Pluto Vol. 1
By Naoki Urasawa
Published by Viz
I'm as surprised as you are that I've found a number of different series that are now intriguing to me. Beguiling even. I'm charmed by Mouseguard, dangerously dazzled by Blacksad; I've got Girls sitting here taunting me to pick it up (and then rest it on something, because it is heavy), and this week I began a quiet love affair with Pluto.
Each series has something very unique to offer, and well, I just don't want to have to choose. I am a woman, after all, and if there's one thing I'm beginning to really grasp it is that I CAN have it all. Tee-hee!
Have you read Pluto? My husband adores this series, lent it to his good friend who also shared them with his girlfriend, who is my good friend. From what I've heard around the water cooler, "everybody's doing it." And everyone is loving it.
I didn't think it would be up my alley because...well, it's about robots. I had a robot phase. I think we all do. It was in the 5th grade though. It wasn't recent. Robots always seem like an interesting thing to people because they are, no matter when you're alive, they're just out of the scope of what's real right now, but at the same time very, very possible. Robots always seem to be right around the corner. (I'm thinking of robots that can talk, not those boring ones that make cars.)
In a sense we have all sorts of robot like things at work in our lives. The subway system has that lovely robot voice telling us to "stand clear of the closing doors" etc., on a few different NYC lines. Our cars are so high tech, they practically drive themselves, or so the cliche goes. And although I imagine some really rich folks somewhere in the world have that expensive one that can pick up a piano, on the whole, we have yet to make walking, talking robots who serve us and are happy to do so, because they are also our friends. I guess there's this guy. Listen to him talk! He lives to serve.
So, the playing field for this idea is wide and open--reality hasn't shown up yet to hem in imagination, you can't look at what happens in a robot story and say "well, that's not going to work" or "that's unrealistic", because there is no reality to compare it too. But part of what's cool is that Pluto is sort of a reboot - it's quoted on the front as "A New Vision Based On Astro Boy - The Greatest Robot On Earth." And Astro Boy was originally written in 1951. I don't know anything about Astro Boy, so I won't be able to talk about what has been changed, but I did think that was pretty interesting that the story Pluto is based on is so old.
But I still didn't think that Pluto would really grab me. I feel like I've had my little tangle with robots already. I was one for Halloween back in the day. A "Boy Robot", for that matter. Had I only known about Astro Boy, my costume could have been way cooler. As it was - it was just really weird. Cheap, too.
Surprise! I found this first volume really compelling. And I'm about to make a parallel with another writer/artist, and I'm sure I'm going to be told I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's okay. But for me, the experience of reading and looking at Pluto was similar to my experience reading Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library.
No, the art is nothing alike. No, the story line is not similar. But in both books there is an artistic depiction of a character's inner life that is touching and unlike anything I've ever seen. Who does this? Not many, it seems to me.
The story opens with us witnessing some sort of disaster, a fire or something. Even those who are fighting the fire aren't sure what happened, they're just confused, scared, relying on dedication and training to get them through. The end result is that one of the world's favorite robots was utterly destroyed. That's our introduction to the world of this story - a world where Robots who were made to be tools of war, but have now become guardians of peace, and one of those guardians has been completely annihilated. The technology so developed that while some of them look completely human - others look like gigantic pieces of metal. (I thought that was kind of interesting too, although I'm not sure if I should hunt for specific meaning in it. But think about it: the people who make robots have cracked the "human appearance" problem, but they still, at times, choose to make robots in what must be an archaic "robotic" fashion. Why?) In any case, these robots serve with.....well, with heart. It's an exploration of intelligence and emotion. And although there's no overt discussion in this volume that specifically asks, "can a robot of artificial intelligence and no beating heart, feel?", there's a continual hint that many of these robots are often moved to love. (The maid, of course, but North No. 2 as well.)
The inner life that I see so well captured throughout is that of Gesicht, our main character. He seems to be your typical detective - running on empty, but still trying to solve a case and render justice. We soon learn, though, that he is also a robot. Nevertheless, in each conversation or exchange he has, we see his reaction. Often it's just silence. A close up of his face as he takes in information. Sometimes, with just one additional line on his face indicating a slight squint, or a twitch. But the story unfolds through his witnessing others. Though he's only a robot, Gesicht may very well be the heartbeat of the whole story.
Perhaps this is where my Chris Ware parallel comes in. I'm thinking particularly of the portion of Acme Novelty Library that takes place on the Moon. A human in a non-human setting - whereas in Pluto, Gesicht is a non-human in a human setting. In both stories, however, I felt that I was experiencing a quiet observation of a character slowly moving through their own thoughts and feelings. I may not yet be privy to what Gesicht is feeling, nor might I ever find out, but I know that he is moving through heavy thoughts. I can tell that, as he synthesizes his information, there is a heaviness to his actions, a sadness that crosses his face, that I'm seeing a translation of dark feelings. That was the same feeling I had when i read Acme.
There are so many beautiful parts of this issue. I can only imagine what the whole story will be like. There's a three part story, within the main story, about the Robot North No. 2, which I thought was quite heart-breaking. It's hard not to write specifically just about that story. But as a review I figured that I should only dangle the loveliness of Pluto before you, and entice you to read it for yourself - rather than give it all away. (Or, as I can kind of guess, to write down a plot synopsis of something you've already read.)
See what I mean, though? I can't possibly choose to read only one of these books without keeping up with the others. So, endure with me, dear readers, as I keep my four dance partners for a while and enjoy each one's company for it's unique gifts.
-Nina Stone, 2010
Just finished this series recently. GREAT story. And I've only got a casual knowledge of the source material from the few "Astro Boy" stories I've read. Powerful stuff as the murder mystery gets bigger in scope and yet also narrower in how the effects are shown...
Posted by: LurkerWithout | 2010.06.23 at 00:00