Tsu and the Outliers

Description

Tsu is lonely, and his only friend is a monster. Together, they fight an ape-scientist and his minions, who want to study and exploit the monster. The struggle was confusing to me, but in the end Tsu chooses to stay by the side of his hurt monster. The story is somewhat unresolved, leaving room for additional novels.

My advanced copy of this graphic novel was only printed in black and white, so the final pictures are going to have a different feel, but I didn’t really enjoy the pictures, as there is a lot of shading, action, and confusing detail. There is very little writing; more text may have helped me understand the story more, as the pictures did not.

I liked how Tsu has his own language with his friend the monster, but it would have been nice to have a translation, as the meaning wasn’t always clear, and that was frustrating. There is definitely some more adult language including, “crapped his pants,” “hell,” and “smells like sh–.” Plus one character gives another the middle finger.

All in all, I think this book is probably only appropriate for young adults with the patience to try to figure out such a confusing storyline.