An impressive, pulse-pounding start to a new series that will leave readers eager for another compilation.
Tishler offers a collection of historical war comics with a supernatural touch.
This book brings together the first four installments of writer Tishler’s titular comic series, starting in media res with a young narrator, Yuli, recalling a memory of her mother. Their hometown, her mom said, was Eden, and its wintertime, when everything was cold and dead, was just a temporary “Edenfrost.” Beneath this opening voiceover are images of a burning village, dead soldiers in the snow, and Yuli’s brother, Alex, carrying her on his back. The story is set during the Russian Civil War in the early 20th century, when the siblings are desperate to reach their extended family in Kyiv. On their trail are Lt. Col. Krasnov and Lt. Belov of the White Army,who’ve been informed of a “monster made of rock and ice” that once came to the kids’ rescue. With the stakes firmly established, the series moves between the doe-eyed, determined sister and brother and the imperious officers chasing them. Dream sequences and flashbacks skillfully establish the siblings’ past and unveil the true nature of the “monster”— a Golem that Alex can summon with a talisman around his neck. Alex, it turns out, is still mastering control of the creature, whose voice occasionally intrudes into the boy’s mind, asking to be let out, to take over—and Alex fears its full power. In proper serial fashion, each issue ends with an effectively suspenseful cliffhanger, and readers will likely find it difficult to not devour all four parts in a single sitting. Frenda’s realistic, full-color artwork likewise captivates, sometimes ably carrying the story alone, and rendering various fight and battle sequences with a cinematic flair—albeit with a level of gore that may not be suitable for younger readers. Avid comic-book fans will find that the overall style successfully captures the feeling of classic 20th-century war comics.
An impressive, pulse-pounding start to a new series that will leave readers eager for another compilation.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781960578686
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times...
A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation of the Bard’s renowned love story.
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story markedly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark. He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the contemporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque, adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the play” (which culls out the famous quotes).Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-80028-58-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
Immensely enjoyable.
The debut graphic novel from Mohamed presents a modern Egypt full of magical realism where wishes have been industrialized and heavily regulated.
The story opens with a televised public service announcement from the General Committee of Wish Supervision and Licensing about the dangers of “third-class wishes”—wishes that come in soda cans and tend to backfire on wishers who aren’t specific enough (like a wish to lose weight resulting in limbs falling from the wisher’s body). Thus begins a brilliant play among magic, the mundane, and bureaucracy that centers around a newsstand kiosk where a devout Muslim is trying to unload the three “first-class wishes” (contained in elegant glass bottles and properly licensed by the government) that have come into his possession, since he believes his religion forbids him to use them. As he gradually unloads the first-class wishes on a poor, regretful widow (who then runs afoul of authorities determined to manipulate her out of her valuable commodity) and a university student who seeks a possibly magical solution to their mental health crisis (but struggles with whether a wish to always be happy might have unintended consequences), interstitials give infographic histories of wishes, showing how the Western wish-industrial complex has exploited the countries where wishes are mined (largely in the Middle East). The book is exceptionally imaginative while also being wonderfully grounded in touching human relationships, existential quandaries, and familiar geopolitical and socio-economic dynamics. Mohamed’s art balances perfectly between cartoon and realism, powerfully conveying emotions, and her strong, clean lines gorgeously depict everything from an anguished face to an ornate bottle. Charts and graphs nicely break up the reading experience while also concisely building this larger world of everyday wishes. Mohamed has a great sense of humor, which comes out in footnotes and casual asides throughout.
Immensely enjoyable.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-524-74841-8
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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