City of Spies: 07/28/11

City of Spies by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan is a graphic novel set in 1942 in a large city. Evelyn escapes reality by writing her own comic book in the style of Superman. Before she knows it she and her new friend Tony are in the middle of a spy plot that might involve Nazis.

The book opens with one of Evelyn's comics. For me it was an awkward start. The obvious homage to the golden era Superman felt somewhat forced especially out of context. Fortunately though the story of Evelyn moving into the city to temporarily live with her aunt and her adventures with Tony makes up for the awkward start.

Later instances of Evelyn's hero comic make sense. They are placed in the context of her story and we can see where she draws her inspiration.

Although I found the first couple pages a rough start, the rest of the book more than made up for it.

Five stars.

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Sunday, January, 01, 2012 at 13:49:48

Nicola

I really liked this one and enjoyed the old-style comics cheese.

Comment #2: Wedesday, January 04, 2012 at 22:02:34

Pussreboots

I did too, including the old-style cheese.