This psychological thriller of digital discord has some relish, but the real meat may lie in future installments.
A federal agent goes undercover at a college to investigate a social media phenomenon gone out of control in Rahal’s graphic novel.
The opening of this thriller takes cues from a digital-era pastime—social media “challenges.” The one in question here is a seemingly harmless stunt in which wired-up young people eat hot dogs in odd or inappropriate circumstances while streaming the video. When a fatality results (a hot dog thief is shot by an angry store owner), the vengeful online “community” built around the gag (a faceless horde called the Hot Dog Party) spreads rumors that a major hot dog manufacturer uses tainted meat; the collapse of the corporation’s stock leads the government to intervene. Federal agent Cara Cole is tasked with infiltrating a college as a teaching assistant and gets close to a student named Paul Kovac; as a boy, Paul’s selfie showing him eating an oversized hot dog became a viral meme. Now, as a young adult (and secretly behind the Hot Dog Party), he claims that a hot dog maker “exploited his likeness for profit.” He recognizes Cara as law enforcement and seems to ask for her help in dealing with the bizarre cult he’s fostered. Or is the onetime internet phenom playing some kind of mind game? Cara befriends Charlotte, another student close to Paul and a self-anointed influencer. Soon there’s another fatality, and worse. Is Paul responsible, or are other malicious forces at work? Rahal’s timely premise, concerning the potential of an unleashed mob of glued-to-their-phone types (and of heavy-handed law enforcement reaction), recalls various real-life hashtag-boosted movements, from Black Lives Matter and #MeToo to Occupy Wall Street. The nimble, stylized artwork by Italian comics specialist Simeone has echoes of Japanese manga. A violent finale (aside from which the most explicit material is the frequent appearance of F-words) seems to wrap the case up, but the script drops enough hints and loose ends (including dark suggestions of trauma in Cara’s past) to set up a second volume.
This psychological thriller of digital discord has some relish, but the real meat may lie in future installments.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781952303777
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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