Visually lavish and unforgettable.
A one-eyed fox must fight its way through a dizzying array of dangers to return to what it holds dear.
In the midst of an unnamed wild, the seasons are changing from a blazingly rubicund autumn to a strikingly pallid winter. With a scar running vertically through one eye, a fox skulks along, hunting prey and avoiding other animals. However, when a volcano suddenly and violently explodes, the lone vulpine hero must now contend with the scorching lava as well as larger beasts, among them a killer whale, a Kodiak bear, and an albino Alaskan brown bear (according to the backmatter; it looks an awful lot like a polar bear). The crimson fox is continually making its way to something or someone, and against all odds, with love as a driving force, it eventually reaches its destination. Without use of words, Brrémaud and Bertolucci evince a visually arresting tale of survival and reunion. Bertolucci's illustrations are nothing short of breathtaking, portraying both the beauty and destruction of nature. Although the book is gorgeous and the panels, breathlessly paced, readers must account for a dash of poetic license in a landscape that changes climate so swiftly and completely and that the fox traverses in apparently so little time. This fallacy aside, this is a visceral offering whose beauty can’t help but dazzle.
Visually lavish and unforgettable. (Graphic adventure. 6-11)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-942367-06-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Another quirky offering from the man behind the Johnny Boo series. Three unconventional characters populate this small charmer: Dragon Puncher, the moody, aloof hero of the tale (modeled after Kochalka’s cat, Spandy), Spoony-E, Dragon Puncher’s young, perky, monster sidekick (who bears the likeness of Kochalka’s son, Eli), and the fearsome dragon (the author himself). When Dragon Puncher meets up with Spoony-E and his wooden spoony-spoon, the young monster sees what Dragon Puncher does not—that the hero needs his help to defeat the menacing, drooling dragon. The more Dragon Puncher resists his appeals, the more Spoony-E persists. This is hardly a new formula, but it’s a winning one. A novel mix of photographs and illustration, this unique little gem is chockfull of giggles. The three main characters’ carefully selected Photoshopped expressions are grin-worthy; the author’s grimacing expressions as the dragon are priceless. With its vivid palette and rampant silliness, this work should enrapture young readers. Effervescently bizarre. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: July 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60309-057-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Though classified as a graphic novelist, Delisle has claimed territory all his own as a graphic-travel memoirist.
Insightful, illuminating memoir of a year under a totalitarian regime.
In 2005-06, Delisle (Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, 2006, etc.) accompanied his wife, who works as an administrator for Doctors Without Borders, to the country recognized by the United Nations as Myanmar. The United States and other democratic countries, however, still call it Burma, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the military junta that seized power in 1989. As in the illustrator’s previous adventures in China and North Korea (Pyongyang, 2005), the focus is less on politics and more on the lives of the people he encounters—though such lives are profoundly shaped by politics. He comes to accept checkpoints and censorship as routine, and he does his best to find a suitable home, survive with intermittent electricity and Internet access and take care of his toddler son Louis, whose charm transcends cultural borders. The author also fears malaria, bird flu and poisonous snakes, though the DWB medical community provides more comfort than much of the Burmese citizenry enjoys. Delisle writes and illustrates a children’s booklet on HIV, an important contribution to a country in which heroin and prostitution are rampant. As in previous volumes, his eye for everyday detail combined with droll, matter-of-fact narration humanizes his 14-month experience in a country that might seem traumatic, even intolerable, in other hands. “There were no demands and no uprisings either,” he writes. “Things are always very calm here, thanks to a regime that creates paralysis by fomenting fear on a daily basis.” The undercurrents of Buddhism throughout the book culminate in his visit to a temple, where his meditation proves transformative.
Though classified as a graphic novelist, Delisle has claimed territory all his own as a graphic-travel memoirist.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-897299-50-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2008
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