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Steam
A young boy named Arlo escapes his abusive guardians on Earth, through an intergalactic portal to the steam-powered planet of Pother.
While there he discovers that his long-lost father inadvertently helped a powerful corporation from Earth, in their efforts to deplete the planet's resources. In an attempt to set things right, Arlo joins a small group of resisters from Pother, as they work to both remove this dangerous organization from their world, and protect the planet's indigenous beings. Through this epic adventure, Arlo discovers his own self-worth, and perhaps even his life's ultimate destiny.
While there he discovers that his long-lost father inadvertently helped a powerful corporation from Earth, in their efforts to deplete the planet's resources. In an attempt to set things right, Arlo joins a small group of resisters from Pother, as they work to both remove this dangerous organization from their world, and protect the planet's indigenous beings. Through this epic adventure, Arlo discovers his own self-worth, and perhaps even his life's ultimate destiny.
144 pages, Paperback
Published June 9, 2020
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 6, 2022
Don’t be fooled by the nice cover; this graphic novel had a threadbare plot, impossible to follow action, and art ranging from barely acceptable to completely awful.
The plot was absolute nonsense. It was circular and repetitive, ridiculously simplistic yet entirely vague to the extent that what the bad guys actually wanted wasn’t even clear and what the good guys wanted wasn’t all that clear either. It was an endless rescue mission but beyond that there was nothing else—a fact made all the worse by being pointed out by one of the characters within the story.
The setting was an unoriginal fantasy and steampunk mix that made about as much sense as the name “Pother”. The world building was confined to a compacted three page info dump which still managed to be confusing. The character designs were sufficiently steampunk-esque but the art was often of such a low quality that the children looked like bobble head figures and other characters looked like a variety of stick figures and blobby shapes.
Most of all, this graphic novel’s problems all stemmed from the fact that everything included felt random. Every element from the robot to the deadlings to the fact that the protagonist, Arlo, was previously sexually abused was added in for about a second without full consideration. There was no depth and no pacing, and so it just barrelled through the storyline like an out-of-control steam train until it crashed into an insanely convenient conclusion.
So, I really recommend you don’t read this. Even if you’re looking for a way to waste your time, trust me, there are graphic novels out there that can waste your time much better than this can.
The plot was absolute nonsense. It was circular and repetitive, ridiculously simplistic yet entirely vague to the extent that what the bad guys actually wanted wasn’t even clear and what the good guys wanted wasn’t all that clear either. It was an endless rescue mission but beyond that there was nothing else—a fact made all the worse by being pointed out by one of the characters within the story.
The setting was an unoriginal fantasy and steampunk mix that made about as much sense as the name “Pother”. The world building was confined to a compacted three page info dump which still managed to be confusing. The character designs were sufficiently steampunk-esque but the art was often of such a low quality that the children looked like bobble head figures and other characters looked like a variety of stick figures and blobby shapes.
Most of all, this graphic novel’s problems all stemmed from the fact that everything included felt random. Every element from the robot to the deadlings to the fact that the protagonist, Arlo, was previously sexually abused was added in for about a second without full consideration. There was no depth and no pacing, and so it just barrelled through the storyline like an out-of-control steam train until it crashed into an insanely convenient conclusion.
So, I really recommend you don’t read this. Even if you’re looking for a way to waste your time, trust me, there are graphic novels out there that can waste your time much better than this can.
June 20, 2020
This is a bit of a mess. We are thrown into the story, and we have to swim hard to catch up. And while I enjoy doing that if the story is really good, from what I could see, the illustrations were better than the story itself
Aslo was abandoned by his father, by accident, and his aunt abandoned him as well. His father, Henry got sucked into an steampunk world where the indigenous people are ghosts like beings, and the current settlers are human like beings. And the US government is extracting ores of some kind, which is never explained what sort, from the planet as well.
Can you keep up yet?
Yeah, the illustrations are fun, but the story just runs along a mile a minute.
If you can keep up, that is fine, but I never felt as though I got to know the characters or care about them. Even Arlo is a bit of an icon, the boy who saves everyone.
So, not sure if I would recommend it or not. Your mileage may vary.
Aslo was abandoned by his father, by accident, and his aunt abandoned him as well. His father, Henry got sucked into an steampunk world where the indigenous people are ghosts like beings, and the current settlers are human like beings. And the US government is extracting ores of some kind, which is never explained what sort, from the planet as well.
