Ender's Shadow: Battle School

Ender's Saga (Graphic Novels)

by Mike Carey, Sebastian Fiumara (Illustrator)

Follows the life of Ender Wiggin's comrade Bean as he navigates the mean streets of Rotterdam and the Battle School.

Genres: Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Comics, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

120 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Mike Carey was born in Liverpool in 1959. He worked as a teacher for fifteen years, before starting to write comics. When he started to receive regular commissions from DC Comics, he gave up the day job.

Since then, he has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics, writing storylines for some of the world's most iconic characters, including X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, LUCIFER and HELLBLAZER. His original screenplay FROST FLOWERS is currently being filmed. Mike has also adapted Neil Gaiman's acclaimed NEVERWHERE into comics.

Somehow, Mike finds time amongst all of this to live with his wife and children in North London. You can read his blog at www.mikecarey.net.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly good addition to Card's Hegemony saga that focuses on the origin of the character Bean, who becomes one of Ender's main support people. It's well written and gives a good portrayal of wartime life on Earth, as well as the training academy in space. The art is just a little bland at times, but quite clear and functional. I'd suggest reading the first prose novel in the series, at least, prior to this one. I enjoyed it.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tale focuses on one of Ender's eventual lieutenants, Bean, who grows up in the slums and is eventually singled out for his brilliant mind at an incredibly young age. Bean takes a non traditional approach to dealing with the slums as well as Battle School.

It's a nice angle on Bean which wasn't covered in the first Orson Scott Card novel. The artwork is grittier especially in the slum sections of the tale.

The script was by Mike Carey with a number of artists including Sebastian Fiumana and Giulia Brusco. Orson Scott Card was the Creative and Executive Director for this project.

CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B plus to A minus; STORY/PLOTTING: B; ARTWORK PRESENTATION: B; BEAN FOCUS: B plus; WHEN READ: early August 2012;
OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.

[Angela Blount · Rating 5 out of 5]

A grungy, gut-wrenching graphic adaptation of the narrative that masterfully overlaps the storyline in Ender's Game.

Bean's backstory is brought to vivid (and oft unsettling) life in this book, which traces his mysterious origins and hand-to-mouth survival on the streets of Rotterdam. His slight stature and reserved countenance come across superbly in this darkly sharp art style, which also depicts the subtleties of Bean's cunning and pensiveness in a minute array of facial expressions.

If I have any complaints at all, it's in the cliffhanger ending of this installment. (Just buy the full collection if you want more than half of the story!) And maybe some annoyance at the tech design. i.e. The transport vehicle to Battle School looked like a dead ringer for the now defunct Space Shuttles--which were retired around 4 years after this graphic novel was released.

[Cori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this from the library because I was curious how they would adapt the novel into comics. I was pleased that they stayed very true to the story (obviously can't cover everything, but they got the big points). The art style isn't my favorite and confirms why I've never really gotten into the comics from the big studios. I'm much more of a webcomic reader.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how the teachers from battle school play their manipulative mind games every chance they get, especially if it alienates one student from his peers. The goal is to find a commander for the fleet, so no stone will be left unturned and no ethic or morals will get in the way.

The world took a big hit after the second Formic war with famine and a destructured society. The orphan children of Earth band together and resort to stealing food just to survive. Bean is one of these kids and he has an idea to get more food. An older kid can protect the smaller ones and they can share the food amongst themselves, instead of with all the older bullies. Achilles becomes the little father of the group, but he kills another kid and Bean suspects that he is next.

The little fathers draw the attention of the sisters at the food cantina. They report their findings to colonel Graff who is gathering students for his battle school. He is interested in Bean who is showing genius-level intelligence and admits him to the battle school. Bean remains isolated from the other students and is being closely watched because of his quietly inquisitive behaviour. His perfect test scores even make him a contender for Ender's position.

The sister who helped him is still looking into Bean's background and Graff agrees to help. They find that research on the human genome may have resulted in the discovery of a gene that inhibits intelligence and that, when it receives a marker, can allow the human brain to develop to unimaginable levels. Bean may have received that treatment when he was conceived. The only downside to it is that the growth is also physical and the body dies in the mid 20's. Bean has a further issue: Achilles is also brought to the school.

[Mayank Agarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Sci-fi story with good supporting art

One needs to have read Ender's Game, Volume 1: Battle School which happens to be covering the same time period and is actually the main storyline before reading this to truly enjoy the book

Loved it, this one is a notch better than Ender's Game, Volume 1: Battle School, this may be because by now we already know about the world and storyline, also the art and script are sharper. I believe both the graphic novel have different teams as writers and artists and it makes the difference.

