Young Shadow

By Ben Sears. Published by Fantagraphics.

Softcover, 132 pages, 2-Colour, 2021. 

Bolt City has a new protector in this exciting new middle-grade graphic novel from cartoonist and musician Ben Sears!

Young Shadow usually protects sci-fi Bolt City by making deliveries for the food bank and rescuing pets. But one night, he discovers the Sludge Team, a conspiracy composed of a CEO of a chemical plant, trust-fund punks, and suspicious cops. To stop their evil plan, Young Shadow must don a couple of batons, knee pads, and a small black mask, and team up with Spiral Scratch - another benevolent protector in the fight - and metal-clad nuns. Drawn in bold yellows and blacks, this is a socially conscious action/adventure kid superhero tale.

"Ben Sears' Young Shadow has all the charm of Charles Schulz and the excitement of Jack Kirby. The Dogs of Bolt City are safe with Young Shadow on patrol!" — Glen Murakami - Teen Titans

"Sears creates comics that are easy for kids to enjoy with their crisp cartooning, bright colors, and clever sense of humor, but he also includes rich thematic content that makes his books a more substantial read for adults. " — AV Club

"Imagine Indiana Jones as told by Hayao Miyazaki. " — The Guardian

"Young Shadow builds itself through warm little moments to question the implicit legitimacy of an authority forever scaling up violence. A carefully crafted story that subtly blends magic, where reading about "ground control" and "civilian pacification" hits close to home, and where corporations reveal themselves once more as nastily distant, evil robotic guilds." — Emma Rios - Pretty Deadly