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Red Scare: A Graphic Novel
A page-turning adventure featuring a clever 11-year-old girl who must, against all odds, protect her family and town during the height of the communist "red scare."
In the aftermath of the Korean War, Peggy's small hometown is rife with anti-Communist hysteria. But Peggy has bigger problems: She's struggling to recover from polio. Taunted by her classmates, Peggy just wants to be left alone, but then she stumbles across a mysterious object that gives her the power to fly. Unscrupulous operatives from the American and Soviet governments seek the object to overturn the tense political stalemate, and Peggy finds herself smack in the middle of the Cold War arms race.
In the aftermath of the Korean War, Peggy's small hometown is rife with anti-Communist hysteria. But Peggy has bigger problems: She's struggling to recover from polio. Taunted by her classmates, Peggy just wants to be left alone, but then she stumbles across a mysterious object that gives her the power to fly. Unscrupulous operatives from the American and Soviet governments seek the object to overturn the tense political stalemate, and Peggy finds herself smack in the middle of the Cold War arms race.
240 pages, Paperback
First published April 19, 2022
28 people are currently reading
493 people want to read
About the author
Liam Francis Walsh
3 books13 followersLiam Francis Walsh is a cartoonist, writer, and illustrator, originally from northern Wisconsin. He grew up on a dairy farm with lots of siblings and books and a pet crow. He now lives in the Italian part of Switzerland. His award winning cartoons appear regularly in The New Yorker.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
July 11, 2022
Peggy Monroe is a young girl dealing with polio and learning to walk on a pair of crutches. The other children keep their distance; a bully reminding her that she is different and some of the other children afraid of catching polio from her. Her twin brother has also distanced himself from her - he wants to be popular with the other children. Her mother is overwhelmed: trying to deal with her father (a Korean War vet who is now an amputee suffering from PTSD). Then Peggy finds a glowing rod that gives her superpowers - WHEW! Really takes you back to that time in the 50's when Americans were looking under every bed for the Red Scare Bogeyman who seemed to wear so many masks. Well researched with vibrant illustrations.
April 8, 2022
To what extent has the age of disparaging comics passed? In the old days, books like The Seduction of the Innocent by Frederic Wertham argued that comics were a morally repugnant form of entertainment. It took decades upon decades for graphic novels to pull themselves up out of the morass of ill-favored commentary and start winning major awards. The Pulitzer for Maus. The Newbery for New Kid. Now more high quality comics for kids are being published than ever before, but even at their peak they still can hardly touch kids’ insatiable demand. I was probably thinking about all of this as I read Red Scare by Liam Francis Walsh, in large part because he’s set the book right smack dab in 1953 (Seduction of the Innocent was published in 1954). As I paged through a book so thoroughly enmeshed in history and science fiction by turns, I marveled that something this accomplished is just so casually available to kids these days. When I was young you had your Carl Barks at the 7-11, if you were lucky, and the newspaper comic collections at the library. Now we get gripping, thoughtful, historical/science fiction hybrids for kids that have a lot to say to young readers today. Lucky young 'uns.
If you found something that could completely change your life for the better, what would it take to get you to give it away? Peggy’s been miserable since she contracted polio. Her brother won’t even look at her. Her mom keeps insisting she do her leg exercises. And her dad . . . well, he’s got his own issues. Then one day everything changes. Somewhere a marvelous glowing rod ends up in Peggy’s crutch. The rod has the ability to make anyone in contact with it capable of flight. Now Peggy’s zooming through the skies, making new friends, and having a blast. But as it turns out, she has enemies everywhere. Can she trust the FBI agents that keep following her? And what about that creepy guy with the fedora and glasses that appears everywhere she goes? Is he really a Communist spy? It’s hard to know what the right thing is when your country is caught up in a Cold War, but sometimes the answers are more obvious than you think.
Somewhere I once read about a moment that happens in fiction, whether it’s film or prose or comics, where characters in a book will suddenly come to a realization that they need to make a mental shift because their genre just changed. That sure as heck happens in Red Scare. For the first 60 pages you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were reading a pretty darn good McCarthy-era comic. It’s only when the characters start flying all over the place that both they, and you, realize that this is science fiction, pure and simple. Mind you, the main character reading The Martian Chronicles in her spare time was probably a dead giveaway. Of course once you’ve identified the real genre, the next step is to determine how well the author/artist transitioned you, the reader, from one type of story to another. For me, the moment is shocking, which is precisely what Mr. Walsh is going for. Its reveal is big and dramatic, and I may have had to suppress a little gasp when I encountered it on the page. I should note, by the way, that my 10-year-old daughter was incredulous that I didn’t realize that the book was science fiction from the start. “Don’t you remember the scene in the beginning of the book?” she pointed out to me. Ah. Yes. Well . . . there’s also that.
