A collection of details that might appeal to military history buffs.
Veteran illustrator Parker presents a graphic novel about his three years in the army during the late 1960s.
After a brief family history (he was an only child born to hardworking parents in 1940s Georgia, raised mainly by his bedridden grandmother, who instilled in him a love of comic strips), the artistically inclined Parker explains how flunking out of junior college led to his getting drafted by the Army and entering the strange world of military life as a 19-year-old. Parker narrates his experiences with sly humor and self-deprecation, capturing his overwhelm and isolation in the face of extremes both physical (pushups, running, simulated combat) and psychological (rigid rules for addressing others, for the size of bites at dinner, for who can walk on the sidewalk). With a keen eye for detail, Parker captures the process of spit-shining combat boots, and with a keen ear for storytelling, he reveals the gruesome aftermath of a drunk-driving accident. Parker eventually enters officer and artillery training—more from a general competency rather than any particular skill—and these developments keep him from being deployed to active combat in Vietnam. He stumbles through a series of responsibilities like training with German soldiers and organizing a military funeral. His interest in drawing recurs, as when he’s recruited to draw naked women for the walls of a makeshift officer’s pub, but it doesn’t develop into an arc. Parker hits humorous and emotional beats via skilled cartooning (exaggerated facial expression, outsized physicality), though his linework can feel caught between simple and intricate, with the weight of some lines flattening out details and rendering figures unappealingly stiff. Parker makes a pleasant narrator of his extreme experiences, but the work doesn’t coalesce into a larger statement on war or art or self.
A collection of details that might appeal to military history buffs.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781419761591
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth.
Superman confronts racism and learns to accept himself with the help of new friends.
In this graphic-novel adaptation of the 1940s storyline entitled “The Clan of the Fiery Cross” from The Adventures of Superman radio show, readers are reintroduced to the hero who regularly saves the day but is unsure of himself and his origins. The story also focuses on Roberta Lee, a young Chinese girl. She and her family have just moved from Chinatown to Metropolis proper, and mixed feelings abound. Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane’s colleague from the Daily Planet, takes a larger role here, befriending his new neighbors, the Lees. An altercation following racial slurs directed at Roberta’s brother after he joins the local baseball team escalates into an act of terrorism by the Klan of the Fiery Kross. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill superhero story then becomes a nuanced and personal exploration of the immigrant experience and blatant and internalized racism. Other main characters are White, but Black police inspector William Henderson fights his own battles against prejudice. Clean lines, less-saturated coloring, and character designs reminiscent of vintage comics help set the tone of this period piece while the varied panel cuts and action scenes give it a more modern sensibility. Cantonese dialogue is indicated through red speech bubbles; alien speech is in green.
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth. (author’s note, bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77950-421-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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