Softies: Stuff That Happens After the World Blows Up (Softies #1)

After surviving the destruction of Earth in an industrial terrarium, 13-year-old Kay puts on a brave face as she traverses the galaxy with new friends: queer, salmon-scaled space waste collector Arizona, and cyborg cat Euclid. Maintaining a steady pace, Smeallie keeps Kay bouncing through the cosmos, visiting a cosmic library, selling Earth wares to aliens, and picking up a hitchhiker while navigating their feelings about Earth’s end. The wide array of side characters that Kay and Arizona meet across their travels, including a salamanderesque librarian and raccoonlike barterers, make the intergalactic setting feel fully realized. Using variously sized panels and weaving in jokes, including amusing alien commentary about Earth items, Smeallie evokes quick comic beats to amplify humorous images and witty banter throughout. Episodic scenes can feel lengthy in this space fantasy (originally a webcomic), and some references, such as to Jimmy Neutron, may go over young readers’ heads, but the story builds to an emotionally satisfying climax as Kay and Arizona at long last confront the trauma of losing Earth and empathize with each other’s tendency to self-isolate. Ages 10–14. (Oct.)■