And yet it could easily have been a parody of itself. There are times when the 50s tropes are so piled on top of one another that you begin to wonder if there was any idea Walsh didn’t include. Polio, McCarthyism, alien invasion films, Korean War vets with PTSD, it’s all mixed in together. I’ve read it through a couple times and part of what I admire about it is how well the story holds together. The crux of it all lies with Peggy. Essentially, the book is demanding that she be more than a passive observer of her own life (Jess would call it “gumption”). The decision she has to wrestle with is whether or not to return something that doesn’t belong to her, but that makes her life better and easier. That’s something any kid could sympathize with, even as they root for her to make he right decision.
Now the flipside of that messaging are the times where the book tips a little too far into the pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps mentality, to its own detriment. You know that moment in the movie Up where the two old guys are fighting and long forgotten are their physical ailments? That kind of thing always bugs me, since it plays off physical injury as mental, in some way. The same could be said of certain moments in Red Scare. Peggy has to climb a ladder, in spite of the fact that she hasn’t been exercising her own limbs properly, and anytime she points out her limitations, sympathetic characters pooh-pooh her concerns. Could have used a bit less of that overall. And the cast of the comic, for the record, is fairly all white. All things to bear in mind going into it.
Initially when I read that creator Liam Francis Walsh lived in Switzerland I thought, “Ah, yes. The overwhelming Tintin influence (guns and all) makes so much more sense now.” Somehow I’d conveniently missed the fact that Walsh had grown up in Wisconsin. But the Tintin feel is legit (you practically expect Captain Haddock or Thomson and Thompson to come blustering into some of these scenes) even as it also has more than a drop of Little Orphan Annie in there as well. And yet, the tone of the book is entirely its own. It’s as if Walsh had melted a little Tintin in a pan of hot noir. I feel I cannot adequately stress not simply how well drawn it is, but how beautiful some of these individual scenes are. Early in the book there is a moment where Peggy and Skip have been held after school in detention. The long panel is wordless and breathtaking. The afternoon sun splits the room in half. On the dark side are Skip and Peggy, fuming. In that hard early fall/late afternoon yellow sits their jaded teacher, smoking and reading, all black shadows and crisp pen lines. It’s a bit unclear if Walsh inked colored the book in addition to drawing it. If he did, the man’s a triple threat. It harkens back to some of the best black and white films of the 50s, while utilizing color in smart, specific ways.
I always like to pair books together in my mind as I read them. Reading Red Scare, the book I was reminded of the most isn’t even a comic at all, but a middle grade novel. Spy Runner by Eugene Yelchin is also very visual, though, and its tone replicates Walsh’s in a lot of ways. Both books take a good, hard look at America’s red scare and find the country wanting. But of course they also trade in on some of the nostalgia for that bygone era as well. Unfortunately, some of its less savory aspects are alive and well with us today. The lessons the kids can take from this book, then, comes in the form of a warning. Beware the mobs. Beware joining them. Beware and aware of what they’re capable of, and don’t disregard them either. But beware your worst instincts most of all.
If you found something that could completely change your life for the better, what would it take to get you to give it away? Peggy’s been miserable since she contracted polio. Her brother won’t even look at her. Her mom keeps insisting she do her leg exercises. And her dad . . . well, he’s got his own issues. Then one day everything changes. Somewhere a marvelous glowing rod ends up in Peggy’s crutch. The rod has the ability to make anyone in contact with it capable of flight. Now Peggy’s zooming through the skies, making new friends, and having a blast. But as it turns out, she has enemies everywhere. Can she trust the FBI agents that keep following her? And what about that creepy guy with the fedora and glasses that appears everywhere she goes? Is he really a Communist spy? It’s hard to know what the right thing is when your country is caught up in a Cold War, but sometimes the answers are more obvious than you think.
Somewhere I once read about a moment that happens in fiction, whether it’s film or prose or comics, where characters in a book will suddenly come to a realization that they need to make a mental shift because their genre just changed. That sure as heck happens in Red Scare. For the first 60 pages you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were reading a pretty darn good McCarthy-era comic. It’s only when the characters start flying all over the place that both they, and you, realize that this is science fiction, pure and simple. Mind you, the main character reading The Martian Chronicles in her spare time was probably a dead giveaway. Of course once you’ve identified the real genre, the next step is to determine how well the author/artist transitioned you, the reader, from one type of story to another. For me, the moment is shocking, which is precisely what Mr. Walsh is going for. Its reveal is big and dramatic, and I may have had to suppress a little gasp when I encountered it on the page. I should note, by the way, that my 10-year-old daughter was incredulous that I didn’t realize that the book was science fiction from the start. “Don’t you remember the scene in the beginning of the book?” she pointed out to me. Ah. Yes. Well . . . there’s also that.
