Gore-splattered lessons in anatomy as well as bringing the pain.
Testosterone soaks the pages of this ultraviolent urban martial arts comic.
In pursuit of the sneering giant who challenged him outside the gym one day and smashed his Olympic dreams along with his ribs, kickboxer Karim Yun dives into the corrupt and sordid world of no-rules cage fighting to pulp and be pulped by invariably larger opponents—notably proud boxer Leon Espinosa, who becomes an ally and second protagonist partway through after deciding that he doesn’t like being ordered to deliberately throw fights. Spatters of blood, sound effects (“WHAM,” “BOOM,” “URGH!”), and blurred figures capture the impact of heavy blows to heads and bodies during bouts; meanwhile the mix of vocal and inner dialogue delivers technical commentary on strikes and strategy (“A 540 hook kick knockout?!” “A one-shot kill liver blow!”) that is supplemented by detailed views, sometimes even X-rays, of cracked bones and mangled joints and organs. Aside from Maya Kang, a nurse who attaches herself to Karim to doctor him between fights and be rescued from assaults by leering louts, the only women here are lingerie-clad and shown fawning over fight promoters, but De Bard provides views aplenty of strutting, tattooed, massively chiseled males to gawk at. Names cue some ethnic diversity in the cast, as do differences in skin tone and hair texture in the monochrome art.
Gore-splattered lessons in anatomy as well as bringing the pain. (Graphic fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780760382363
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Rockport Publishers
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
A fantastic stand-alone mystery companion revisits a much-loved sleuth.
Amateur boarding school detective Stevie Bell is back with a new cold case to crack in a companion novel to the Truly Devious trilogy.
After solving one of the greatest murder mysteries of the 20th century, Stevie is at a bit of a loss while back home working at a deli counter during summer break. When the new owner of Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the gruesome (and unsolved) Box in the Woods murders back in the ’70s—invites her over to work on the case for his upcoming documentary and podcast, Stevie immediately says yes. It’s especially appealing since she gets to invite her closest friends, Nate and Janelle, as well as her boyfriend, David, to tag along. When a new murder takes place just as Stevie starts asking questions around town, the gang find themselves in danger once more. Johnson’s hallmark charming humor and lovable characters provide a robust foundation for another cracking mystery, this time ingeniously working with summer-camp and locked-room–mystery tropes. A few snippets relating back to the events in 1978 and Stevie’s empathy for the grieving friends and relatives of the dead, who still yearn for answers, provide a strong emotional grounding for the case. Apart from Janelle, who is Black (and queer), most characters are White. Stevie’s relationship with her lifelong anxiety is particularly well portrayed.
A fantastic stand-alone mystery companion revisits a much-loved sleuth. (author's note) (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-303260-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Compelling characters and solid sports action.
Volponi's latest combines in-the-moment action, basketball history and the points of view of four college ballplayers with very different lives.
The frame story here is a white-knuckle NCAA championship game between Michigan State's Spartans and the underdog Trojans from Troy University. Television interviews, news articles, radio transcripts and segments narrated from individual players' perspectives lay out the minute-by-minute action of the game and the context and personal histories surrounding it. Readers meet talented but arrogant Malcolm McBride, who plans to leave Michigan State for the NBA immediately after his freshman year, second-tier player Michael Jordan (MJ), whom Malcolm berates for not living up to his namesake's prowess, Crispin Rice, who became a viral video sensation when he proposed impulsively to his cheerleader girlfriend after a dramatic play on the court, and Roko Bacic, who lost a journalist uncle to an attack by Zagreb mobsters. No story or character is simple: Malcolm, for instance, is both sympathetic and perilously self-centered, and his argument that the NCAA profits unfairly from student athletics will provoke debate among readers. The pace of the game lulls a bit in the middle but picks up again in the tense and unpredictable finale.
Compelling characters and solid sports action. (Fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-01264-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
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