Ren Mittal's last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating…he’s not! Project Nought is a middle-grade to young YA graphic novel. As an adult who has read more dystopian comic books than is healthy, I struggled to suspend my disbelief. A lot of what happens doesn’t make sense – and not in the conspiracy way. Plotlines are jettisoned or resolved too fast. The teenagers of 2122 are using the exact same slang as the teens of 2021.

For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic. A solidly queer addition to the sci-fi canon that interrogates how the pursuit of science can sometimes overshadow a commitment to ethics.” — Publishers WeeklyThe first thing you need to know about Project Nought is that the characters are all queer and diverse. I will never get tired of stories like this, where queer people are able to thrive in a queer-normative world. Where everything just fits. Project Nought is set 100 years in the future, and I hope we are headed towards a similar society. The world-building was incredible. The art felt futuristic, and I think the author did a great job making everything look as realistic as possible. I would love to take a step out of this timeline and jump into a new one, but based on everything that happened in Project Nought, I’m not sure if I really do. EDIT: Actually gonna just put this here, I think I was too soft on Mars. I’d genuinely say he drops the book to around 2.5 stars for me, not any lower because the art still carried the book for me, and I liked Jia and some of the humor. But genuinely I don’t think I liked Mars anywhere within the book. I don’t see how he has such fast chemistry with Ren when all I see is him treating Rem like some museum exhibit and not a person for a lot of the book early on. I don’t remember him ever apologize for that either. And him quite literally stanning a corporation and being concerned about “breaking the law” when they’re going to save the other subjects was hard to read. It’s not funny it was just frustrating. He is barely held accountable for any of this plus how he treated Jia about their ex-partner and thus congrats Mars, you’ve made me so pissed in retrospect at your character i dropped my review score by a full star. I bought this book since I thought a graphic novel would help me get out of my reading slump, which I think it may do that now. The characters were so lovable and easy to root for. Ren was sort of shy and anxious. Mars was excitable and eager. Jia was withdrawn and jaded. Phoebe was friendly and fun. Phoebe was especially great and sort of hilarious sometimes. There were a couple other characters too with smaller parts. And they all had good hearts. I liked them all. The art was gorgeous, some of the best I’ve seen in a graphic novel. Mars came to life in the drawings. His joy and emotions were so infectious. I felt a little grumpy energy from Ren. They had a wonderful romance, and it was interesting following Ren’s journey from being a closeted kid from the 90s to suddenly living in a queer-normative society. It was brilliant to also see a good mix of sapphic and non-binary characters. The characters are what makes this graphic novel thrive, and I have a soft spot for Mars. He was utterly adorable.

For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic. But this doesn’t make Project Nought a bad graphic novel. It makes me not the right reader. I borrowed a friend’s tween as a test reader because I felt I couldn’t truly do Project Nought justice without someone who thought 1996 was the distant past. They loved the novel. The multiple character views aren’t just artistically impressive but helped them follow the complex plot, which they said was fast-paced and exciting. They also liked seeing themself, and Aotearoa, in well-produced graphic novel.read it all in one sitting over the course of like 4? 5? hours (ignoring the three other books without pictures that i’m ostensibly reading right now) needed this so bad … like it hit! i needed to see a cute gay couple get together and have an adventure and it delivered. more than delivered. a lot of queer and trans characters which always heals me a little and was especially nice rn because i’ve been pissed off at cis people treating me badly this week. it got darker than i expected which wasn’t a bad thing at all like it was really good and i teared up multiple times (although never quite enough to let tears fall). i got the fluttering feeling in my chest that i am literally always chasing from stories and in life so that made me feel like a person again. i also laughed out loud a couple times which is impressive i don’t often laugh from books!! and beautiful beautiful art like it transmitted the action so well. facial expressions felt very real and during the emotional scenes they were honestly kind of brutal in a good way. loved the plot twist too 😼 i’m excited for the next book (there’s gotta be one … ) Ren Mittal is a teenager in 1996 New Zealand. He plans to run away from home when he suddenly appears in the year 2122 as a “subject” of a time travel program by a company called Chronotech. Chronotech intakes these subjects from different eras in the past so that students of the 2100s can learn their history and culture from them directly. When in the middle of an interview, Ren meets someone he last expects to see in 2122, which leads to the question: is Chronotech actually doing good, or is there something more nefarious going on? The art is great and the subtle shifts in style from perspective to perspective and character to character is both well-done and interesting. Mars, who is easily the most anime-esque character, gets given the full manga treatment occasionally. Ren, more cautious and guarded, is drawn in a way that’s more muted – even when they share the same panel. Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like...from real-life subjects who've been transported into the future...and Ren is one of them.

Anyone who likes graphic novels, lovable teen characters, science fiction, sweet romance and friendship, twisty stories, and a bit of mystery and action. Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like…from real-life subjects who’ve been transported into the future…and Ren is one of them. Furedi’s art is a joy to behold as well. She excels at use of color and constructs a lot of the tone and atmosphere through her color palettes. The character designs are really fun too and there is a nice emphasis on their fashion that nods to the looks of the 90s and how that might look in 100 years designing fashion based on those aesthetics. The frame work is great and conveys a lot of action and keeps the story moving. This is just a lovely book in general. Project Nought is excellent at building up a the story and giving each plot beat its due. I feel like its a recurring issue (albeit an understandable one, given the time it takes to make them) with graphic novels that they often move way too fast and don't give you a chance to get invested in what's going on and the people it's happening to. Here, we have a clear understanding of all four of our leads and their wants and desires, as well as their relationship with the world they exist within. A New Zealand teen is dragged from 1996 into the future by a shady company in this work that expands on a popular webcomic.Thank you to the author, El and Harper Insider, and Harper 360YA, for sending me a proof in exchange for an honest review!