And yet it could easily have been a parody of itself. There are times when the 50s tropes are so piled on top of one another that you begin to wonder if there was any idea Walsh didn’t include. Polio, McCarthyism, alien invasion films, Korean War vets with PTSD, it’s all mixed in together. I’ve read it through a couple times and part of what I admire about it is how well the story holds together. The crux of it all lies with Peggy. Essentially, the book is demanding that she be more than a passive observer of her own life (Jess would call it “gumption”). The decision she has to wrestle with is whether or not to return something that doesn’t belong to her, but that makes her life better and easier. That’s something any kid could sympathize with, even as they root for her to make he right decision.
Now the flipside of that messaging are the times where the book tips a little too far into the pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps mentality, to its own detriment. You know that moment in the movie Up where the two old guys are fighting and long forgotten are their physical ailments? That kind of thing always bugs me, since it plays off physical injury as mental, in some way. The same could be said of certain moments in Red Scare. Peggy has to climb a ladder, in spite of the fact that she hasn’t been exercising her own limbs properly, and anytime she points out her limitations, sympathetic characters pooh-pooh her concerns. Could have used a bit less of that overall. And the cast of the comic, for the record, is fairly all white. All things to bear in mind going into it.
Initially when I read that creator Liam Francis Walsh lived in Switzerland I thought, “Ah, yes. The overwhelming Tintin influence (guns and all) makes so much more sense now.” Somehow I’d conveniently missed the fact that Walsh had grown up in Wisconsin. But the Tintin feel is legit (you practically expect Captain Haddock or Thomson and Thompson to come blustering into some of these scenes) even as it also has more than a drop of Little Orphan Annie in there as well. And yet, the tone of the book is entirely its own. It’s as if Walsh had melted a little Tintin in a pan of hot noir. I feel I cannot adequately stress not simply how well drawn it is, but how beautiful some of these individual scenes are. Early in the book there is a moment where Peggy and Skip have been held after school in detention. The long panel is wordless and breathtaking. The afternoon sun splits the room in half. On the dark side are Skip and Peggy, fuming. In that hard early fall/late afternoon yellow sits their jaded teacher, smoking and reading, all black shadows and crisp pen lines. It’s a bit unclear if Walsh inked colored the book in addition to drawing it. If he did, the man’s a triple threat. It harkens back to some of the best black and white films of the 50s, while utilizing color in smart, specific ways.
I always like to pair books together in my mind as I read them. Reading Red Scare, the book I was reminded of the most isn’t even a comic at all, but a middle grade novel. Spy Runner by Eugene Yelchin is also very visual, though, and its tone replicates Walsh’s in a lot of ways. Both books take a good, hard look at America’s red scare and find the country wanting. But of course they also trade in on some of the nostalgia for that bygone era as well. Unfortunately, some of its less savory aspects are alive and well with us today. The lessons the kids can take from this book, then, comes in the form of a warning. Beware the mobs. Beware joining them. Beware and aware of what they’re capable of, and don’t disregard them either. But beware your worst instincts most of all.
February 26, 2023
In a small 1950s town, a young girl stricken with polio finds a mysterious object that allows her to do amazing and magical feats. But the object is being pursued by a mystery man and by government agents who are leaning into the fear of communism to bully their hunt along. With tinges of "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," the paranoid classic episode of The Twilight Zone, and art that pays homage to Hergé's Tintin, Liam Francis Walsh spins an exciting little tale about a dark time in American history.
(Another project! I'm trying to read all the picture books and graphic novels on the kids section of NPR's Books We Love 2022.)
(Another project! I'm trying to read all the picture books and graphic novels on the kids section of NPR's Books We Love 2022.)
May 9, 2022
Yup, I gave my own book five stars! My mom read it four times in two days, so it must be good (that was fun to see -- thanks, Mom!). Anyway, the book may not be for everyone, but it wasn't meant to be -- I wrote it for you! (And my mom!) If you want to read a great, slightly more balanced review (with fewer mentions of my mom) check out Betsy Bird's review on this page. I thought she really nicely laid out the strengths and weaknesses of the book, while also giving it some interesting context. Don't ever give up, pals!
May 26, 2022
Set in the early 1950s, RED SCARE is a unique story that combines multiple elements of the decade to create an adventure in which a young teenager accidentally discovers a strange element that gives her incredible powers--and the dangerous attention of multiple entities who want to take possession of it. Who could they be?
RED SCARE reminds us that the '50s were not the idealized version we often see in popular media--there were plenty of downsides, from life-destroying Communist witch hunts, to the devastation of polio, to the human fallout from the Korean War. As such, it contains some more mature elements, but will be a compelling read for upper elementary and up. (Although, the main characters attend what is identified as a "middle school"--was that a thing in the 1950s? In my area, they were junior highs until into the 21st century.)
RED SCARE reminds us that the '50s were not the idealized version we often see in popular media--there were plenty of downsides, from life-destroying Communist witch hunts, to the devastation of polio, to the human fallout from the Korean War. As such, it contains some more mature elements, but will be a compelling read for upper elementary and up. (Although, the main characters attend what is identified as a "middle school"--was that a thing in the 1950s? In my area, they were junior highs until into the 21st century.)
