PUBLISHERS WEEKLY -- In this canny sci-fi thrillerfrom Boss and Rosenberg, the writer-artist team behind 4 Kids Walk into a Bank,readers are thrown headfirst into a bewildering postapocalyptic world. Gangs ofyoung people squat in abandoned buildings, scavenge ruins for clues to the past,feud with one another, and take food supplies and orders from mysterious beingscalled the Strangers. Pregnant teenager Sid belongs to the Academy, a gangheadquartered in a record store whose members keep vinyl albums as personaltotems. A rupture in the uneasy peace between the "families" sendsSid on a journey to answer questions about her bewildering society, with theAcademy on her trail. Boss's vibrant art has a gently cartoonified,design-centered appeal, similar to stylish superhero artists like David Aja andChris Samnee, with offbeat abandoned cities, seedy exurban ruins refurbished MadMax style, and arresting set pieces like a nightmarish carnival. Thebone-cracking brawls allow Boss and Rosenberg to fill the pages with a seeminglyendless array of weird street gangs-it's hard to miss the obvious influence ofthe '80s cult classic movie The Warriors-while stealthily developing the detailsof the kids' makeshift society. The script clips quickly but is slow to give upits secrets. Fans of smart science fiction will anxiously await the nextinstallment.

(July).