A satisfyingly bloody criminal-on-criminal pulp tale.
A hitman for the Jewish mob sets his sights on the American Bund in Hazan’s Depression-set graphic novel.
At the height of the Depression, Ephraim Gold works as a hitman for Cleveland’s Jewish Mafia—the so-called Kosher Nostra—rubbing out rivals in the bootlegging business. When the mob’s nebbish bookkeeper Howard Berkowicz oversteps his limits by asking mob boss Moishe Levinson to do something about the burgeoning Nazi movement within the United States, Levinson orders Gold to make Berkowicz disappear. Instead, Gold—who agrees with Berkowicz about the rising Nazi threat—opts to defy orders and help the bookkeeper instead. After faking Berkowicz’s death, the two men kidnap a member of the German American Bund for information. It doesn’t take long for word to get out about what the duo is up to, and soon Gold and Berkowicz have the full brunt of the Bund, the Italian mob, and even the Kosher Nostra—whose business dealings with the Italians are more important than any loyalty they may have to the Jewish people—on their tail. What’s more, the fact that Gold no longer has the protection of the Kosher Nostra means that every criminal he’s ever tangled with suddenly has free reign to settle old scores. The full-color illustrations by Kivelä and colorist Wright are worth the price of admission alone, and Hazan’s muscular writing meets the story’s gritty demands. The book will satisfy the Nazi-punching fantasies of many readers, and Hazan leans gleefully into the premise: At one point, Gold facetiously asks Berkowicz whether they were going to “kidnap ourselves a Kraut” or “sit and debate this like a couple of Yeshiva virgins.” (In a later scene, Gold tortures a chair-bound Bund member while monologuing about the Plagues of Egypt.) The five issues collected in this volume tell a complete tale, but a few lines at the end suggest a bigger future for Ephraim Gold, one that the reader will hope to see in print.
A satisfyingly bloody criminal-on-criminal pulp tale.Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781545816165
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 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
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times...
A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation of the Bard’s renowned love story.
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story markedly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark. He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the contemporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque, adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the play” (which culls out the famous quotes).Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-80028-58-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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