This graphic novel has bandied about our house for nearly a year. I don’t know why it took me so long to read, but I know my youngest son had read it a few times and said he liked it. I think that’s why it took me so long … I couldn’t find the book and only recently did I find it during a “clean the bedroom or else” sweep.
I’m glad I did (find the book).
Cleopatra in Space, by Mike Maihack, is a series of graphic novels about, yes, THAT Cleopatra as a budding teenager who gets herself zapped not just into the future (where she is destined to change the fate of the Universe) but also to an entirely new galaxy altogether (where many of the character are intelligent cats).
The mechanics of her transformation from Ancient Egypt (ancient to us, anyway) to outer space is less important than knowing that Maihak is attuned to character development and to using humor to tell a full-on action story. We don’t get a ton of backstories to the friends that Cleopatra is making but I suspect that might be coming with other books in the series. The artwork is colorful and engaging, and the story moves at a solid pace, without sacrificing characters and plot gaps.
Cleopatra is no fool and she’s pretty handy with her laser gun, too.
This is just the first book in the series (entitled: Target Practice) but I am intrigued and want to know more about this feisty heroine. This book is well-suited for boys and girls in the elementary and maybe middle school years. The boys won’t be turned off by a girl as protagonist because of the sense of adventure and action, and the girls will be excited to see someone their own age as the hero of a graphic novel story. Win-win.
Peace (connecting across time),
Kevin