Robo-SteamPunk. Boilerplate is a (fictional) robot built in 1893 by Professor Archibald Campion to prevent the deaths of humans in the conflicts between nations. Boilerplate's exploits are presented here in a historical coffetable book format, chronicling his exploits from his introduction at the World's Colombian Exhibition in Chicago to his eventual mysterious disappearance on the battlefield during WWI. The authors, graphic artists both, have used their talents brilliantly to insert the robot seamlessly into all manner of historical images, with the result that a fully documented and (nearly) believable alternate history emerges. Though the story is told as documentary, rather than as a fictional narrative, the heroic nature of Boilerplate is clear from the first, and the reader has no doubt but that he had every right to his place in history, whether standing with the other Rough-Riders next to Teddy Roosevelt, or charging into machine gun fire with Doughboys in the trench warfare of WWI.

As Paul Ginan said in an interview (CBR News, Guinan and Bennett on "Boilerplate" by Shaun Manning, Staff Writer), "My secret wish for this book is that it be used as a teaching supplement in history classes. With, you know, the obvious caveat that the robot part is a fiction."

That caveat serves the secret wish extremely well. I'm not a fan of alternative history, in part because I've never been especially good at the non-alternative kind. Too much time spent looking forward, I suspect. But Boilerplate's adventures pull my attention to historical events in a way that they could not by themselves, and separating the fanciful from the factual is as simple as editing the (apologies to Boilerplate) robot out of the picture.

The authors may have created an entirely new technique, if not genre, and we salute both them and their heroic creation for the good works they have performed.