If Pluto could be compared to any other major work, its closest peer would likely be Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel Watchmen. Both are loose adaptations of existing characters and universes (Moore was steered away from his original intention of gathering a band of old comic heroes, while Pluto’s creator Naoki Urasawa’s story is a take on his beloved Astro Boy.) Both are consumed by a murder mystery and both tell interweaving narratives about a society struggling to adjust to momentous shifts in cultural norms. Both work to humanize concepts that often seem deeply artificial and both are extremely critically acclaimed.
