Comics Alternative

This month, both Gwen and Andy are battling colds, so it’s “Two sick people with PhDs talking about comics for young readers!” But there’s nothing unhealthy about the three comics Gwen and Andy discuss on this month’s show: Royden Lepp's Rust: The Boy Soldier (Archaia/BOOM! Studios), Sara Varon's Sweaterweather and Other Short Stories (First Second), and MK Reed and Joe Flood's non-fiction book, Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers (First Second). They begin with Rust: The Boy Soldier, and they found it to be both an exciting adventure story set after a world war and an effective reflection on power, responsibility, and humanity. Jet is a young boy with a jetpack who saves a farm from a killer robot left over from a destructive world war, but the Taylor family -- whose farm Jet saved -- isn’t sure whether Jet is a friend or a foe. The book’s sepia-toned art recalls photographs from the early twentieth century, but its story is one that transcends time. Although an action/adventure book, Rust: The Boy Soldier also