To Terra... Volume 1

Provocative ideas animate this story by revolutionary female manga artist Takemiya. After seeing how uncontrolled humanity wrecked Earth, survivors form the Superior Domination and decide to move to other planets and improve on nature: henceforth, all children will be computer-designed for rationality, then purged of all memories at puberty so they can be supervised by a "mother" machine. Sometimes, however, testing discovers that the child is a Mu, a hyperemotional and uncontrollable telepath, who are driven underground by the S.D. Having been raised as a normal boy, 14-year-old Jomy desperately resists contact by the Mu, especially the news that he is an exceptionally powerful latent telepath who is destined to lead the Mu back to Terra. Meanwhile, cold-blooded Keith is rising in the ranks of the military forces designed to keep a rejuvenated Earth clean of Mu contamination. Takemiya's layouts are inventive, but her art is a bit fragile for space opera; in particular, her people look too wispy. Her story, though, is uncommonly compelling as it begins grappling with characters who, despite their one-sided upbringings, are looking for the same thing: Terra, family, a place to call home. With echoes of The Matrix and A.E. Van Vogt's Slan , this looks like the start of an interesting journey. (Feb.)