Aaron RenierRezensionen

When I finished binge-watching Adventure Time and realized there were a series of comics based on the show, I thought, oh, that might be worth taking a look at at some point. Then I realized they were by Ryan North, and my response immediately transmuted into "shut up and take my money!"

In this first collection, Finn and Jake and friends have to save the world from the Lich, who is sucking everything into a magic bag of holding. I have to say, there are some elements of the plot that... Well, I was going to say "that are a bit silly," but silliness is perfectly reasonable for Adventure Time. Silly in ways that didn't quite 100% work for me, maybe. But fortunately that didn't at all stop me from enjoying it! It's funny and fun and it feels right, in ways that had me feeling genuinely nostalgic for the show. Which is kind of weird, maybe, given that I only finished watching it a few weeks ago. You wouldn't think that's enough time to get nostalgic about anything, but here we are. I also like the way it takes advantage of the comics format to add some amusing meta touches that are definitely silly in the right way.

I've already picked up several more of these, and I'm very much looking forward to continuing on with them. Apparently I'm not remotely ready to leave Ooo behind yet, no matter how satisfying a conclusion the final episode was.

All-Around Awesomeness: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Writing Quality: 4/5
Recommend: For those who loved the show.

Fun & fast read. Quite silly. Mostly about the Lich & his bag. Of course, there's a snail involved & lots of sand sandwiches.

reading level: 4-8
Award:
CCBC Choices

Totally mathematical!

As a rule, I don't read graphic novels mostly just because with everything else I read, I don't have the time. Walker Bean looked like it would be fun to read with Griffin, though. It was :) [full review]

Adorable little stories. I love everything Adventure Time!

Teenagers set out on a pirate adventure

Review By: Heather R. (12th Grade)
Grade Range: 7th Grade and up
Genre: Mystery/Adventure (Graphic Novel)
Literary Merit: Great
Characterization: Great
Review:
The Unsinkable Walker Bean and the Knights of the Waxing Moon is the second graphic novel in an adventure series that follows Walker Bean and his two friends Shiv and Genoa. The three of them and the rest of the crew have been shipwrecked on an island. The entire crew is in the process of repairing the ship after the dangerous encounter that they experienced in the first graphic novel. As they make the repairs, the crew starts to grow restless which, in turn, then allows tensions to start to grow between certain members. On top of that stress, the island is keeping many secrets that are connected to ancient stories of alchemists, shadow creatures, and past rebellions between an ancient family and a group of knights. Walker, Shiv, and Genoa become entangled in the schemes of an ancient family that intends to only leave the island when they have found and claimed their missing heiress. From that major plot point, the novel starts to revolve around the separate adventures of Walker, Shiv, and Genoa as they unintentionally run into the group known as the Knights of the Waxing Moon and uncover the mystery revolving around the ancient family of Septus and Neptune. Nothing is ever as it seems on an island that has been deserted for centuries and is ready to come back for its long awaited revenge.

Graphic novels are normally short which means that they have to be able to explain exposition elements rather quickly seeing as the rest of the pages have to be plot driven. This graphic novel did just that and even more to help explain all the details in a short amount of time. The drawing style was very unique which allowed all of the characters to have one of a kind features that visually set them apart from others. Each page of the graphic novel presented varying layouts of visuals that allowed the uniqueness to flow from start to finish of the graphic novel. On top of that, the characters were likeable and it was very easy to catch on to their different personalities and quirks even though there were limited pages to build upon the traits. The plot of the novel was slow at first, but it picked up rather quickly. Because of that, I was able to fly through the novel seeing as I did not want to put it down once the plot became intense. The mystery and adventure elements of the plot were intriguing and added to the intensity due to the fact that they are genres that complement each other. The message of the graphic novel was that family and friends are what allow us to be strong. This message was showcased throughout the whole plot and it was seen in the connections that Walker, Shiv, and Genoa had for each other and the rest of the crew.

Recommendation: For fans of adventure and mystery novels who love to admire beautiful artwork as they read a great story.

