The Vanishing Girl - the first Daphne & Velma Mystery

I loved watching the original Scooby Doo cartoons on TV back when I was a kid - their mystery solving antics were like watching Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys with some humor thrown in.  I also loved the two live action movies starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well as the most recent animated film, Scoob.  While I would not call myself a huge fan, per se, I do enjoy the show and characters. So, when I saw in Previews that a new mystery was solicited with Daphne and Velma as the title characters, I took a chance with it, hoping it would stay true to the original concept.  I'm happy to say, the author did!

The Vanishing Girl is the first in a series of mysteries that has not only Daphne and Velma (although they are the title characters), but also features the rest of the gang - Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby. Yes, there is a bit of drama throughout the story - Daphne and Velma had a falling out some years back and haven't spoken since - and yes, this is portrayed in the real world, so Scooby doesn't talk, and Shaggy and Scooby don't swallow down huge sub sandwiches in a single gulp. However, the characterization stays true to the cartoon - Velma is the brain, Daphne is the pretty one, Fred is the "jock" of sorts, Shaggy is the laid-back, easy-going one, and Scooby is - well, he's Scooby.  And when one of Daphne's friends disappears - well, there's a mystery afoot, and if there's one thing this gang is good at, it's solving mysteries!

Marcy Heller has been acting differently lately. Daphne has noticed her best friend has changed. And when Marcy suddenly claims to have been attacked by a ghost in the local theme park, the Crystal Cove Haunted Village, well - Daphne knows something is off. There are no such things as ghosts. So, why, then is Marcy so insistent that she saw one? And why is Marcy constantly blowing her off, trying to end their friendship? And why, without warning, does Marcy suddenly want to make amends to Velma, Daphne's ex-best friend? Just when Daphne things she is going to get the answers, Marcy disappears without a trace! The police think she simply took off down to Mexico - but Daphne knows better. And if she wants to get to the bottom of things, she's going to have to ask for help from the last person in the world she wants to - Velma!

Velma, meanwhile, knows something is going on at the Crystal Cove Haunted Village. Her family used to live on that property and run the park. But someone bought them out and threw them out. Now Velma's father no longer works, but lives in a state of depression, insisting the property really belongs to them. Velma's mother works for the Village, but she has just been fired for leaving the gate open to allow Marcy to get in (even though she insists she locked it). Velma is determine to get to the bottom of it, even if it means having to face her ex-best friend, Daphne, to find out more information on Marcy and why she would lie about her mother.

Author Josephine Ruby tells a fantastic story of friendship, teen angst, misunderstandings, mystery, intrigue, and a bit of Scooby Doo fun-filled antics that will please any true Scooby and the gang fan. Ruby brings the characters of Daphne, Velma, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby to life in a fantastic way that makes you feel for each of them, and while you know Daphne and Velma will mend fences before the end of the book, you still find yourself rooting for them along the way.  There are plenty of nods to the original cartoon series, and the final revelation of who kidnapped Marcy and why is done in true Scooby fashion.

And, just in case you are wondering, a second book is already on its way out - and it better pick up right where this one left off, considering the bombshell dropped at the end of this book!

RATING:  10 screaming rides on the Ghost Coaster out of 10 for updating the Scooby gang in a natural way while remaining true to the characters

Surfside Girls, Graphic Novel No. 1 - The Secret of Danger Point

Let's face it - I'm a sucker for a new mystery series - and when that mystery series happens to also be in a graphic novel (comic) format, it only whets my appetite all the more! I had noticed the first Surfside Girls graphic novel numerous times at the bookstore, and I had even picked it up and flipped through it.  It appeared interesting enough, but it was not numbered, and there was nothing in this book to indicate it was a part of any series, so inevitably, I would put it back on the shelf each time. Until a second graphic novel hit the shelf, and I then knew that this was a series! So, obviously, I bought both books and brought them home, and I recently sat down and read the first book....

The Secret of Danger Point gives readers the plot for this story quite plainly. There is something going on at Danger Point, and Samantha and her friend, Jade, are determined to find out what it is. When Sam spies something shining under the water just below Danger Point, she swims under to check it out - only to find a hidden cave under the water! When she climbs up through a hole in the ceiling, she finds herself right at the heart of Danger Point - only, she's not alone! The young girl is surrounded by ghosts from the past, all of whom appear to have been waiting for her.

