Review by Booklist Review
Diabetic Joe Manson lives with his widowed mother in a home on the brink of foreclosure and is bullied at school, but that's just about all the reality we get before plunging head-over-heels into Joe's hypoglycemia-fueled hallucinations. Joe is on the verge of insulin shock when he begins to drift into a bewildering fantasy realm. His pet rat, Jack, leads him through treacherous kingdoms to the underworld, where he will face King Death in the sunless land of Hypogea in other words, Joe needs some glucose or he'll die. Joe flashes in and out of his actual surroundings, which bleed through to the rich and dynamic imaginary world: his toys are soldiers in the land of Playroom, and stony, stairlike outcroppings are a dangerous obstacle between his bedroom and the main floor. While the story is full of delightful comic-book fun, the undercurrent of real-life peril makes this award-winning graphic novel much more than just another fantasy. Joe may be battling vicious creatures with laser guns on pirate submarines, but he's really fighting for his life and home. Joe's magnificent and bittersweet day-saving discovery at the very last moment will elicit cheers from even the hardest of hearts.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An Eisner nominee for "Best Limited Series," this extraordinarily rich book transfigures adolescent angst. Thirteen-year-old Joe Manson has many excuses for self-pity: his soldier father was killed in the Middle East, and his despairing mother is afraid of losing their home; he's essentially friendless; and if he doesn't carefully monitor his diabetes he could lapse into a hypoglycemic coma. That may, in fact, be what happens one night when he's alone in the house during a storm. Yet while he gropes through the darkness to reach life-saving glucose, Joe also finds himself in a magical realm whose inhabitants welcome him as the Dying Boy, destined to save them from King Death and restore the light. Accompanied by life-size versions of his favorite toys and by his pet rat transformed into a mighty warrior, Joe sets off on his heroic mission. Morrison's script deftly juggles events in both realities. Murphy's art (aided by Dave Stewart's coloring and Todd Klein's lettering) is wonderfully detailed, but also offers vast panoramas in which little Joe and his companions are almost-but not quite-overwhelmed and lost. A very beautiful and exhilarating comic. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
