Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders

Eighteen-year-old Romulus Buckle, a pilot from the Crankshaft Clan, takes center stage as the larger-than-life captain of the Pneumatic Zeppelin in this postapocalyptic steampunk romp through a future California devastated by an event known as "The Storming." Everyone in this new Snow World is exaggerated and almost caricature-like in their looks, backgrounds, and abilities, which are revealed as Buckle leads his crew on a mission to rescue his adopted father and clan leader, Admiral Balthazar Crankshaft, from a peaceful mission gone awry in the mysterious City of the Founders. There are allusions to an alien invasion in the form of mysterious obelisks scattered across the landscape; one of Buckle's crew is half-Martian and viewed with distrust. Along the way, Buckle survives potentially deadly encounters with strange wildlife and gravity with ease and manages to convince a rival clan, the Alchemists, to aid in the rescue of the admiral since their leader was also taken captive. The combined forces sneak into the City of the Founders from the ground and the sky, but making it out again is questionable.