An artfully composed and compelling dive into life and death in Soviet Russia.
Writer Fawkes and artist Fuso present a graphic-novel murder mystery set in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.
The story, which was first published as five separate comic-book issues, begins like most murder whodunits—with a dead woman found on the street. It’s New Year’s Day in Leningrad,and Det. Smirnoff assigns the case to his underling, the struggling Det. Dimitrovich, who has a history of getting lost in details and “could use a solved case” in his file. From the moment Dimitrovich sees the woman and discovers a torn napkin with a star symbol stuck to her shoe, he has “the oddest feeling” that he’s “seen it all before.” As he investigates further, he learns that she was not a sex worker or a drunken reveler, as others on the scene suggested, but a ballet dancer. He’s convinced that she was murdered, and that she wasn’t the killer’s first victim. Fuso ably ratchets up the intensity with quick cuts between Dimitrovich’s investigation and a shadowy, menacing figure who begins to intrude on the story, as the artist shows him stalking outside of scenes and getting closer to the detectives and their families. By the time Smirnoff begins to worry that Dimitrovich is repeating his past mistakes, readers will be equally unsure about whether the younger man is a capable detective, or unraveling under pressure. Still, Smirnoff can’t ignore the growing sense that there’s more to the case than meets the eye. Later in the story, Fawkes effectively shifts the narrative into a deeper exploration of institutional corruption and denial, when the detectives are told by a police captainthat “murderers like this do not exist in Leningrad,” and it moves far beyond a standard serial killer plot into a commentary on power structures of Soviet Russia in its later years. By this point, readers will be racing through the pages, eager not only to find out the solution to the mystery, but also to understand the hints of a broader conspiracy.
An artfully composed and compelling dive into life and death in Soviet Russia.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781960578624
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Immensely enjoyable.
The debut graphic novel from Mohamed presents a modern Egypt full of magical realism where wishes have been industrialized and heavily regulated.
The story opens with a televised public service announcement from the General Committee of Wish Supervision and Licensing about the dangers of “third-class wishes”—wishes that come in soda cans and tend to backfire on wishers who aren’t specific enough (like a wish to lose weight resulting in limbs falling from the wisher’s body). Thus begins a brilliant play among magic, the mundane, and bureaucracy that centers around a newsstand kiosk where a devout Muslim is trying to unload the three “first-class wishes” (contained in elegant glass bottles and properly licensed by the government) that have come into his possession, since he believes his religion forbids him to use them. As he gradually unloads the first-class wishes on a poor, regretful widow (who then runs afoul of authorities determined to manipulate her out of her valuable commodity) and a university student who seeks a possibly magical solution to their mental health crisis (but struggles with whether a wish to always be happy might have unintended consequences), interstitials give infographic histories of wishes, showing how the Western wish-industrial complex has exploited the countries where wishes are mined (largely in the Middle East). The book is exceptionally imaginative while also being wonderfully grounded in touching human relationships, existential quandaries, and familiar geopolitical and socio-economic dynamics. Mohamed’s art balances perfectly between cartoon and realism, powerfully conveying emotions, and her strong, clean lines gorgeously depict everything from an anguished face to an ornate bottle. Charts and graphs nicely break up the reading experience while also concisely building this larger world of everyday wishes. Mohamed has a great sense of humor, which comes out in footnotes and casual asides throughout.
Immensely enjoyable.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-524-74841-8
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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