This, of course, sets off the mystery - are the ghosts real? Why is Sam the only one who can see them? Why do they need her, and what do they need her to do? Sam brings her friend back to Danger Point, but Jade can see only Sam - so is Sam going crazy, or are the ghosts really there?  Time to do some digging!  After some lengthy research on the internet, Jade discovers some of the history surrounding the ghosts that Sam claims to have met. And that's when the real investigating begins!  A strange bird found on the shores below Danger Point. A construction company preparing to clear all of the land at Danger Point.  Two strangers that Jade identifies only as "Bird Man" and "Yacht Lady." And a cryptic message from the ghosts that Sam has a duty that has fallen on her shoulders, and she alone knows what must be done.

Writer and artist Kim Dwinell tells a fun story of mystery and adventure, filled with surf and sand, spirits and strangers, and a dastardly villain who only Sam and Jade can stop from destroying Danger Point!  Despite the supernatural aspect of the ghosts, the characters are very down-to-earth (Sam even gets punished for sneaking out at night to go visit her ghosts), and there is a tense moment when Sam nearly drowns while trying to figure out what treasure may lie beneath the ocean waters!  It is exciting to follow along with Sam and Jade as they ferret out clues and try to figure out what they all mean, and the reader, right along with Sam and Jade, find themselves surprised when everyone in the story is not necessarily who they appear to be!

Now, I will admit - the art is not the most realistic, as the characters are drawn very simplistically, and often times, the backgrounds in the panels are pretty non-existent. However, the story is so engaging that these drawbacks in the art do not at all take away from the story - in fact, in some ways, they allow the reader to focus MORE on the story itself and not get caught up with the "oooooo, pretty art" that seems to be the focal point of most mainstream comics today.  And this is fine by me, as I am much more interested in a good story than pretty art.

I would definitely say that Dwinell has a success with the Surfside Girls, and this first mystery definitely sets the tone for the characters, the stories, and the series as a whole, and I can pretty much guarantee anyone who picks this up is going to love it!

RATING:  10 St. Christopher charms out of 10 for providing a superb start to a brand new series, combining mystery and comics - two of my favorite things!

Hold Back the Dark - a Bishop / Special Crimes Unit Novel

With this book, author Kay Hooper brings her characters back to their roots - tracking down and fighting the darkness that is pure, unrelenting evil! For twenty years now, Hooper has provided readers with quite a few intriguing, page-turning murder mysteries that involve power psychics and dark, almost supernatural evil that Noah Bishop and his ever-growing team of psychic government agents must stop. The books have pretty nearly all been exceptional (we won't mention that whole alien story in the third Bishop Files novel....), and it seems that they were all leading to this...

Hold Back the Dark sets up the ultimate battle between Bishop and his team and an all-powerful, rage-filled energy that is about to be let loose on the world. A select number of psychics across the globe get a "call." Go to Prosperity. These psychics - some we know, some are new to us - each receive the message in their own unique way. Some don't hesitate to answer the call. Some are reluctant, but still know they need to go. And one, in particular, has absolutely no desire to go; he would rather forget he has any psychic abilities and just have a normal life. But normal for a psychic in the world of Noah Bishop is non-existent!

A darkness is growing in Prosperity, North Carolina. It is affecting the people that live there. A family man goes down in his basement and blows his brains out with a shotgun. A loving mother brutally kills her mother and children and then sits down and goes to sleep. A real estate salesman shoots and kills two prospective buyers, then calmly sits on the front porch, oblivious to what he just did. A police officer puts his hands around his wife's through, ready to kill her at the very thought that she cheated on him. The sheriff is at a loss as to how to explain what is going on in his tiny little town - but one of his officers knows something is wrong. Something is coming, and it will take more than either of them have to offer to stop this unseen force.

Enter the Special Crimes Unit.

As usual, Hooper brings together a unique group of psychics, and not even they know why each of them is there. With individual powers, unique to each of them, they must learn to trust each other, to depend on one another, in order to survive the coming battle. Even Dalton Davenport, who is bitter and has absolutely no desire to be there, must not only come to terms with the power he possesses, but he must face the fact that he is there for a purpose. This is what I really love about Hooper's books - they are all about the characters. Yes, there are horrific crimes that happen. Yes, there is always a big battle at the end, where the good guys face down the bad guys. And, yes, sometimes an innocent life is lost before all is said and done. But when it all comes down to it, these stories are about the people, about their lifes, their loves, and their learning how to cope with the unexplainable.

