Gone

A thirteen-year-old scavenges for food among the ruins of a dying city on a distant planet, trying to keep herself and her pregnant mother alive, in this transcendent graphic novel from cartoonist Jock (the Batman series). When a planned heist on the fleet's flagship spaceship goes awry thanks to saboteurs ("sabs"), Abi is trapped on board. Speeding away from her mother and her planet, she hides within the immense ship's innards for months that stretch into years. Hunted by the ship's security force, the sabs, and the captain, she also must evade a virus-like "Entity" gradually corroding the ship and zombifying the passengers. Jock's trademark gritty, realistic art style humanizes the space opera elements, with inventive page layouts that energize kinetic action sequences and mimic the labyrinth of the ship's interiors. Large panels and double-page spreads impart an epic, wide-screen feel as the narrative pits a young girl against the vast and endless emptiness of space. It's a whip-smart adventure that barrels along at warp speed. (Aug.)