An intriguing graphic novel featuring a story of corporate irresponsibility with supernatural themes.
A young woman seeks justice for the exploited workers of her town in this graphic novel, written by Mulligan and illustrated by Pyrink.
The story begins at a funeral in Richland, Washington, where the late Jared Fleming’s husband, Van, and daughter, Ali, are delivering eulogies to their departed loved one. In these speeches, they both allude to mysterious illnesses that the townsfolk have been experiencing, and to the fact that Jared’s death was unnatural. After the ceremony, Jared’s coworker, who calls herself Jane, reaffirms this theory to Van, noting that Jared may have died due to cracks in a local tunnel. Ali becomes determined to find out more before she must return to college. Over the summer, her friends, Brett and Shannon, worked at the same company that Jared did, and they confirm that the company violated multiple health and safety regulations—specifically regarding the handling of toxic materials. They believe this contributed to Jared’s eventual death from cancer, as something similar happened to Shannon’s uncle. They also provide Ali with a lead via a group called Hanford Connect, made up of former employees of the company who dedicate themselves to pursuing restitution for wronged families. After several suspicious occurrences, Van and Ali conclude that Jared’s spirit is still with them—a fact that readers have known for some time, as his translucent presence often lingers at the margins of scenes. The novel concludes on a cliffhanger, suggesting that Brett has had an encounter with a very different kind of supernatural being while getting pizza. Overall, Pyrink’s art is well suited to the horror/suspense genre and its subject matter, and their characters all feel distinctive. Mulligan’s narrative excels at laying groundwork for an ongoing series while stoking odd mysteries, as when characters allude to previous encounters with a witch. However, a tangible antagonist never fully emerges, aside from one unnamed character who never confronts the heroes directly. Nonetheless, the overall theme of seeking accountability for exposing employees to hazardous working conditions is one that will resonate with many readers.
An intriguing graphic novel featuring a story of corporate irresponsibility with supernatural themes.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9798990848849
Page Count: 110
Publisher: Highpoint LIT
Review Posted Online: Nov. 27, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A not-very-illuminating updating of Chaucer’s Tales.
Continuing his apparent mission to refract the whole of English culture and history through his personal lens, Ackroyd (Thames: The Biography, 2008, etc.) offers an all-prose rendering of Chaucer’s mixed-media masterpiece.
While Burton Raffel’s modern English version of The Canterbury Tales (2008) was unabridged, Ackroyd omits both “The Tale of Melibee” and “The Parson’s Tale” on the undoubtedly correct assumption that these “standard narratives of pious exposition” hold little interest for contemporary readers. Dialing down the piety, the author dials up the raunch, freely tossing about the F-bomb and Anglo-Saxon words for various body parts that Chaucer prudently described in Latin. Since “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “The Miller’s Tale,” for example, are both decidedly earthy in Middle English, the interpolated obscenities seem unnecessary as well as jarringly anachronistic. And it’s anyone’s guess why Ackroyd feels obliged redundantly to include the original titles (“Here bigynneth the Squieres Tales,” etc.) directly underneath the new ones (“The Squires Tale,” etc.); these one-line blasts of antique spelling and diction remind us what we’re missing without adding anything in the way of comprehension. The author’s other peculiar choice is to occasionally interject first-person comments by the narrator where none exist in the original, such as, “He asked me about myself then—where I had come from, where I had been—but I quickly turned the conversation to another course.” There seems to be no reason for these arbitrary elaborations, which muffle the impact of those rare times in the original when Chaucer directly addresses the reader. Such quibbles would perhaps be unfair if Ackroyd were retelling some obscure gem of Old English, but they loom larger with Chaucer because there are many modern versions of The Canterbury Tales. Raffel’s rendering captured a lot more of the poetry, while doing as good a job as Ackroyd with the vigorous prose.
A not-very-illuminating updating of Chaucer’s Tales.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-670-02122-2
Page Count: 436
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
PERSPECTIVES
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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