I enjoyed meeting Olivia, Logan, Reno, Dalton, Victoria, and Sully - I do hope that we see more of them in coming books. It was also cool to see Dr. Jill Eason, who appeared in Wait for Dark, as the medical examiner. Having some of the "non-essential" characters pop up now and again keep the continuity flowing and keep the world of the SCU grounded in some level of reality (even though we all know it's fiction).  How Hooper is able to keep all of these ever-growing number of psychics straight is a testament to her writing ability - plus, the sheer magnitude of the stories themselves!

Now, I won't spoil it by revealing the identity of the culprit, but I will admit I was kind of disappointed by the final confrontation. After all of the build up and the suspense leading up to it, plus the coming storm that was developing just over the town - I was really expecting a huge, all-out war. Instead, the final battle pretty much completes itself in just a couple of pages, with a not-so-spectacular climax that felt - well, very anti-climactic.  From everything that was building up within the story, I really was expecting this to be a culmination of ALL of the dark battles the teams have been fighting over the past 20 years - and maybe I just let me imagination run away with me.  It's my hope that Hooper is just laying the groundwork for something even bigger - and based upon her writing up until now, I will keep my trust in her to continue building the teams and building the suspense.

Overall, this was another fantastic read.  I see that another book, Hidden Salem, is set to come out later this year, so I know the SCU is not over yet, thank God!  Can't wait to see what Hooper has in store next!

RATING:  8 squeaky clean whiteboards out of 10 for holding back the dark in yet another tale of psychic suspense that keeps the fans' appetite whetted for more!

The Hardly Boys and The Mystery of the Golden Goblet - a Hardy Boys parody

While I'm not exactly the biggest Hardy Boys fan, I am always a fan of a good parody. Ever since the Airplane! films and the later Scary Movie films, I have loved the art of parody. So far, Mabel Maney probably has the best parodies when it comes to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys - but there have been a few others than have made me chuckle here and there. So, when I saw this particular book on Amazon and read the premise - the Hardly brothers are "cryogeriatrically" placed in a state of suspended animation for 50 years, and these boys of the '50s wake up in the bodies of old men in the 2000s - well, it sounded like a great fish-out-of-water kind of fun.

Instead of fun, though, the story turned out to be pretty painful...

The Mystery of the Golden Goblet pretty much reads like a normal Hardy Boys adventure story.The mystery involves a valuable golden goblet that is encrusted with valuable jewels that is stolen from a local museum, and it is up to the boys to find it. The only problem is, it is an international smuggling organization that may have stolen it, so the FBI are involved - lucky for the boys, their father is on good terms with the FBI, so the boys and their friends are asked to help find and capture the crooks.  There are lots of moments of adventure along the way - an undersea cavern, a submarine chase, secret rooms in an abandoned mansion, shoot-outs in the sky, deadly boat chases, disguises, car chases, and the like.  I suppose for Hardy Boys fans, this book might be downright enjoyable.  But for me, my question the entire time was - where is the parody?

Sure, the boys are now in the bodies of 70-something year old men; yet, they act and move just like teenagers, so apparently those aged bodies don't affect them at all. Their parents and aunt are all still alive and in their nineties. Their girlfriends are still alive and in their 70s, having waited all those years as single women, waiting for the Hardly Boys to return. They don't know what cell phones are, they don't understand all of the modern cultural references, they still use slang terms from the 1950s, and they are both timid and unsure of themselves when it comes to being around girls (women). Sure, the author tries to play the "fish-out-of-water" aspect by having the boys refer to themselves as teenagers while the world around them sees them as 70-year-old men, but those scenes often fall flat. In fact, there is very little humor at all in the book. I mean, based on the premise, I had figured on reading scenes where the boys are unable to do a lot because of their aging bodies; I had though there would be jokes about their need to wear Depends undergarments, or the creaking they hear is the bones and not a door opening, etc. Yet, not once are there any jabs about the boys' age.

