A well-executed graphic novel about a group of friends bringing a community together.
A graphic novel about growing up, hanging with friends, and riding the waves.
Twenty-three-year-old Cal and his four friends have pretty much always been a tight-knit group. After Cal’s girlfriend breaks up with him and they’re all kicked out of their rental house, the boys decide to take a trip out to Arizona for the summer. The five boys, who are used to getting away with pretty much everything, immediately find themselves up against Zeke and Dalton, local park rangers who will ticket anyone for the smallest infraction. On top of that, much of the local community is clique-oriented and unwelcoming. Cal and his friends decide to organize a big event on the lake, featuring music, food, and water sports. However, the boys aren’t just going up against the park rangers, who want nothing to do with a new group of ne’er-do-wells, but also the citizens of the town, who are just fine with things the way things are. Authors Zach Block and Machi Block and illustrators Diego Lopez Mata and Andrea Lopez Mata effectively deliver a coming-of-age graphic novel with a laid-back feel. The main characters may prefer choppier waters while wakeboarding, but the book that they inhabit has a calm vibe that flows smoothly from one scene to the next. What truly makes this graphic novel stand out, though, is the action-oriented art style, which truly shines in two-page spreads. The complex, midair wakeboarding tricks come across well, and the stream of movement is consistently clear in each image.
A well-executed graphic novel about a group of friends bringing a community together.Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 168
Publisher: North Air Entertainment
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times...
A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation of the Bard’s renowned love story.
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story markedly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark. He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the contemporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque, adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the play” (which culls out the famous quotes).Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-80028-58-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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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