Reviews and Comments

Vattu is an incredible fantasy webcomic (now sold as books) that has been ongoing for 12 years. I was lucky enough to only be aware of its existence after it ended earlier this year. I've just finished the series and will write this as a review of the entire thing.

Vattu tells the story of a nomadic tribe of people known as the Fluters that suddenly learn that the world is so much bigger than they thought, and get occupied by a Roman-esque empire. Vattu is then given as a child slave to said empire, which is pretty much where the story begins.

It's hard to explain why Vattu is such a compelling story. Vattu herself doesn't talk much, to the point where in some pages it feels like a wordless story. The story itself is slow paced, yet it's very interesting and nuanced. If you're expecting a fantasy epic with tons of action and blood-pumping excitement, this is NOT it. What you'll get is a slow rich fantasy with a massive variety of characters that'll make you constantly think about its world and where it's headed.

For a comic that is entirely free online, it trumps the vast majority of fantasy comics I've read. I wish there was more story in it, but for a free project that's been worked on for 12 (!!!) years, I can't really ask for more. Everyone should pick this up.

My only real problems are: 1) Why didn't anyone tell me about it sooner? 2) Why isn't it more popular!?

Vattu is an incredible fantasy webcomic (now sold as books) that has been ongoing for 12 years. I was lucky enough to only be aware of its existence after it ended earlier this year. I've just finished the series and will write this as a review of the entire thing.

Vattu tells the story of a nomadic tribe of people known as the Fluters that suddenly learn that the world is so much bigger than they thought, and get occupied by a Roman-esque empire. Vattu is then given as a child slave to said empire, which is pretty much where the story begins.

It's hard to explain why Vattu is such a compelling story. Vattu herself doesn't talk much, to the point where in some pages it feels like a wordless story. The story itself is slow paced but it's very interesting and nuanced. If you're expecting a fantasy epic with tons of action and blood-pumping excitement, this is NOT it. What you'll get is a slow rich fantasy with a massive variety of characters that'll make you constantly think about its world and where it's headed.

For a comic that is entirely free online, it trumps the vast majority of fantasy comics I've read. Everyone should pick this up.

My only real problems are: 1) Why didn't anyone tell me about it sooner? 2) Why isn't it more popular!?

This was excellent, and I should've expected as much considering Naoki Urasawa also made Monster, another favorite of mine. Pluto is a sci-fi murder mystery where someone a human and a robot die with horns put on their heads, and it's up to detective Gesicht to find out the whos and whys.

Aside from the fact that the murder mystery is pretty interesting, the world here is refreshing compared to most sci-fi books. It's not about robots threatening humanity, or robots vs humans, or a robot revolution or any of that. The world feels very mature and surprisingly relevant today, there's even a chapter on "real art" vs "artificial art" which really couldn't be more relevant, and it's tackled in a nice and interesting way.

I read this volume before I realized the anime adaptation is coming in October. At this point I'm not sure if I should keep reading or wait for the series. It's only 3 months away so I might just hold out for that.