Lots of potential thematic material imbedded here (nature vs. technology, communal vs. authoritarian tribes, religion vs. science), but as any kid'll tell you, it's really all just about a buncha largely indistinguishable monkeys and retro tin-plate robots dukin' it out. Kochalka effectively seesaws the advantage between the two sides - at one point, recalling the Ewok Vs. Empire battle from Star Wars, at another pulling in robot hero imagery out of the old Ultraman TV series - though in the end, neither side emerges a clear victor. It all goes back to the forest.

As a graphic novel, Crystal of Power is appropriate for all but the youngest comic book readers (there are some bloody monkey deaths in the last quarter's big battle and quite a few robots get decapitated, though I suspect that'll be less upsetting to a kid reader). The dialog is minimal - a few robotic comments from computer and the robot commander, a few monosyllabic dialogs among the monkeys that at one point disturbingly reminded me of the goofy Superbaby stories from the early sixties - and primarily designed to move the action along. At one point, though, our lead robot, the antennaed Yellow Commander, anticipates the book's finale with a simple observation. "Nature is formidable," he notes, as he struggles through the thick forest growth.

And so it is. Whether suggesting morning haze with a few succinct broken lines or depicting a drenching downpour, Kochalka shows an almost Hawthorne-like blend of fear and appreciation for forces that dwarf both monkey and mechanical man. That he's able to express this in a storytelling style that occasionally flirts with preciousness (that damn monkey dialog!) is itself a small wonder. In his own willfully naive New Englander boho fashion, James Kochalka is himself a creative force of nature. . .