Monster Locker

Monster Locker #1

by Jorge Aguirre, Andrés Vera Martínez (illustrator)

In this first volume of a thrilling middle grade graphic novel series, a sixth-grader named Pablo discovers his locker is a portal to the realm of monsters!

For hundreds of years, something in the basement of Glenfield Middle School has waited for its chance to open a portal into the realm of monsters. Now its time has come, and the school is going to need a hero. Pablo Ortiz . . . isn’t that guy. All he wants to do is lie low and get through middle school in one piece. So when Pablo accidentally opens the portal and summons a vengeful Aztec goddess, he’ll need the butt-kicking skills of his new friends and the wisdom passed down by his abuela to take her on.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Mythology, Adventure, Fiction, Comics

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2024

About the author

Jorge A. Aguirre is an East Coast-based writer born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He wrote the graphic novel, GIANTS BEWARE (First Second Books/Macmillan), which the New York Times called, a "rollicking fun story." He also wrote its sequel, DRAGONS BEWARE (May 2015). He has already written the third book of the CHRONICLES OF CLAUDETTE. Besides books, Jorge also produces and writes TV for kids. He's worked for Disney, Junior, Nick, Jr., and PBS.

Reviews

[Raven Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book that is a bit predictable for adults, but for at least 8 and up (more 10 to 13 perhaps) this is going to be a neat adventure. Action, humor and friendship. Has a good diverse cast.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my middle school students! It was so cute. Definitely recommend.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

What fun! I enjoyed the adventure and especially all the Nahuatl and Aztec characters, creatures, and language!

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERY cute! Loved the premise. Loved the inclusion. Loved the designs of the characters. Loved the action. A wonderful all ages graphic novel.

[Doreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coatlicue help me, I'm pretty sure my kids have infected me with their brainrot, because as soon as I realized that this story was set in Ohio, I began chortling to the tune of Swag In Ohio.

But that Midwestern state (and Gen Alpha shorthand for weirdness) is honestly the perfect setting for this tale of strange hijinks revolving around a middle school locker that's really a portal to the monster realm. Even better: it's set in Columbus, which is a city I particularly enjoy from years of visiting for the Origins Gaming Convention (which nearly always coincided with Pride!)

Our young hero Pablo Ortiz would certainly fit in with the crowds of nerds I'm used to hanging out with. A figurine-painting, druid-larping sixth grader, he's hoping to make friends at his new middle school, since most of his old ones from elementary school have been zoned to a different institution. Unfortunately, the two guys who did come with him from his old school seem to have no inclination of not being jerks to him anymore. One of them, his former best friend Dylan, even steals his assigned locker, forcing him to take a new one in the allegedly haunted basement.

Pablo isn't thrilled by any of this, especially when he learns that his locker really is haunted. A ghost named Obie wants Pablo to use the portal in his new locker to summon monsters onto the earthly plane. Pablo is smart enough to decline but when he's tricked into accidentally releasing Coatlicue, the Goddess of Earth, from the monster realm, he'll have to figure out how to stop her before she can exact her vengeance on an ungrateful humanity.

This wonderfully layered first volume of the eponymous graphic novel series not only sets up a terrific context for the story going forward but also resolves its Monster Of The Week scenario with ingenuity and humor. Pablo is a terrific protagonist, tho I'll freely admit that my favorite characters -- in a cast of so many lovable people! -- are his new friend Takashi Rosenberg and his eccentric, adorable abuela. I love that none of the cast is cookie cutter, and that the story tackles not just themes of friendship and family but also representation and being unafraid to make waves. Pablo's Mesoamerican heritage plays a huge role in this book, both in the fantastic and in the mundane. I loved learning more about Aztec mythology, as well as Nahuatl pronunciation from the backmatter. The story also had me craving xocolotl and tamales, tho in fairness, I'm almost never not craving tamales.

The art is the epitome of delightful. Pablo is so cute I want to adopt him -- he'd fit right in with my three adorable sons! Maybe he could teach them how to appreciate a good role-playing game, too... But I digress. Kinetic and expressive, the cartoony panels are rich with details that are just as thoughtful and clever as the plot. This is a terrific start to a middle grade graphic novel series about world mythology and monsters, and another winner from the consistently outstanding First Second Books.

