Five Weapons: Make the Grade TP
Hogwarts not edgy enough? Then this is the book for you: instead of a school of witchcraft and wizardry, Robinson presents a prep school instructing hit men and women in brutal assassination techniques. Tyler Shainline (or is he?), son of a famous hit man, enrolls in the School of Five Weapons, which teaches its students to expertly kill with knives, guns, staffs, archery, and exotic weapons. Tyler needs to choose one skill to master, but he’s intent on using his tremendous powers of observation to uncover deep secrets about the school and his family without touching a weapon at all. Robinson is a rarity in contemporary comics: he writes, draws, and letters these loose, anime-like panels, full of well-rounded characters and stirring plot twists. The offbeat, humorous character designs and lighthearted artwork manage to make a potentially dark subject breezy. Robinson takes classic narrative arcs and spins them into a book overflowing with new, exciting fun, and a teaser of an ending promises more to come. Five Weapons is a bull’s-eye. Grades 7-10. --Ben Spanner