This is a series of graphic novels for kids which all feature different plots but the same layout and scripts. The top of the page shows one viewpoint of the story in blue (The Good), the bottom half shows the other in red (The Evil). In The Awakening, a boy finds a cassette tape and when he plays it on his Walkman, he awakens a demon which starts hunting for the music, and therefore him. When the reader sees the boy turn on the music in the blue panel, they also see the demon’s eyes snap open in the red panel.
In Alien Snow a boy goes into an antique shop and gets captured by the owner (who is really an alien) and put inside a snow globe. So here, in the blue panel, the reader sees the boy walking by the antique shop and peering in and the owner seeing the boy peering in and making an evil grin in the red panel.
These are very short (36pp), almost wordless books. The plots are like that old TV show, The Twilight Zone – a little creepy with a weird twist at the finish. They are purposefully ambiguous as to what has happened in the end.
The series has a nice bit of extras at the back – discussion questions and definitions of manga and manga techniques. The books are designed to be read either first one color, then the other, or read one color all the way through and then go back and read the other.
Hardcover bound, this series will stand up to repeated use.
Recommended for ages 10 and up (just because the plots are a little creepy).
Good vs Evil: The Awakening
by Donald Lemke
Art by Glass House Graphics
ISBN: 978-143423443
Stone Arch Books, 2011
Good vs. Evil: Alien Snow
by Michael Dahl
Art by Glass House Graphics
ISBN: 978-1434234445
Stone Arch books, 2011
Publisher Age Rating: ages 10 and up