Monster Locker Vol 1 by Jorge Aguirre & Andrés Vera Martínez was published October 1 2024 by First Second Books and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!/a>

This review originally appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.

[Hal Schrieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one for a committee at my library.

This one is ZANY and RULES. Something similar in illustration vibes to Raul III-- which I enjoy, and I think it's useful to rec graphic novels in more than one art style--, a huge mix of fun stuff going on-- from monsters to regular bullying to Aztec mythology to a grandma with flashbacks of her goats being stolen who wakes up in the middle of the night to fight the goat thieves. I love that the grandma's dementia is also potentially a source of clear-eyed understanding of the connection between past and present which others underestimate-- and i love the plot about her having potentially cursed the family by disrespecting a statue of a god, and Francsico's subsequent peer education about Mesoamerican history. There's an irreverence to the narrative that will appeal to tween irreverence, but there are also some things the story takes seriously, and I think the balance matches where the book's readers will be developmentally. I also love Takeshi Rosenberg, the weird kid unafraid to be weird and loud. I love that the landscape of the book is Columbus Ohio but is also Mexico. This is a GN unafraid to be off the wall and original, and it works for me and think it will for kids as well. New Kid style discussion of racism in school, light discussion of indigenous local history, but all cut through with genuine boy humor that will appeal to wimpy kid fans but be a little better and more humanizing for them. Really fabulous.

[Geordie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Credit where credit is due, my daughter liked this book. I did not. Maybe the fault is partially my own, as I was expecting a somewhat serious graphic novel. After all, the main character is ostracized at school for having embarrassed himself in front of friends. The main character's grandmother shows signs of dementia and having lived under a criminal military dictatorship. What am I supposed to think about a book that deals with such heavy topics but also has Looney Tunes style pratfalls? We have Three Stooges' face slaps, and then a couple pages later the school bully threatens to call ICE or a couple hispanic characters. What is even going on here... how do I explain this book to my kid, and what is going on with this tonal whiplash? Near the end, modern humanity gets called out by an Aztec Earth goddess for all the harm they've done to the environment. But this is a goddess who (historically AND in the book!) reveled in human sacrifices! Yeah, I don't think you have a moral high ground to stand on there, lady.

The book tries to mix goofiness and serious stakes but just cannot manage it. I laughed exactly once in the entire book. The only thing the main character does that is not silly is to mope about how sorry he feels for himself. The supporting characters are ridiculous, and the monster summoning critter in the titular locker feels like a bad imitation of Bill Cypher.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooo! What a scary monster comic this is. Ancient Aztec monsters, words and phrases in Spanish and words in Japanese and Nahuatl, even one in Yiddish. DEI haters may wet their pants in fear of the brave team of tiyshchusn : Pablo Ortiz, according to the publishers “an anxious sixth-grader who had absolutely no idea his locker was a portal to the monster realm,” who is of Tex-Mex parentage, whose abuela has some knowledge of defeating monsters, and fond of the weird Takashi Rosenberg from California, a wannabe samurai, and Maggie Murphy, a lanky redhead and star field hockey player who won’t hang out with the other girls on the team because they are all obsessed with their social media chat group. Maggie hates cell phones and social media. She whacks her cell phone through the school window into oblivion.

Not only is this a wonderful action-adventure horror comic, even more scary it’s educational and has an afterword the translates Nahuatl words and phrases into English, but give you phonetic pronunciations, and all this is available in full color print version. You can read it in a book and not on a screen.

[Abigail Pankau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pablo loves his family, really wants to get a phone, and is starting at a new middle school. After a ghost story incident at a sleepover last year, he doesn’t have many friends and just hopes to keep a low profile. But the locker he gets is in the basement and is supposedly haunted. He soon learns that there is a monster living in his locker that wants him to open a portal into the realm of monsters. The monster tricks Pablo, and he accidentally opens a portal bringing through Coatlicue, an Aztec earth goddess, and her friends. Coatlicue wants to punish humans for what they’ve done to the Earth. It’s up to Pablo and his new friends to send the monsters back. He’ll need some help from his abuela too, to find the courage to do it.

