A fast-moving but thoughtful tale of betrayal and enlightenment.
In author London and illustrator Reno’s comics collection, a young assassin in the San Francisco Bay Area confronts the unresolved contradictions of her past, which requires her to make some unsettling choices.
Zealotry exerts a powerful pull on the mind, but it only takes one contradiction to weaken it. Velveteen learns this lesson the hard way as she carries out her grim assignments for the Order of Nine, a shadowy cabal with roots in ancient Rome. At first, she thinks nothing of her latest task—to kill Jasper Dean, a young hacker whose incredible coding abilities pose a serious threat to the organization. Just how much of a threat quickly becomes apparent when Jasper’s hackery reveals that the story of her own origins, as told to her by the Order, is a lie: “There’s no revolution. No great plan,” she concludes. The realization that she’s essentially been programmed to do someone else’s bidding hits hard, but it’s one that Velveteen has precious little time to ponder, as the Order is soon targeting her. She must find a way to keep herself—and Jasper, with all his secrets—alive. Readers will find themselves engaged by the pair’s navigation of the situation, in which the impulse to do right and the instinct to do what’s necessary to stay alive are often mutually exclusive. The resolution of this first installment, which covers the story’s first four issues, is delivered amid some graphic, eye-popping action sequences, and it serves as an effective repudiation of the brutal mindset of Volta, the Order’s extremist leader. As the author suggests, the end doesn’t always justify the means, nor does empathy equate to weakness, despite what Volta’s declaration that “Emotions are what make you untrustworthy.” It’s a timely and compelling reminder that readers will surely appreciate, especially in today’s hyperpolarized social climate.
A fast-moving but thoughtful tale of betrayal and enlightenment.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781545816158
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times...
A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation of the Bard’s renowned love story.
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story markedly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark. He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the contemporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque, adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the play” (which culls out the famous quotes).Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-80028-58-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...
A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.
The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The New Book Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
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