A lackluster outing for a beloved Marvel character.
Spider-Man is swinging in for another fast-paced adventure!
Spider-Man, aka Afro-Latine teenager Miles Morales, is excited to be a celebrity’s plus-one to a new video game launch, but when the party is interrupted by Trinity and Vex, two potential teenage supervillains-in-training, Spider-Man is soon tangled in a web of plans created by the Stranger, a superstrong, superintelligent extraterrestrial with plans to kill half of Earth’s population in the name of justice. The Stranger plans to freeze people in a state of unexplained hibernation and then turn half the population against the other half. The book’s basic plot seems lifted from Avengers: Infinity War. Sure, there are some personal stakes added to this story, as Spider-Man’s friends and family are frozen, and a subplot develops where Miles’ Uncle Aaron is hospitalized after being frozen while driving, but the graphic novel suffers from the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it emotional ways in which these (temporary) losses affect Miles. The exposition in place of plot and fast-paced character development also won’t help readers turn into mega-fans. Miles Morales became incredibly popular because he was a breath of fresh air, adding nuance and depth to Marvel, and this book is going to be read and reread by many fans because of that, but it brings little new to the party. Trinity is brown-skinned, while Vex is light-skinned.
A lackluster outing for a beloved Marvel character. (Graphic novel. 8-10)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-82639-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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
A winner.
When a young girl’s imagination and creativity are co-opted by a mysterious new friend, she must find a way to regain what is rightfully hers.
Sandy is a brown-skinned, dark-haired girl with big black eyes and a vivid imagination. At night, as she goes to sleep, she catches the lights bobbing about in her room and turns them into anything she imagines. The next day is spent drawing the fantastical creatures from her dreams, much to the detriment of her schoolwork. When a tall, pale-skinned girl with purple hair befriends her, Sandy is excited, though there is something eerie and unsettling about her new companion. Her excitement soon turns to anger as Morfie enters her imaginative nighttime world and tries to take it over. Readers will cheer at the clever way in which Sandy regains control. Using a lovely palette that includes a liberal amount of rich, dark purple, Colombian-born Alvarez has drawn a world that harks back to her native Bogotá and days in Catholic school, evoking it in wonderful detail and atmosphere. Her pages are not crowded yet are filled with details that will engage readers. The beings that inhabit Sandy’s nighttime world are simply delightful. The album size, cloth spine binding, and spot gloss on the cover are the icing on the cake of this beautiful graphic novel.
A winner. (Graphic fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-910620-13-7
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Nobrow Ltd.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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