To Terra, 1

Title: To Terra, 1
Author: Keiko Takemiya 
Series: To Terra, 1 
Publisher: New York: Vertical, 2007. 
Collection: Young Adult Graphic Novel 
Resources: Novelist, Goodreads


Annotation:

The future of Planet Earth (Terra) looks bleak. The air is polluted, fish can no longer swim in the oceans or rivers, trees no longer grow, and non-degradable toxins have built up underground. This forces the human race to temporarily leave for other planets and space station to allow Terra to heal. While in exile, humanity set up a safeguard, a new order called Superior Dominion (S.D.) in an attempt to prevent humans from making the same mistakes again. This is where the story is reminiscent of Huxley’s “Brave New World”. Humans are grown in artificial wombs, where decanted babies are raised by specially selected foster parents and attend highly regimented schools run by computers called Mothers. When the children reach the age of 14 they go through ‘maturing’ checks that place them in the hierarchy of human society and erase most of their memories from childhood. Only the elite, may return to Terra, where independence is valued above all else and no emotional attachments are made to anything or anyone except Terra.

There is an anomaly in the system and sometimes testing discovers that a child is a Mu, an uncontrolled telepath. The S.D. begins annihilating this mutant race forcing them underground. Jomy Marcus Shin is a Mu who has avoided detection. He is just shy of his 14th birthday when he will be scheduled for the next phase of his training. The Mu detect his potential and rescue him. He is destined to lead the Mu’s battle against social engineering of the S.D. and confront Keith an elite who has been singled out to recolonise Earth. The question is will Keith’s doubts about S.D. convince him to change sides?

The detailed imagery is exclusively in black and white and the cover echoes the feel of 60’s ‘Astro boy’ animations. Some panels are angled with figures crossing from one panel into an adjacent one and continuous overlapping --- all elements which aid the telling of the story.

Takemiya’s first installment in this sci-fi trilogy promises to intrigue teens with its topical themes of destruction of the earth by pollution and computers controlling every aspect of our lives including how we think.