Jason Shiga

The Library Police come alive in this CSI-inspired graphic novel. Special Agent Bay is tracking down a missing rare book, and has massive police power to go after it. It's a really funny combination of "mad professor" science ("[You need to] run an independent Argon check for another 75 [percent accuracy]") and esoteric librarian knowledge ("it's from a standard 60 yard roll of filament tape, minus about 20 yards. I'm guessing Demco Utility Glass"). The characters are an odd homely-creepy show more hybrid, but the backgrounds offer some sly commentaries on life in a library. If there's any complaint about the book, it's that it's too short. Strongly recommended, especially for any librarian that ever wanted to bring in the battering ram after scofflaw patrons. show less

This is the first volume of this series to get off to a poor start as Shiga spends half the book building on his mythology and having immortality wear on the main character with the passage of time. I was disappointed that Shiga did not seem to put much thought into the futuristic setting other than having really tall buildings.

Those tall buildings played a big role in the start of a long running battle/chase scene that consumed much of the rest of the book. I was a little put off at the show more start of that sequence due to what seemed some very loose play with the laws of physics and gravity, but Shiga pulled it together, starting injecting some of his patented craziness (and liberal dollops of sperm) to recapture the anything goes spirit of the earlier volumes. And that ending! I'm sooooo looking forward to the conclusion in the next volume. show less

Meanwhile is the ultimate, mind-boggling choose-your-own-adventure book, with every page and almost every panel providing multiple choices for the reader. A boy who visits an ice cream shop and is soon embroiled in a mad scientist's three inventions, a time machine, a thought-reader, and a world-ending "killitron" machine. Using a finger to follow little tubes that branch from one panel to another, and to different pages, the reader can explore 3,856 story possibilities, with most ending in show more doom and destruction. Meanwhile was entertaining for my kids for the first few readings (each of which involved reading multiple story lines), but we were ultimately frustrated by repeatedly coming to our doom or looping back to where we started. Definitely worth a look, if only to admire the sheer complexity and ingenuity of the story. show less

It is 1973 and a serious crime has been uncovered at the Oakland Public Library – a rare Caxton Bible on loan from the Library of Congress has been replaced by a forgery. Time to call in the Library Police to solve this nefarious crime or, as they quickly discover ‘basically…three concentric locked-room mysteries’ and they have only three days to do so.

If you are looking for the perfect graphic novel for your favourite librarian or bibiliophile, look no further than Bookhunter by show more Jason Shiga, a wonderfully over-the-top but clearly fond poke at the profession. It combines a mystery, some heavy duty SWAT action by the library police, and the real threat of deadly paper cuts as punishment for crimes against the public library system with some very funny inside jokes that perhaps only librarians can fully appreciate but still had me, just a poor librarian wannabe, giggling out loud. For anyone with a love of books and libraries, this is just a whole lot of zany fun. show less