October 20, 2022
Red Scare is terrifically entertaining while being surprisingly informative about 1950s America. You might think it was all Elvis musicals and hot rods, but there was also a fair bit of polio and Korean War trauma. Not to mention the titular Red Scare, which was far more unsettling than merely practicing hiding under desks during atomic bomb drills.
Red Scare covers all of this, doing a superb job of uncovering history's dark side while still spinning out a fun, fast-paced narrative. Kids will love this book, especially the unexpected sci-fi elements. That's right: Red Scare is not strictly historical fiction (and should not be approached as such). There are goofy elements that might cause eye-rolls in adult readers, but the target market is going to lap this up.
Liam Francis Walsh does a great job as a writer and perhaps a better job as an artist. He hat tips Herge, Bill Watterson, and Mike Mignola in his acknowledgements and you can see all those influences, though Walsh's style is nonetheless unique and vibrant. Truly a fantastic read. I can't wait to see what Walsh does next.
Red Scare covers all of this, doing a superb job of uncovering history's dark side while still spinning out a fun, fast-paced narrative. Kids will love this book, especially the unexpected sci-fi elements. That's right: Red Scare is not strictly historical fiction (and should not be approached as such). There are goofy elements that might cause eye-rolls in adult readers, but the target market is going to lap this up.
Liam Francis Walsh does a great job as a writer and perhaps a better job as an artist. He hat tips Herge, Bill Watterson, and Mike Mignola in his acknowledgements and you can see all those influences, though Walsh's style is nonetheless unique and vibrant. Truly a fantastic read. I can't wait to see what Walsh does next.
October 27, 2022
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Peggy's family is struggling in 1953. Her father has come back from the Korean conflict badly injured, and their mother is cleaning rooms in a hotel. Peggy is recovering from polio, but the exercises are hard, and she is not doing them as much as she should. When she is helping her mother at work (actually, hiding out and reading a library book), she gets caught in a room when a guest enters. The man, whom we have seen earlier eluding the authorities with a mysterious briefcase, sees her briefly, but is later found dead. Peggy is questioned, and even though she and her mother don't know anything, the taint of having been near a "Commie" sticks to her, and bullies at school give her a hard time. Her twin brother Chip is also targeted. When Peggy is trying to escape from some of these bullies, her new neighbor arrives on her bike to rescue her, but the two try crossing the railroad tracks just as a train is approaching. It looks like they were hit, and their bike is found crushed, but the two are nowhere to be seen. This is because they have flown skyward. Peggy finds that the man at the motel has put a glowing red bar of some mysterious material in the tubing of her crutches, and this allows her to fly and also to walk unaided. She is grilled and followed by government agents, and at one point thinks she will turn the substance in to the FBI. Her new neighbor's family is accused of being Communists, and a group approaches their home to harm them. Peggy's father stands up to them. Will Peggy be able to solve the mystery of the substance and keep her family and friends safe?
Strengths: The 1950s are such an interesting period of history, yet there are so few books about it. Baby Boomers have really fallen down on the job writing about their childhoods'! It's helpful to read Walsh's notes at the back before diving into this science fiction graphic novel. He does a good job capturing the spirit of the comics at the time, and bringing in a film noir and 1950s sci fi vibe. This also had the most exciting scene I've ever scene in a graphic novel, and a lot of action and adventure, which can be hard to find in this format. Peggy's struggles with the aftermath of polio are well portrayed, and I would love to see an entire novel about a tween going through that experience. (Weber's Rosellen Kern has similar struggles, but eventually succumbs to the effects of the disease in the heart wrenching A Bright Star Falls, but that was written in 1959.)
Weaknesses: I was distracted by the fact that both Peggy and Chip looked like Tin Tin, and there were a couple of things that seemed historically inaccurate. Young readers will not have these problems.
What I really think: I was expecting this to be historical, so it took me a bit to get my mind around it. This was an interesting title, but definitely science fiction. I will probably buy this, but there was something about it that didn't sit quite right. Maybe the neighbor girl wearing jeans to school? Perhaps the fact that everyone I've talked to in Ohio did not have any experience with the Cold War affecting everyday life in Ohio. No one was turning in neighbors as Communists or having FBI agents descend on their neighborhoods. Maybe this was an East or West Coast thing?
Titles that address more realistic aspects of the homefront of the Cold War include Elliott's Suspect Red (2017), Avi's Catch You Later, Traitor (2015), Averbeck's A Hitch at the Fairmont (2015)Kidd's Year of the Bomb (2009) and Holbrook's The Enemy (2017), and the nonfiction titles Marrin's A Time of Fear (2021) and Brimner's Blacklisted (2018).
