Blue

May 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Christian, an Australian man, reminisces about a day in his teens when he and his friends skipped school to go surfing but got distracted by tales of a dead body on the train tracks. The corpse turns out to be one of two extraterrestrials that heralded the eventual mass immigration of blue, tentacled aliens that occupy Christian's adult life. This seems to be a very personal story for Grant; though obviously fantastical in content, he closes the volume with explanations as to which details came from his own life, and of the history of the Australian surf comics footnoted in the story. The themes about the transformation of culture and the change in viewpoint between adulthood and childhood find resonance with the presence of the aliens, and the tone is well managed. However, the connection between the plot minutiae and the purpose of the work might escape some readers, as may the aesthetics of the artwork. The grotesque figures-along with the local slang and general vulgarity-will not appeal to everyone, and serves somewhat to conceal the careful execution of some technically proficient storytelling that explores and reveals both the concerns and the unreliability of the narrator.-Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
This Australian import takes an uncompromising look at the country's problematic notions of localism and outsiders, visualized here as many-tentacled, blue-skinned, amorphous blob-creatures. A tattered, no-collar local tells the story of the first time I seen one of those blue bastards, proceeding to spin a Stand By Meflavored reminiscence of the day he and three friends heard about the splattered remains of some poor sucker on the train tracks. As the kids skip school, razz each other about surfing, sneak cigarettes, hurl epithets, shoplift, and otherwise avoid actually facing the mangled body, we see a small town that thinks it's idyllic but can't fathom its own twisted underbelly. Though distinctively his own, Grant's artwork hints a bit at the wavy psychedelia of Jim Woodring, with clean-lined drawings crowded with details and figures marked by a drippy, rounded twitchiness. While this graphic novel is strongly rooted in its Australian setting, the thorny questions of cultural identity, assimilation, and inexorable change are applicable to any place that sets up divides between people. So, to everywhere.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)