In the latest from multi-award-winning author Okorafor (“Binti” trilogy), collaborating again with artist Ford (
Black Panther: Long Live the King), with illustrations enhanced by a glowing color palette from Devlin, a fictional Lagos, Nigeria, has become the destination of choice for immigrant extraterrestrial species. In order to save the life of a plantlike alien from civil war, Dr. Future Chukwebuka (designed closely after Okorafor herself), flees Nigeria for New York to visit her grandmother, an immigration lawyer. Left behind is Citizen, the father of Future’s unborn baby, who has unwittingly passed alien DNA to both mother and child. While character names and identities may be a tad unsubtle (e.g., a fugitive alien called Letme Live, Future’s own baby is Future Citizen), Okorafor’s treatment of this controversial real-world sociopolitical problem is both humanist and hopeful.
VERDICT Speaking to the global immigration and refugee crises through the lens of Afrofuturism, this brilliant and decidedly progressive work will be an essential addition to most adult graphic novels collections. [See Martha Cornog’s “Afrofuturism and More,” LJ 11/19.]
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