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THE DYSASTERS

From the Dysasters series , Vol. 1

A good thriller for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Fantastic Four.

Teens discover they have elemental powers and are being hunted by their creator.

Foster Stewart has been on the run with her adoptive mother, Cora, for the last year, ever since Cora sold her supposedly deceased husband’s clinic. While attending a high school football game, she has a run-in with Tate “Nighthawk” Taylor, one of the players, only to find out he’s the reason they are in Missouri. Tate has always been special as the star quarterback in a small town—but his ability to see in the dark doesn’t hurt. Just before taking the field, a tornado hits, leaving the teens alone and on the run from the Core Four, the original, genetically modified group designed to control the elements in the fight against climate change. Now at a safe house set up by Cora, they are tasked with finding six other teens with elemental powers before Dr. Rick Stewart and the Core Four can get to them. The Casts, a mother-and-daughter writing team (Forgotten, 2019, etc.), craft a page-turning superhero origin story with a touch of romance. Bifulco’s (Three Sisters, 2018, etc.) black-and-white illustrations are expressive and intense, giving depth to each character’s emotions, although when elements are being manipulated the background is difficult to distinguish. Foster and Tate are white, and there is some diversity in secondary characters.

A good thriller for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Fantastic Four. (Graphic science fiction. 14-adult)

Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-26877-8

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019

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THE ODYSSEY

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

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GIRL ON FIRE

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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