Review: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir - Akumatized by ZAG Entertainment, Cheryl Black, and Nicole D'Andria

Ah, Ladybug!  When I saw this title on the Read Now list on NetGalley, I snagged it up because...curiosity got to the cat! Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir - Akumatized presented by ZAG Entertainment, and published by Diamond Book Distributors is available in e-book format, as well as in print.  This book is a tie-in to the French television series which also goes by the name of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.  It contains stories of three televised episodes from Season 1: Dark Cupid, Horrificator, and Le Mime. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, but by night, she patrols the city of Paris as the super-heroine, Ladybug, along with her crime fighting partner, Cat Noir.  Most of the time, they are busy fighting against people who have been "akumatized" or "evil-ized" into being villains by the Supervillain, Hawk Moth.  The process of akumatization typically begins when the victim experiences negative emotions as a result of being emotionally hurt by the actions of other people or by life's circumstances.  These leave them susceptible to the influence of Hawk Moth's akumas (moths that have been "evil-ized," and who give Hawk Moth control over his victims to do his will).  In each story, there is at least one person who becomes akumatized and given special powers by Hawk Moth to take revenge against the person who hurt them, or against the world.  These powers are offered in exchange for a special favour; Hawk Moth wants the akumatized person to take the miraculouses (contact objects which give Ladybug and Cat Noir their special powers) and give them to him for his own nefarious purposes. 

In Dark Cupid, the Horrificator, and Le Mime, the stories follow the formula mentioned above; hurt/broken hearts and anger leave a gateway open for Hawk Moth to seduce two classmates and a classmate's father into working for him so that they can pursue revenge. I have seen Dark Cupid and Le Mime on television, but haven't seen the Horrificator yet.  Generally, the art work looks fairly true to the televised series that I wonder if they are actually screen shots.  There are a couple of frames that have been altered to fit into the comic book format (I noticed a frame in which the Mime appears to be a reverse image of what appears in the televised episode).  A few frames showed blurry motion, which created an interesting effect for activity, but again, I wonder if this could be due to a screen shot effect.   I didn't gain any extra information about the stories from the comic version compared to the televised version, except that I could read the text of hand written notes more easily than from what appeared on television, because it was stationary and didn't disappear into the next scene.  Although the dialogue in the galley that I looked at was written in English, I was curious if the artists would translate the text of the handwritten notes into English in the comic, but as with any text that appears in the television series, these were also written in French.

In my opinion, the Dark Cupid and Horrificator stories were easy enough to follow; they are similar enough to their televised counterparts in getting the stories told.  However, Le Mime had some frames in which it was difficult to understand what the Mime was doing.  Because I had previously viewed the televised episode, I knew what he was doing, but it is understandably difficult to show what the mime was doing without filling the frame with textual explanations, or risk losing the story's momentum by showing more frames of all of his motions, which could slow down the urgency of the action scenes.  For the Le Mime story, I would say that the televised episode was superior in getting the story across. 



Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir - Akumatized from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine. 

Addendum:
From a Christian perspective, there may be some parents who are concerned about any spiritual content that may be present in this book.  In the Ladybug universe, the miraculous that Ladybug possesses are her earrings, which allow her to transform from Marinette into Ladybug.  In order to become Ladybug, a kwami, Tikki, (a tiny magical being that is several thousand years old) enters the earrings and transforms Marinette into Ladybug.  Her powers include an ability to create a lucky charm that allows her to defeat the akumatized person, and to "de-evil-ize" and strip the akuma butterfly of its ability to make its victims evil.  Cat Noir's miraculous is a ring into which Plagg, another kwami, enters.  This gives Cat Noir the power to destroy whatever he touches once he activates that power.  An akumatized person is somewhat possessed, where they are overcome by the influence of an evil akuma butterfly. 

Review: Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel

Today, I was at a relative's home and was ambushed by a small child who said that I had to read, "Bad Kitty Meets the Baby," by Nick Bruel. It is a children's book and is classified as a easy chapter book but it includes illustrations on practically every page.  The book is published by Roaring Brook Press and the edition that I happened to lay my hands on was a Square Fish edition.  My little relative was correct; the book is hilarious.

The story begins with, "In the beginning, there was Kitty."  Yes, I noticed the similarity to the Genesis narrative, but it set quite a funny tone for the book, because the next event to happen to Kitty is the appearance of Puppy into her life.  This leads to traumatic times for our dear little Kitty until she gets used to him.  Then one day, the pet owners go away for a few days, leaving Kitty and Puppy in the care of Uncle Murray.  By the time the owners return, Uncle Murray is a frazzled mess, and the pets are now confronted with what Kitty thinks is the new dog because it drools and reminds her too much of Puppy.  The neighbourhood kitties think that the newcomer is just another kitty. However, what the owners have actually done is that they have adopted a baby into the family.

Because the cats think that the baby is actually a kitty herself, they invite New Kitty to participate in the Pussycat Olympics which consists of events such as the STARE-AT-YOURSELF-IN-A-MIRROR-UNTIL-YOU-GET-BORED and WHO-CAN-CREATE-THE-BIGGEST-STINK competitions. Who will win the Pussycat Olympics?  Will Kitty and New Kitty get over their adversarial roles and become friends?    

As I mentioned before, the book is quite funny.  I laughed at how Uncle Murray's pet sitting week turned out.  Here's a hint: it involves the pets, a tree, a fridge and several calls to the fire department.  Interspersed throughout the book, we can also read Uncle Murray's Fun Facts about how to deal with a cat stuck in a tree.  Near the end of the book is a short appendix of some cat tricks (how to get a cat to come/sit/shake paws/sit up/beg).  An interview with the author and a brief preview of another book in the series, "Bad Kitty for President," are also included. 

This book could probably be placed in the humour section of a bookstore, but that's just my opinion.  I finished this in less than an hour, with interruptions from the little book critic who pointed out some parts of the story that she found funny.  I appreciated the wit that I found in the writing style and must say that I'm now interested in reading the rest of the books in this series even though I'm no longer six or seven years old.