by Dana Mele ; illustrated by Valentina Pinti & Chiara Di Francia ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2022
Exceptional characters elevate an absorbing, often eerie murder mystery.
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A young woman’s search for her father’s killer exposes dark family secrets and deception in this contemporary graphic-novel take on Hamlet.
New Yorker Harper Hayes is shattered by the sudden loss of her father. Hamilton died of a heart attack, at least according to the coroner. But then Harper runs into her father’s ghost at the old theater where the famous actor first took the stage. Hamilton, appearing as his younger self portraying Hamlet, assures his daughter that his death was a murder (“You know what you have to do”). Harper is determined to unmask the killer and has a couple of suspects in mind, from Hamilton’s estranged brother to his business partner at CPOLO Invest. She also finds a solid lead—the very real possibility that someone forged the coroner’s report. Another suspicious death takes Harper’s investigation in an entirely new direction, and she gets helping hands from her ex-girlfriend Talia Polonius and her friend Holden Parker. Answers may lie in the Hayeses’ remarkably creepy Gothic home or at the coroner’s office, which would require dealing with the security system. All the while, Harper is periodically blacking out. Along with an apparent vision of an unknown person shoving her off a balcony, she wakes up after one blackout with blood on her hands that won’t come off. As Harper and the others inch closer to a possible solution, their mutual trust wanes. Harper may not be willing to believe someone close to her is guilty, and her friends may even question her startling proximity to Hamilton at the time he died.
Despite the infusion of elements from Shakespeare’s play (for example, character names), Mele develops an original and sublime cast in this series opener. Ghostly and winsome Hamilton, for example, provides some comic relief, as he tends to utter his remarks while Harper converses with people who can neither see nor hear him. There’s also a potential love triangle. Harper and Talia may reignite old feelings, so long as the protagonist stays mum about the “benefits” that she and Holden at one time added to their friendship. Harper’s visions, often accompanied by Hamlet quotes, are gleefully unnerving, as a bizarre presence of some kind seemingly takes over the panels and the hero’s mind. But like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Harper and readers can’t be certain if any of it is real—is Hamilton a mere figment of her imagination, or has her father come back to help her solve his homicide? It’s all a puzzle, which effectively parallels the murder mystery, including the likelihood that the killer is someone Harper knows very well. Pinti and Di Francia, who have worked together on the Red Sonja: Red Sitha series (2022), fill the pages with bold colors and characters’ sharply expressive faces. The few instances of Harper’s sometimes bloody hallucinations are particularly strong and reinforce the narrative with an ominous supernatural vibe. The volume ends on a cliffhanger. In Mele’s closing notes, the author hints that subsequent installments won’t completely follow Hamlet, so the murderer’s identity may surprise readers familiar with the tragedy.
Exceptional characters elevate an absorbing, often eerie murder mystery.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68116-096-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Legendary Comics YA
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Gene Luen Yang ; illustrated by Gurihiru ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2020
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
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by William Shakespeare & developed by The New Book Press LLC ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 2013
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
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