My second foray into graphic novels, all YA this time:

I liked this book — done in the more traditional comic book style by Joann Sfar and Emannuel Guibert — in the broadest sense of the word. That is, it entertained me. But, man, was it weird. The basic plot: an Egyptian mummy, Imhotep IV, comes to life (how? why?? I have no idea.) and falls in love with the Professor’s daughter, Lillian. They have adventures, get in trouble, escape, run into Imhotep’s dad (why is he alive?) and eventually live “happily ever after”. It was odd, it was violent, it was funny in it’s oddness and violence (Imhotep III was , but I finished with a feeling of “wha‘, huh, what on earth just happened?”

Maybe I’d have gotten it better if I knew more about ancient Egyptian kings?

Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, on the other hand, I really liked. And not just because it was entertaining, though it was that. I liked Jane, I liked the story that was being told, and I liked the way that it was told. It’s a story of losing thing and finding oneself of adjusting and making friends and belonging.

Jane was a survivor of a bombing in Metro City, and because her parents don’t feel safe in the city any more, they move out to Kent Waters, a suburb. Jane’s going through shock on top of the adjustment of moving and starting new high school. And as part of her reinventing herself she gravitates toward the less-popular crowd, which just happen to be a group of Janes. They form a friendship, create art and inspire a town. I enjoyed the creativity, and realized when I finished it that this was something unique: I don’t think this story could have been told nearly as effectively in novel form. And perhaps that’s what graphic novels are for.