I picked this up because of the Wizard of Oz references, which I assumed would be primarily metaphorical. That isn't the case, but many of them ended up feeling pretty arbitrary aside from the involvement of Campbell, the Tin Woodsman (one of the main characters), and a couple of other plot points. There are Oz names and easter eggs everywhere, but mostly this is fairly traditional YA graphic novel about a teenaged girl who feels alienated within her family and her younger brother, who just wants things back the way they used to be. It isn't badly written, but you can pretty much see where the story is going to go every step of the way. Madson's art reminds me a little bit of Chris Ware's - everybody has a pretty flat affect, and that adds to the general sense of moroseness within the book. ( )

6/10, I didn't enjoy this book at first, but it got better towards the end. The art style was really off putting, the colour palette was nice, but I kept noticing how the eyes were just white circles, gives off a sort of creepiness to it. I would've loved to see more of the worldbuilding, how is there so much steampunk in the world? Half of the plot was very slow after Solar finds Campbell, but it got very emotional towards the last half, and I was really invested in it.

In the last half, Campbell tries to stand up against the bullies, and uses his heart, there was a tornado in the neighbourhood, so Solar, Campbell, and another character went into a rocket which actually flew! The friendship between the two main characters really developed, and I liked seeing the two of them together, in the end, Solar even made a new home for Campbell, which was very heartwarming. If you want a story about friendship, this is the book for you. ( )

A fairly typical tale about an angsty teen tossing aside her good girl image to hang with some juvenile delinquents is jazzed up by making it an homage to The Wizard of Oz. Her tale parallels and intersects with Campbell, the titular Tin Man, a homeless android with daddy issues (robots have daddies!?!?).

The story is too slow, dull, and predictable (an impending tornado is telegraphed over and over). It is shelved with the YA graphic novels at my library, but the simplicity of the tale screams middle school. The art is reminiscent of Jeff Lemire's, with most characters sharing the same two faces -- usually stuck in emotional neutral -- with a mix of different hairstyles to differentiate them.

Morose meh. ( )

This was weird. But charming. I liked it!

A tin man learns having a heart is harder than it looks; searching for direction. Solar, a girl in STEM, feels directionless without her grandma to guide her. Fenn, her younger brother just wants his old sister back before she met her horrid friends. In the midst of all this are small easter eggs to the Wizard of Oz.

3.5 ( )

A sweet graphic novel that tells the story of an unusual friendship between the tin man and a young boy, who just wants to build a rocket and go to space camp. Campbell, the Tin Man, just wants a heart and to find his forever home. Moral of the story: sometimes the grass isn’t greener on the other side and that what you are looking for is right in front of you. Lots of great references to Oz, with glimpses of Dorothy, Glinda and Elphaba. The illustrations were well done. ( )