how open they were with the gender of other's potential partners. Another middle-aged character was reprimanded by a youth for using the term "Internet of things" which made me laugh. Maybe the Second Civil War threw the country back a few decades, though.
The art is beautifully vibrant. The colors are great and the design of the characters and the world are wonderful.
I give this graphic novel a 4/5. I really enjoyed this modern story. And thankfully there's a whole story in this volume. Often times I read a first volume of a series and I feel like I've only read a prologue. This wasn't like that, but I do hope for more stories that take place in this world with these characters.
This comic takes place in the near future after a Second American Civil War. A nuclear event has destroyed most of the United States. This story takes place in the New Los Angeles, within the New California. The Guardians is an entertainment franchise that streams cops taking down perps and involves the audience voting on the outcome. One of the protagonists is a reality star cop, the other is a hacker that ends up a perp. And somehow, they connect.
I really liked the modernity included in this future world. Often future worlds in media look like our own past's idea of the future instead of moving forward from now. I was a little confused by the "Millennial" lingo being used by the Millennial aged characters considering that they would be a few generations ahead. The middle-aged characters were shown not familiar with terms like "poly" and making an effort to show how open they were with the gender of other's potential partners. Another middle-aged character was reprimanded by a youth for using the term "Internet of things" which made me laugh. Maybe the Second Civil War threw the country back a few decades, though.
The art is beautifully vibrant. The colors are great and the design of the characters and the world are wonderful.
I give this graphic novel a 4/5. I really enjoyed this modern story. And thankfully there's a whole story in this volume. Often times I read a first volume of a series and I feel like I've only read a prologue. This wasn't like that, but I do hope for more stories that take place in this world with these characters.
February 17, 2019
Attn: Fans of Akira/Katsuhiro Otomo, Moebius, DBZ, vintage vengeance flicks, The Wicked + The Divine. Anime people, Fifth Element fanatics, people who love a good AI character, those who plan to dance through the apocalypse.
A reality show in which police officers - wearing what I can only describe as full-on Judge Dredd in a club at the end of the world mech-suits - capture criminals and then wait for an audience poll to decide whether to jail or execute the suspect. Like American Idol, but for the death penalty. Stella is the most popular officer on said reality show, despite her refusal to yield to the public’s desire to murder. She is the orphaned granddaughter of President Herod, living in a penthouse under surveillance in every possible sense.
Outside of this compound where the show is produced and the world is monitored, Kirby Shikaku Miyazaki lives with his generally drunk veteran father and does what he can as a hacker to dismantle the police state. This gets him onto the radar of Herod and his Guardians after he interrupts the broadcast to display the words “SMASH THE POLICE STATE” in bold black on red.
Later, Kirby and Stella lock eyes across a fabulous two-page dance floor and consummate their respective hotness on the bathroom sink. It’s gorgeous. Less gorgeous is the next morning when in they wake up to find that Kirby is now enemy of the state du jour. Hijinx and revolution abound.
A reality show in which police officers - wearing what I can only describe as full-on Judge Dredd in a club at the end of the world mech-suits - capture criminals and then wait for an audience poll to decide whether to jail or execute the suspect. Like American Idol, but for the death penalty. Stella is the most popular officer on said reality show, despite her refusal to yield to the public’s desire to murder. She is the orphaned granddaughter of President Herod, living in a penthouse under surveillance in every possible sense.
Outside of this compound where the show is produced and the world is monitored, Kirby Shikaku Miyazaki lives with his generally drunk veteran father and does what he can as a hacker to dismantle the police state. This gets him onto the radar of Herod and his Guardians after he interrupts the broadcast to display the words “SMASH THE POLICE STATE” in bold black on red.
Later, Kirby and Stella lock eyes across a fabulous two-page dance floor and consummate their respective hotness on the bathroom sink. It’s gorgeous. Less gorgeous is the next morning when in they wake up to find that Kirby is now enemy of the state du jour. Hijinx and revolution abound.
March 14, 2019
This was disappointingly generic. In the future, a reality show follows agents who are somewhere between law enforcement and bounty hunters. One such agent is Stella Maris, who always catches but never kills her quarry. Meanwhile a hacker named Kirby Miyazaki sneaks in to the government-run network studio and manages to interrupt the signal.
Stella, feeling depressed, and Kirby, feeling elated, go out dancing, meet each other without knowing who the other is, and hook up. Not long after, Kirby becomes a wanted man and Stella is tasked to find him. There's a confrontation, after which they run off together, and try to keep each other safe from other hunters.
I didn't like the artwork. Other people did, and that's fine. In fact, I'm willing to bet that everyone who likes this book likes it because of the art. But I'm a black-and-white snob, so the vector-based lines with flat, over-saturated color is not my taste.
The thing is, this is called "The New World". It's not new, it's been done before. But, more important, the setting plays very little part in the plot. You could tell almost the exact same story in set the present. Reality show cops, hidden cameras, hacking broadcast signals, life on the run in the digital age. Yup. Exact same story.
