FRIDAY, VOLUME 1 - graphic novel


 Friday Fitzhugh is a young adult detective. She spent most of her free time with her best friend, Lancelot Jones - the smartest boy in the whole world - solving crimes and exploring the occult.  That is ... until she went off to college. But now Friday is back in town for the holiday and she immediately connects with Lancelot as something eerie is going on in their town.

I'm really not sure what to make of this book.

It took me awhile to appreciate the art.  It is highly stylized and it's not a style that I generally enjoy. Friday looks more like Edna Mode from The Incredibles movie than she looks like a teen girl. The art wore on my, though, and the further I got into the book, the less it bothered me.

The story ... well, there really is no story.  Not yet.  This volume, which is a compilation of comic issues, is still all set-up. It's the introduction of the characters and the setting and how they all work together. But as far as actually doing anything or getting anywhere in the story ...?  Not so much.

Because there's nothing here the reader discovers that they have read 120 pages only to find that the story is just hinted at as they finish. This was quite frustrating. Perhaps if I was so completely enthralled with these characters that I couldn't wait for the next installment, this would be fine. But I was not. 

This begs the question - why not wait until there was some story before putting together a graphic novel of the comic issues? 120 pages is relatively short for a graphic novel, so waiting for another one or two issues would not seem out of line. However, I am not a publisher or a graphic novel creator, so perhaps there are other factors involved. I am, though, a reader and I know what doesn't work well for me.

Looking for a good book? Friday, Volume 1 is a graphic novel that hints at some interesting things ahead, but fails to deliver anything other than an introduction.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

* * * * * *

Friday, Volume 1

author: Ed Brubaker

artist: Marcos Martín

publisher: Image Comics

ISBN: 153432058X

paperback, 120 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more