Graphic Novel Review: Re-Gifters by Mike Carey

Dixie. Korean dwarf fighting frog. 

Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, Marc Hempel
Genre: contemporary romance fight story
Publisher: DC Minx, 2007
From: local library

Story: High schooler Dixie only cares about two things: the martial art hapkido and Adam in her class. But obsessing over Adam is interfering with her focus, her "ki." If she can get Adam the perfect gift for his birthday, she'll be able to focus and everything will turn out all right. Right?

Thoughts: What a fun story! I loved Dixie and her crazy family. As one who has been tempted to re-gift, this story shows the dangers of the practice. What goes around, comes around.

Re-Gifters starts off strong and keeps it up as Dixie and her friends are introduced right in the middle of the action. Dixie is clumsy and scattered. She's strong but not sure how to use her strength except to beat people up. Dixie's friend Avril, with her cheerful openness, is a great counterbalance to Dixie's spiky moods, and the other secondary characters are realistic teens with their own problems and obsessions. One of the things I like best about graphic novels is their refreshing brevity. Re-Gifters tells its story with no extra padding. It's fun but focused. Balanced.

The Re-Gifters' artwork is black and white. The drawing is loose with a freestyle, sketch-like appearance that adds a lot of energy to the hapkido fighting scenes. I was confused in one place where thugs tell Dixie to get back to Koreatown, but the buildings right next to them all have Korean signs. Maybe the Korean businesses are encroaching the punk's territory and that's why they're upset. Since I'm illiterate in Korean, I missed all of the hidden jokes, but I did like how the black guy was wearing a shirt with the Chinese character for black (黑).

Final thoughts: The Karate Kid meets Pretty in Pink, Re-Gifters is another excellent Minx title. I'm going to be sad when I've read them all.

Grade: 5 out of 5

Graphic novel review: kimmie66 by Aaron Alexovich

"But...is it real?"

kimmie66 by Aaron Alexovich
Genre: YA SF mystery
Publisher: DC Minx, 2007
From: Paperbackswap.com 

Story: Telly is a normal 23rd century goth teen. She lives most of her life in the virtual world, and who wouldn't? But she's worried about her friend, kimmie66. Kimmie sent Telly a suicide note that couldn't be real, could it? People are still seeing Kimmie all over the net. Telly has never met Kimmie in real life and doesn't know her real name, so she can't find out for sure. Unless she breaks the law.

Thoughts: kimmy66 is much darker than the other Minx titles I've read, both in its theme of suicide and from the black backgrounds used in most of the panels. The artwork is edgy and distorted, fitting with the virtual reality setting. I usually prefer clear and open artwork, but the darker images work to set the bleak tone. The story reminds me of Serial Experiments Lain, one of my favorite animes. Both titles have a sad and eerie feeling, but the scary clowns add an extra creep factor to kimmie66.  I like Telly. She figures things out and questions the status quo. She also has fab messy hair. The everyday use of virtual reality put me in mind of Ready Player One. In fact, both of these books could take place in the same world. The only difference is in Telly's world virtual travel is illegal while for Player One it's just expensive.

Aaron Alexovich contributed character designs to Nickelodeon's Invader Zim, and I recognized his unique drawing style from that show. He also did the art for Minx's Confessions of a Blabbermouth and has his own story, Serenity Rose, from SLG.

Final thoughts: I liked this creepy gothic cyber-mystery. It's a fast read but fun if you don't mind scary clowns.

Grade: 4 out of 5