This is a graphic novel that is full of delightful, detailed black and white illustrations and a lot of action. There were times that as I read this, I was a little confused about what was going on, but it pulled together. In the town populated by animals the young ones are trying to fill their summer. The story opens with Turnip a shy elephant who meets Stucky the dog with a lot of friends. Stucky immediately invites him to join in the fun and go listen to the local band. There we meet more of the friends including Ana. Ana spends her time reporting for a secret underground newspaper with her photographer friend Emily. Turnip and Stucky head off to sculpture school each day where Turnip tries to make a life size sculpture of Viola, his secret crush, and Stucky is making a submarine to see what it in the pond. Lots of adventures, destruction, disappointments and fun ensue in this story. Kids will enjoy it.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you like the cartoon, you will like this. I was glad that it stayed so true to the show. I was a bit apprehensive about that, truth be told, because I have read other comic adaptations of cartoons and felt that they were lacking. Of course, this is hardly high-brow literature. But, that is probably why I like it so much.

Huh. Thought I had read this before. I love me some Adventure Time.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

3rd-5th
This book is probably geared more towards boys in this age category. Many young boys are interested in fantasy fiction. Also, they are more likely to relate to a male main character.

Place me in the minority but this adventure on the high seas didn't work for me. I couldn't seem to have any enthusiasm for this book. The art was not to my liking. The characters looked murky or simply off-putting, liked they'd stepped out of an Edvard Munch painting. The numerous half blurbs of the characters also didn't work for me. I gave this to my 10-year-old to read wondering if maybe I was too adult for the "magic" of the story and he didn't have much to say about it. He is a tremendous reader too. I dislike knocking the work of other authors but I can't seem to find a great deal to enjoy with this one. Maybe if we could use half stars here, I'd give it 2.5.

I picked this up for my nine year old son, and found myself drawn to the wonderful art and intriguing story, so in the end I nicked it from him and read it myself. Walker Bean's beloved grandfather is horribly ill. He made the mistake of looking into the eyes of the pearl skull, stolen from the hoard of the hideous merwitches who destroyed Atlantis. The skull must be returned, but only young Walker is willing to do so. The skull is stolen! There's a sea-battle! Walker stows away on a pirate ship. Pursued by the mysterious Doctor, the Royal Navy and the merwitches themselves! Can his determination and the odd crazy invention hello him fight through to save his grandfather?
This is just so damn good. Writer artist is clearly influence by Tintin, Where's Wally and a host of others, he also reminded me of Richard Sala, especially with his willingness to go full on ghastly with the nightmarish merwitches. It's a cracking read, thrilling and fascinating, with brilliant characters and an ending that goes from a jaw-droppingly epic set-piece reversal to a quietly moving funeral at sea. Highly, highly recommended

Disgusting sea witches, magic skulls, pirates and a talking Squid-Man, where was this graphic novel when I was a kid?

The cutest graphic novel I've ever read. And it has such a fun story!

Read from August 19 to 20, 2014

So I've heard of Adventure Time, seen it in the periphery. When I saw it sitting on the graphic novel shelf I thought, "why not see what it's about?"

Yeah...I don't get it. Maybe it's better as a cartoon?

Great to see everyone come together in the end to defeat the bad guy!½

Adventure time was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The art and lettering was kinda messy and disorganized while the story was a little too all over the place. Not my favorite.

We seem to be on a pirate kick over here between this book and Treasure Island. This inventive graphic novel about a bookish boy comes with the recommendation of Brian Selznick of Hugo Cabret fame - and it didn't disappoint.

Z loved this, though it took much longer to read than most graphic novels he's tackled with me. Sweet story, but CROWDED pages.

Walker is a young boy back when pirates still roamed the 7 seas and the British Navy was the avowed military master of the world. Walker's grandfather has come across a mysterious skull that is said to be from Atlantis and poses powers of the unknown...but the grandfather has become deathly ill after looking into the skull and asks Walter to return it to whence it came. Along the way Walker meets up with pirates, a mysterious doctor, and two ancient merwitches that want the skull back and will do all they can to get it. It's a high roaring adventure that is sure to captivate those that wish they could go back in time...when pirates and merwitches still roamed the seas.

"The Unsinkable Walker Bean" is a page turning adventure and it's mostly a well written story...but it has some gaps in the tale into who some of the characters are. And I say this because its a central part of the tale, the doctor, the skull and the merwitches...we're told one thing about them, but it proves false but with nothing left to fill in the gap. Perhaps there will be a sequel where the gaps will be filled in and I hope there will be...but until then the story is left unfinished