Monsters Beware! by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado

March 7, 2018 |

I really loved the first previous two books in this fun and funny graphic novel series. In this installment, our hero Claudette has tricked her way into being chosen as her town’s champion in the annual Warrior Games, along with her younger brother Gaston and her friend Marie. Unfortunately for them, the Sea Kingdom has plans beyond simply winning the competition – they want to revive the evil wizard, frozen in amber in a previous volume, and rule the whole land. The Sea Queen’s children are the titular monsters, who transform from innocent-looking kids into creatures that devour the other competitors while no one is looking.

Unlike the two previous volumes, Claudette doesn’t really seem to be the hero of this book. Much of the story focuses instead on Gaston and Marie, who know what’s going on well before Claudette does. She’s off the page being oblivious and refusing to pay any attention to the warnings her friends are giving her. This is Claudette being Claudette; it gets a bit tedious for adult readers but probably won’t bother child readers. Of course, she comes through in the end, but by that point, I felt like she wasn’t really that necessary to the story. It’s nice in that it gives Marie and Gaston their moments to shine, but it also feels strange in a series called “Chronicles of Claudette.”

While there is an undercurrent of seriousness to the story, it’s mostly funny. The monsters look like oversized sea crabs and crack jokes after every meal. Gaston loves to cook and takes it very seriously, opening the door for a lot of puns about food. The Warrior Games themselves are the biggest joke: since Marie is competing, her father decides that the games must be safe, and combat competitions are swapped for activities like churning butter and setting tables. And despite the fact that the monsters gobble up almost everyone in town aside from our intrepid three, the happy ending is never really in doubt. Rosado and Aguirre actually give us even more happiness than we might have expected, with a plot twist that is surprising but also makes sense in context.

The art is fantastic as always, perfectly matched to the text to tell the story. The whole book is colorful and fun and a lot of the humor comes through in the characters’ expressions and movements. There’s an interesting bonus section at the end that describes how Aguirre and Rosado added a piece of the plot to the story after it was already drafted, which will be a great read for kids who want to make their own graphic novel. While I don’t think this volume is as strong as the first two, it’s a great addition, and the whole series is a winner. They consistently tell fun, action-packed stories with characters who buck gender norms, and they feature caring friendships and families, including a disabled father. This is one of my favorite graphic novel series to recommend to middle graders who love adventure.

Finished copy provided by the publisher.

Graphic Novel Roundup

August 16, 2017 |

Snow White by Matt Phelan

Matt Phelan excels at the nearly-wordless graphic novel. His rendition of Snow White – updated to 1928 New York – surpasses the high bar he set with The Storm in the Barn and is my favorite book of his yet. Phelan’s artwork is well-suited to a stylized, noir-ish retelling of the classic story. He uses mostly black and white with a few splashes of red for effect, taking full advantage of shadows in alleyways. In Phelan’s version, Snow White’s evil stepmother is the Queen of the Follies, her father is the King of Wall Street, and her protectors are seven street urchins. The whole package is clever and lovely.

The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing

Charles has just moved to Echo City, and he’s not thrilled about it. They’re living in an old hotel, which his parents are being paid to renovate. Naturally, it’s haunted – Charles soon learns there’s a monster in his closet. Luckily, there’s Margo Maloo, a girl (or something more?) whose job it is to mediate disagreements between Echo City’s monster inhabitants and its humans. She may like the monsters more than she likes the humans, but who can blame her? Charles is an aspiring journalist, so once he gets over his fear (or nearly so), he’s eager to find out as much as he can about Margo and her monster friends. This is a fun middle grade graphic novel with a bit of humor, a bit of adventure, and a bit of mystery – everything you could want in a book, basically.

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland

I’ve actually never read any novels by Scott Westerfeld, and I’m not sure this graphic novel will convince me to change that. It’s got a good hook – a mysterious “spill” (chemical? otherwise?) occurred in the city a few years back, and now no one is allowed in the area. The spill killed everyone who was there at the time, and now the corpses occasionally move, among other horrifying things. Addison Merrick used to live in that part of town, and she sneaks back in regularly to take photos and sell them to collectors. It’s a cool idea, but the execution is disappointing. This first volume (over 200 pages) feels like all exposition – it abruptly ends before anything is resolved or even explored in much depth. Its timeline is occasionally difficult to follow as well. Perhaps it’s best read in tandem with the second volume, forthcoming July 2018. Puvilland’s artwork is good, and the story is intriguing and unique – it just didn’t quite live up to the high quality I had expected.

