MONARCHS

A super-strong boy strives to follow in the footsteps of his heroes in Bullock’s YA graphic novel.

Aided by his noisy humanoid cheetah best friend and hype-man, Pepper, Ja’Khari hopes his unexplained phenomenal strength will help him achieve his goal in life: to become one of the Monarchs, a revered fighting force known and admired throughout the galaxy. It’s an ambitious dream for a boy living in the futuristic human settlement known as The Bloks. Ja’Khari and Pepper head to the Big Brawl, where a large amount of cash and “a crack at Big Bruce’s Monarch crown” are the prizes. Ja’Khari runs up against the neighborhood bullies, brothers Jug and Jar Gallon, who “have issues with their milk glands that make them look like grown men when they are only 10 years old.” Ja’Khari squares off first with Jug, overcoming his stench and then knocking him out (he fears he killed the boy) with a head butt. Ja’Khari resuscitates the lad by jumping on him, and Jug awakes bawling. Jar moves to avenge his humiliated brother and soon gains the upper hand. Unfortunately, Jar’s sure-to-be-epic battle with Ja’Khari ends in a cliffhanger. Bullock has a background in animation, and that experience shows in his comic’s kinetic style. His characters’ expressions also help to propel the action along. The story might in fact have been a better fit for animation, as it includes nearly as many sound effects as it does passages of expository text. The narrative doesn’t proceed very far over 64 pages, with one fight concluding and a second battle starting. The work’s strength is its depiction of the friendship among its characters, between Ja’Khari and Pepper and even between the oafish Gallon brothers, all of whom look out for each other. There’s little character development, but this is only the first book in the series; there should be more time and space for the cast to develop in future installments.

This action-packed graphic novel gives a modern twist to an old notion.