Comic Strip Review: O Human Star Volume Three by Blue Delliquanti
Quick recap: Robotics genius Alistair Sterling dies and wakes up more than a decade later in a robotic copy of his body. He’s reunited with his then lover Brendan Pinsky, who definitely didn’t arrange this and is understandably freaked out. Alistair is also puzzled to find that Brendan has a teenage daughter named Sulla who bears a startling family resemblance to Al. If you haven’t read the first two volumes, you may want to go back to my previous reviews.
This volume has an extended flashback to Sulla’s childhood and how she realized that she was, in fact, Sulla, and Brendan’s trying to deal with this in a proper parental fashion. We also get some background on the mysterious Tsade, the person who physically built Alistair’s new body.
Then it’s back to the present. Sulla and her friends deal with the fallout of her actions in the previous volume and what it revealed about her. Meanwhile, Alistair confronts Tsade, but learns very little before he missteps.
Then it’s time for Brendan and Alistair to have a heart to heart which reveals some things that they and Sulla have been hiding.
Flashback to Sulla’s identity issues and what she decided to do about them.
After the flashback, there’s reconciliation, and a somewhat more satisfying conversation with Tsade where it discusses its frustrations with having to deal with human expectations and limits.
Some months later, a new project comes to its culmination, as Alistair moves on to another stage of existence.
Also in this volume, there’s a short story, “Stop”, which focuses on prosthetics creator Lucille Villas as she flashes back to her difficulties dealing with prosthetic limbs as a child, and helps the survivors of a car accident in the present day. Plus some concept art to fill out the pages.
The art is still nifty, and I like how I can tell that the setting is still Minneapolis and the surrounding area despite some changes.
The ending is well-foreshadowed and fits with the characters.
I also like the bits of diversity in ethnicity, body type, disabilities and LGBTQA+ representation without making a big deal out of it. Sulla and Alistair’s identity issues are the ones in focus, and Brendan trying to understand them and find his own peace of mind.
I think this story sticks the landing.
The completed webcomic is still online, but buying the collected volumes helps support the creator’s new projects.
Content note: Brendan keeps his friends in the dark for years about what’s up with Sulla. Male shirtlessness in a sexual context. People struggling with their gender identity. I’d say senior high readers on up.
This really is a very good story, recommended to science fiction fans.