Graphic Novel Roundup

July 26, 2017 |

Soupy Leaves Home by Cecil Castellucci and Jose Pimienta

I normally love Castellucci’s work, but this one fell flat for me. It’s about a girl named Pearl living during the Great Depression whose father beats her, so she disguises herself as a boy and runs away. She falls in with a hobo named Ramshackle who shows her the ropes of living on the road, in the various encampments, and how to get by with the help of generous strangers (and avoid the ones who aren’t so generous). Ramshackle has his own secrets, too, and soon Soupy (as Pearl calls herself) must learn to rely on herself in case Ramshackle is always around. I had a major problem with the “wise hobo” trope Castellucci uses here. Ramshackle and many other hobos speak platitudes like “I just couldn’t stop wandering, that’s why I live on the road” and “You don’t need food, you just need happy thoughts” and “Our imaginations will keep us warm.” (Those are a bit simplified, but pretty close.) The real reasons are much deeper – the economic crisis, mental health issues, poverty, unemployment, abuse, no social safety net, and so on – and aren’t even really hinted at. The hobo life – while interesting and worth exploring – is romanticized. Romanticizing poverty and homelessness is pretty distasteful.

The story was also hard to follow at times and the ending was completely implausible. I was also not a fan of the art or the color palette (mostly sickly green). There are some interesting bits about how hobos enforced their own rule of law and the symbols carved into fences they would use to communicate information about houses that would give food and work. Overall, though, it’s a dud. | Borrowed from the library.

The Time Museum by Matthew Loux

I’ve been meaning to write about this one for months – it’s a super fun middle grade story about time travel, so you know 12 year old me would have been all over it. Adult me is pretty into it too. Delia is competing to be an intern at her uncle’s time museum, and she must complete a series of tasks across many different times to prove her worth. Things get out of control, though, and she must team with up with the other competitors (who all come from different times) to defend the time museum. Loux’s story is creative and gets the most out of the time travel device. His art is expressive, kid-friendly but not cartoonish, and full color. I hope there will be sequels. | Finished copy from the publisher.

Snotgirl Vol. 1: Green Hair Don’t Care by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung

Bryan Lee O’Malley is just not for me. I disliked the Scott Pilgrim books almost as much as I disliked the film version. Snotgirl confirms that it wasn’t just Scott Pilgrim – O’Malley’s characters are terrible everywhere. Snotgirl is about a 20-something fashion blogger who is incredibly insecure, despite her appearance otherwise online. She’s also just awful. And so are all of her friends. And everyone else she meets. She has terrible allergies which makes her nose run uncontrollably, hence the title. It seems like the series may eventually have some supernatural elements, but they’re only hinted at in this first volume. I won’t be reading the second. | Borrowed from the library.

Shattered Warrior by Sharon Shinn and Molly Knox Ostertag

I’ve loved Sharon Shinn’s work since I first read her Samaria series when I was a teenager. (The Shape-Changer’s Wife, which I read in grad school, is also excellent). She teamed up with Molly Knox Ostertag for her first graphic novel, Shattered Warrior, based on one of her early unpublished novels. It’s everything I love in a graphic novel: a resourceful female protagonist, alien invasion, organized rebellion, a little bit of romance, plus lovely full-color art. It stands alone but also leaves the door open for sequels. I believe this was published for the adult market, but it’s suitable for teens as long as they don’t mind one panel with an exposed breast. Sharon Shinn has not disappointed. | Finished copy from the publisher.

Review and Giveaway: 5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior by Mark Siegel and Alexis Siegel

May 24, 2017 |

Oona Lee is possibly the worst sand dancer in her whole class, which wouldn’t be such a terrible thing if her older sister, disappeared now for many years, weren’t the best, destined to light five ancient beacons and save the Five Worlds from extinction. But she has talents of her own, ones she brings to bear when she joins forces with An Tzu, a boy from a slum with his own history, and Jax Amboy, the Five Worlds’ greatest Starball player. They all live on Mon Domani, at the center of the Five Worlds, a planet now being threatened by war as well as climate change so dire it could cause mass starvation.

