May 14, 2018
In another dreamlike urban fantasy from Dalrymple (Pop Gun War), a little girl named Almendra is transported to the comic-book mash-up world of his graphic novel The Wrenchies—a shifting, post-apocalyptic landscape where space aliens and Mad Max–inspired sci-fi vehicles coexist with wizards, ancient temples, and talking animals. She joins a group of other otherworldly lost children, such as the young warrior Leon Fireglove and the petite, mechanical Robot Tod, who gather for a Wizard of Oz–like quest to vanquish the sinister “red wizard,” who periodically pops up to torment them. Originally begun as a stream-of-consciousness webcomic and drawing exercise, the graphic novel develops a loose narrative but shows its informal roots as characters and plot points drift in from the ether and as interstitial sketches and marginal doodles break up the story line. The reader will be sustained, however, by Dalrymple’s hypnotic art; his delicate watercolor-and-ink drawings, showing a strong Moebius influence, vibrate with life and imaginative detail. Recurring visual elements—flies, crows, cats—give the comic thematic unity even as the story fragments. If the children’s quest isn’t always clearly defined, it’s still a beautiful trip to take.