One part Mad Max, and one part Blame!, Elecboy takes some of the better tropes from dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction and makes it something of its very own. Europe Comics has done a fine job of introducing me to many comics and creators that I have not been familiar with, and this is yet another entry that has caught my attention.

“In a devastated cityscape, a lone man fights off creatures of fearsome power: white, winged, serenely impassive, and capable of terrifying transformations… Decades later, in a desolate American southwest, a meager colony of human survivors ekes out a precarious existence between dwindling water supplies and magnetic shields that screen them from roving bands of aerial attackers. An ancestral upper class presides, while in the lower city, laborers do the hazardous work of keeping everyone alive. But all that may be about to change when the mysterious Joshua comes of age…”

Jaouen Salaün is a French writer and artist that has apparently been trying to bring the pages of Elecboy into life for over 18 years. Good news is, the story is fairly good, and more importantly the art is absolutely GORGEOUS, I want to see more of this guys creature designs more than anything. They remind me a bit of Tsutomu Nihei a tad, it would be interesting to see if that was one of his influences in any way.


This book is part one in a series, and tells a fairly compelling story until a cliffhanger ending made me sad that I don’t have more to read. I’ll have to keep checking back with the publisher to see when more of this is released. To be honest, I have come to the conclusion that I’m fairly confused as to why Europe comics isn’t bigger than what it is. They consistently have better content than other companies that feature a lot of European comics such as Heavy Metal – here’s hoping they take off at some point in the future.

My issue with this graphic novel was that it didn't feel engaging.

Illustrations felt really plain, let's try and explain. Character profile drawings were simply frozen...

Same with the story, I didn't get the main plot... Things were happening, but at the same time it just felt like a random set of actions.

Maybe I'm just not into much post-apocalypse topic.

3.5 stars

Graphic Novel of the post-apocaliptic flair. A struggle to follow the plot for moments, starts with an epic battle between beings that resemble alien-angels-Venom and another one.

Later, jump to 18 years later (2122) where isolated communities in the desert struggle to find water, and where the Tribe are the rough rulers. What then seems to turn into a teen comic with mean guys fighting over the girl who gets involved with one of the 'downstairs'. And that looks to become a soap opera.

Meanwhile, workers face deadly difficulties maintaining electromagnetic motors to keep AIs away from town, and to get water. And, we are still far from knowing why these beings (AI / aliens) are looking for something on Earth, although we are already guessing something.

The volume ends by leaving several questions, since it is only introductory.

Good art.

I'm not sure if I'll keep reading the second volume.

TW: Violence, fighting, blood, rape, nudity

About the book: In a devastated cityscape, a lone man fights off creatures of fearsome power: white, winged, serenely impassive, and capable of terrifying transformations… Decades later, in a desolate American southwest, a meager colony of human survivors ekes out a precarious existence between dwindling water supplies and magnetic shields that screen them from roving bands of aerial attackers. An ancestral upper class presides, while in the lower city, laborers do the hazardous work of keeping everyone alive. But all that may be about to change when the mysterious Joshua comes of age…

Thoughts: I thought the story flowed. I can see how others could get confused. I felt for Josh. He was just trying to find out what happened to his mother. I loved the whole apocalyptic tone of the graphic novel. It's a harsh world where getting water is even dangerous. Things for me got weird when rape was brought out into the plate. I know it isn't random in a world where the world is struggling but it just seemed like it was added as an after thought.

Thanks: to Netgalley and Europe comics for this advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I spent a lot of this book feeling like I was missing some key piece of information, like I had skipped a few books already. I was just confused.
That being said, I really enjoyed the art style and I really think the story could have been great, had it been a bit more clear.

This story is just dark, tragic and weird. Unfortunately the way the dialogue bubbles are arranged makes it very hard to follow and most of the story is just incomprehensible. The art is ok, but a story that has absolutely no beauty or hope in it, just isn't for me.
Also I was so disgusted with the way women were handled in this book (and also had no interesting contribution to the plot). I understand that sometimes bad things need to happen in a story to move it forward, but I draw the line at raping one's own sister.

I received an ARC to review from Netgalley and Europe Comics.

The art here is gorgeous, and some action scenes look great. I also enjoyed most characters. That said, the story didn't grip me from the get-go and I found it a little confusing. I expect the next volume will answer the questions I asked myself and I'll gladly check it.

The artwork really beautiful but the storyline is good but I think not my cup of tea.
Thanks for the chance.

This book has fantastic art. Unfortunately, it’s also extremely confusing. I had to reread certain sections of text to figure out what was going on. The focus kept abruptly switching between character groups which often threw me off. There are very few women in this book, and all of them are treated horribly. Most implied to be victims of sexual violence.

Mad Max, Greec Mythology and scyfi. 2122, the world is different now. People are divided in tribes, where one of them rules with violence and rude laws. Earth is invided by android angels who serve Zehus.
I'm not used to this kind of comic but I've enjoyed it a lot. The characters are very well builded. I'm so curious about Josh, and I hate so much Sylvio. Also, I'm very intrigued by Zehus, a giant, much like the Greek god Zeus, who lives on a spaceship with android angels.
It's a very curious idea and there are so many misteries. The pacing is perfect, it keeps intrigue and I always wanted to read more to answer some questions of the story. I would love to read the next one. It's a great start to new series.

