Alien Nation

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 1, 2021

This haunting, wordless story by Venezuelan artist Bassi opens with a spread of an ordinary commuter moving through a crowded metropolitan train station, glued to a smartphone screen that shows a map. Dark pencil drawings, expertly drafted, give extra impact to the only feature that distinguishes the commuter and fellow travelers from ordinary humans—heads and faces, each wildly different from the next, comprising fleshy tendrils, bulbous masses, blocks, and machine parts. Absorbed in their screens, the creatures navigate a spectacular train station and wait on a platform, each scrolling on a device, before boarding and riding the train in orderly calm. A baby creature in a stroller grabs a piece of seemingly obsolete left-behind tech—an early-style cell phone of sorts, with no screen—and begins to examine it, with extraordinary consequences that underline the way modern humans are grafted to technology. Spreads unfold in real time with cinema-style pacing and striking visual effects as Bassi's fable encourages readers to attend the attention economy's fallout, or risk losing out on experiences beyond the screen. Ages 8–up.