Peggy's family is struggling in 1953. Her father has come back from the Korean conflict badly injured, and their mother is cleaning rooms in a hotel. Peggy is recovering from polio, but the exercises are hard, and she is not doing them as much as she should. When she is helping her mother at work (actually, hiding out and reading a library book), she gets caught in a room when a guest enters. The man, whom we have seen earlier eluding the authorities with a mysterious briefcase, sees her briefly, but is later found dead. Peggy is questioned, and even though she and her mother don't know anything, the taint of having been near a "Commie" sticks to her, and bullies at school give her a hard time. Her twin brother Chip is also targeted. When Peggy is trying to escape from some of these bullies, her new neighbor arrives on her bike to rescue her, but the two try crossing the railroad tracks just as a train is approaching. It looks like they were hit, and their bike is found crushed, but the two are nowhere to be seen. This is because they have flown skyward. Peggy finds that the man at the motel has put a glowing red bar of some mysterious material in the tubing of her crutches, and this allows her to fly and also to walk unaided. She is grilled and followed by government agents, and at one point thinks she will turn the substance in to the FBI. Her new neighbor's family is accused of being Communists, and a group approaches their home to harm them. Peggy's father stands up to them. Will Peggy be able to solve the mystery of the substance and keep her family and friends safe?
Strengths: The 1950s are such an interesting period of history, yet there are so few books about it. Baby Boomers have really fallen down on the job writing about their childhoods'! It's helpful to read Walsh's notes at the back before diving into this science fiction graphic novel. He does a good job capturing the spirit of the comics at the time, and bringing in a film noir and 1950s sci fi vibe. This also had the most exciting scene I've ever scene in a graphic novel, and a lot of action and adventure, which can be hard to find in this format. Peggy's struggles with the aftermath of polio are well portrayed, and I would love to see an entire novel about a tween going through that experience. (Weber's Rosellen Kern has similar struggles, but eventually succumbs to the effects of the disease in the heart wrenching A Bright Star Falls, but that was written in 1959.)
Weaknesses: I was distracted by the fact that both Peggy and Chip looked like Tin Tin, and there were a couple of things that seemed historically inaccurate. Young readers will not have these problems.
What I really think: I was expecting this to be historical, so it took me a bit to get my mind around it. This was an interesting title, but definitely science fiction. I will probably buy this, but there was something about it that didn't sit quite right. Maybe the neighbor girl wearing jeans to school? Perhaps the fact that everyone I've talked to in Ohio did not have any experience with the Cold War affecting everyday life in Ohio. No one was turning in neighbors as Communists or having FBI agents descend on their neighborhoods. Maybe this was an East or West Coast thing?
Titles that address more realistic aspects of the homefront of the Cold War include Elliott's Suspect Red (2017), Avi's Catch You Later, Traitor (2015), Averbeck's A Hitch at the Fairmont (2015)Kidd's Year of the Bomb (2009) and Holbrook's The Enemy (2017), and the nonfiction titles Marrin's A Time of Fear (2021) and Brimner's Blacklisted (2018).
January 18, 2022
This is a fast-paced, film noir-esque, sci-fi flavored historical fiction set during the late 50's Cold War. The story focuses on Peggy, who is disabled after recovering from polio. Her family is struggling with the aftermath of the Korean War, as her father is a veteran. She has a new neighbor girl whose family moved due to the Red Scare. Peggy discovers a mysterious artifact that brings two shady FBI agents and a mysterious man in a trench coat to town. She will have to save her family, friends, and town - if she is brave enough.
October 11, 2022
Great book about friends, truth, and communism.
July 4, 2023
This graphic novel is a mess, but first things first: THIS BOOK NEVER EXPLAINS WHAT COMMUNISM IS.
The entire story revolves around the fear of communist spies, but even though this is aimed towards children, the story never explains what communism is as an ideology or economic system, let alone why Soviet communism struck such terror in people's souls. It's incredibly bizarre. Even the author's note provides no explanation. How did this make it through the entire publication process without anyone realizing that they needed to explain social and historic realities around communism? The book gets super preachy about not judging your neighbors and being suspicious, but never explains the background.
Aside from that, the story is extremely weak, throwing around half-baked ideas and constantly introducing new concepts without developing anything that's already there. The art style doesn't appeal to me either. It's similar to Herge's art from TinTin, which I do like, but these panels are so much larger here that the character's eyes look like empty blank holes. The character development is weak and rushed, and the author tries to do way too much.
The book includes enough disturbing images and heavy themes that this is best for older-elementary kids and middle schoolers, but even then, I wouldn't recommend it. Parts of the story didn't make sense even when I flipped back over pages to look for what I'd missed, and this would be even more confusing for a young reader who doesn't already understand the era, the Red Scare, or more details regarding polio.
The entire story revolves around the fear of communist spies, but even though this is aimed towards children, the story never explains what communism is as an ideology or economic system, let alone why Soviet communism struck such terror in people's souls. It's incredibly bizarre. Even the author's note provides no explanation. How did this make it through the entire publication process without anyone realizing that they needed to explain social and historic realities around communism? The book gets super preachy about not judging your neighbors and being suspicious, but never explains the background.