A really fun mid-grade graphic novel about fighting monsters and surviving middle school. The characters are fun, there’s plenty of fun action, and some Mesoamerican mythology, too.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful middle grade graphic novel about the Aztec goddess Coatlicue descending upon a middle school in Columbus, Ohio with her hybrid animal followers after tween Pablo Ortiz accidentally summons her. You see, there's a ghost inhabiting Pablo's locker, and the ghost tricks Pablo into summoning her.

I adored Pablo and his interactions with his family and friends. Pablo's older sister is preparing for her quinceañera, and gives him lots of sass about it. His mother is a firefighter, which was so cool. His abuela sometimes gets a bit lost in the past. And his new friends are really fun. And the mythology! I'm usually not super into books with lots of fight scenes, but I was really charmed by everything about this. Can't wait until book 2.

[Dolores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pablo Ortiz just wants to lie low, survive middle school, and put the "Shawnee Burial Ground Incident" behind him. But starting middle school is tough. Especially when your locker is all the way down in the basement. The HAUNTED basement. And a really annoying and persistent monster has taken up residence in said locker. Things really get rough when Pablo accidentally summons an ancient and powerful Aztec deity who is pretty peeved at humanity for their disrespect, and bent on total destruction. It will take all of Pablo's previously nonexistent courage, a couple of feisty new friends and some spicy xocolatl if there is any chance to fix his mistake. Lots of fun. I really appreciated the Aztec mythology and the Nahuatl glossary and pronunciation guide.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was seriously impressed with this graphic novel! After having read Mexikid this year, I found there to be a lot of similarities in the way the story was told that I enjoyed greatly and am excited to have seen twice in two very different novels.

Learning more about Aztec culture and having some Nahuatl words in it was also great (plus the helpful guide in the back for pronunciation-- very much needed for me!). I always love extra information in the back to learn about cultures and artistic processes and decisions, so A plus for that!

I'm very excited to add this book to our middle school collection!

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pablo isn't a boy who stands up for himself in fact he's scared of a lot of things. Pablo ends up with a locker in the school basement and fortunately so do two other kids who don't really fit in and they become friends. Pablo's locker has a monster living in it. This monster needs Pablo to open the portal to unleash more monsters. Accidentally Pablo does just that and chaos is let out. As the monsters attack Pablo finds inner strength he didn't know he had. Feeling that it's his fault everyone is running for their lives he tries to find a way to stop the monsters. His friends are there to help and they become a fierce team. Pablo grows up quickly in the process.

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Aguirre's Chronicles of Claudette have been really popular at my library. I'm so excited to see new, similar work from him. I expect this series to be a smashing success with middle grade readers. I was delighted with the story line, introductions to social issues and illustrations. All three main characters represent minorities, and the mythology is South American so this would be a great book to add to a diverse collection.

Lupe is a complete beast. I loved her.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic Novel
Pablo has an interesting start to sixth grade. His locker serves as a portal for monsters and he accidentally summons an Aztec goddess - Coatlicue. She wants revenge on humans for no longer respecting her or the Earth. Working together with two new friends, Pablo bargains with the goddess and finds a way to save the people and community from her wrath. Action packed and humorous. Middle grade readers will love the way they battle and work together while learning some history as well.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for ages 4-8th grade. Middle schooler Pablo finds a monster in his locker who tricks him into unleashing Coatlicue, an Aztec god who is pretty brutal. Now Pablo and his new middle school friends have to figure out a way to get Coatlicue back to the monster world, and save their city. (Which happen to be Columbus OH!). A great addition to the GN world. Has diversity and love that the Gods and monsters are from Aztec culture. I can see many middle schoolers who like scary, action book loving this.

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, wacky and comical on the surface, but within this graphic novel is a clever story with unexpected themes. I thought the main plot was just ok despite all the action, adventure and humour. However, the book offers a lot more in other aspects.

