If you have never heard of Rock & Tin, then you haven’t been paying attention to my past guests over the last seven years. Maybe the name Tom Dell’Aringa will ring a bell? (Pun intended, because that’s how I roll.) How about the comic Marooned? Good, one out of three isn’t bad… Although, three out of three would have given you a gold star. Now that it’s settled, Tom has been on the show in the past and his last interview he talked about a new hybrid graphic novel and prose in his new series called: Rock & Tin.

The story is set in the future. A world inhabited by robots with the task of mining a special ore from the planet below. Hovering around the planet collecting the material and depositing it into freighters are a group of robots where little did they know they’re lives were going to be changed forever… and for robots, that’s a very, very long time.

The one thing about this book that I noticed was it is not laid out like a traditional comic book. At 164 pages the first sixth of the pages are a mixture of graphics and images. It reminds me of books in the past that highlighted a chapter with a continued graphic that lead the reader to the next section. It in no way interferes with the story and in fact it’s never used afterwards. The second half of the book shows Tom’s classic style in black and white that those which have been following his work in the past know and love. Through this second half, we see what has been happening on the planet and the issues that a planet full of robots have to deal with over the centuries.

While I’m limited in what I can talk about in this book, it’s not because of the creator, but because it would give away a wonderfully touching story about conflict, guilt, redemption, anguish and betrayal. No matter the characters you follow in this story you see that Tom has improved in his years since Marooned with his timing and pacing. I took the time to read it at least three times since and I have not been disappointed. In fact, I want more.

You can find the comic at: rockandtin.com
Follow Tom on his Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomdellaringa
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