The Sand Warrior is the first book in a new graphic novel series by Mark Siegel and Alexis Siegel, with art by Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun. That’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen for one graphic novel, and it shows in a few ways. The story is fairly complicated for a middle grade graphic novel, and it will take both adults and kids a bit of time to really fall into it. But that’s also part of the joy: the world the Siegels have created is complex, and the story has many moving parts that require more careful attention (or perhaps re-reads) than some readers may be accustomed to. It’s a fantasy lover’s dream, in other words.

Art and story work in tandem to build a multicultural world (or five worlds, really) with a detailed backstory and a unique magic system. Within the pages of this graphic novel you’ll find, for example, some people who are more plant than human, advanced robotic technology that conquers the uncanny valley, and sand castles big enough (and magical enough) for people to live in. It’s a really fun mixture of fantasy and science fiction, with all the creativity and weird names – one of the planets is called Grimbo(E) – that go along with that.

I’m a sucker for full-color art in graphic novels, and the art in The Sand Warrior is gorgeous. Even if readers have a hard time following all the nuances of the story, they’ll be riveted by the detailed landscapes and diverse cast of characters, each of whom is distinct and recognizable from panel to panel. The coloring is beautiful; the three artists work seamlessly together, eschewing the bold colors of a traditional superhero book for a softer but no less vibrant palette.

This should appeal to readers who like Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet (Kibuishi has blurbed this, and it’s fitting), Faith Erin Hicks’ The Nameless City, and Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl.

We’re giving away a finished copy of 5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior, courtesy of Random House Children’s Books (who also sent me an unfinished review copy). To enter, fill out this form. I’ll pick a winner in two weeks. US only, please.

Decelerate Blue by Adam Rapp and Mike Cavallaro

May 10, 2017 |

In Rapp’s and Cavallaro’s dystopian near-future, everyone lives their life at high-speed. There’s no time taken for reflection and everything is always go-go-go. In fact, everyone is supposed to say “go” when they’re done talking to indicate that it’s time for the person they’re talking with to reply. It’s not strictly illegal to leave out the “go,” but it’s more serious than a social faux pas (like forgetting to say “please,” for example). Everyone reads abridged versions of classic novels in school, and beds are made upright. This world is more than just annoying, though: it’s a surveillance state, and the government punishes people for not living up to the hyper-efficient ideal, seen most alarmingly when protagonist Angela’s grandfather is sent to a “reduction colony” when his heart rate drops too low for too prolonged a time.

Angela is tired of living this way – and she learns a few others are, too, when she’s recruited into a resistance whose sole purpose is to deliberately slow things down, to dismantle this enforced way of life. The resistance lives underground, unplugged, and they have their own speech patterns, too – they refuse to use contractions, creating an immediately recognizable difference when reading the resistance sections versus the above-ground sections. The resistance, now with the help of Angela, are hatching a plan to make this sort of life possible for others on the outside, too.

The concept is intriguing, and I think a lot of teens will immediately find it relevant to their lives. Parts of the world-building seem like a stretch (upright beds?), but people said that about The Handmaid’s Tale too, and look where we are now. The story’s rhythm takes a while to get used to, mainly because every character really does end their sentences with “go” or eliminate contractions, so no one character really talks like we talk now. Cavallaro’s art is mostly black and white, with some spots of color during particularly emotional or important sections of the story. There’s a nice romance between Angela and a fellow female resistance fighter, and the “decelerate blue” of the title comes into play in a literal and shocking way at the end.

Decelerate Blue is a good question-raiser, even if its themes aren’t explored fully. It’s not a super long graphic novel, and it packs a lot of story into its roughly 200 pages. Somewhat ironically, I wish I could have lingered a little while longer in Rapp’s and Cavallaro’s future world, both the government-controlled one and the resistance, to get a more immersive experience and feel a greater connection to the characters. It felt like the story was sped up a bit, and then it was over too quickly, though the open ending is fitting. This is a good pick for teens who aren’t tired of dystopias yet – and we may actually see a resurgence of interest in this subgenre considering the current climate in this country.

Review copy received from the publisher. Decelerate Blue is available now.