Then I read a bit about the author, Tom Cherones. Seems Mr. Cherones was an "Emmy Award Winning director of the Seinfield TV series," and that pretty much said it all for me. I was never a fan of Seinfield. I saw an episode here and there, but never once found them to be funny. So, I guess it should come as no surprise then that I don't find his writing of the Hardy Boys to be funny. Which is  shame, because I really tried to find some enjoyment in it.

The one surprise I did rather like, though, was the single internal illustration at the beginning of the book. The art was done by none other than husband and wife team, Terry & Rachel Dodson, who are very well-known and established comic book artists, having done some magnificent work on Wonder Woman, and who are currently providing art on Image Comics' Adventureman. I certainly never expected to see comic book artists of this caliber providing internal (and cover) art for a little independent book such as this. I guess that was the one saving grace for this book and made it (somewhat) worth buying.

Would I recommend this book? Most likely not. If you are a huge Hardy Boys fan and want anything and everything that is related to the brothers, then perhaps you might get this just to have a complete collection. Otherwise, for me, the story is not worth reading.

RATING:  3 swipes of a credit card out of 10 for at least attempting to give Hardy Boys fans a parody of the crime-solving brothers.

Short Lived Comic Series #14 - Private Secretary (Dell Comics)

At a comic convention several years ago, while pouring through the back issue boxes of a comic dealer, I came across issue two of a Dell Comic from the early 1960s titled Private Secretary. Having been a secretary for a number of years (prior to getting my paralegal degree), the title intrigued me - as did the tagline on the cover: "Kim is forced to make a desperate choice!" The price was right, so I picked it up. Now, since this was issue two, obviously I was not going to read it until I found the previous issue, as well as any other issues that may have been published in the series. A quick search on the internet revealed that Dell only published two issues of the series - so that meant I was already halfway to completing the series!  I combed through tons of back issue bins at every convention I went to, and I constantly watched eBay (where I found a number of first issues, but all at prices I was unwilling to pay!). Finally, not so long ago, I was able to get the first issue in the series at a more than reasonable price. That meant, it was time to sit down and read this short lived series...

Private Secretary tells the story of Kim Garland, a small-town girl from Wichita, Kansas who has moved to New York City with dreams of making it big as a private secretary to a big-named, rich executive.  Kim in not some naive midwesterner who comes to the big city with eyes wide open in shock. Oh, no! As readers quickly discover in the first issue, Kim Garland is a woman who knows what she wants, and she will do just about anything to get it. As early as the second page, readers see Kim's drive and determination - she refuses to settle for a simple stenographer job.  "I intend to become a private secretary," she tells the personnel director for Brown & Little," and soon!"

The first issue follows Kim as she advances through the ranks to get that dream job. I admit that while I loved seeing an independent woman represented in comics like this, I was a bit disappointed at how easily she tossed aside her new-found friends, Joann and Rosemary - and not only them, but she dated men in high-ranking positions, leading them on simply to get that coveted position of a private secretary! As she easily moves up the latter, moving from boss to boss, Kim proves that she has what it takes to be a private secretary - but along the way, she loses the few friends she has, and she alienates the men who truly care about her. Interestingly enough, though, Kim learns her lesson by the end of this first issue, and the one man who had been after her for her skills, who she repeatedly turned down, ends up being the one man she can turn to when everything else crumbles down around her!

Something I found rather unique about this first issue (and the second as well!) is that there are no ads whatsoever in the book.  The front inside cover, the back inside cover, and even the back cover all have short little vignettes of working women in the first issue and information about bull fighting and water skiing in the second issue (although the second issue does feature an ad on the back cover).

Now, the second issue does not pick up immediately after the first issue - apparently time has passed

(as has time between issues, since there was a three month gap between the issues). Kim now works for an advertising firm, but she is yearning for the glamor and adventure of a European tour. On impulse, she quits her job, with no guarantee it will be waiting for her when she returns, pulls all of her money out of the bank, and sets off an a European trip of a lifetime!  The travel agency warns her to make sure she sets back enough money to get a return ticket home, to which Kim replies with a laugh, "Not me. I know what I'm doing. I won't lose my head."  Yeah, right, famous last words...

