A masterful blend of action and emotional depth.
In McMillen’s graphic novel, an instructional booklet for a “lost” video game tells a larger story.
There is an old video game that the unnamed narrator vividly remembers but no one else can recall. “So,” the narrator tells the reader, “I started drawing this...instructional booklet. To convince myself that it was real. Or...reassure myself that I just made it all up.” Illustrated in a deliberately sketchy style that recalls the art of creative middle-schoolers filling their notebooks with cool battles, the book introduces the game’s narrative in a dialogue-free prologue: Dr. Atta, a scientist and creator of his “son,” Attaboy, is killed by a machine called Motherboard, prompting Attaboy to seek revenge. Alongside Motherboard and her “mechazoid menagerie,” there’s the mysterious Skrapper, a character who appears early on and leaves the narrator puzzled as to whether he was a friend or foe. McMillen’s presentation of different characters and his depiction of gameplay—sometimes in scribbled colors and a graffiti-like style, other times in double-page pastel spreads that recall the work of comic-book legend Jack Kirby—capture the haziness of memory. Sometimes, especially toward the beginning of the story, the action resembles that of an old arcade game. At other times, it feels so immersive that it seems to transcend mere gaming, suggesting a memory beyond what one could experience through the simple pixels of a 1980s video console. As the narrator advances in the game, his personal story gradually unfolds: The game was a gift from his mother, who had left his abusive father when the narrator was young; she had always tried her best to compensate for the difficulties in his life, even if it meant allowing him to immerse himself in games. As the parallels between the gameplay and the narrator’s life story become more pronounced, the narrative shifts from an account of a fascinating lost diversion to a metaphor for confronting early loss. Interweaving these elements, the story become a resonant memory piece.
A masterful blend of action and emotional depth.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781545811757
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Lush visuals bring this thoughtfully constructed tale to life.
Wondrous visitors encounter a desperate pocket of humanity.
Lori, a white orphaned teen who’s finally been adopted after bouncing around various foster homes, awakens to discover that nearly everyone has disappeared. The rapture? Maybe. She runs into her classmate Annette, who has brown skin and curly black hair, and they partner up to scavenge for food. The pair tries to evade several threats, such as the large Wolves and a gang called The Dogs. Supernatural Giants arrive, seemingly from space, speaking an impenetrable language of “musical chiming and weird bass-rhythms.” Lori and Annette then meet Beatrice, an older white woman who shares important observations about the Giants and Wolves. The tone of the story then subtly shifts from post-apocalyptic desperation to one that’s somewhat playful. After a certain point, a visual element that appears early on takes on clear significance and meaning in the context of the story at large, offering a subversively humorous twist for readers to consider and a creative element that deviates from other alien invasion narratives. Hans’ artwork and paneling fill each scene with wonders. An interaction with a giant sees the red, violet, and pink figure standing against a bright, otherworldly white-and-blue backdrop with dark contours. Elsewhere, Lori and Annette pause at night as they behold ominous shadows, their foggy breath forming clouds, and they hear a “KRRNCH” sound. The quick-moving plot wraps everything up neatly.
Lush visuals bring this thoughtfully constructed tale to life. (character designs) (Graphic science fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781534387072
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Image Comics
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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
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