Aside from that, the story is extremely weak, throwing around half-baked ideas and constantly introducing new concepts without developing anything that's already there. The art style doesn't appeal to me either. It's similar to Herge's art from TinTin, which I do like, but these panels are so much larger here that the character's eyes look like empty blank holes. The character development is weak and rushed, and the author tries to do way too much.
The book includes enough disturbing images and heavy themes that this is best for older-elementary kids and middle schoolers, but even then, I wouldn't recommend it. Parts of the story didn't make sense even when I flipped back over pages to look for what I'd missed, and this would be even more confusing for a young reader who doesn't already understand the era, the Red Scare, or more details regarding polio.
April 20, 2022
This graphic novel weaves the cold war, McCarthyism, and the polio epidemic into a sci-fi/fantasy story featuring a mysterious object that grants unusual power to anyone holding it. Peggy is recovering from polio, her father is recovering from war injuries, and her twin brother is just angry at the world.
August 12, 2022
This was an interesting graphic novel and I really enjoyed the ending. The story revolves around Peggy who has polio and uses metal crutches to walk. Peggy feels like a victim (why me?) and although her doctor says she’ll get better with exercise, Peggy doesn’t do them. Peggy has a brother Skip who I feel, puts up with Peggy. Peggy meets Cynthia one day at the doctors. Cynthia has this powerful energy and this positive attitude which surprises Peggy. It also motivates Peggy because Cynitha also has polio but her future is not so positive.
Peggy helps her mom clean rooms at the local hotel. Instead of cleaning though, Peggy pulls out a book and lies down on the floor in one of the hotel’s rooms she’s supposed to be helping her mother with and she starts reading. Suddenly, the door opens and a guest is ushered in and Peggy hides under the bed. She escapes later when the gentleman washes up in the bathroom. This sounds simple enough except this book takes place in 1953, when there’s talk of Communist Spies and secret missions. And Peggy, she didn’t sneak out of the room with everything that she came in the room with. Big problem!
When Peggy finds herself in possession of an amazing device, a device that changes everything in her life, I enjoyed how Peggy herself changed. She became alive with energy and her whole attitude was transformed. She has some individuals who have taken an interest in her but Peggy is more excited about how her life has changed to concern herself with them. The illustrations in this graphic novel were fantastic and I could feel the energy on the pages as the drama unfolded. There’s quite a bit of action taking place in this book but it’s not difficult to follow and I really enjoyed this book. 5 stars Red Scare
Peggy helps her mom clean rooms at the local hotel. Instead of cleaning though, Peggy pulls out a book and lies down on the floor in one of the hotel’s rooms she’s supposed to be helping her mother with and she starts reading. Suddenly, the door opens and a guest is ushered in and Peggy hides under the bed. She escapes later when the gentleman washes up in the bathroom. This sounds simple enough except this book takes place in 1953, when there’s talk of Communist Spies and secret missions. And Peggy, she didn’t sneak out of the room with everything that she came in the room with. Big problem!
When Peggy finds herself in possession of an amazing device, a device that changes everything in her life, I enjoyed how Peggy herself changed. She became alive with energy and her whole attitude was transformed. She has some individuals who have taken an interest in her but Peggy is more excited about how her life has changed to concern herself with them. The illustrations in this graphic novel were fantastic and I could feel the energy on the pages as the drama unfolded. There’s quite a bit of action taking place in this book but it’s not difficult to follow and I really enjoyed this book. 5 stars Red Scare
March 12, 2022
Walsh, a Wisconsin native and New Yorker Cartoonist, has a simple drawing style a lot like Tin Tin, with round characters usually in awe of the zany B-movie plot. There’s a couple of cigarette smoking agents in fedoras, a West Side Story gang of bullies, starchy, TV-commercial adults; and, of course, a macguffin, an object of power which turns the main character, Peggy, into something of a Spidermanesque hero. The book links together all sorts of intense themes as vital plot points, such as the effects of polio or the intense post-traumatic stress syndrome of Peggy’s father, a veteran of Korea. However, the story moves along at such a fast pace, that neither gets bogged down by these, nor examines them fully. They are employed as secondary to the sci-fi plot, which is like a middle grade Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Manchurian Candidate. At one point, there’s a chase sequence in a library that plays for laughs– the danger is never really quite believable– but what is Walsh’s critique of the hypocrisy of the “Better Dead than Red” zeitgeist of 1950s America. Looking back on such hysteria in the spring of 2022 has turned out to be fitting, given a Cold War superpower is once again rattling the saber. Walsh’s message turns out to be a warning as well.