This issue follows Kim's adventures on board the cruise to Europe and her travels from one country to another. On board the ship, she has romance with the second officer, but must fight for his attention against a well-to-do snob who has her own eyes set on the young officer. Of course, she leaves him behind once she arrives in England and begins her adventure, visiting London, then off to Scotland and Ireland, before heading on to Paris, where she meets not one, but two men!  Then, it's off to Madrid to watch the bull fights, where she meets yet another young man with whom she has a whirlwind romance. But all of the festivities come to an end, and Kim discovers that she did not save enough money to get home - she is trapped in Europe! As fate would have it, though, she meets a producer who could use an assistant, so he pays her way back to America where she will work for him. Of course, the story does not end there, as she finds herself embroiled with yet one more man, this one wanting to use her to get ahead in his career (a bit of role reversal for poor Kim, eh?). Only, this time, Kim decides to take the high ground, and rather than use her position to gain favors for the actor, she quits her job - which turns out to be her best decision ever, as it results in her finding the job of her dreams at last! An international company is looking to hire a private secretary for its executive vice president - a position that will have her traveling the world with her boss!

Both issues are jam-packed with story, and the pacing is pretty swift in order to fit in as much romance, story, and action as possible. What is interesting about this series is that the author of the stories is completely uncredited. It is known that Hy Eisman did the pencils and Vince Colletta did the inks, with Jon D'Agostino providing the letters on the stories; but the name of the person who did the actual writing remains a mystery. Which is a shame, since these two issues are actually well-written, particularly for the time in which they were published (1962-63).

When I was younger, I never really paid much attention to Dell Comics, as I never saw their books as being very interesting (I was pretty much all DC and Marvel as a kid). As an adult, however, I'm finding that Dell, as well as some of the other "independent" companies of that era, put out some really great stories, even if they did not have ongoing series that lasted very long.  Private Secretary is one I definitely enjoyed, and it's a shame it only had the two-issue run.

RATING:  9  award-winning Captain Ladies out of 10 for promoting a strong, independent female title character who was far from perfect but capable of learning from her mistakes!

The Mystery of the Moving Image - Snow & Winter, Book Three

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - one of this things I absolutely love about series books is that picking up the next book in a series is like visiting old friends and family that I haven't seen in a bit. And picking up the next Snow & Winter mystery is exactly like that. I have been thoroughly enjoying this series, not just for the well-crafted mysteries, but also for the much likable and very relatable characters. They are not perfect, they have their flaws and idiosyncrasies; but at the same time, they are not so damaged that the average reader cannot identify with or have any sympathy for them. So, picking up this third book was like catching up with some old friends and hearing about their latest adventures...

The Mystery of the Moving Image finds Sebastian Snow an Calvin Winters moving in together. This is a big step for both of them, as Sebastian has just left a devastating relationship, and Calvin is still dealing with his own issues of P.T.S.D. But they have taken a leap of faith, and things appear to be going good for them. Sebastian has not had any further craziness, and his penchant for getting thrown into the middle of a dangerous mystery seems to have subsided. Until a rather large crate shows up on his doorstep. No return address. No known sender. And inside is a very rare, very valuable Kinetoscope - an invention credited to Thomas Edison that was the precursor to the modern film. The box allows an individual to view rolling images that create a "film" to watch. There is only one canister of film with the box, and when Sebastian and his assistant, Max, carefully load the film, he discovers to his shock that it is the ultra-rare, never-before-known-to-exist footage of the Leonard/Cushing fight of 1894. More shocking, though, is what has been spliced into the end of the film - a real life murder!

(***NOTE - the fight beteween Leonard and Cushing in 1894 is a historical fact, and Thomas Edison did, indeed, film the fight - and this is not the only true historical fact within the story. W.K.-L. Dickson did, indeed, work with Edison and was involved in the creation of the Kinetoscope and the early films associated therewith.)

 Sebastian, of course, tells Calvin; but there is nothing to fear, since the murder on the film occurred more than 120 years ago. Until someone breaks into the Emporium and steals part of the film. And then there is a second break-in. And a dead body turns up in the dumpster behind the store. And then a series of gunshots destroy the front window and nearly hit Sebastian, Neil, and a customer (who happens to be Calvin's ex from his military days!). And then someone attacks Sebastian outside of his new apartment, threatening to kill him if he doesn't turn over the other films. And then a second body is discovered. What starts out as a simply mystery of who sent the Kinetoscope turns into a deadly game of what is so special about that film and why is the killer desperate to get their hands on it?

