Four Eyes Volume 1: Forged in Flames TP
The son of an Italian immigrant loses his father and seeks work in the employ of a Depression-era gangster doing the same work as his old man (and here comes the hook): hunting dragons. As with his superb I Kill Giants (2009), Kelly creates a fantasy adventure grounded with deep emotional stakes. Fantasy elements are used as a most effective backdrop for the inner life of 10-year-old Enrico, whose masterfully crafted perspective reveals a dawning realization that the world is much darker and more deceptive than he could have imagined, even as his deep longing for a missing father gives him the tenacity to honor the man’s beloved memory. Fiumara combines Sam Kieth’s tactile figures with Ben Templesmith’s stylized collision of bright and dark to create a world of sweat and grime as wholly convincing for the dragon caves as for the realism of 1934 New York City. The one drawback: this book serves as a mere prologue for what promises to be a top-notch epic. Grades 9-12. --Jesse Karp