Anything you didn’t like about it? Red Scare has Walsh writing what he knows: middle America. The story is inventive and it weaves in some important themes for discussion, but much of the foundation for the characters and plot are repeats of tried and true superhero tropes and middle grade trials and tribulations. This is his homage to a story told many times over. For fans of nonfiction or historical fiction looking for something light; graphic novel enthusiasts who loved March, They Called Us Enemy, or Don Brown’s nonfiction comics. There’s some winking nostalgia in here, plus some themes that will stick with you, so you could give this one a go.
Anything you didn’t like about it? Red Scare has Walsh writing what he knows: middle America. The story is inventive and it weaves in some important themes for discussion, but much of the foundation for the characters and plot are repeats of tried and true superhero tropes and middle grade trials and tribulations. This is his homage to a story told many times over. For fans of nonfiction or historical fiction looking for something light; graphic novel enthusiasts who loved March, They Called Us Enemy, or Don Brown’s nonfiction comics. There’s some winking nostalgia in here, plus some themes that will stick with you, so you could give this one a go.
August 4, 2023
This is a beautifully-illustrated graphic novel following a young girl (Peggy) recovering from polio amid the Red Scare of 1953. It references many issues of the day, including polio, communism, fallout from the Korean War, and UFOs. Peggy discovers a mysterious artifact that allows her to fly. She uses her new powers to help a friend caught up in the communist scare, but by doing so, makes herself the target of FBI agents and a mysterious man in a trenchcoat. Very well done and perfect for introducing a time not often written about to middle grade students.
May 6, 2022
Excellent graphic novel during 1950s Cold War. It's fast-paced and the art and story reminded me of classic comic books. It's historical fiction with sci-fi and noir flair. You get spies, communism, fear, polio, bullies, and the aftermath of the Korean War...something for everyone! Used it this week for a book talk with 8th graders.
May 9, 2022
Wow what a ride! Red Scare throws you headlong into the action from the first panel and doesn't let up on the gas until it's chased you through the Cold War in mid-20th Century Middle America. At times whip-through-the-pages suspenseful, funny, frightening, and deeply moving, even the quiet moments have surprises in them. Some of the worst in human nature that was revealed in that time period is told with nods to some of the best work that came out of that time period, from Herge's Tintin to Ray Bradbury to Rod Serling to Harper Lee. A tremendously satisfying read for readers of any age.
October 25, 2024
really fun art style and paneling choices were super evocative of that era of comic books, but the story itself was just a big 'blah' to me. too many ideas and themes, none of them really living up to their fullest potential.
November 30, 2022
Gorgeously rendered tale of spies and commies and aliens in the 50s. Maybe not the most original story but such a feast for the eyes, esp if you're a Tintin fan.
January 24, 2023
3.5
A few intense scenes, but interesting spin in a short graphic novel tale.
A few intense scenes, but interesting spin in a short graphic novel tale.
August 19, 2024
format: ebook
rating: 2.5 stars
pretty mid but i did like the dad character
rating: 2.5 stars
pretty mid but i did like the dad character
Want to read
November 3, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
Read
August 9, 2022While reading this story of anti-communist hysteria (with a bunch of very interesting other 50s fads thrown in - UFO sightings, superheroes and the polio epidemic among them) I couldn't help thinking about how Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch Trials as a metaphor for Joe McCarthy's red hunting, mostly because this story speaks directly to our conspiracy-theory riddled time. Smart, exciting and interesting as well as informative. (This is fiction, I should add - the story of a frustrated girl at odds with her twin brother, pursued by bullies, looking to make a friend, to fix her fractured family, looking to make a difference.)
August 31, 2024
Ein Mädchen, das gerade Krücken braucht wegen Polio und sich deswegen sehr leid tut, wird verwickelt in die Suche nach einem Gegenstand, den das FBI als wichtig für die Staatssicherheit ansieht. Dabei findet sie eine neue Freundin und kommt ihrer Familie wieder näher.
November 3, 2022
Not what I was expecting but quite a bit of fun while delivering some poignant messages about how awful people can be towards others: bullying towards people with differences. I enjoyed this a lot.
My review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/...
My review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/...
September 26, 2022
A middle grade, SF take on the Red Scare, with bonus conformity, polio, and PTSD for the full 1950s experience. There's quite a bit going on, but it all comes together. The art is extremely Tintin inspired, and it surprised me that Walsh didn't mention that in all of the author's notes at the end.
December 28, 2021
A stunning debut graphic novel from an exceptionally talented cartoonist. The artwork is breathtaking, the characters are finely wrought, the story is brisk and gripping, and the ending has a fantastic twist. Liam has brought to life a period of paranoia in 20th century America that couldn't feel more relevant.
July 9, 2022
It’s 1953. Even in Peggy’s hometown the cops and the Feds are in hot pursuit of someone dressed in trench coat carrying a briefcase labeled PROPERTY US GOV! Just before they nab the suspected commie spy, he leaps out of a second story window and completely disappears!
