UNICO

In this second entry in a series based on the work of legendary Japanese cartoonist and animator Tezuka, the tiny unicorn finds himself in a grim city where a little girl and her grandfather are the last remaining humans.

A monstrous polluting factory dominates the town, and armed drones patrol the streets. Unico has no memory of how he arrived, but he recognizes the word unicorn and understands that he can wield some special powers. He meets Chiko, a pale, blue-eyed child, who’s deathly ill. The controlling robot known as Mother reveals her origins and true purpose—now distorted—to Unico, who, with the aid of Garapachi, a papa mouse with a family to feed, hopes to help Chiko escape Mother’s clutches. Unico has to defend his faith in humans when he endeavors to gain the help of the fey, a community of magical beings who have been driven underground by Mother. Meanwhile, the evil goddess Venus covets Unico’s horn for her own purposes and summons Iver, a reptilian interstellar hunter from the “deathly garden,” where she’s stored beings who might be useful to her. She sets Iver free to seek Unico across space and time and “make him and those around him suffer.” The storyline is highly energetic, and the bright, dynamic frames and varied layouts will sustain readers’ interest. The characters and intriguing settings are nicely detailed, and the rich colors and effective use of light and dark contribute to the atmosphere.

Captivating storytelling.