Hesse embraces this science fantasy genre, and remixes these elements to make it his own. Pretty much anything she touches has a tendency to explode. The only problem is, Diesel’s not particularly good at anything. Since then, her dad has died, the majority of her family has gone off on some exodus, and Peacetowne has been entrusted to Captain Wells (whose father also helped develop the machine) until Diesel turns 18 and inherits everything. She’s also the heir to the whole thing: long ago, her father conceived and created this magnificent flying metropolis, and it was apparently a progressive and wonderful time for everyone involved. Because when you dive in and watch Hesse balance the humor, the wonder, and the excitement of the narrative, it’s easy to be caught up in this book’s unique life.ĭee Diesel is a mechanic on this airship city called Peacetowne. This works better, I think - and I also think Boom! Studios realizes this, since their company aesthetic seems to favor an animated approach - because the more intricate and complicated stuff would detract from the joy and excitement of this story. It’s evident Hesse grew up reading and/or watching a lot of Japanese and American cartoons because the aesthetic of the book favors simpler, easy-to-process designs over intricate work.

Superficially flipping through it provides plenty of manga-style steampunk images, with lots of gears and smoke and crazy creatures filling out the back of the frame. Even the solicit is none too quick to make comparisons to Tank Girl, Rocket Girl, and the worlds of Hayao Miyazaki. On paper, Tyson Hesse’s “Diesel” might seem to derive from a lot of what came before. But all that changes when a mysterious flying engine crashes into Diesel’s life and takes her on a journey through the skies. Her childhood rival has inherited control of her family’s airship and left Diandra the only job she’s qualified for: picking up the trash. The daughter of the late Tungston Diesel, she has yet to live up to her father’s great reputation.

What It Is: Diandra Diesel isn’t very good at anything. Now, we’re excited to be working with him on his first original series, a coming-of-age story with a cool fantasy airship twist that fans of Tank Girl, Rocket Girl, or Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle are sure to enjoy!

After cover stints on Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors, we put him to the test with the tricky mixed-media art style of The Amazing World of Gumball and he just crushed it. What’s to Love: We’ve been big fans of Tyson Hesse ever since we first discovered his webcomic Boxer Hockey.

Tyson hesse diesel book 2