Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter by Marcus Sedgwick (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter by Marcus Sedgwick
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-250-15984-7 $23.99
Paper ed. ISBN 978-1-62672-026-8 $14.99 Ad Gr. 4-7
After her parents’ demise in a monster-hunting episode, daughter Scarlett has inherited the house and two trusty servants, the Whites, who support her own efforts as a monster hunter. Dastardly Count Stankovic, who seems to know just where the next monster will attack, almost always gets to the scene before Scarlett and Napoleon White, and when he doesn’t, he threatens to report her to T.R.A.P.E.Z.E. (The Royal Academy for the Pursuit and Eradication of Zoological Eccentricities), which zealously prosecutes underage hunters. Despite atmospheric artwork with a humorous edge, this debut graphic novel series chugs along with little more than a workmanlike, repetitious plot of monster appearance/confrontation action scene/Hart-vs.-Stankovic rivalry. There’s a bespoke vehicle for some Batmobile interest, a mysterious Codex Monstrorum as a McGuffin, and a bad guy who just won’t die as a segue to the next volume. Graphic novel enthusiasts might want to check back and see if the series picks up steam, but in the meantime, monster hunter wannabes should consult Jinks’ How to Catch a Bogle (BCCB 10/13), and wacky orphans-in-action fans can enjoy Breach’s Clem Hetherington and the Ironwood Race (BCCB 1/18).
