A satisfyingly bloody criminal-on-criminal pulp tale.
A hitman for the Jewish mob sets his sights on the American Bund in Hazan’s Depression-set graphic novel.
At the height of the Depression, Ephraim Gold works as a hitman for Cleveland’s Jewish Mafia—the so-called Kosher Nostra—rubbing out rivals in the bootlegging business. When the mob’s nebbish bookkeeper Howard Berkowicz oversteps his limits by asking mob boss Moishe Levinson to do something about the burgeoning Nazi movement within the United States, Levinson orders Gold to make Berkowicz disappear. Instead, Gold—who agrees with Berkowicz about the rising Nazi threat—opts to defy orders and help the bookkeeper instead. After faking Berkowicz’s death, the two men kidnap a member of the German American Bund for information. It doesn’t take long for word to get out about what the duo is up to, and soon Gold and Berkowicz have the full brunt of the Bund, the Italian mob, and even the Kosher Nostra—whose business dealings with the Italians are more important than any loyalty they may have to the Jewish people—on their tail. What’s more, the fact that Gold no longer has the protection of the Kosher Nostra means that every criminal he’s ever tangled with suddenly has free reign to settle old scores. The full-color illustrations by Kivelä and colorist Wright are worth the price of admission alone, and Hazan’s muscular writing meets the story’s gritty demands. The book will satisfy the Nazi-punching fantasies of many readers, and Hazan leans gleefully into the premise: At one point, Gold facetiously asks Berkowicz whether they were going to “kidnap ourselves a Kraut” or “sit and debate this like a couple of Yeshiva virgins.” (In a later scene, Gold tortures a chair-bound Bund member while monologuing about the Plagues of Egypt.) The five issues collected in this volume tell a complete tale, but a few lines at the end suggest a bigger future for Ephraim Gold, one that the reader will hope to see in print.
A satisfyingly bloody criminal-on-criminal pulp tale.Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781545816165
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth.
Superman confronts racism and learns to accept himself with the help of new friends.
In this graphic-novel adaptation of the 1940s storyline entitled “The Clan of the Fiery Cross” from The Adventures of Superman radio show, readers are reintroduced to the hero who regularly saves the day but is unsure of himself and his origins. The story also focuses on Roberta Lee, a young Chinese girl. She and her family have just moved from Chinatown to Metropolis proper, and mixed feelings abound. Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane’s colleague from the Daily Planet, takes a larger role here, befriending his new neighbors, the Lees. An altercation following racial slurs directed at Roberta’s brother after he joins the local baseball team escalates into an act of terrorism by the Klan of the Fiery Kross. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill superhero story then becomes a nuanced and personal exploration of the immigrant experience and blatant and internalized racism. Other main characters are White, but Black police inspector William Henderson fights his own battles against prejudice. Clean lines, less-saturated coloring, and character designs reminiscent of vintage comics help set the tone of this period piece while the varied panel cuts and action scenes give it a more modern sensibility. Cantonese dialogue is indicated through red speech bubbles; alien speech is in green.
A clever and timely conversation on reclaiming identity and acknowledging one’s full worth. (author’s note, bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77950-421-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...
A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.
The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The New Book Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
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