Paul D. Storrie

What do you do when the new kid in town, who's sweet on you (and you on him) reveals that Frankenstein lives, is his dad who created him from dead body parts, and is now the local funeral director? That's a whallop for musician Maria to take in, but it's only the start of the fast-paced, quirky second book in the MY BOYFRIEND IS A MONSTER series. From the title page (in which Storrie offers alternate titles including "I Sewed My Prom Date") to the socially-outcast string quartet that holds show more special powers over the, um, sewn, the story unfolds and adds layers with each page turn. Each of the five sections is named for a kind of musical composition, and other cultural references are embedded throughout. Storrie has written often for Lerner's Graphic Universe series but is rarely given this many pages within which to create a intricately woven narrative. Be sure to check out Maria's advice to the lovelorn at the book's end ... can you figure out the cultural allusions? (101) show less

Marie is dealing with a series of painful tragedies. Her parents have been killed in a car crash and she's living with her blind aunt. Then three girls at her school are also killed. But she has her music, she's dealing with it, everything is fine. Until she meets Tom. He's a new student too and even more mysterious than she is. They have an instant attraction and Marie starts thinking life may not be so bad after all...until she discovers Tom's grisly secret and there's a sudden increase of show more deaths in the sleepy small town.

Is Tom her true love? Or is he a monster inside as well as outside?

This black and white graphic novel is a fast-paced, often funny, irreverent mixture of horror and romance. There's no time for the reader to roll their eyes at the paranormal cliche of instant attraction, because immediately afterwards the bodies start piling up. Marie's calm acceptance of her new boyfriend's grisly (one might even say disgusting) origins is a little hard to swallow, but with events happening right and left we aren't given time to think about the holes in the story. And it's FUN! Funeral jokes, true lurrvve, zombies, monsters, mad scientists, and more all mixed up in one wacky package that will have the reading on the edge of their seat one moment and sawing "awwwww" the next.

Verdict: Fans of paranormal romance, horror, and humor will love these quick bite graphic novels. Perfect for a fast, fun read with some shivers down the spine. Strongly recommended for your teen graphic novel section.

ISBN: 9780761356011; Published April 2011; ARC received from publisher at ALA Midwinter; Purchased whole series for my library. show less

Coming in at 48 pages, Amaterasu is a quick romp through Shinto mythology. Beautifully illustrated by a proven comic artist, the book does an efficient job of telling an origin tale about the creation of land among the seas as well as the underworld, the divvying up of responsibilities among the children of the god, Izanagi, after he encountered his dead, once-beautiful wife, Izanami, in Yomi, the land of the dead. Like similar stories from other cultures, it begs credulity, but isn’t that show more true for all origin tales? That it expertly explains a unique perspective – that belonging to the Japanese – helps the reader better appreciate another way of seeing the world as shared experience: it explains a commonly-occurring phenomenon (“The Great Flood”" as the Earth being enveloped by great ocean waters and demonstrates each culture’s way of explaining natural disasters from long before recorded history. A fun and colorful read! show less

When we say a couple was "made for each other," we usually mean that some abstract higher power has created two halves of a whole person and placed them in different bodies so that they complete each other. However, Tom Stone and Maria McBride mean it a little more literally. At first, Maria only knows that Tom is attractive and that he seems genuinely impressed by her mad violin skills, which are usually overlooked or mocked by her classmates. But as she gets to know him better, she show more appreciates more than the way he fills out his black tee-shirts. Tom is kind and loyal, even going so far as to defend Maria and her friends from bullies at school. He seems perfect. The only downside is his super strict and somewhat creepy family.

Dr. Franklin Stone, Tom's dad, is the new town mortician and he definitely does not like Maria. In fact, he makes sure that Tom is so busy at the funeral parlor that he doesn't have time to see Maria much. Finally, when she is completely fed up with being pushed aside, Maria goes to Tom's house to confront him and his family. That, of course, is when she discovers just how unconventional the family is. See, Tom's dad is Frankenstein's original monster and he's made himself a little family, including Tom, his assistant, Graves, and a new sister for Tom, Heddy.

Heddy's not so happy about Tom falling for a normal girl, though, and it becomes clear that Heddy has a different plan altogether for Tom, one that doesn't involve too many sisterly feelings. So Tom and Maria set out with the Maria's friends (orchestra dorks to a man, armed with stringed instruments and a blowtorch) to save any innocent bystanders from getting involved in Heddy's scheme. Even Frankenstein--excuse me, Franklin Stone--gets in on the action.

This was a nice follow-up to I Love Him to Pieces and the pacing was much better. Tom reveals himself to be a Modern Prometheus by about page 32, leaving us with 90-some-odd pages to enjoy the gory story. Made for Each Other also added some delightfully cheesy humor into the mix. For example, when Tom is ripping his shirt off to reveal his autopsy-scarred-though-still-magnificent chest, one of his flying buttons hits Maria in the eye. His name is also Tom Bartholomew Stone. That's right, Tom B. Stone.

The characters didn't jump off the page for me, though. They're both scarred--Tom physically and Maria emotionally. Maria lost both of her parents in a terrible car accident but the fact almost never comes up. She doesn't seem any more angsty than your typical fifteen-year-old girl, which I was disappointed by. There was potential for some real depth there but only about a dozen panels are dedicated to her orphan status. Tom, too, fell flat for me. He seems to be a pretty upstanding guy, all things considered, but he has no qualms about "recycling" body parts from members of the local community after a string of mysterious accidents. And Maria has no problem with his harvests, citing that both of her parents were organ donors. So. Not. The. Same.

All in all, a funny read, especially for those familiar with the horror genre who will appreciate reference to the original story, but not as compelling as it could have been. show less