Grim, deeply affecting, and timely.
Three starving animals, a ragtag pack consisting of Simon (an abandoned dog), Cliff (a raccoon), and Reynard (a deer), ramble across a rusted-out, dilapidated world, scavenging to survive.
When Barnaby, a slippery, sinewy new dog, joins them with tales of a town still lit up and teeming with garbage, their friendships fray. The adolescent animals in this wrenching, bleak graphic novel wear hoodies, knit caps, and tube socks, and their eyes are tired and worried. Their unlikely authenticity, the hunger and hopelessness rendered in their animal faces and darting eyes, make this woozy, utterly devastating fable terribly effective in acknowledging the people, particularly teenagers, who struggle within America’s swaths of poverty and desperation. Lee’s artwork does not shield readers from this. Abandoned strip malls, denuded forests, chain-link fences, and boarded-up houses make up this shadowy world of forgotten places, people, and pets. Both readers inhabiting economically depressed communities and those comfortably distanced from them will shudder as they plod alongside this deteriorating group of increasingly edgy friends. Inventive, varied paneling, speech-bubble placement, and shifts in palette keep their story moving even as it sometimes, even abruptly, meanders, just like the halting, confused, listless odyssey of these peripatetic animal kids.
Grim, deeply affecting, and timely. (Graphic fantasy. 10-18)Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-910620-21-2
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Nobrow Ltd.
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Hinds adds another magnificent adaptation to his oeuvre (King Lear, 2009, etc.) with this stunning graphic retelling of Homer’s epic. Following Odysseus’s journey to return home to his beloved wife, Penelope, readers are transported into a world that easily combines the realistic and the fantastic. Gods mingle with the mortals, and not heeding their warnings could lead to quick danger; being mere men, Odysseus and his crew often make hasty errors in judgment and must face challenging consequences. Lush watercolors move with fluid lines throughout this reimagining. The artist’s use of color is especially striking: His battle scenes are ample, bloodily scarlet affairs, and Polyphemus’s cave is a stifling orange; he depicts the underworld as a colorless, mirthless void, domestic spaces in warm tans, the all-encircling sea in a light Mediterranean blue and some of the far-away islands in almost tangibly growing greens. Don’t confuse this hefty, respectful adaptation with some of the other recent ones; this one holds nothing back and is proudly, grittily realistic rather than cheerfully cartoonish. Big, bold, beautiful. (notes) (Graphic classic. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4266-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories.
Grammy Award–winning artist Keys co-authors a YA superhero graphic novel bearing the title of her hit song.
Smart, quiet 14-year-old Loretta “Lolo” Wright struggles to stand up for herself until, on what should be a routine trip to a convenience store, her 16-year-old brother, James, is mistakenly accused of stealing by the police. When the officer slams her brother to the ground, Lolo’s powers manifest for the first time. Meanwhile, Michael Warner, who lives in the same Brooklyn housing projects as the Wrights, is rejected from the football team for being too small. He develops exceptional fighting abilities and shortly afterward gets involved in working for a drug dealer named Skin. When Skin sees a video of Lolo levitating the cop who assaulted James, he wants to recruit her as well, and he tries to extort protection money from Lolo’s dad, who owns a moving business. Lolo must convince Michael to choose a different path; it’s only by working together that they can defeat Skin. Featuring dizzying shifts among multiple perspectives, this full-color graphic novel presents vibrant, expressive characters set against mostly simple, bright backgrounds, with extreme violence depicted in gory detail. The narrative briefly explores class issues and racial stereotypes, but while the setup is intriguing, the momentum fizzles and the pieces never quite come together. Most main characters are Black; Skin reads as White, and secondary characters appear racially diverse.
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories. (Graphic fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-302956-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
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