Study Hall of Justice

 

Study Hall of Justice

by Derek Fridolfs

After Bruce finally convinces his guardian, Alfred, to let him go to school, he gets into Ducard Academy. There, he takes all the traditional classes like English, science, and history, though he has some very unusual teachers.

He also has some very unusual classmates.

Some of them will be friends.

Most of them will be enemies.

Final thoughts: Cute addition to the DC Universe, though a little dense in characters. This one is a really great addition for young kids who are familiar with the villains. It's not as violent as the full comics, but it's still filled with inside jokes and characters not seen often by the average fan.

Rating: 3/5

Poseidon : Earth Shaker

Poseidon : Earth Shaker

George O'Connor

After defeating their father and sending him down into a crater that reaches far below the Earth's crust, Poseidon and his brothers are faced with the decision of who will rule which realm.

Hades gets the Underworld.  Zeus claims the Heavens.  And Poseidon is left with the Sea.

It seems like a good fit.  As God of the Sea, Poseidon has quite a bit of power over man without having to be bothered with him much, except when a female catches his eye.

Sadly, despite trying to have children who can continue his line, his children are all monstrous.  When they are ugly, they can be kind, but turn cruel when cruelly treated (Polyphemus the Cyclops).  And even when they are gorgeous, they can be monstrously cruel (Theseus).

Poseidon's attempts to deal with man never seem to end up right.  There is death, destruction, and horror left wherever he and his children go.

But Poseidon won't let anyone mess with him or his children and those who remember that are the ones who will survive.

Final thoughts:  This was not his best.  Like his book on Hera, things are just getting far too confused.  Granted, that's true for all Greek mythology.  There's also not enough information about Poseidon for O'Connor to work with, so he ends up talking about the children, their quests, and their dealings with other people on quests.  Odysseus gets a chunk of the book, as does Theseus.  The artwork is still absolutely amazing and the series is still good for getting people hooked on Greek mythology, so it's definitely worth the look.

Rating: 4/5

Athena : Grey-Eyed Goddess

Athena : Grey-Eyed Goddess

by George O'Connor

The second book in the Olympians series tells the story of Athena from her mother's imprisonment in Zeus's head to the final element of her Aegis, the symbol of her power.

This book continues the amazing action of the first, showing Athena's major accomplishments and triumphs.  We also see some of the famous myths like that of Arachne and her pride becoming her downfall as she goes too far insulting the gods.

In this graphic novel, there are also the myths of Medusa, Perseus (hero of the Clash of the Titans movies), and Pallas (all of them).
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Ever wonder why Athena's armor has snakes coming from it?  Why has Athena always been Zeus's favorite?  How did she rise in power to become one of the most respected and beloved gods?  What inspired whole cities to devote themselves to her and name themselves after her (Athens, Greece anyone?)?

Final thoughts: The artwork continues to be amazing and explain more than words ever could.  O'Connor has a talent for making what could be dry, uninteresting tales, easy to read and understand.  A must read for anyone who's ever been the least bit interested in Greek mythology or graphic novels.

Rating: 5/5

Twilight : The Graphic Novel Volume 1

Twilight : The Graphic Novel Volume 1

by Stephenie Meyer

Adapted and illustrated by Young Kim

By now, everyone knows the story of Twilight.  Girl meets boy.  Boy wants to kill girl.  Girl nearly gets run over by a van.  Boy wants to kiss girl and kill her at the same time.  Girl finds out boy's secret.  There's a scene in a meadow.  Boy only wants to kiss girl, but now afraid of killing her.

There's more, but this is as far as Volume 1 gets.

I'm going to break away from my normal synopsis format and give some straight talk.

On GoodReads.com, there is much praise and love for this graphic novel.  People are praising the art and loving the fact that the illustrations are closer to the original descriptions of the characters in the book than the movie versions.

Rabid fans with enjoy this without a question.

However, there really is much to be desired.

Young Kim has beautiful illustrations, but I found the book as a whole to be sorely lacking.  At some points, actual photographs are used and then colored over, instead of drawn from scratch.  There seems to be no rhyme nor reason for this.  It almost feels like laziness.  Like "I don't feel like drawing the mountains in by hand.  I'll just take this picture and scribble some lines over it.  That'll work!"

I understand the shifts from black and white (or, sometimes, sepia tones) to color.  It is meant to emphasize things.  But what could be the most beautiful image of the entire book, the one that's only half shown on the cover, isn't even in the book.

I am also less than impressed by the illustrations of the characters.  Facial expressions rarely change.  When Bella's face does emote, it's usually anger, though often in places that she wasn't angry in the novel.

Important scenes (IMHO) were deleted completely.  Some things seemed to be randomly added. 

Of course, my biggest pet peeve (as a former English teacher) is the onomatopoeia (words that are their sounds like buzz, ring, bap).  For some reason, Young Kim has decided to completely make up works like squlck, tok, puh, and crk (my spell check is going insane).

One more thought... part of my problem with this graphic novel is the fact that it is a bad cross between manga and the graphic novel format.  Certain cues that are used in manga are used here, but not all the time.  And the illustrations go back and forth between extremely detailed and barely outlined.  It gets confusing.

People will buy this and librarians will stock it.  However, I just don't see it lasting long as more than a passing fad in the vampire/supernatural culture that is currently dominating the YA industry.

Rating: 1/5

Zeus : King of the Gods

Zeus : King of the Gods

by George O'Connor

Think you know all about Greek mythology?  Think you've seen all there is to see?

Well you ain't seen nothin' yet!

In this graphic novel version of the story of Zeus, readers get a taste of the Greek origin myth all the way through until Zeus takes over the kingdom of the Gods and sets up on Mount Olympus.

Here, readers can actually see what Greeks may have imagined when they came up with the idea of the three Hekatonchieres, which have 50 heads and 100 hands.  Words cannot adequately describe their appearance, but O'Connor makes them real.

The graphic novel is also accurate when describing the basics of the myths.  There are a few quotes and additions, but it all adds to the story.  

Like Greek mythology, but have problems with Bulfinch and Edith Hamilton?  Like graphic novels, but want something a little more epic?  This is the book for you.

It is also the first in a series of graphic novels on Greek mythology.  Athena comes out April 2010.

Final thoughts:  Amazing imagery and great story.  Doesn't go on forever and really gets you involved.

Rating:  5/5