COMET CLUB

In this translated work, Chinese comic artist Yang’s English language debut, two middle schoolers join a UFO enthusiast club.

Best friends Li Yu and Yang Kuaikuai are boys nearing the end of middle school in the northern Chinese town of Beixi in the late ’90s. After hearing about the possibility of aliens in the nearby mountains, Li Yu invites Yang Kuaikuai to join the Comet Club, a nerdy group of UFO-obsessed students. Skeptical Yang Kuaikuai doesn’t believe in aliens or UFOs but joins to avoid being at home. His mother recently returned after 10 years away, and her pushy insistence that he move with her to the city and her controlling attitude toward his friendships leave him feeling “transparent.” Yang accentuates his feelings by sometimes drawing him as though his skin were invisible, exposing his bones and organs to readers. Li Yu finds the club an escape from his squalid home with an uncle who drinks to excess. Suiting their messy emotions, the roughly drawn characters sometimes display inconsistent proportions and often have runny noses. Yang’s artwork in warm, soothing earth tones draws readers in through evocative elements like snowy mountains and floral blankets. The sequence of some speech bubbles is difficult to discern, but frequent changes in perspective and angle from frame to frame in fast-paced scenes add momentum. The characters have a diverse range of skin tones.

A richly detailed comic about teens navigating familial upheaval.