A super-silly, whirling first episode that will leave gay superhero fans scratching their heads–and eager for the next...
A sexually insatiable gay male hairdresser doubles as a crime-fighting superhero in this pseudo-graphic, Hawaii-based spoof.
Flipping the handcuffs off the bed from his latest dalliance, former decorated Navy Seal and champion defender of everything Jayms “I talk like Oscar Wilde and kick ass like James Bond” Blonde (6 feet 4 inches, 235 pounds, 2 percent body fat) receives an assignment from Mama, his superior at the clandestine environmental protection agency S.T.O.P. (Stop Terrorizing Our Planet) located beneath the Jayms Blonde International Salon. Three secret agents have been killed in half a day’s time, and Mama wants answers. Together with his trusty 20-year-old sidekick/pedicurist Precious Needmoore and gadget guru Harry Hardware, Blonde battles arch nemesis ZENRON, the subterranean “international cartel of oil and energy” largely responsible for the Earth’s atmospheric deterioration, and ZENRON’s beautiful and deadly owner Zaroya. Armed with an arsenal of beauty products that double as weapons, Blonde and his cohorts are in near-constant turmoil trying to outsmart the menacing Zaroya and her lesbian sidekick Vichyssoise, who are both determined to kill Blonde at any cost. Hit-and-runs in Hong Kong, mauling tigers, killer ninjas and a kidnapping attempt aren’t nearly enough to knock this gay superhero out of action. There’s even time to foil Zaroya’s airborne-virus conspiracy. While not quite a graphic novel, it comes close with generous illustrations throughout, enhancing the action and providing a sleek visual aide to Blonde’s heavily embellished heroics. At the end of the day, the protagonist is happy to just lie back, spout all the sexual innuendo he can muster and relax until the next dastardly villain crosses his rose-colored path. Cabell makes the over-the-top zaniness and mock action-hero antics fun, and everything congeals into a wildly enjoyable ride for readers who enjoy the adventures of a muscle-bound, crime-fighting queen in tights.
A super-silly, whirling first episode that will leave gay superhero fans scratching their heads–and eager for the next installment.Pub Date: July 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-595-42474-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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