An offbeat, action-packed thriller with a winning cast of diverse characters.
Two deaf orphans get in trouble while attending a special-needs school in writer Sebela and illustrator Stoll’s graphic novel.
Haley and Max’s mother dies in the book’s opening pages, leaving the teenagers without a father or other relatives willing to raise them. They’re sent to the Wayfair Academy for Special Needs, where they meet a diverse group of other deaf young people. Haley quickly makes friends and finds out that one of her new pals, Lexa, is struggling to pay for school and may have to leave. Haley proposes a daring solution: a burglary. She gathers her new group of friends to do the heist, which initially seems like a success—until the person they robbed appears in Haley’s room and tells them that they’ll have to work for him to repay him for everything they took, or else. Soon, Haley and her buddies-turned-accomplices are learning the skills of professional thieves and go on missions around town. However, what starts as a thrill quickly becomes a trap—one that Haley and her team must find a way to escape. This briskly paced tale, which takes a few time-jumps, smartly zooms in on its tense heist and action sequences. The core cast is realistically diverse; one character uses they/them pronouns and is selectively mute, another is late-deafened, and several were born deaf. Sign language is also incorporated into the storytelling, with speech bubbles emerging from hand motions and black lines highlighting movement. However, there’s an occasional overreliance on narration as past-tense confession. Although this adds some depth to the story, there are moments when images alone could have carried it; several standout sequences allow Stoll’s cinematic visuals to take over for a few pages at a time. The images feature detailed character work and Ocean’s 11–style blocking, with bright pops of color—vivid reds, pinks, oranges, and blues—regularly lighting up the background, contrasting with often black-clad main characters. The story reaches a satisfying conclusion, but it sows enough seeds for potential sequels.
An offbeat, action-packed thriller with a winning cast of diverse characters.Pub Date: July 7, 2021
ISBN: 9781952303098
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth.
Superman confronts racism and learns to accept himself with the help of new friends.
In this graphic-novel adaptation of the 1940s storyline entitled “The Clan of the Fiery Cross” from The Adventures of Superman radio show, readers are reintroduced to the hero who regularly saves the day but is unsure of himself and his origins. The story also focuses on Roberta Lee, a young Chinese girl. She and her family have just moved from Chinatown to Metropolis proper, and mixed feelings abound. Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane’s colleague from the Daily Planet, takes a larger role here, befriending his new neighbors, the Lees. An altercation following racial slurs directed at Roberta’s brother after he joins the local baseball team escalates into an act of terrorism by the Klan of the Fiery Kross. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill superhero story then becomes a nuanced and personal exploration of the immigrant experience and blatant and internalized racism. Other main characters are White, but Black police inspector William Henderson fights his own battles against prejudice. Clean lines, less-saturated coloring, and character designs reminiscent of vintage comics help set the tone of this period piece while the varied panel cuts and action scenes give it a more modern sensibility. Cantonese dialogue is indicated through red speech bubbles; alien speech is in green.
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth. (author’s note, bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77950-421-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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