I really enjoyed this as a graphic novel, it had that art style that worked in this type of book and was glad it had that feel that I wanted from the description. It was everything that I wanted in a graphic novel and glad the characters were so well written by Jorge Aguirre and enjoyed the overall feel of this.

Book 2 in the Monster Locker MG graphic novel series by @mailjorge @avm_draw
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The Monster Killers (Unsummoners) are back and loving (mostly) the attention they’re getting for being heroes. Takashi is struggling though. He wants to live with his mom in Japan so he tries to enter a singing contest. If he gets 1 million likes he gets a music contract. The problem is he can’t sing so he summons Kitsune, a shape shifting nine-tailed fox who loves to help. Kitsune sure is charming and has the entire middle school in the palm of his hands until he turns and creates a mob, Takashi included. With a man down, can Pablo and Maggie solve this monster dilemma?
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Oh, this was phenomenal. I adored Monster Locker and sometimes the sequel doesn’t live up to the first—not in this case. I might even love this one more. Takashi’s story is one students will relate to, especially those kids of divorce and/or mixed religion/race. I enjoyed learning more about both Japanese and Jewish culture and cannot wait for Maggie’s story. This book releases April 21!

CW: violence, bullying, divorce

This is the second in a series. Familiarity with the first volume is not necessary to understand the plot, although it might be beneficial for getting a better understanding of the main character, Pablo. This volume focuses more on one of his friends, Takashi, and his sub-optimal response to both his very difficult father's demands and missing his mother who lives in Japan. Takashi’s way of dealing with these situations is unreasonable in the standard super hero manner, namely summoning a demon to help him become a popular social media singer because his father will only let him delay his bat mitzvah (thus enabling him to spend break with his mother in Japan) if he can garner one million likes on TikTok. The only reason the bar mitzvah is scheduled for the day it is scheduled for is because it allows his paternal grandparents to attend before their cruise, rather than after. Unless these people are going on a multi year cruise, this seems like an extremely weird hill for that father to die on. Because the plot is so silly (both in terms of the problem and the solution Takashi alights on) it was hard to stay engaged in the story. I found my attention drifting every page or two, with no desire to go back and read the first volume in the series.