First, I have to say something about Sebastian's assistant, Max. I so want to have an assistant like him! He is witty, a bit sarcastic, but loyal to the nth degree! Every time he makes an appearance in these books, he makes me smile.

Second, kudos to author C.S. Poe for a subtle reference to another gay mystery series. On pages 138-39, Poe makes reference to the fact that Sebastian is a huge fan of the Miss Butterwith mystery series of books. I read that, and immediately I thought, "I know that name." I had to do some heavy thinking on the matter, and then it came to me - Miss Butterwith is the fictional mystery series that Christopher Holmes writes in Josh Lanyon's Holmes & Moriarty mystery series! So, that pretty much confirms Snow & Winter are in the same fictional universe with Holmes & Moriarty - so does that mean at some point in the future, the two detecting teams will cross over?!  One can only hope!

Third, and finally, the villainous thief/killer is not so easily identified, which is a nice change. After reading so many mysteries (over so many years! how many? well, that we'll leave for a real mystery...), one gets to the point where it becomes fairly easy to pick out the killer early on, even if you don't necessarily know the motive until later. With Moving Image, Poe manages to lead readers down the wrong path, throwing a nice little twist near the end that surprises not only Sebastian, but the reader as well! Definitely makes it a worthwhile read.

Oh, and before I forget - the end of this mystery provides a true tear-jerking moment! While I readily admit, I'm a big softy when it comes to touching moments in movies, on television, or in books; but this one really hits the heart. Poe definitely has a way with words that truly enraptures the reader and draws one into the lives of these characters so completely, you can't help but feel what they do!

Can't wait for book four!

RATING:  10 elusive maroon trees out of 10 for knowing how to craft a mystery and create characters that make the reader greedily turn page after page, knowing we can never truly get enough of Snow and Winter!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Boots and the Mystery of the Unlucky Vase

There was a time when I wanted nothing to do with the books published back in the day by Whitman. The paper was cheaper and did not stand the test of time (became very brittle and breaks easily), and the dust jackets were just as cheap in texture and appearance.  However, as time has passed, and as I have picked up a few here and there and read them, I've discovered that they really aren't so bad after all - in fact, they can be quite enjoyable!  It's just a matter of finding them well preserved so that the pages don't fall apart when you read them...

Boots and the Mystery of the Unlucky Vase is one my latest Whitman acquisitions. I picked it up for several reasons: (1) the dust jacket was in pretty good shape for a book published in 1943; (2) the pages were not brittle, so it would be readable; and (3) I thought the character was something from the Dick Tracy comic strip, based on the cover art.  I guess two out of three ain't bad!  I was wrong about the character - apparently "Boots" was a newspaper strip titled Boots and her Buddies that ran from 1924 - 1968 (which is quite an impressive run - 44 years!). The author of the comic strip, Edgar Martin, was also the author of this book, so at least that gave me some comfort, knowing the book was written by the creator of the character.

As one might guess based on the name of the character, the story (as I'm sure the comic strip was) is a bit comical, with some over-the-top, stereotypical characters - such as the overweight Ferd, who was nicknamed "Fat," the African-American cook named Opal whose dialogue reflected the dialect given to them at that time, the pesky little tomboyish girl Pug (whose father was named Bettem High), and so on. These things would certainly not fly in today's world, but the story is clearly a product of its time, evidenced more so by the fact that World War II plays very heavily in the story.  Boots gets a job at a factory that manufactures things for the military; she and others in the book mostly walk where they want to go, or use a horse and buggy (to save on fuel); Boots, Pug, and Cora (the wife of the professor with whom they live) prepare first aid materials for the military men, while Open bakes cookies for the soldiers.

The story itself revolves around some very important blueprints that are stolen from the safe of Boots' boss and end up in a large vase that Boots is given as a reward for her good work. Pug ends up getting kidnapped in the vase (you'll have to read it to find out the story on that adventure!), and Boots and Ferd do their best to rescue her, but end up captives right along with Pug. There are spies, brave soldiers, inept police, and pretty much any other character you might need to create a whimsical comedy of errors, but ultimately, Boots' rough-and-tumble friend, Willie, comes to her rescue (as he has done in the past - or so the story says!).

