Battling boy - Pope, Paul
Summary: As monsters roam Acropolis and swallow children into their shadowy underworld, twelve-year-old superhero Battling Boy steps in to save the city in the absence of genius vigilante Haggard West.
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Comics' sci-fi rock-god Pope synthesizes the mythologies of Superman, Batman, and Hercules and sends them crashing into a monster-infested dystopia in this rollicking blast of adventure, the first part of a larger tale. When Acropolis' protector, Haggard West, dies in a battle with child-snatching ghouls, Battling Boy is sent down from the Olympian lightning cloud for his trial of manhood. His apparent defeat of a rampaging monstrosity gets him caught up in local politics, puts him in the sights of the hideous ghouls, and gains him the ire of Haggard West's daughter, who is looking to establish her own heroic credentials. Pope offers a latter-day superhero mythology that is also a glorious homage to shojo and, in fact, to heroism throughout history. This is a sophisticated tale for younger readers, but Pope manages to both grant full-scale wish fulfillment and acknowledge the limitations of young boys with equal aplomb. His art, meanwhile, looks like nothing else in comics, with ropy, sinewy figures, dynamic action, and gritty urban design all captured in panels that have the rough, subversive tone of classic punk album covers. Indeed, Pope's visuals might demand a larger canvas than the elegantly compact format First Second has afforded it. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
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