An inspiring and motivating tale of soul cooperation.
Two souls share a body to complete a lifelong dream in author/illustrator Kee’s supernatural YA graphic novel.
Chung Chuen Ming has always wanted to be a comic book artist. His first job out of school was as a junior assistant at a comics company, where he hoped to be able to eventually achieve his dream. However, the longer he was there, the more he realized that he spent time working on everyone else’s pieces, and never his own, so he quit. Now, he plans to devote his time to finishing his personal work. But with only 40 pages to go, Ming has a heart attack and ends up dead in his apartment. While wandering as a soul without a body, Ming is drawn to a comic studio and finds himself taking over the body of another artist working there. One second, Cheung Shan is working on a piece for his boss, and the next, he’s no longer in control of his actions. Fearing that he’s possessed, Shan does some rituals in order to free himself from the spirit that’s attached to him—but instead, it allows Shan and Ming to see each other and communicate. They make a deal: Shan will allow Ming to use his body while he’s asleep in order to complete Ming’s comic manuscript in time for a nearby comic contest. But Shan’s coworkers notice something is different about him and soon plot to free him from his situation. In this standalone, Kee effectively pens a story of two souls working together to achieve lifelong ambitions and help each other grow at the same time. Over the course of the story, it becomes clear the two souls have come to an understanding, and both characters blossom, despite their strange arrangement. Everyone around them seems oddly quick to jump to possession as the reason for the strange events, but this lends itself to some amusing and emotional moments. The illustrations, executed in classic, grayscale manga style, feature appealing, small details, such as the tether that ties the two main characters to their shared body, which add subtle paranormal flourishes to the visual storytelling.
An inspiring and motivating tale of soul cooperation.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781545823187
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Nakama Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories.
Grammy Award–winning artist Keys co-authors a YA superhero graphic novel bearing the title of her hit song.
Smart, quiet 14-year-old Loretta “Lolo” Wright struggles to stand up for herself until, on what should be a routine trip to a convenience store, her 16-year-old brother, James, is mistakenly accused of stealing by the police. When the officer slams her brother to the ground, Lolo’s powers manifest for the first time. Meanwhile, Michael Warner, who lives in the same Brooklyn housing projects as the Wrights, is rejected from the football team for being too small. He develops exceptional fighting abilities and shortly afterward gets involved in working for a drug dealer named Skin. When Skin sees a video of Lolo levitating the cop who assaulted James, he wants to recruit her as well, and he tries to extort protection money from Lolo’s dad, who owns a moving business. Lolo must convince Michael to choose a different path; it’s only by working together that they can defeat Skin. Featuring dizzying shifts among multiple perspectives, this full-color graphic novel presents vibrant, expressive characters set against mostly simple, bright backgrounds, with extreme violence depicted in gory detail. The narrative briefly explores class issues and racial stereotypes, but while the setup is intriguing, the momentum fizzles and the pieces never quite come together. Most main characters are Black; Skin reads as White, and secondary characters appear racially diverse.
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories. (Graphic fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-302956-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
An affirming love story full of intriguing characters and a suspenseful plot.
In this graphic novel/space adventure, a young woman discovers her place in a vast universe.
After graduating from an all-girls boarding school, Mia, a light-skinned, black-haired girl, joins a reconstruction crew traveling through space to restore crumbling buildings with ancient and forgotten histories. She carries with her memories of Grace, the girl she fell in love with and lost during her freshman year of school. As Mia develops close bonds with her teammates, she learns they each have mysterious and complicated pasts of their own. Despite their differences, the strength of their love holds them together on a dangerous journey to the farthest reaches of space. A deep color palette of blues and purples with bursts of warm shades captures the setting. Walden’s (Spinning, 2017, etc.) diverse cast of queer characters includes Char, a black woman who co-captains the reconstruction crew with her white wife, Alma; Mia’s past love Grace (a black woman); and Elliot, a white nonbinary person who communicates nonverbally. While Mia’s journey is central, every character experiences a moment of growth over the course of the narrative. The timeline alternates between Mia’s memories depicting the progression of her relationship with Grace and the present. At times both gently romantic and heartbreaking, the story ultimately celebrates love and the importance of chosen family.
An affirming love story full of intriguing characters and a suspenseful plot. (Science-fiction graphic novel. 13-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17813-8
Page Count: 546
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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