2021: Lost Children

Young mutants embark on a mission of political assassination in this melancholic near-future dystopian graphic novel. In 2017, the city of Detroit is denied aid by the government due to national industrial and financial collapse. The city secedes from the United States as the Independent Territory of Detroit under the martial law leadership of blind psychic Ike Mercy, a declared “enemy of the nation” who drugs food shipments to mind-control Detroit’s citizens. Mercy’s dissidence throws a wrench into the 2021 Presidential race, so the government dispatches four mutant children with orders to terminate the troublemaker. Possessing “infinite” powers, the kids join a grandfather/grandson pair of anti-Mercy freedom fighters and battle their way to their objective, encountering startling revelations about their history. They’re dogged by premature aging and senility brought on by the deployment of their abilities, which will inevitably lead to their deaths. In action-packed color panels, the creative team plays with tropes familiar from decades of X-Men stories, but this French import wields fresh realism in its characterizations and political aspects, bolstered by elegant artwork and rich color tones. Involving and tragic, this dramatic addition to the mutant superhero genre has a refreshingly grown-up sensibility. [em](Aug.) [/em]