Meanwhile Peggy and her brother Skip are struggling to survive the agony of middle school. The teacher hassles them, the other kids hassle them. They are not part of the cool crowd. Peggy who has survived polio walks with crutches, her dad struggles with the psychological trauma and physical disabilities that he received as a veteran of the Korean War. Her mother has to work to support the family. Peggy feels friendless until she meets a new girl in town. But she’s also encountered a wounded man dressed in a trench coat with a briefcase labeled PROPERTY US GOV, and she discovers something amazing in that briefcase: something that can make her fly.
Walsh’s exciting story and the Hergé lines in the illustrations make Red Scare the equal to the best Tintin adventure. And for us chronologically gifted enough to have grown up in the nineteen fifties in the U.S. it’s a potent reminder of UFOs, McCarthyism, and life before the Salk vaccine, a time of iron lungs, duck and cover drills, and flying saucers.
Meanwhile Peggy and her brother Skip are struggling to survive the agony of middle school. The teacher hassles them, the other kids hassle them. They are not part of the cool crowd. Peggy who has survived polio walks with crutches, her dad struggles with the psychological trauma and physical disabilities that he received as a veteran of the Korean War. Her mother has to work to support the family. Peggy feels friendless until she meets a new girl in town. But she’s also encountered a wounded man dressed in a trench coat with a briefcase labeled PROPERTY US GOV, and she discovers something amazing in that briefcase: something that can make her fly.
Walsh’s exciting story and the Hergé lines in the illustrations make Red Scare the equal to the best Tintin adventure. And for us chronologically gifted enough to have grown up in the nineteen fifties in the U.S. it’s a potent reminder of UFOs, McCarthyism, and life before the Salk vaccine, a time of iron lungs, duck and cover drills, and flying saucers.
April 27, 2022
I don't know what to think about it because I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. With the press it was getting I was excited because I thought it would be a straight graphic novel historical and/or nonfiction about the Red Scare but instead it was an unexpected mashup of a girl with polio who finds a red stick that allows her to fly and she makes a friend while being hunted by the FBI. There's a storyline about her dad returning from war who suffers from PTSD. There's her lack of friends due to her polio, her doctor who tries to scare nee encourage her to stretch to strengthen her legs by introducing her to a dying girl. And there's the flying.
So in reading the author's note I understand where Walsh is coming from with his story, but I guess I wasn't prepared for that and thus disappointed that it wasn't historical fiction or nonfiction but a science fiction story that as an adult I don't understand the subtle connections so the intended audience is likely going to be a little more lost unless they're looking at it strictly for the characters and story which are ... there, but not super mysterious, intense, moving, that would be super engaging. The story is disjointed and it's not fluid.
So in reading the author's note I understand where Walsh is coming from with his story, but I guess I wasn't prepared for that and thus disappointed that it wasn't historical fiction or nonfiction but a science fiction story that as an adult I don't understand the subtle connections so the intended audience is likely going to be a little more lost unless they're looking at it strictly for the characters and story which are ... there, but not super mysterious, intense, moving, that would be super engaging. The story is disjointed and it's not fluid.
June 16, 2022
78%
* intriguing premise of setting a sci-fi in a more realistic 1950s, rather than the typical idealized version (i.e. including polio, bullying, the threat of atomic war, and the ever-present fear of covert communists)
* I do wish the father didn't just disappear from the story after standing up to the bullies with his baller speech.
"You all see that flag there? Which part of it do you reckon we fight for? The thread, maybe? Or the dye...? The stripes? You think men lay down their lives for a bunch of little cloth stars? Of course not! It could be a jar of pickled, and we'd still fight for it, because of what it symbolizes...justice, equality, liberty! And that man's tight to think what he pleases! We oughta start living up to those ideals, or quit pretending we believe in them."
"You think he's a threat to this country? Look around! If you abandon the principles that star-spangled banner stands for...then all it is is a striped rag, flapping in the breeze. See, we gotta be brave...'cause if we save America from the communists, but a man can't trust his neighbors anymore...tell me - just what, exactly, will we have saved?"
* intriguing premise of setting a sci-fi in a more realistic 1950s, rather than the typical idealized version (i.e. including polio, bullying, the threat of atomic war, and the ever-present fear of covert communists)
* I do wish the father didn't just disappear from the story after standing up to the bullies with his baller speech.
"You all see that flag there? Which part of it do you reckon we fight for? The thread, maybe? Or the dye...? The stripes? You think men lay down their lives for a bunch of little cloth stars? Of course not! It could be a jar of pickled, and we'd still fight for it, because of what it symbolizes...justice, equality, liberty! And that man's tight to think what he pleases! We oughta start living up to those ideals, or quit pretending we believe in them."
"You think he's a threat to this country? Look around! If you abandon the principles that star-spangled banner stands for...then all it is is a striped rag, flapping in the breeze. See, we gotta be brave...'cause if we save America from the communists, but a man can't trust his neighbors anymore...tell me - just what, exactly, will we have saved?"
May 23, 2022
An exciting storyline with fantastic artwork- looking forward to re-reading it!
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