This entertaining, pleasantly mellow story, despite trafficking in cliches, brims with exuberance and features an animated...
In Loui’s debut graphic novel, a man passes on what he’s learned while collecting crane-machine plush dolls.
Kenny Loui is a student, teacher, and Civil Air Patrol lieutenant. But he’s first and foremost a UFO catcher— his mission is rescuing plush dolls from captivity (crane machines at a local arcade). Kenny endures such trials as a bill validator repeatedly rejecting his currency and develops a gamer rivalry with the blonde-haired, perpetually snarky Killian. There’s also Somi, a mysterious woman often appearing at Kenny’s side, though he apparently can’t see or hear her. When she isn’t photo-bombing his selfies she cheers him on in multiple languages, including Korean and Japanese, and she offers sage advice she hopes he’ll somehow understand. Kenny applies his arcade experiences to real life: “Don’t just jump in without knowing what you’re going to do,” he muses as he contemplates which doll to aim the crane at. The author has fun with this breezy, semi-autobiographical tale. Irene, a bubbly, talking plush pig, introduces a couple of “episodes” that are BGM (background music)-enhanced, with QR links to music videos to play while you read. Loui keeps the story fresh with Kenny failing as often as he succeeds and provides (disappointingly few) glimpses into his history. Many of Kenny’s “life lessons,” are simple platitudes; some of these, including “Always look before you buy” and “No good deed goes unpunished” are already implied by characters’ actions. Yamawe’s dynamic, manga-inspired illustrations perfectly suit Loui’s tone, with exaggerated facial expressions and lightning bolts intensifying a Kenny/Killian face-off. Readers will surely welcome more of Kenny’s antics in future volumes.
This entertaining, pleasantly mellow story, despite trafficking in cliches, brims with exuberance and features an animated cast.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2023
ISBN: 9798986730011
Page Count: 150
Publisher: UFO Comics
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth.
Superman confronts racism and learns to accept himself with the help of new friends.
In this graphic-novel adaptation of the 1940s storyline entitled “The Clan of the Fiery Cross” from The Adventures of Superman radio show, readers are reintroduced to the hero who regularly saves the day but is unsure of himself and his origins. The story also focuses on Roberta Lee, a young Chinese girl. She and her family have just moved from Chinatown to Metropolis proper, and mixed feelings abound. Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane’s colleague from the Daily Planet, takes a larger role here, befriending his new neighbors, the Lees. An altercation following racial slurs directed at Roberta’s brother after he joins the local baseball team escalates into an act of terrorism by the Klan of the Fiery Kross. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill superhero story then becomes a nuanced and personal exploration of the immigrant experience and blatant and internalized racism. Other main characters are White, but Black police inspector William Henderson fights his own battles against prejudice. Clean lines, less-saturated coloring, and character designs reminiscent of vintage comics help set the tone of this period piece while the varied panel cuts and action scenes give it a more modern sensibility. Cantonese dialogue is indicated through red speech bubbles; alien speech is in green.
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth. (author’s note, bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77950-421-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A Rand primer with pictures.
A graphic novel for devotees of Ayn Rand.
With its men who have become gods through rugged individualism, the fiction of Ayn Rand has consistently had something of a comic strip spirit to it. So the mating of Rand and graphic narrative would seem to be long overdue, with her 1938 novella better suited to a quick read than later, more popular work such as The Fountainhead (1943) and the epic Atlas Shrugged (1957). As Anthem shows, well before the Cold War (or even World War II), Rand was railing against the evils of any sort of collectivism and the stifling of individualism, warning that this represented a return to the Dark Ages. Here, her allegory hammers the point home. It takes place in the indeterminate future, a period after “the Great Rebirth” marked an end of “the Unmentionable Times.” Now people have numbers as names and speak of themselves as “we,” with no concept of “I.” The hero, drawn to stereotypical, flowing-maned effect by illustrator Staton, knows himself as Equality 7-2521 and knows that “it is evil to be superior.” A street sweeper, he stumbles upon the entrance to a tunnel, where he discovers evidence of scientific advancement, from a time when “men knew secrets that we have lost.” He inevitably finds a nubile mate. He calls her “the Golden One.” She calls him “the Unconquered.” Their love, of course, is forbidden, and not just because she is 17. After his attempt to play Prometheus, bringing light to a society that prefers the dark, the two escape to the “uncharted forest,” where they are Adam and Eve. “I have my mind. I shall live my own truth,” he proclaims, having belatedly discovered the first-person singular. The straightforward script penned by Santino betrays no hint of tongue-in-cheek irony.
A Rand primer with pictures.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-451-23217-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: NAL/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2010
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