A fast and fun read, perfect for any age.
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and Mark Crilley for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary book and media kit!
Book Information
Publishing Date: April 2, 2024
This hilarious illustrated novel about the chaos of the creative process follows middle schooler Eliot Quigly as he endeavors to create the best superhero comic ever—with unforgettably epic hiccups along the way!
Eliot Quigly is sure of one thing and one thing He is sitting on the greatest superhero comic idea of all time. Combine radioactive onion rings with a run-of-the-mill kid and you get the Mighty Onion, a crime-fighting superhero who gains extraordinary powers whenever he eats onions. It’s genius!
Eliot can’t wait to get his brilliant idea out into the world, but there’s only one he’s terrible at drawing. Eliot is about to throw in the towel when he lucks upon the perfect illustrator—classmate Pamela Jones, who begrudgingly agrees to help.
With his ambition and her artistic talent, there’s no stopping this dynamic comic-creating duo. But partnership is a tricky road, and creative differences arise quickly. Will Eliot and Pam stick together long enough to make this vision a reality?
Using a mix of comics pages, journal entries, handwritten letters, and more, author-illustrator Mark Crilley explores the triumphs and tribulations of the creative process—and teamwork—in a series opener that’s unlike any you’ve seen before!
Book Links
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195820707
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316490318
- Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mighty-onion-mark-crilley/1143886157
- IndieBound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-mighty-onion-mark-crilley/20348404
About the Author
Mark Crilley is an American comic book creator and children’s book author/illustrator. He is the creator of Miki Falls, Akiko, and Brody’s Ghost. He is also noted for his instructional videos for drawing in the manga-style. Crilley distributes drawing advice to artists via YouTube videos and his DeviantArt account. In August 2010, he starred in some how to draw videos for Funimation on demand. Mark Crilley’s wife is Miki Crilley who he named Miki Falls after. The two have a daughter, Mio, and a son, Matthew.
Author Links:
- Website: http://www.markcrilley.com/home.html
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/markcrilley
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcrilleyreal/
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/36452
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markcrilleyOFFICIAL/
Review (no spoilers)
If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the tour, you can find the tour schedule here.
This was of the most enjoyable middle grade graphic novels that I’ve ever read. Told through a mixture of diary entries, letters, photos, and comics, The Mighty Onion is a fun introduction to a series that is about a boy attempting to become a well-known author by teaming up with his classmate to write a comic series about an onion-powered superhero.
Our main character, Eliot, is young, naive, and *very* big-headed. His (often unearned) self-assuredness is the cause of most of the conflict in the story, giving Mark Crilley the opportunity to teach his audience lessons of gratitude, selflessness, and compromise.
Overall, I thought the inclusion of multiple forms of media added a lot to the depth and overall enjoyability of the book. I hope to see more graphic novel authors taking this approach, because I think it is a great way to appeal to audiences of all ages. I’d definitely be interested to see where our characters go from here.
Jenjenreviews 