Stella, feeling depressed, and Kirby, feeling elated, go out dancing, meet each other without knowing who the other is, and hook up. Not long after, Kirby becomes a wanted man and Stella is tasked to find him. There's a confrontation, after which they run off together, and try to keep each other safe from other hunters.
I didn't like the artwork. Other people did, and that's fine. In fact, I'm willing to bet that everyone who likes this book likes it because of the art. But I'm a black-and-white snob, so the vector-based lines with flat, over-saturated color is not my taste.
The thing is, this is called "The New World". It's not new, it's been done before. But, more important, the setting plays very little part in the plot. You could tell almost the exact same story in set the present. Reality show cops, hidden cameras, hacking broadcast signals, life on the run in the digital age. Yup. Exact same story.
December 6, 2019
So first off, I'm a fan of Ales Kot. I enjoyed The Surface and Bloodborne.
Zero is my second favorite graphic novel series of all time. I really like this guy's talents.
That said, The New World mostly falls flat. The political setting of a post second civil war America divided by walls and smaller nations doesn't really matter to the plot at all, its just sort of set dressing. It could be removed entirely and almost nothing would be lost.
The two main characters who "fall head over heels in love?" Literally just two raver kids that see each other on a dance floor, bang in a bathroom, then go their seperate ways without even speaking to one another. This happens over the course of 2 pages. Yeah... not convincing in the slightest. We're supposed to expect these two to risk their lives and freedom, and of everyone they know, to go on the run together? No.
One of the main heroes and main villains literally die off-page during the climax. And theres another final twist that while interesting symbolically, makes zero sense whatsoever in a literal context and cheapens the entirity of everything that happened before it.
Ales Kot is an incredible writer. This is a very poor example of his work.
Zero is my second favorite graphic novel series of all time. I really like this guy's talents.
That said, The New World mostly falls flat. The political setting of a post second civil war America divided by walls and smaller nations doesn't really matter to the plot at all, its just sort of set dressing. It could be removed entirely and almost nothing would be lost.
The two main characters who "fall head over heels in love?" Literally just two raver kids that see each other on a dance floor, bang in a bathroom, then go their seperate ways without even speaking to one another. This happens over the course of 2 pages. Yeah... not convincing in the slightest. We're supposed to expect these two to risk their lives and freedom, and of everyone they know, to go on the run together? No.
One of the main heroes and main villains literally die off-page during the climax. And theres another final twist that while interesting symbolically, makes zero sense whatsoever in a literal context and cheapens the entirity of everything that happened before it.
Ales Kot is an incredible writer. This is a very poor example of his work.
April 25, 2021
4.5 stars, rounded up | The first thing I noticed about this book is the artwork. I've never seen anything like it before, and I really like it. It's colorful, bubbly, and curvy. For me, all of that adds this dynamism that entices me to keep turning the page.
January 30, 2019
I heard about this graphic novel yesterday while I was in Seattle at ALA Midwinter during the Image Comics Book Buzz and decided it sounded right up my alley, so I found it and checked it out. The best part? The entire story is collected in this volume, so the story arc is complete. I was pretty thrilled about that.
I mean you all know I'm a sucker for a romance, reality shows, and sci-fi graphic novels, and this one did not disappoint. I thought it was pretty well paced, with action and character development and lots of exciting things. I was particularly fascinated with the idea that being a cop was basically this reality show where you went after perps and then the audience voted on whether or not the cop would kill them. Also, the artwork was very bright and poppy and sometime I felt like it had an almost manga-ish vibe. But I really enjoyed how bright and eye-catching the colors were, I thought it really added to the entire story.
I mean you all know I'm a sucker for a romance, reality shows, and sci-fi graphic novels, and this one did not disappoint. I thought it was pretty well paced, with action and character development and lots of exciting things. I was particularly fascinated with the idea that being a cop was basically this reality show where you went after perps and then the audience voted on whether or not the cop would kill them. Also, the artwork was very bright and poppy and sometime I felt like it had an almost manga-ish vibe. But I really enjoyed how bright and eye-catching the colors were, I thought it really added to the entire story.
March 2, 2019
The first issue of this series may be one of my favorite single issues I have ever read. Ales Kot's writing is wordy and meandering with philosophical and technological buzzwords sprinkled throughout. The political subtext is intriguing, but I'm not sure it ever really delivers on what Kot's is trying to say. Narrative pacing is inconsistent with weird jumps in time and tone, but the overall story is fun with cool characters.
However, Tradd Moore's art is superb with bold line work and designs that make this series a blast to read. Page layouts are inventive, especially when the story alternates between two stories, and action scenes are bombastic with stylistic depictions of movement. Heather Moore further elevates each page with beautiful, vibrant coloring which makes this work truly memorable.
Ultimately, this work is a mediocre story, but the artwork makes it something truly great.
However, Tradd Moore's art is superb with bold line work and designs that make this series a blast to read. Page layouts are inventive, especially when the story alternates between two stories, and action scenes are bombastic with stylistic depictions of movement. Heather Moore further elevates each page with beautiful, vibrant coloring which makes this work truly memorable.
Ultimately, this work is a mediocre story, but the artwork makes it something truly great.
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