The cover got me on this one as I was at the library volunteering.  I’m not one for romance but the Gotham in the title swayed me and I liked the illustrations.  After reading this graphic novel, I couldn’t believe this was actually, the one and only Mr. Freeze.  I was floored!  No way!  This story was actually about Mr. Freeze and his future wife. I think that there’s a great story inside this book but the way that the story is delivered could have been better. The writing felt choppy and the story felt awkward as the characters cope with what life has given them and they find that perhaps there is more to life.  The illustrations were fantastic and they saved the book for me.

When we meet Victor, he’s visiting his younger brother again, like he does every year, at the cemetery.  Victor is proving to be quite the successful cryogenics cold tech and his work on perfecting his Accela-Freeze compound is coming along. Oh, what that compound could do, if he could just get everything perfect.  Victor is proud of his accomplishments and he conveys everything to his brother as if his brother could actually hear him from beyond.  Nora interrupts Victor’s talk when he spots her in the distance.  She’s also at the cemetery, visiting her mother’s grave, a surprise since Victor normally sees no one. 

Nora.  This girl got on my nerves.  She was a total flake.  Between her words and her actions, I didn’t know what to think of her.  The words that came out of her mouth were all over the place.  “So, come here often?” yep, that’s what you say to someone that you meet at the cemetery.  It doesn’t get better than this for a while and then, she starts to get all romantic with Victor.  What’s wrong with her?  I knew that she had a disease but I doubted that caused her to act like that.  Victor is hesitant at first (and he should be) yet he continues to hang around Nora when he should be running for the hills.  Nora does look amazing with her flowing hair, her spaghetti-strapped shirt, and her spunky attitude but is he really listening to her?  He needs to take off his glasses and really see her. 

The illustrations are great!  With attention to detail, the illustrator has created some wonderful text boxes that showcase the story.  I appreciated his attention to detail and the colors that were used, provided the atmosphere that I expected for this story.  These fantastic illustrations make this a good book for me but I felt that the writing alone didn’t work for me.  3 stars    

While Patrick lies in a hospital bed, comatose and fighting for his life after being beaten and left for dead in an apparent anti-gay hate crime at the gas station/mini-mart where he works, his friend Cat launches her own investigation. The local police seem ready to assume that outsiders passing through town were responsible for the crime.

Until three years before, when they were both 13, Cat and Patrick were the best of friends. She pulled away from her friends after suffering a trauma she hasn't been able to talk about to anyone. She became a "ghost girl," and now, in the course of her investigation, she needs to bring herself back to the people she pulled away from.

The book pulled me along, as I needed to know what happened. I found the reveal much less surprising than Cat did. I agreed with the book's overall messaging, though sometimes I felt mildly condescended to. I write this while fully acknowledging that I am not the book's target audience (when my Forever YA book club discusses this book I will be celebrating my 53rd birthday).

There was a line near the end that was something like "it's right to be sad about sad things." So glad to have that explained to me!

the pact

Favorite: Sadie 

Cute

I have no idea what continuity this is in, but it was a good story. That it was another iteration of Catwoman is just gravy. There are some problematic elements - namely the language - but it shouldn't get in the way.

Selina Kyle is 14 and is driven to leave behind a hostile home environment. She can't bear to go to Gotham High anymore and leaves everything behind. Cutting is an element to the story, too. Be warned. On the street she's befriended by other kids getting by on their own terms, but it may mean hurting the one person she didn't want to lose.

This is about Selina getting the courage to stand up for herself, but its primarily about Selina's relationship with a young, mute homeless girl. Its a nice story, about surviving abuse and remaining a good person, but I don't have too much to say about it. I'm not sure where this fits in to the larger DC universe. Is there a series of young adult graphic novels coming out focusing on more real-life issues?