A tale of vigilante justice with a satisfying blend of genre-specific predictability and intrigue.
A father with a troubled past searches for answers about his deceased child in writer Thompson and illustrator Jok’s gritty graphic novel.
In the not-so-distant future of 2031, amid a “cost-of-living crisis” that amplifies class divides in Florida, an ex-convict named Kim Krilicgrapples with the loss of his 5-year-old son, Charlie, who died in a mysterious disaster that Kim seems to have played an accidental role in. The story opens at Charlie’s funeral, where Kim is clearly unwanted. Already struggling to contain his rage over the tragedy, he reaches a breaking point when he sees that his son’s body is missing. In its place is an empty “burial pod” from a company called Bio-Mem, which, unbeknownst to Kim, offered to cover Charlie’s medical and funeral bills in exchange for his corpse. Thus begins Kim’s action-packed mission to find his son’s remains—even if it means that he’ll end up spending the rest of his life behind bars. Meanwhile, a romance brews between him and Reed Fisher, an agent at the company’s retail outpost who, plagued by a guilty conscience, tries to help Kim in his mission. From panel to panel, Jok’s full-color images evoke a hypermasculine, post-apocalyptic, lawless atmosphere marked by wreckage and decay—the highways stretch over what look like rivers of toxic waste, and skulls and machine guns appear in high contrast alongside cheeky hearts, flowers, and splashes of 1990s-esque blues and pinks. Despite the unique particulars of the plot, readers will find familiar elements of the post-apocalyptic genre lurking on every page, mostly in the form of archetypal characters; Kim, for one, is a classic antihero whom readers will root for from the start, despite his mysterious past and possible involvement in his son’s demise, and Bio-Mem’s Lead Broker, Ms. Wolfe, has a cool demeanor that masks a sociopathic thirst for money and power. Despite the familiarity, one will feel compelled to read on, eager to learn more about the grieving protagonist’s past.
A tale of vigilante justice with a satisfying blend of genre-specific predictability and intrigue.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781545816325
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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