O Human Star
Sixteen years after his death, robot inventor Al Sterling wakes in a synthetic body to find robots living alongside humans—and a world he no longer recognizes.
📖 self-published • Started 2012
O Human Star opens with a question nobody is waiting to answer: what does it mean to wake up dead? Alastair Sterling, the brilliant inventor of the modern robot, died sixteen years ago—and then he wakes up with his mind transferred into a synthetic replica of his own body. The world that greets him is one robots built alongside humans, and the man who built it is Brendan, Al’s former business partner and lover, who has turned their old company into the planet’s dominant tech empire. Waiting for him too is Sulla, the first true sapient robot, created with a copy of Al’s own mind but raised in a body of her own choosing.
Written and drawn by Blue Delliquanti, the webcomic serialized online at ohumanstar.com from 2012 to 2020, with present-day scenes rendered in cool blue and flashbacks drenched in orange and green. At once a family drama, a meditation on grief and creation, and a sharp, humane argument about artificial consciousness, it earned the 2018 Prism Award in the webcomics category and nominations for the Ignatz and Lambda Literary Awards.
Collecting the full run are three self-published volumes, released in 2015, 2017, and 2020. Perfect for fans of Lighter Than My Shadow, Ex Machina, and deeply felt webcomics about identity, technology, and queerness. Read the complete archive free online, buy the book editions, or support Blue on Patreon.
