Book Review - Re*pro*duct Volume 1

Re*pro*duct Volume 1Re*pro*duct Volume 1 by Austin Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another Netgalley offering. I picked it up because of its unique-sounding plot. The comic is set in a world where humans and robots live, study and work together. This doesn't mean that robots do not face a kind of xenophobia. It is an undercurrent that the first volume briefly touches on. Very briefly.

Our protagonist Carb is undergoing some changes, all while being quite different from his group of robot friends. He's also taken a liking to a human girl, Grace, who reciprocates these feelings. They're all studying, I assume at university, but it's hard to tell. Their youth makes most of the conversations about only one thing; this becomes increasingly tedious, as the subject-matter could easily be lifted to a whole new level if they weren't obsessed with the opposite gender (which in this case is only girls, as the main robot protagonists are all male. Do they even have female robots?).

The art is all pastel smudges, with no clear distinction on the colour usage in different chapters. Add to that the flow of text is inconsistent and makes reading nigh impossible. The text goes sideways, vertical, clockwise, anti-clockwise, zee-shaped; I want to put it down to the fact that I was reading this on a screen and not in a physical comic book, but I'm not sure it will get any better.

The two epilogues should have been prologues and perhaps could have connected directly with the main story. They provide some background to the world, but not enough.

I'm intrigued to read more and find out what's going on with Carb, but the writer needs to lay off the teenage hang ups, it detracts from the story line and the world, which requires a great deal more building. Also, if the art was clearer it might be less confusing to figure out who's speaking and who else is in the scene.

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