The fight choreography needs work but otherwise, a promising debut and series opener.
An English schoolboy hones both wits and breaking-and-entering skills after the family butler enlists him for a series of dangerous secret missions.
Oliver, 12-year-old scion of the head of Diplexito Engineering and Combustibles Ltd., is stunned to learn that the forbidding Mr. Scant is a mysterious burglar popularly known as the Ruminating Claw—for the bladed mechanical contraption he wears on one hand. This revelation is followed by mounting excitement as the white lad learns that Scant is really engaged in returning artifacts stolen from various museums by a secret group of would-be mages known as the Woodhouselee Society. Better yet, Scant wants him along to help! Ensuing nighttime outings to the British Museum and elsewhere give Oliver not only an eyeful of awesome martial feats from Scant, but heartening tests of his own previously untried courage as dust-ups with baddies led by cleaver-wielding giantess Valkyrie build to a climactic imbroglio featuring dirigibles (this is 1910, with some alterations) and a heavily armed “land ironclad.” A last-minute ally named Cai Zhao-Ji and some of the aforementioned bad guys, who belong to the Asian Tri-Loom crime syndicate, are the only characters of color. Methods’ fights are the sort in which there’s always time for dialogue, combatants don’t die or even bleed when they’re wounded, and the deadliest adversary abruptly withers under a good scolding.
The fight choreography needs work but otherwise, a promising debut and series opener. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5124-0579-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Shy, geeky preteen Malcolm’s efforts to hide his super-intelligence repeatedly fall afoul of mishaps involving a series of spectacular inventions in this web comic crossover. With one such device Mal teaches his dog Chad to talk, and his “Yum Sauce” makes even dog food delicious. Unfortunately, those are about the only times anything goes right, as his jet-powered backpack blasts a hole in the roof, his (single) mom comes home unexpectedly while he and Chad have shrunk themselves to the size of ants with a “Mini-Mega-Morpher” and a time machine made from a junked elevator nearly strands both the adventurous pair and crushworthy classmate Megan back in dinosaur times. Meanwhile, he’s demolished in gym class by Megan’s famous “Flaming Dodge Bomb.” In mulling over a “What do you want to be when you grow up?” assignment, he ultimately concludes that what he wants to “be” is different from what he’ll want to “do,” and it’s too soon to tell about either. Like the art in the original pen-and-ink editions of Jeff Smith’s Bone comics (1995-2004), McCranie’s heavy lined cartoon panels feature expressively drawn figures and easy-to-follow sequencing but look unfinished sans coloring. Still, boy and equally irrepressible dog make an engaging pair, and, along with witty writing, there’s plenty of action both physical and emotional. Sequels will not be amiss. (Graphic fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25221-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
Fine worldbuilding, with high adventure aplenty and characters and plotlines that continue to develop intriguing twists.
In this popular series’ latest episode, an ambush by the masked elf king’s ally Max Griffin leads Emily to a disturbing revelation about the mysterious voice that speaks through her own amulet.
Having set the stage with a flashback that illuminates Max’s troubled past, Kibuishi positively channels the first Star Wars film by turning Emily’s brother Navin and other friends into hotshot fighter pilots for a climactic dogfight replete with sizzling bolts of energy and massive explosions. This is followed by a long collective fall through the air during which Emily makes a desperate lifesaving venture into the “void.” There, times and memories mingle, and the dark entity that had guided her before challenges her to an ominous chess match. Expertly framing his clearly drawn figures in diversely arranged sequential panels, the author continues to tell his tale at a breakneck pace. Though his cast of humans, elves, robots, talking animals and monsters is now so large that even confirmed fans may have trouble keeping track, no one will soon forget the demonic new flying giant spider creature that Max rides into battle.
Fine worldbuilding, with high adventure aplenty and characters and plotlines that continue to develop intriguing twists. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-20889-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
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