Can you keep up yet?
Yeah, the illustrations are fun, but the story just runs along a mile a minute.
If you can keep up, that is fine, but I never felt as though I got to know the characters or care about them. Even Arlo is a bit of an icon, the boy who saves everyone.
So, not sure if I would recommend it or not. Your mileage may vary.
July 4, 2020
In a very brief space, Ford, Leslie and de la Cruz have managed to cram a ton of personality and backstory into the world of Pother and each inhabitant. It is impressive how they are able to define each character so well in the space of a single panel with only an line or two of dialog, body posture and facial expression.
Transitions were abrupt at times, making the action a bit tough to follow from one scene to the next, but the pacing never let up from the start.
I would love to see more stories in this world.
Transitions were abrupt at times, making the action a bit tough to follow from one scene to the next, but the pacing never let up from the start.
I would love to see more stories in this world.
September 20, 2020
| Read on Reader Fox |
"And this, my dear boy...is Pother."
Literally the only reason that I picked up Steam by Drew Ford and illustrated by the wonderful Duane Leslie and Eva de la Cruz was because it was promoted as Steampunk. I don't know about you, but I've always loved that style. And to have a fun, adventuresome graphic novel filled with it? I was so excited to read this book. And from the start, I was truly eager to learn more about the amazing world pictured on the cover.
Steam is Kind of a Mess
I hate that I have to say this, but you're really not going to read Steam without getting confused or lost somewhere within it. I honestly felt as though this was the sequel to some other book that I should have read in order to have the background information. That's probably the worst part about it all. Steam, as far as I can tell, is a standalone. And you just do not get enough information from it whatsoever.
This kind of leaves you floundering throughout the whole thing. Areas that should have been explained a little better just weren't. Character arcs we should have spent more time on were left out entirely. I felt like I was constantly playing catch up and it took a lot of my ability to enjoy the novel away.
Artwork
I can say that the artwork, overall, is fantastic. There are, admittedly, numerous occasions in which characters are caricatured to the point that they look ridiculous or even outright creepy. Very few of the characters actually look realistic. In its own way, this did make it difficult to feel immersed in the story. There's only so much exaggeration I can take when it comes to how all the characters are drawn.
However, the world contained some of the most beautiful drawings I've ever seen. If nothing else, you can hands down say that this story had exemplary settings. The gadgets that made up this steampunk world were portrayed excellently.
Looks Cool, But Pretty Unmemorable
In the end, I think it's difficult to really pin this book down. As a graphic novel, it definitely has a lot of merits. But, I think that also played a role in how difficult it was, at times, to fully feel as though I was following the story. I think a lot of world-building and important characterization moments were skipped because the author thought the graphic format would account for it.
Well, it didn't. This felt like a sequel. One in which I was missing a lot of pertinent information. And that's not the way you want your standalone, or your first novel to feel. And as much as I liked the idea for everything involved here, I just didn't like the book itself. The characters weren't all that great since they existed as templates that weren't fully fleshed out. The world needed more development. I needed more of a backstory.
I felt like I'd been thrown smack into the middle of an ongoing story with none of the prep work done to help me understand it. And while, sure, I can say that I was able to figure it all out that definitely hurt my reading experience. As a whole, this isn't a very memorable or engaging story. It's exciting, at times. But that's really all I can say for it.
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"And this, my dear boy...is Pother."
Literally the only reason that I picked up Steam by Drew Ford and illustrated by the wonderful Duane Leslie and Eva de la Cruz was because it was promoted as Steampunk. I don't know about you, but I've always loved that style. And to have a fun, adventuresome graphic novel filled with it? I was so excited to read this book. And from the start, I was truly eager to learn more about the amazing world pictured on the cover.
Steam is Kind of a Mess
I hate that I have to say this, but you're really not going to read Steam without getting confused or lost somewhere within it. I honestly felt as though this was the sequel to some other book that I should have read in order to have the background information. That's probably the worst part about it all. Steam, as far as I can tell, is a standalone. And you just do not get enough information from it whatsoever.
This kind of leaves you floundering throughout the whole thing. Areas that should have been explained a little better just weren't. Character arcs we should have spent more time on were left out entirely. I felt like I was constantly playing catch up and it took a lot of my ability to enjoy the novel away.
