2021: Lost Children Vol. 1

2021 #1

by Stéphane Betbeder, Stéphane Bervas (Illustrator)

Four superpowered children are the only hope of the USA retaking the breakaway city of Detroit.

It's 2021. Detroit has seceded from the United States and its citizens are under the control of a madman with extraordinary abilities. The only hope of retaking the city lies with four superpowered children. But their powers come with a price - using them means aging instantly and prematurely. Can they save the city before their powers use up their lives?

Collects 2021: Lost Children #1 and 2.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Comics

101 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 23, 2012

About the author

Stéphane Betbeder est issu des Beaux-Arts d'Angoulême. Pourtant, bien que fan de BD, il a d'avantage étudié là-bas l'art contemporain, la photo, la vidéo. Après une "longue immersion sous apnée dans le milieu de l'art contemporain" (selon ses propres termes) et divers petits boulots sans intérêt, Christophe Bec lui offre sa première chance avec le scénario d'Hôtel particulier, première mouture d'Anna. Stéphane a trouvé là la façon de concilier sa passion pour l'écriture et l'image. Il poursuit sa route avec la série Alister Kayne, chasseur de fantômes (avec Eric Heninnot). Depuis, les projets se multiplient et nous promettent de belles heures de lectures.

Reviews

[Paul-Hervé · Rating 2 out of 5]

Une bande dessinée en deux tomes qui partait d'un concept intéressant mais qui n'a à mon avis pas su décoller. Le concept? Des enfants soldats OGM qui vieillissent quand ils utilisent leurs pouvoirs. Le contexte? Les Etats-Unis dans les années 2021 qui sont en proie à une insurrection dans la ville de Detroit (décidément, c'est souvent à Detroit que ça se passe mal) sous l'égide d'un gourou aux pouvoirs psychiques. L'auteur aborde différents: le pouvoir politique, les élections (l'histoire a lieu en pleine campagne présidentielle), le libre arbitre (ses enfants n'ont pas choisi d'être soldats). Cependant, la profondeur n'est pas au rendez-vous et le lecteur reste sur sa faim a l'issue de sa lecture. Les dessins sont sympas, mais ce n'est pas suffisant.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Your standard, bleak sci-fi dystopia with the added twist that it's a European take on what might happen in America. Kids as cannon fodder, warring factions where the rebels those in power are equally scummy, etc etc etc. Just to drive the point home the bad guys on eeither side are twins or clones.

This has clearly been sized down from the larger European comic format without any alternations, so the text is tiny and difficult to read and makes characters even harder to distinguish from each other than they already are.

[Socialite · Rating 3 out of 5]

sci fi with potentially interesting ideas but fails in execution. Also I think it's a French translation which explains the don't and the dialogue at times coming across strange. I would actually want to see this adapted into a film though because at least it would be different from other sci fi films out there.

[Sonic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorry folks, first off, I have a major complaint,
the text was too small, (it could have been a little bigger)
so that even with my glasses it was a strain at times to read it.
But I DID wanna read it,
because this story is flipping' awesome,
and the art is perfect.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incoherent storytelling throughout; a lot of the artwork is impressive in showing the scale of the industrial & city settings, but it is very much a case of the sum of it's parts being less than the component elements.