Motro, Vol. 1

Protagonist Motro is a super-strong boy in a postapocalyptic world, and, after bandits wipe out the nearby town, he sets out on a wanderer’s journey with his talking motorcycle. Large, androgynous, and with a head of flaming ’80s rocker hair, Motro eventually becomes the chief of a new settlement and sets out to right the world, but at a highly metaphorical cost. Farinas and Freitas (Judge Dredd) have worked on this project nearly a decade; Farinas’s art evolves considerably over the course of the book, and his blobby, Moebius-inspired world-building is striking. However, rather than being artistic and profound it comes off as confusing and randomly cobbled together. The book is hailed as an example of what can happen when creators have complete freedom, but it’s also an example of what can happen when there are no editors. (July)