Artwork
I can say that the artwork, overall, is fantastic. There are, admittedly, numerous occasions in which characters are caricatured to the point that they look ridiculous or even outright creepy. Very few of the characters actually look realistic. In its own way, this did make it difficult to feel immersed in the story. There's only so much exaggeration I can take when it comes to how all the characters are drawn.
However, the world contained some of the most beautiful drawings I've ever seen. If nothing else, you can hands down say that this story had exemplary settings. The gadgets that made up this steampunk world were portrayed excellently.
Looks Cool, But Pretty Unmemorable
In the end, I think it's difficult to really pin this book down. As a graphic novel, it definitely has a lot of merits. But, I think that also played a role in how difficult it was, at times, to fully feel as though I was following the story. I think a lot of world-building and important characterization moments were skipped because the author thought the graphic format would account for it.
Well, it didn't. This felt like a sequel. One in which I was missing a lot of pertinent information. And that's not the way you want your standalone, or your first novel to feel. And as much as I liked the idea for everything involved here, I just didn't like the book itself. The characters weren't all that great since they existed as templates that weren't fully fleshed out. The world needed more development. I needed more of a backstory.
I felt like I'd been thrown smack into the middle of an ongoing story with none of the prep work done to help me understand it. And while, sure, I can say that I was able to figure it all out that definitely hurt my reading experience. As a whole, this isn't a very memorable or engaging story. It's exciting, at times. But that's really all I can say for it.
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August 11, 2020
Bluuuh, sorry, this book was a BIG miss for me. Mostly, I couldn't figure out what was going on! The art and coloring are fantastic; it's the story I struggled with. At first I thought there was a previous book I had missed. Nope. After reading a few of the notes that accompany the extra drawings in the backmatter, I'm pretty sure a lot was cut from the original story. It's sad because there is a lot of potential with the idea... Overall I found the story hard to follow, minor characters difficult to keep track of, and the plot disjointed. Bummer.
Notes- child abuse, possession/zombie-like creatures, violence
Notes- child abuse, possession/zombie-like creatures, violence
September 5, 2021
Yikes. Young Arno falls through a time/space machine into an alternate realm, Pother. There, Arno's father is stuck toiling away for an Earthen developer who is intent on stripping Pother of resources. Some plucky individuals help Arno and his father escape. The end!
The plot's barely there, the characters are sketches, and the steampunk aesthetic is overwhelming. Truly, Steam might just have been an excuse for the art team to draw imaginative steam gear. It looks decent, but that's about all the praise I can give the book.
The plot's barely there, the characters are sketches, and the steampunk aesthetic is overwhelming. Truly, Steam might just have been an excuse for the art team to draw imaginative steam gear. It looks decent, but that's about all the praise I can give the book.
September 7, 2020
The setting is a steampunk world called Pother. A young boy, Arlo, abandoned by his father lands in this strange place and right in the middle of a three way battle for the fate of the world.
The art and storytelling pulls you throught the book. The characters are interesting, the dialog good, the story substantial. All in all, it's well worth the read.
There are hints at the end that the story is not over, but the ending is quite satisfying as it stands.
I enjoyed it.
The art and storytelling pulls you throught the book. The characters are interesting, the dialog good, the story substantial. All in all, it's well worth the read.
There are hints at the end that the story is not over, but the ending is quite satisfying as it stands.
I enjoyed it.
October 15, 2020
Probably too verbose and dense for kids, though the art is pretty lovely.
December 5, 2020
Really interesting panel work and framing perspective earn this 4 stars from me!
April 9, 2021
The art was wonderful to look at but the story could be hard to follow.
May 26, 2021
Another shining example of really pretty art for a story that has absolutely no idea where it's going.
December 14, 2021
Great art. Chaotic story that’s hard to follow. Would love to have spent more time with the characters instead of chasing them all over the place trying to keep up.
April 29, 2021
Art and story
The art is amazingly detailed and feels original to other steampunk depictions. The story had some holes and ended rather abruptly after a lot of buildup and world building, almost as if they didn’t plan the pages well and had to fit it in to a predefined page limit. I loved the characters and the backgrounds they each had. Overall a good story. I would read another if they make a sequel.
The art is amazingly detailed and feels original to other steampunk depictions. The story had some holes and ended rather abruptly after a lot of buildup and world building, almost as if they didn’t plan the pages well and had to fit it in to a predefined page limit. I loved the characters and the backgrounds they each had. Overall a good story. I would read another if they make a sequel.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews