Clever if rough-hewn concept bearing at best a chancy resemblance to its literary models.
Four classic tales, considerably reworked to feature the Dark Knight and various foes and associates.
The creators of the Secret Hero Society series (kicked off with Study Hall of Justice, 2016) turn from middle school to another fertile milieu—classic tales. The creators follow wooden “Waynocchio” on his quest to become a “real Boy Wonder”; send the butler Alfred into Wonderland to rescue his costumed charges from the “Jokerwacky” and “Harley Queen”; cast Nora “Mrs. Freeze” Fries as the Snow Queen, who seeks help from Batman to thaw her captive husband, Mr. Freeze; and reimagine “The Princess and the Pea” as a series of interrogations by police seeking a hefty stolen diamond. As dialogue constitutes the only text in all but one of these, readers unfamiliar with the originals may have trouble following at least the first two. Moreover, Batman himself takes only a supporting role in all but “The Snow Queen.” Still, from the Cheshire Catwoman on, the characters (all white), though largely drawn as children or at least with young faces, will be recognizable to fans of DC comics and films. Being loosely drawn and brushed in transparent inks, the art has a quick, sketchy look reinforced by impressionistic backgrounds in both the spacious panels and unbordered larger scenes.
Clever if rough-hewn concept bearing at best a chancy resemblance to its literary models. (Graphic fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8340-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick...
Stonekeeper Emily frees the elves from their monstrous masked ruler and sets out to rejoin her brother and mother in the series’ penultimate episode.
The multistranded storyline picks up with Emily’s return to the world of Alledia. Now a fiery, destructive phoenix struggling to regain control of her actions, Emily goes on to follow her brother Navin and allies as they battle invading shadows on the nearby world of Typhon, then switches back to human form for a climactic confrontation with the Elf King—in the course of which Emily rips off his mask to a chorus of “ERGH!! NO!!! GRAH! RRGH!! AAAGH!” to expose a rousingly hideous face. Cute animal heads on many figures (the result of a curse) and a scene with benevolent-looking trees provide at least a bit of relief from the grim expressions that all the human and humanoid elven characters almost invariably wear. But along with emphatic sound effects, the battle and action scenes in the cleanly drawn, if sometimes cramped, panels feature huge blasts of fire or energy, intricately detailed giant robots, weirdly eyeless monsters, and wild escapades aplenty to keep the pace’s pedal to the metal. Aliens and AIs in the cast come in a variety of hues, elves are a uniform gray, and except for a brief encounter between Emily and a slightly darker lad, the (uncursed) humans default to white.
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick around for it. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-85002-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
This thrilling coming-of-age adventure is both quirky and sincere.
Some things you must learn on your own.
In this graphic/prose hybrid, Henry Khoo embarks on a secret mission. Now that he’s 12, the legal age to travel alone, he has plans to fly from his Australian home to Singapore, where his father lives. As he haphazardly navigates his way to his flight, his tangled motivations slowly unfold. Initially it appears he wants to establish his independence, seeking reprieve from the overbearing eyes of older sister Jie, Mama, and wuxia drama–watching Popo. Soon the comedic narration reveals that Henry is confronting myriad issues: his emotionally and geographically distant father; his waning relationship with his best friend; and his need to hide his secret identity as the creator of the Fly on the Wall website. Spawned from Henry’s sense that he’s invisible to all, his online comics illustrate school gossip—and draw the opprobrium of the school administration. As in Lai’s debut, Pie in the Sky (2019), humorous line drawings punctuate the text and reveal Henry’s inner feelings. Flashbacks deftly illuminate Henry’s emotional journey to a wider worldview and eventual ownership of his feelings. Lai has a talent of not preaching to her readers, instead offering the reassurance that no one is alone in experiencing the painful awkwardness and occasionally harsh realities of growing up. Henry and his family are Chinese, and dialogue is occasionally bilingual.
This thrilling coming-of-age adventure is both quirky and sincere. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-31411-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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