A wild set of well-illustrated tales that unearth incredible stories and dark secrets.
Writer/artist Volk blends noir fiction, supernatural horror, SF, and neo-Western genre elements in a collection of five standalone tales, set in the fictional prairie town of Broadacres.
Powered by unapologetically visceral illustrations that adeptly convey intense emotion and relentless violence, these darkly diverse stories are like a sampler box of chocolates—with some confections injected with methamphetamines and others with strong psychedelics. One vignette features retired race car driver Freddy Davis, who has defeated all the best drivers in the world in his legendary black 1970 Pontiac GTO, called the “Broadacres Bullet.” Looking for one final challenge, he decides to race the Devil himself. Another story follows the town’s seemingly immortal sheriff, Ned Reade, as he tracks a fugitive into the badlands. Other tales revolve around a World War I veteran’s memories of a space alien saving his life on the battlefield; a secret buried deep in an abandoned silver mine on the outskirts of Broadacres; and a U.S. Air Force pilot who crashes during a blizzard and, after fighting off a nightmarish beast, finds himself somewhere totally unexpected. Although the illustrations and overall layout are visually spectacular, it’s the town of Broadacres that provides the most effective hook. Arguably more interesting than its featured inhabitants (which aren’t all that deeply developed), the prairie town is equal parts Dodge City and Area 51—an outpost in the middle of nowhere where anything can happen. The setting is an ideal narrative sandbox for a storyteller, with a nearby military base, miles of abandoned mine shafts, and desert wastelands that are home to mythical beasts. Although the collection ends with multiple unresolved plot threads and more than a few questions, these stories offer a great introduction to Volk’s sprawling, and virtually limitless, Broadacres realm.
A wild set of well-illustrated tales that unearth incredible stories and dark secrets.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781960578815
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A Rand primer with pictures.
A graphic novel for devotees of Ayn Rand.
With its men who have become gods through rugged individualism, the fiction of Ayn Rand has consistently had something of a comic strip spirit to it. So the mating of Rand and graphic narrative would seem to be long overdue, with her 1938 novella better suited to a quick read than later, more popular work such as The Fountainhead (1943) and the epic Atlas Shrugged (1957). As Anthem shows, well before the Cold War (or even World War II), Rand was railing against the evils of any sort of collectivism and the stifling of individualism, warning that this represented a return to the Dark Ages. Here, her allegory hammers the point home. It takes place in the indeterminate future, a period after “the Great Rebirth” marked an end of “the Unmentionable Times.” Now people have numbers as names and speak of themselves as “we,” with no concept of “I.” The hero, drawn to stereotypical, flowing-maned effect by illustrator Staton, knows himself as Equality 7-2521 and knows that “it is evil to be superior.” A street sweeper, he stumbles upon the entrance to a tunnel, where he discovers evidence of scientific advancement, from a time when “men knew secrets that we have lost.” He inevitably finds a nubile mate. He calls her “the Golden One.” She calls him “the Unconquered.” Their love, of course, is forbidden, and not just because she is 17. After his attempt to play Prometheus, bringing light to a society that prefers the dark, the two escape to the “uncharted forest,” where they are Adam and Eve. “I have my mind. I shall live my own truth,” he proclaims, having belatedly discovered the first-person singular. The straightforward script penned by Santino betrays no hint of tongue-in-cheek irony.
A Rand primer with pictures.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-451-23217-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: NAL/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2010
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...
A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.
The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The New Book Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
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