A must-have reboot for anyone who calls themselves a Dick Tracy fan.
Segura and Moreci’s graphic novel, with artwork by Borges, reimagines iconic 1930s-era detective Dick Tracy in a post-World War II narrative with a familiar cast of villains, including Pruneface and Flattop.
Set in 1947, Tracy is a recent war veteran and the youngest cop ever to make detective in “The City.” He’s still struggling to come to grips with the horrors he experienced while in battle. After a crime reporter and an alderman are among those gunned down during an apparent robbery at a diner, Tracy investigates and discovers that the killings are tied to a complex conspiracy. The detective vows to identify the people behind the horrific crime, which included more than a dozen murders, and he eventually joins forces with the late alderman’s daughter, Tess Trueheart, and old war buddy Pat Patton, who’s looking for answers regarding his brother’s mysterious death. Patton’s also looking into the disappearance of numerous war veterans who worked as laborers on an ambitious waterfront development project. Ignoring directives from his chief, Tracy and company continue to dig, and soon find themselves the targets of numerous underworld thugs; Tommy gun–powered violence ensues. Borges’ masterful ability to convey a gritty, hardboiled atmosphere in action-packed, blood-splattered, and visually stunning illustrations is an obvious strength, as is Segura and Moreci’s talent for intricate, deeply developed, and emotionally intense storytelling, largely through dialogue. Tracy and Patton’s war flashbacks, and their current inability to seamlessly reassimilate into society, are particularly powerful: “One day they give you a gun, they tell you to go kill people. Then they take the gun away. They tell you the war’s over. But for some men, it’s not that easy.”
A must-have reboot for anyone who calls themselves a Dick Tracy fan.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781545812280
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...
A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.
The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The New Book Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
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
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