Eerie ambiance and exciting dangers punctuate this beautifully executed love letter to vintage adventure stories.
A compilation of three volumes of an award-winning supernatural horror/mystery comic series.
Home from college for Christmas, Friday Fitzhugh faces an awkward reunion with her best friend and partner in mystery solving, Lancelot Jones, a teen prodigy in the vein of Encyclopedia Brown. But rather than talk about what happened between them before Friday left town, Lance and sidekick Sheriff Bixby drag Friday along on a case involving a ritual dagger stolen from an archaeological dig. An unexpected twist leaves Friday alone, emotionally reeling, and facing a murder to solve. The quaint coastal New England town of Kings Hill is rife with crime and the occult, packed with nostalgic character, and illustrated with lovingly detailed linework. It exudes a beautifully depicted 1970s atmosphere. The fonts and expository techniques emphasize the homage to classic, pulpy crime fiction. The Lovecraftian horror drips with menace, but the lore is weakened by vague references to “Native tribes” and their ancient gods—tropes that are not interrogated. The nonlinear plot comes together cleverly, although the ending may feel too easy. The heart of the story, though—the complicated emotional turmoil of the young detectives and Friday’s first steps into adulthood—takes no shortcuts and will resonate with readers. Most human characters are light-skinned; supporting characters include a positively depicted fat Native American–coded woman, who’s one of Friday’s mothers.
Eerie ambiance and exciting dangers punctuate this beautifully executed love letter to vintage adventure stories. (map, creator notes, sketches and designs) (Graphic horror. 13-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781534331600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Image Comics
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate.
An otherworldly Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the South Bronx.
Pheus visits his father in the Bronx every summer. The Afro-Dominican teen is known for his mesmerizing bachata music, love of history, and smooth way with the ladies. Eury, a young Puerto Rican woman and Hurricane Maria survivor, is staying with her cousin for the summer because of a recent, unspecified traumatic event. Her family doesn’t know that she’s been plagued since childhood by the demonlike Ato. Pheus and Eury bond over music and quickly fall in love. Attacked at a dance club by Sileno, its salacious and satyrlike owner, Eury falls into a coma and is taken to el Inframundo by Ato. Pheus, despite his atheism, follows the advice of his father and a local bruja to journey to find his love in the Underworld. Rivera skillfully captures the sounds and feels of the Bronx—its unique, diverse culture and the creeping gentrification of its neighborhoods. Through an amalgamation of Greek, Roman, and Taíno mythology and religious beliefs, gaslighting, the colonization of Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad identity, and female empowerment are woven into the narrative. While the pacing lags in the middle, secondary characters aren’t fully developed, and the couple’s relationship borders on instalove, the rush of a summertime romance feels realistic. Rivera’s complex world is well realized, and the dialogue rings true. All protagonists are Latinx.
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate. (Fabulism. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0373-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
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