Review time! with ‘Earth Boy’

“Any way you choose me you’ll break instead”

Paul Tobin knows a thing or two about writing comics, and Ron Chan knows a thing or two about drawing comics, so when you put them together, you get Earth Boy, a new YA book from Dark Horse. Does the combination of these two fine gentlemen cancel out their talent? Let’s take a look!

Tobin wants to write a story about a teen going to a new school and the problems he or she might face, so he just moves the school to space and the setting to the future, so we get Benson Chow (not, presumably, Bensonmum), an Earth boy (funny how that works out) who wants to become the first kid from Earth to go to the Kayrus Galactic Ranger Academy and become a galactic ranger. He does become that boy, obviously, and he leaves Earth for the far reaches of space. When he arrives, he finds out that almost every single alien species he comes in contact with hates Earthlings. They think Earth is a primitive planet and that Earthlings are wildly uncouth, and Benson, of course, kind of is. But he’s a nice guy, too, and he’s lucky that his roommate, Bogley, is a good dude, too, and he meets two other aliens, Lorna and Soraya (she’s the cute one who looks almost human, so of course she and Benson become an item), who are cool, too, so he’s not completely alone. He finds something out about why he got in, and that pisses him off. He also discovers that the main bullies are doing something stupid and dangerous, so he stows away on their ship and ends up having an adventure. It’s a good story, as Benson acts like a kid, but a good kid, so even though he gets angry and wants revenge on the bullies and doesn’t always think of others, he’s also fundamentally decent, so he doesn’t fight with people, he tries to talk to them, and he uses his brain a lot, and he tries to make friends with people even if they’re hostile to him. It’s the kind of story that should be more common in regular superhero stories, because it does teach good lessons, but of course people like a good fistfight. The “funny” thing about this comic is that it’s not boring at all, despite the lack of people beating each other up – Benson has to learn some hard lessons about life, sure, and Tobin turns it story of prejudice and ignorance, which Benson has to overcome somehow, but the adventure he goes on in the second half of the book is thrilling, and it does feature some action with guns, but very little, as Benson uses his brain again to get out of that pickle. It’s a cleverly constructed story (which isn’t surprising because it’s Tobin), because Tobin shows how our actions have consequences … which doesn’t have to be bad. Benson learns from each experience and is able to handle more and more as the book goes on, because he does learn. And when he does something kind early in the book, it can come back in a good way later. It’s very well done. Plus, there’s a lot of humor in the book, which isn’t surprising when you get a bunch of “kids” together in a school. Tobin never lets the book become too serious, and that helps the serious parts land better.

Chan’s art is wonderful, too. His spaceships are kind of a retro 1950s cool, and his alien designs are superb, as he has to create dozens of characters, none of whom are human and all of whom look different from each other (with very, very few exceptions). He anthropomorphizes them wonderfully, too – Bogley is kind of nerdy looking, even though he’s not human, and he pairs well with Lorna, who’s always slightly nerdy, while Soraya is more conventionally cute, as is Benson. The main bully has a hard beak, and his main sidekick has a hard shell, making them both look more intimidating. In a book about prejudice, he subverts our expectations a bit, making some creatures very intimidating-looking but not evil at all, and he does nice work with the way characters present themselves, as they’re often putting on a show for others. His facial expressions are excellent, too, as Benson needs to be expressive when he’s going through all the crap he has to put up with, and Chan nails the frustration of a kid far from home, with few friends, and not a lot of things to look forward to. Tobin doesn’t let Benson wallow, but Chan does a lot of work with that, as he makes Benson’s friends sympathetic but also over his self-pity, and it works very well. Chan’s coloring is brilliant, as well – it looks like watercolors (but probably isn’t), and he uses it to create colors on the aliens that look like skin – there are splotches of coloration that another artist might have defined by lines, but Chan just uses the colors, and it’s really beautiful. He uses a lot of greens and purples, which subtly hints at the “alien-ness” of the creatures without being overwhelming. The book is never dark, so we can see all the terrific art and appreciate the wide palette Chan uses. It’s a really nice-looking comic.

Earth Boy is a delightful comic for all ages, not just the youngers. It’s certainly a comic that tries to teach certain values, but that doesn’t mean that Tobin doesn’t write a story with adventure and excitement. It looks great, it’s fun to read, and it shows how to solve problems without beating people up. You can’t go wrong! (You can go wrong if you don’t use the link below to get this or anything else, because using it kicks back some money to us!)

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