Monday 12 May 2014

Bibliophilia: Five Weapons: Making the Grade – Jimmie Robinson

Five Weapons: Making the Grade – Jimmie Robinson

I have to admire a publication where the author and artist are one and the same. When it happens to be a really fun story and good art, it’s even more admirable.

Set in a school for the children of assassins, filled with a 
host of quirky characters, where the very likeable protagonist is sent. He faces challenges won by observation and guile rather than force, set against a whodunit that develops as the story unfolds. This is one of those titles that remind you why you read comic books. Suitable for young adults, but as you can see, this middle aged adult enjoyed it tremendously.


And I had to smile at seeing that the school festival had booths set up from MagPul, SigSauer, Spyderco and several others.


If I had a criticism, it’s that I wished that the whole story wasn’t told entirely within the confines of horizontal boxes. The layout of the pages makes them a little bit static. But that is a very minor quibble.

One of the things I liked is that rather than have the chapters divided by the cover that the original had, the sketch is shown. Being a fan of process, I dug that.

An example showing issue #1.

3 comments:

  1. OK, naive question: would this comic be appropriate for kids? Any idea what age groups we're talking here?

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    1. Not a naive question at all. I would say yes it’s appropriate for kids. What “violence” there is, is cartoony at best, there’s nothing extreme, no gore, no swearing. I’d say the target market is about 8 to 14 year olds.

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  2. Thanks - that's good to know!

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