A colorful, diverting paranormal tale and first-rate follow-up to the live-action TV show.
A mysterious entity threatens fairies and their magical school in Cuartero-Briggs’ YA graphic novel and fantasy series launch.
This graphic novel picks up where the two-season Netflix series of the same name left off. Bloom Peters, who wields powerful Dragon Flame, has disappeared by choice. Now the school she left—Alfea College, where fairies and non-magical Specialists hone their skills—is without clear leadership. When seemingly possessed animals suddenly attack the campus, students Aisha, Terra, Musa, and others fight them off. That’s all it takes for Luna, Queen of Solaria (one of the realms of the magical Otherworld), to put the school under military control and protection. To prove they’re united and to get Luna to “stand down,” the friends decide they need to find Bloom. Stella, a fairy, uses her powers to make everyone see Bloom in her place while Musa searches the Realm of Darkness, where the dead usually go and where Bloom is hiding out. The clock is ticking as the animal attacks continue; if Bloom doesn’t leave the Realm of Darkness soon, her stay will be permanent. Cuartero-Briggs here deftly reestablishes the streaming series’ cast of characters, including romantic couple Terra and Specialist Kat. There’s an even blend of melodrama and magic throughout; in between battles with snarling, red-eyed beasts, Stella frets over her mother, the queen, choosing someone else as her successor (“I know I said I didn’t want the responsibility…but I was scared, mother!”). This smartly simple tale bounces back and forth between chaos at the school and Bloom’s dilemma in the Realm of Darkness (will her potent Dragon Flame inadvertently hurt her loved ones in the Otherworld?). It all culminates in a stellar, twisty final act that will leave readers itching for the next installment. Gillenardo-Goudreau’s illustrations superbly depict the diverse characters’ assorted facial expressions along with their keen fashion sense.
A colorful, diverting paranormal tale and first-rate follow-up to the live-action TV show.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781960578938
Page Count: 102
Publisher: Maverick
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories.
Grammy Award–winning artist Keys co-authors a YA superhero graphic novel bearing the title of her hit song.
Smart, quiet 14-year-old Loretta “Lolo” Wright struggles to stand up for herself until, on what should be a routine trip to a convenience store, her 16-year-old brother, James, is mistakenly accused of stealing by the police. When the officer slams her brother to the ground, Lolo’s powers manifest for the first time. Meanwhile, Michael Warner, who lives in the same Brooklyn housing projects as the Wrights, is rejected from the football team for being too small. He develops exceptional fighting abilities and shortly afterward gets involved in working for a drug dealer named Skin. When Skin sees a video of Lolo levitating the cop who assaulted James, he wants to recruit her as well, and he tries to extort protection money from Lolo’s dad, who owns a moving business. Lolo must convince Michael to choose a different path; it’s only by working together that they can defeat Skin. Featuring dizzying shifts among multiple perspectives, this full-color graphic novel presents vibrant, expressive characters set against mostly simple, bright backgrounds, with extreme violence depicted in gory detail. The narrative briefly explores class issues and racial stereotypes, but while the setup is intriguing, the momentum fizzles and the pieces never quite come together. Most main characters are Black; Skin reads as White, and secondary characters appear racially diverse.
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories. (Graphic fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-302956-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
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