The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship

A young girl named Serena goes overboard when her family vacation hits a terrible sea storm; she is rescued by the Mary Alice a mysterious ship with crew members from all over the world -- and all over the time-stream. Meanwhile, back in the present day, Danielle and Roger are separately trying to

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track the sightings of a so-called "ghost ship" (the Mary Alice) and its youngest crew member, John Blake. But sinister forces are bent on stealing their research and stopping them from ever contacting the ship and its crew. When I heard that Philip Pullman (an author I loved as a child) had written his first-ever graphic novel (a medium I love), I immediately had to check it out. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. The book's plot was convoluted, the science behind the science fiction was poorly explained, and the characters were rather lackluster. Other than Danielle and a couple of crew members with minor roles, there is a serious lack of diversity in this book despite its large number of characters. And, while Serena and John are young, the rest of the characters are adults. This, along with the occasional language (damn, darn, bloody, etc.) and the conspiracy issues that cross various government and corporate avenues, makes me wonder if this book is even best suited for its target audience of children. This particular book makes use of most standard comic panels, with nothing too exciting jumping out there. However, the illustrations of people and places are done in a quite well-executed realistic style. And, the illustrations of sea scenes are quite lovely to look at, truly works of art. It seems like this book is intended to be the first in a series, but I have no interest in continuing on with any future books about John Blake.

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