It's ok. I like the artwork, especially that of the angels/AI but the story seems to plot a downtrodden white caucasian family against the ruling colour, made up of people of a more ethnically diverse mix, portrayed as powerful savages, which is a problem. The world outside of the AI is 99% Mad Max, which feels a bit derivative, even down to a panel or two portraying the leader's face looking very like the villain in the most recent Mad Max movie, and the water tanks being of the same design etc. This is also a problem - although I won't quibble that this is a terrifyingly plausible future for us. The AI bits are interesting, love the deistic nods and I would be interested to find out more about them, but I am not sure I can over come the problems I have outlined.

Hard to tell where this story will go in the next installments, this first issue is a bit like Mad Max but with a touch of sci-fi involving celestial beings, which gives it a unique edge. Worth watching the series to see what comes next.

Hmmm. I don't know what to really think of this one. It is about 100 years in the future after civilization as we know it has ceased to exist. There are small pockets of people left living in settlements. Everything is very rough: the people and the environs. Resources are limited. There is some sort of non-human humanoid attacking towns.

That is what I got out of this graphic novel. I wanted to like it more, but something about it didn't quite click with me. The artwork was good. The story was a touch hard for me to follow. There were a lot of threads to follow.

The art for this is stunning, but the writing could do with some tweaks.
Although different to what you might assume (from the front cover) the plot was still intriguing, but there were quite a number of questions unanswered at the end. We have a battle between unknown beings at the beginning, which results in a cataclysmic event that forces humanity into settlements in the desert where it's a struggle just to even get water. There is a strange almost 'cult-like' vibe to the town and unfortunately the people who seem to be suffering most are the women, who are desired only for their ability to have children and don't seem to put up any kind of fight as they're dragged off to be impregnated.
I made the mistake of reading this on my eReader, which removed all of the colour, and it made the scene-skips/sections very hard to distinguish (my own fault as I should have realised) but the artwork still shone and there was a bleakness to the artwork that fitted the setting perfectly.
The writing was sometimes overly deep and I didn't quite understand where it was trying to lead me, but there were moments I did enjoy and would be interested in seeing where the story goes next.

The Netgalley App made it hard to read this graphic novel since it kept jumping around. Even if it had worked, I don't think this is a story for me. There seem to be different groups of human survivors scattered about, with sentient beings hunting them (are they good or bad, we don't know) and the multiple story lines didn't seem to connect. I'm sure it will all make sense with more volumes, but for now, I'm going to pass.

Good plot and post-apocalyptic concept but as a beginning it felt it very slow and dragging. Characters were missing sparks and everything was just too confusing. Graphics were amazing and detailed but I hope there was something more happening in the book.

I received a free e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings: Attempted incestuous rape, violence, blood

I don't have much to say about this one. The art work was excellent, and I think the worldbuilding was interesting - it's set in a post-apocalyptic world where AI robots attack humans. It focuses on one village in the desert where humans are safe from outside enemies. But it's a world where it is a struggle to find water and food, there are vast class differences between the upper village and lower village, and asylum seekers are reviled.
What I couldn't stand was the treatment of women. This graphic novel does not pass the Bechdel test. One of the two on-page female characters who is named is just a plot device so the male lead and his nemesis can beat the crap out of each other. Oh, and her half-brother tries to rape her.
And then her half-brother decides they should take all the attractive looking girls and young women from the lower village & asylum seekers as 'breeders.'
So to sum up, this is a dark, disturbing hellscape with basically zero female characters. The side story about the AI robot angel things searching for our main character hasn't really developed much at this point either. The whole volume was pretty much set up (which is fine). Unfortunately, I won't be continuing with the series.

Elec Boy, 1-birth, by Jaouen Salaün, is a story about a community who struggle to survive in a hostile world. It begins with a mysterious being fighting a powerful alien kind of enemy, and follows with a village with their ongoing struggles. Some work to provide the daily necessaries for the people, while others simply rule, or even bully, others. Josh, otherwise known as Elec boy, is targeted because he is more of an outcast. But he’s not afraid, and there seems to be some other-world strength about him that we as readers, are yet unaware of. This is rated for teens/adults as there is nudity and profanity in the story.
I liked the world building and the interactions between the villagers, especially the younger crowd. It felt real, like the hen-pecking order of the society was in place. There are quite a few different scenes that you have to follow to remember who is who, but overall if flows fairly well. Being new to this book, I would have liked a longer story setup and explanation of what was going on—who and what the alien creatures are, what their purpose was, etc. instead of them just battling it out whenever they met each other. Josh is not yet developed as any type of hero, though I would imagine that would be the focus of future installments.

This graphic novel seems promising but I had a problem with the way it was structured. Indeed, even after a few days, I still feel confused. I think this is because there are many switches of scenery and because the characters weren’t properly introduced. Moreover, the author makes the reader wonder about too many things without answering any questions. Concerning the characters, they are for the moment quite unlikeable but maybe that will change. I mostly hope that women will be depicted differently because for the moment, when a woman appears it’s only to be treated as a breeder or an object of desire.
Therefore, I expect the next volume to answer most of the questions and to develop the characters and their world. A lot has to be explained for me to like this graphic novel.
2.5/5

this one freaked me out, for real. the art was kinda gruesome and the story was chilling too, so it wasn't really something that I enjoyed