About.com Rating



With its steampunk western setting and cranky-but-cool main character Daisy, Daisy Kutter almost couldn't help but find many loyal fans. The book has been increasingly hard to find since its 2006 publication, so a new re-print -- with bonus extra material -- is much welcomed.

This is a small press production, though, produced in limited numbers, so it may soon be as hard to find as the original edition.

If you'd like to read it, I'd start looking for it right away.

Publication Details

• Full Title:Daisy Kutter: The Last Train
• Author: Kazu Kibuishi
• Illustrator: Kazu Kibuishi
• Publisher: Bolt City Productions
• Publication Date: 2006, reprinted with additional material 2012
• ISBN: 9780975419328 (original edition), 978-0-615-39952-2 (reprint)

I Think I Can

Daisy Kutter was first published in 2006, the first graphic novel by the now-acclaimed writer-artist-editor Kazu Kibuishi (who edited the Flight anthologies and Explorer, among other things). The tale of an ex-gunfighter, ex-thief named Daisy was well-received and was selected as one of the ALA's Best Books for Young Adults the year it came out.

The eponymous Daisy is offered a job, one last train robbery before she retires for good. She's out of the robbery game, but the man who wants to hire her owns the train in question, and wants this infamous thief to test out his new security system. She needs the money so she can retire for real, so Daisy agrees.

Naturally, all is not as it seems, and nothing goes according to plan.

Fast forward six years from its first publication, and 2006 editions of Daisy Kutter are hard to find. Fans still want to read the book, but can't get their hands on it. So in 2012 Daisy's creator Kazu Kibuishi decided to try crowdfunding a new reprint of Daisy Kutter. Not only did the project meet its goal, but it exceeded it enough for Kibuishi to add a brand-new, full-color short story to the book, making the 2012 edition the one to look for.

Lookin' Good

Kibuishi's art is wonderfully expressive. It's on the cartoony side, but that doesn't make it the least bit silly. In fact, there are plenty of serious moments in the book that are made all the more effective by the simplicity of the characters and backgrounds. It's rather cinematic, really.

The amount of funding that eager fans supplied meant that even though Dairy Kutter is a greyscale story (not counting the newly added short), Bolt City was able to have it printed with a full-color process. Sometimes using full color to reproduce greyscale art can create odd color casts in the art, but done well, it can give the illustrations much more depth and subtlety than greyscale printing can. And in this book, the printing was definitely done right.

Quite The Character

The story is the equal of the art, here. It deftly balances serious themes like love and violence with a lighter, more humorous touch. There are plenty of moments to make a reader chuckle, but they never detract from the sense of danger or adventure.

Daisy, old gunfighter that she is, doesn't use a lot of words (and what words she does use are often wisecracks or insults), so there is considerably less dialogue than many other comics. But the pictures and the words work together so well that I never felt I missed anything. Like the best graphic novels, the pictures don't simply show what the words say, they fill in the gaps and fill out the story.

A Word of Caution

Daisy Cutter is set in a sort of futuristic Old West with robots, a kind of steampunk western frontier. Like the Wild West, it's a violent place, with fights and shoot-outs. There are scenes in a tavern, with alcohol consumed, and there's a brief appearance by a prostitute. Parents who don't want their kids exposed to those things will no doubt want to avoid this book.

It would be a shame, though. Neither drinking, nor violence (nor prostitution, for that matter) are glorified. They're a part of life in this setting, as they were in our own past, and the story would be poorer -- or at least shallower-feeling -- without them.

In the end, whether or not to read this book, or give it to your kids to read, will depend on the maturity of the reader. I hope people will give it a chance, though, because as far as storytelling goes -- graphic novel storytelling especially, but also storytelling in general -- Daisy Kutter is a great example of how to do it right.



Disclosure: A review copy was purchased by the reviewer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.