The book has a number of interior illustrations, provided by Martin as well (which makes sense, since he wrote and drew the daily strip for the newspapers). The characters are pretty much caricatures, particularly when it comes to little Pug and Opal (the cook). Today's readers would likely be very offended by the depiction of Opal in the illustrations, but one must remember - it was a very different time when this book was written and the strip was drawn by Martin. Plus, this was based on a comedy strip, and as such, everything should be taken a bit tongue-in-cheek. Therefore, I simply placed it as a product of its time and enjoyed it for what it was, knowing that African-Americans do not look like that, don't act like that, and certainly should never be viewed like that.

The one thing I did enjoy was the fact that Boots was a very independent, creative-thinking, no-nonsense woman who was not afraid of anyone (she impresses her boss by being able to stall and send away countless salesmen trying to sneak their way in to see him), and she was not afraid to run head-first into danger to help her friends! It's nice to see that even male authors back in the '40s were not afraid to write strong, independent women characters.

Having read this, I'm now going to have to look up the comic strip, as well as the 6-issue comic book series that was apparently published back in the day.  One more thing to try and collect - just what I needed!  LOL

RATING:  9 special recipe cookies out of 10 for introducing me to an entirely new character and making mysteries fun to read!

The Oracle Code - a DC Graphic Novel

DC Comics continues to hit the mark with its original graphic novels for young adults featuring familiar DC characters as younger incarnations. From Black Canary to Wonder Woman to Zatanna, and now the latest one features Barbara Gordon. No, not the Barbara Gordon who became Batgirl. This is a very different Barbara Gordon in a very different tale by writer Marieke Nijkamp and illustrator Manuel Preitano.

The Oracle Code is the story of a young Barbara Gordon, who enjoys hacking with her best friend, Benjamin. But one night changes everything. On one fateful night, Barbara is shot and left crippled, confined to a wheelchair, and suddenly everything she knows is gone - including Ben! Her father checks her into the Arkham Center for Independence (and no, this is NOT the Arkham Asylum that houses criminals - although this Center could potentially have a few criminals in there...) in order to help her with both physical and mental rehabilitation following the incident. At first, Barbara is very resistant to the place. Once inside, however, she starts to see puzzles around every corner, and before you know it, she's decided that she has to unlock whatever mysteries are hiding within the walls of Arkham.

Nijkamp tells a somewhat dark and lonely story of a Barbara Gordon who feels alone, abandoned, and out of sorts. She begins to learn, however, that being in a wheelchair is not a hindrance, but merely another obstacle to overcome.  While Nijkamp brings in an entirely new cast of characters, there are subtle Easter eggs throughout the book to the Batman universe from whence she comes (such as the two basketball teams, who are the "Robins" and the "Wonders"), so that readers don't forget this is a Batman-related character, after all.  And it is rather refreshing to see these children and teenagers not portrayed as individuals to be pitied because of their handicap, but as independent, strong-willed characters whose handicaps do not define them. When one of Barbara's new friends disappear, her other two friends immediately step up to the plate to help her out - - even when that means figuring out how to get a wheelchair down a set of old, stone stairs!

Preitano's art compliments the tone of the story - light when it needs to be, but dark and moody at the appropriate times.  The only drawback I would say is the fact that Barbara's face through nearly the entire book has s permanent scowl - whether that was intentional or not, I don't know, but because of that, I was constantly reading her dialogue (both inner and vocal) as being pretty much spat out in an irritated tone of voice.  I do, however, love the expressions on Ben when he finally comes to visit Barbara in Arkham - you can almost feel the embarrassment and shame coming off of him for having ghosted her after the shooting.

Overall, this was a great read, with a touching story that provides some great morals (i.e. loyalty, trust, determination, among other things).  Quite honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing more of this Barbara Gordon.  I always preferred her as Oracle than Batgirl, and this book is a shining example of why - she stands on her own and does not need a bat-symbol or any of the bat-toys to define her.  Well done, DC, well done.

RATING:  10 new friends made out of cloth out of 10 for proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Barbara Gordon can stand quite well on her own, outside of the shadow of the Bat!