Fast-paced, full-color fluff appealing to voracious sci-fi comic fans but few others.
In the near future, a young girl and her friends fend off fuzzy purple extraterrestrials intent on domination.
Erin Song lives in a world dependent on smartphones and the internet, devoid of handwriting, bookstores, and DVDs. Erin’s quest for popularity leads her to help the most popular girl in school cheat on a test. Inevitably, the scheme quickly falls apart. Erin’s outraged boredom at her revoked technology privileges turns to panic when she realizes Culver City has been invaded by ETs using computers, smartphones, and TVs to transmit false information and erase any memory of the humans they abduct—including Erin’s older brother. Can Erin and a gang of elderly Luddites defeat the aliens? Divided into five long chapters, this humorous, intergenerational story relies heavily on the digitally inked, full-color illustrations. Expressive characters, enticing layouts, and a pastel color scheme add comedic flair. Although there are a few plot points that get lost amid the sequential panels, overall the visual storytelling is clear. Unfortunately, top-notch illustrations cannot overcome a predictable plotline, underdeveloped characters, and a heavy-handed message. The final battle is awash with fun gadgets, but victory is disappointingly swift, too easily won. The illustrations depict Erin as mixed-race (white mother, Asian father) and show a realistically diverse community, yet the text fails to develop the supporting characters. Finally, lacking nuance, the beware-of-too-much-technology moral drags down the story.
Fast-paced, full-color fluff appealing to voracious sci-fi comic fans but few others. (Graphic science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62010-680-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Oni Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick...
Stonekeeper Emily frees the elves from their monstrous masked ruler and sets out to rejoin her brother and mother in the series’ penultimate episode.
The multistranded storyline picks up with Emily’s return to the world of Alledia. Now a fiery, destructive phoenix struggling to regain control of her actions, Emily goes on to follow her brother Navin and allies as they battle invading shadows on the nearby world of Typhon, then switches back to human form for a climactic confrontation with the Elf King—in the course of which Emily rips off his mask to a chorus of “ERGH!! NO!!! GRAH! RRGH!! AAAGH!” to expose a rousingly hideous face. Cute animal heads on many figures (the result of a curse) and a scene with benevolent-looking trees provide at least a bit of relief from the grim expressions that all the human and humanoid elven characters almost invariably wear. But along with emphatic sound effects, the battle and action scenes in the cleanly drawn, if sometimes cramped, panels feature huge blasts of fire or energy, intricately detailed giant robots, weirdly eyeless monsters, and wild escapades aplenty to keep the pace’s pedal to the metal. Aliens and AIs in the cast come in a variety of hues, elves are a uniform gray, and except for a brief encounter between Emily and a slightly darker lad, the (uncursed) humans default to white.
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick around for it. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-85002-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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