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Mapmaker #1-2
The Mapmaker
The Mapmaker is an all-ages, fantasy adventure comic book series set on a parallel Earth during the Age of Discovery, written by Ben Slabak and illustrated by Francesca Carità, published by Scout Comics.
Imagine a parallel Earth during The Age of Discovery. Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean where the prize is a fantastical power wielded by a mysterious individual known simply as “The Mapmaker”. Any map he creates comes to life, a power highly desired by King Gus, who will stop at nothing to obtain it. The crew of the privateer ship The Rogue Wave, captained by the courageous Lei Li, are the only ones standing in their way with a mission to deliver the Mapmaker’s successor before his power wanes and is lost forever.
A fun fantasy adventure tale for all ages!
Imagine a parallel Earth during The Age of Discovery. Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean where the prize is a fantastical power wielded by a mysterious individual known simply as “The Mapmaker”. Any map he creates comes to life, a power highly desired by King Gus, who will stop at nothing to obtain it. The crew of the privateer ship The Rogue Wave, captained by the courageous Lei Li, are the only ones standing in their way with a mission to deliver the Mapmaker’s successor before his power wanes and is lost forever.
A fun fantasy adventure tale for all ages!
120 pages, Paperback
First published November 9, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 3, 2026
The Mapmaker is a fun read with an interesting premise, but it fails to explore the story of the eponymous character. I was looking forward to a story centered around the concept of a character who can create maps that come to life, but the title character features relatively little. Instead, the story devotes itself to a hijinks naval chase across the high seas, searching for the Mapmaker—a booty which could have been substituted for any generic piratical treasure hunt. If there are more volumes to follow, then it works as an origin story
There is some impressive art and good scenes, with clear detail and colours, but the storytelling mainly sticks with a monotony of small panels, which tend to slow the pace of the story and fails to dramatize the more climactic elements—the one exception being a rather innovative layout of a chase scene around the pirate shanty town - it could have done with a lot more of this!
For younger readers; there is quite a bit of slapstick comedy thrown in, but it lacked spontaneity! Those inane elements distract from the narrative and make the story lose some of its all-ages appeal.
The graphic novel is a smaller (A5) size. I would have liked this to be a larger format, as I felt it didn’t allow the art to be emphasised, making it less eye-catching and more crowded, but if the production quality were improved, and with a few minor tweaks, this could be the start to a really good younger readers series!
There is some impressive art and good scenes, with clear detail and colours, but the storytelling mainly sticks with a monotony of small panels, which tend to slow the pace of the story and fails to dramatize the more climactic elements—the one exception being a rather innovative layout of a chase scene around the pirate shanty town - it could have done with a lot more of this!
For younger readers; there is quite a bit of slapstick comedy thrown in, but it lacked spontaneity! Those inane elements distract from the narrative and make the story lose some of its all-ages appeal.
The graphic novel is a smaller (A5) size. I would have liked this to be a larger format, as I felt it didn’t allow the art to be emphasised, making it less eye-catching and more crowded, but if the production quality were improved, and with a few minor tweaks, this could be the start to a really good younger readers series!
Want to Read
August 12, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
January 1, 2022
Nothing new, I felt it lacked tension. At times I was waiting for something, anything to happen.
March 19, 2023
C-. fiction, graphic novel, upper elementary; not cohesive
January 21, 2024
The colors were beautiful. Art style and storytelling was like that of Scooby Doo's, not at all for my age group. It was a nice time filler I guess.
March 4, 2024
A great start to an exciting series. A small village has a young girl desperate to escape and on the path to unravel a deep secret.
May 28, 2024
An immensely newly fun read
Loved the artwork and the story was a lot of fun. Great characters that made me and my kids chuckle throughout the book.
Loved the artwork and the story was a lot of fun. Great characters that made me and my kids chuckle throughout the book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews