Offbeat and charmingly weird.
A unicorn becomes entangled in a burger chain’s evil plot to take over Earth City.
Lisa Cheese, a light-blue unicorn with a cyborg arm, journeyed away from her parents and her dimension to pursue her dream of becoming a folk singer in Earth City, which is inhabited by ghouls, demons, aliens, and humans. Her first open mic had disastrous results, though, and she now has rage issues and is working an office job alongside a demon-possessed co-worker. Lisa starts training with Sister Firehair, a human with supernatural powers who is cued as being of Chinese descent, to manage her anger and strength and help protect the Burning Bakery, Sister Firehair’s family restaurant, which is being targeted by neighboring joint Beef Is Burger. The burger minions’ scheme is darker than Lisa knows. Luckily, she’s not the only one on to them, because she’ll need help from others—including her new crush, rock musician GiGi, aka Ghost Guitar, a humanoid spirit with tan skin and silvery blue hair—to defeat the ne’er-do-wells and save her new home. Combining a vintage comics aesthetic with vibrant, saturated colors and hand-lettering, this fun and chaotic comic evokes underground punk zines through its blend of anger, heart, and anti-corporate themes (Lisa: “I hate capitalism”). Lisa’s self-doubt and journey to find her place and purpose will resonate, particularly with older teens and new adults, while the absurd hilarity and exciting action sequences will keep readers captivated.
Offbeat and charmingly weird. (Graphic fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781603095280
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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
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
© Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
