LOW POWER

Robot Fred continues to wage peace across a devastated dystopia.

Having emerged from the ruins of a toy store in the opener (Your Pal Fred, 2022) into a desolate distant future, Fred has gone on to defuse many a burgeoning conflict among the scattered survivors—but can even his superb peacemongering skills suffice to settle dust-ups between large rival armies of navel innies and outies? Or, trickier still, handle a group of methane-blowing trash monsters and a town under the thumb of mercenary con artist Big Dawg and his masked Mutt-Men? As a further complication, even the most sophisticated solar-powered AI needs to recharge occasionally, but the only way to get above the clouds of pollution that permanently block the sun would be, say, to use a big balloon full of…gas. What to do? Looking mild and inoffensive with his big goggles and stylish blue quiff, pale, moon-faced Fred cuts an odd figure amid the ragged and barbarous-looking lot in Rex’s Mad Max–style settings, but so fearlessly does he mediate between sides while spreading his message about the value of listening and respecting differences, that readers can’t help but come to admire him and maybe even adopt some of his clever strategies.

Floats further inspiration for nonviolent conflict resolution.