Dreamworks Dragons: Riders of Berk Vol 1 Dragon Down (Titan Comics – Furman / Nazif / Pereya / Manley-Leach / Digikore Studio)
Snotlout’s dragon, Hookfang, is shedding scales – and that’s causing fires in Berk! When an upset Hookfang flies off and disappears, the gang set up a search party. Unfortunately, Alvin the Treacherous is also on the hunt for Hookfang…Who will get to Hookfang first – the Riders or Alvin? Find out in the first exciting Dragons Riders of Berk graphic novel, written by Simon Furman (Transformers, Matt Hatter Chronicles) with incredible art by rising star Iwan Nazif!
Titan Books is doing another exceptional job adapting a well-loved property to the comic page! Dragons: Riders of Berk is the continuing adventures of all of the mainstays from the How To Train Your Dragon Franchise and is synched in with the release of the movie sequel (June 13th). Vol. 1 revolves around themes of misunderstanding, miscommunication and friendship – a seamless companion for the films.
This new graphic novel series from Titan Comics is perfect for the pre-reader and the young reader. The book is expertly designed to be a read-out-loud or a read-along – it is set up in easy to digest chapters for the pre-teens and it has a visual introduction of the characters for the parents who might not be up on their dragon lore. The plot is self-contained and has closure but easily falls inside the HTTYD mythology.
Simon Furman lays out a fun story that enjoyable to readers of all ages. Iwan Nazif and the art team put together a gorgeous book with truly thoughtful page and frame layouts. When it comes to tie-ins for Children’s movies / properties, sometimes publishers and creative teams just call it in and do throwaway projects hoping to cash in on the popularity of a recent pre-teen fad. It doesn’t take too long at all to realize that this is not the methodology from this creative team nor from Titan Comics. Both thought and effort went into the design and construction of this young reader GN.
Grade: A
The Bottom Line: An easy buy for parents! Great story, quality art and a gloss well-put together publication with a $6.99 price tag – no brainer!