The illustrations are amazing, with so much vibrance that bring the story to life. Pablo is particularly animated and I love looking at all his different facial expressions. The book is also rich with culture, which I enjoyed learning about.

A very meaningful read, all without taking itself too seriously. Can't wait for the next installment!

[Kathy Maggiacomo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not the intended audience for this book. I can see middle school students liking this book especially boys. I did like that it’s multicultural and brings attention to helping our planet. The bullying and loss of longtime friends is relatable I’m sure for many kids. I like the friendships that do develop and the whole “save the world thing” that the kids achieve. I liked the 15th birthday celebration and the party for Mother Earth (She is a scary version) We definitely should be taught more about different cultures and their mythology not just European.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I read this book in the midst of my Goodreads project and ended up forgetting to write a separate review for this. Once again, the Comix Kids subscription has selected a winner with this this fun, middle grade romp where a middle school boy discovers that his locker is actually a portal that lets monsters into the world. I also really appreciate how Aguirre weaves in Meso-American mythology into this story.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fun middle grade book. It's pretty straight forward with the kid hero and fairly dangerous but in a silly way. I would certainly like to read more from the series. It gives a lot of surface level information about Aztec mythology and later some explanation of the Nahautl language used. There is a lot of fascinating stuff that, as is pointed out by a character, just never gets coverage in favor of over-coverage of other cultures.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enjoying this tale of Pablo Ortiz and his attempts to fit in at his new middle school. One character was pushing for his history teacher to cover something other than European history, and, quite honestly, I was wishing the book had been about that struggle instead of monsters. Though I liked learning about the Aztec mythology, the monster fighting scenes were boring. I know, I know - I'm not the target audience for this one, so I'll stop complaining.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle grade graphic novel. The characters are just slightly over the top, just enough to be interesting, and the story is fast paced and fun to read. I really liked the focus on Mesoamerican culture and mythology. Not sure how I feel about a Mesoamerican goddess being grouped in with monsters. I feel like maybe it's an attempt at a statement about Christianization including demonizing pre-Christian religions, but it didn't 100% come together for me.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pablo Ortiz, a sixth-grader whose assigned locker is located in the basement of Glenfield Middle school, is inhabited by a monster. Pablo and his new friends Takashi and Maggie find themselves embroiled in a battle to save their school, town, and themselves from a vengeful Aztec goddess and her horde of minions.

[Ellon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars (I really liked it)

This was really quirky and fun. I love the inclusion of the Aztec history (and the character who is advocating for more diverse history to be taught in school). There's some great backmatter to explain the language and creatures that are seen throughout the book they may be unfamiliar to the reader. I'm definitely interested in reading the next one of the series.

[Shaun M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun story and a cool dive into Mesoamerican mythology. The characters were quirky and the action in the story was fun. I also appreciated the section at the end providing definitions and pronunciation for the Nahuatl words used throughout the graphic novel, as well as some basic information on the various gods and monsters depicted in the story.

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Middle school is tough but especially for Pablo, who has a monster in his locker. Where there is one, there are many, many more.

This is a great middle grade graphic novel: coming of age, family dynamics, friendship, problem solving, cultural elements, and more! Looking forward to the sequel!

[Judy Rath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had a lot more depth than I was expecting. Presents interesting family dynamics and a diverse cast of characters. Connections to cultural legends and historical events. Loys of adventure and humor too. Sets up nicely for a series.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I love this so much! There’s so much packed into this, but somehow it all fits. All of the characters are well done, the art is great, the action really jumps off the page, there’s an educational aspect, and it is so so funny. I am pumped that it’s a series!

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Their was some slight wokeness in this book related to climate climate and “diverse history” there isn’t enough time in a year to reach all the history of the world but no homosexual or transgender content in this book thank god it was ok read but his family is a bit weird

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a cute MG graphic novel, I can't even! The artwork was phenomenal, it was hilarious and it's a great pick for Latinx Heritage Month, as well as spooky season! Out October 1!