Dawnrunner

V (Rare Flavours) and Cagle (the Catwoman series) combine their formidable talents in this dazzling science-fiction psychodrama. In a technologically advanced future, battle mechas fight the Tetza, giant monsters that emerge from a portal over Guatemala. Anita Marr, a single mom with a sickly daughter, is a top pilot selected to test Dawnrunner, an experimental new mecha operated by direct neural link. When she jacks in, Anita experiences the memories of Ichiro Takeda, a soldier who lost his wife in an early Tetza attack. In battle, Anita and Ichiro's identities become confused and Anita physically meshes with Dawnrunner. "There's no way to tell where she ends and the machine begins," her engineer/handler warns, though the corporate and media interests running the program claim it's all good for business. The script wears its influences on its sleeve, borrowing elements from Guillermo del Toro's film Pacific Rim and the anime series Attack on Titan and, above all, Neon Genesis Evangelion. But it's easy to forgive the familiarity when it all looks so gorgeous. Cagle draws sprawling cities, looming monsters, biomechanical gore, and human characters with enough personality to keep the action emotionally grounded. The color team expertly differentiates Anita's saturated tropical city with Ichiro's dark, smoggy battlefield. Sci-fi fans who long for more beauty in rock-'em sock-'em robot battles will be amply rewarded. (Dec.)

Celebrated author Ram V (Rare Flavours) and illustrator Cagle (Detective Comics) craft a gripping science-fiction thriller that delivers visceral action while also exploring the ways in which human civilization has changed, and what has driven these changes, over centuries. The story takes place in a far-future world in which a dimensional portal in the sky over Central America has unleashed colossal monsters known as the Tetza, which have pushed the human race to the brink of extinction. In the wake of this disaster, governments have been replaced by megacorporations, which control the production and deployment of gundam-style mechs called Iron Kings. After a century of conflict, the development of a devastatingly powerful next-generation mech named Dawnrunner suggests that victory over the invaders may at last be at hand. When Anita Marr, the Dawnrunner's pilot, suffers an eerie out-of-body experience in the midst of battle, it causes her to question the status quo, and she is set on a course of discovery with potentially global consequences. VERDICT A stirringly soulful action extravaganza, sure to enthrall fans of gundam or military anime and manga, as well as those interested in science fiction with complex characterization and probing questions about human nature.