The infodumps aren’t heavy, but this isn’t much more than a vehicle for its tidbits of history and science.
The sudden appearance of dinosaurs in place of house pets and other modern animals sends four young time travelers scurrying back into the past in search of history-changing meddlers.
Hard on the heels of their first adventure in the past (The Wrong Wrights, 2016), Ajay (South Asian), Dominique (African-American), Eric, and Josephine (the latter two white) are dispatched by their mysterious Smithsonian contact back to the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876. There, the nefarious Barris brothers are scheming to trump the hadrosaur fossil that was historically exhibited there with live dinos transported as eggs from the deep past. Internal logic is definitely not the strong suit here, as the dinosaurs, including predators, that are suddenly roaming freely and harmlessly through suburban neighborhoods have improbably supplanted “nearly every niche of fauna” except Homo sapiens. Still, with minor effort plus help from an evidently omniscient AI and such historical figures as Alexander Graham Bell (an exhibitor at the fair) the Barrises are thwarted and our own timeline restored. Well, not quite: a closing notice about the upcoming coronation of the “King of America” points to a new mission for the young science nerds. Glassy-eyed figures mostly just stand around and talk in the neatly squared-off panels, but the action, when there is any, is easy to follow.
The infodumps aren’t heavy, but this isn’t much more than a vehicle for its tidbits of history and science. (graphic afterword) (Graphic fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58834-567-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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