This graphic novel is not as deep as the novels but does a fair job and the art although not glorious complements the storytelling with its illustrations.

The plot revolves around search and training of exceptional children to be soldiers and commanders from a young age for a fight against aliens. The story focuses on the training and challenges faced by the smallest yet the brightest of the young kids, a street urchin called Bean.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the graphic novel version of the first portion of Ender's Shadow, this story is engaging, with some intriguing mystery. I enjoy stories like this that provide a new perspective to a "known" story (in this case, Ender's Game). I look forward to the next volume and I'll probably also read the novel at some point.

[Ig-88 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunt sed tempora aspernatur. Magnam odit id placeat. Et enim ullam illo ea. Occaecati consectetur voluptatem.

[Vlad Andrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book in the Saga, simply fascinating.

[Cam Grillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read this, so I'm not confident enough to give a thoroughly detailed review... but it was a staple of my teen years.

[Miles Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never liked the Bean series; but the comic does a far batter job than the novels in making me care. Also, LOVED the artwork.

[Ming · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sensible, faithful adaptation -- good use of the comic book medium. The story has been pared down to its essentials, but still hits.

[Antti Rask · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the graphic novel adaptation of a book that tells a story that's parallel to the first half of Ender's Game (a novel) or Ender's Game, Volume 1: Battle School (a graphic novel). It is told from the perspective of one of Ender's lieutenants, Bean.

And because of the way that this book (and its follow-up Ender's Shadow: Command School) casts light to certain aspects of the "main" story of Ender, I would suggest you not read these Shadow-books before reading the complete story arc of Ender's Game (a book) or both Ender's Game: Battle School and Ender's Game, Volume 2: Command School (graphic novels).

Also, because it is hard to think of these two books as separate stories, rather than parts of a bigger story, I'll write the same thing for both of the books. And unlike Ender's Game, I haven't read the Ender's Shadow novel(s) and therefore have nothing to compare the stories with, other than that of Ender's Game itself.

Well, then, to the actual review. I liked to read the story from another perspective, because it makes it less of a Ender-is-the-sole-saviour tale and makes you realise better that even he couldn't have made it by himself.

I also liked to know more about Bean's past and how he got to the Battle School. I also liked the stuff about him outsmarting everyone else, including his instructors, but what I didn't care about was his backstory with the genetic manipulation. Or the way Sister Carlotta is very much against the way he was brought to the world, because of her faith, but can't help but love him, because he's still a person. It all felt so very heavy-handed to me.

Now, the reveal in Command School of what Bean realises before anyone else would work better if it hadn't been "spoiled" already by having read the Ender's Game, but it is still an interesting read and it was still great to see, for instance, how differently Bean tackles the whole bully-who's-out-to-get-him situation compared to the way Ender handles his own.

In any case, if you like the Ender universe, this is definitely worth reading. Just not before completing the Ender's game first.

[JD is reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

didnt realize this was the comic book ver but still cool

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't claim to be an expert when it comes to graphic novel's. A matter of fact, this is the first one I've read (I am being introduced to many new things as a mother of 2 boy's and raising 3) so you can say I'm the exact opposite, very green to this genre.

My oldest which will be a teenager soon loves graphic novel's. He's read most of the youth one's from our local library so I moved up to the YA/teenage section and grabbed this one as I thought I'd be safe with Orson Scott Card...I was so wrong (albeit it was written by a different author based on Card's Ender series).

I didn't look at it first, just gave it to my son (major F for mom) and my 9 yo was flipping through the pages and brought it to me disgusted and said, "this is too scary mom..." and showed me a picture of a kid that was bludgened to near death from a brick by another teenager with blood splattered EVERYWHERE. A couple pages over, there is a prostitiute and her escort walking back to his place and discussing what they were going to do.

Yep.

And the launguage was horrendous as well.

As far as the pictures...I have read reviews and complaints about the quality of the art...I know nothing about this and thought the art was fine (other than the grotesque pics).

I even somewhat enjoyed the story (would have enjoyed it more if the excess crap was left out) so that is why I gave it 2 star's instead of one.

If anyone has any recommendations for CLEAN graphic novels, please share.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading the book version of this story back in high school. I didn't know if the comic would be as good or good at all. I had a little hope with Mike Carey being the writer. He has written some great comics and this comic is not one to forget.

The story stays true to source book. Bean is a little kid just trying to survive in the mean world left over from the war. He's smaller than everyone else, but he's also smarter. He knows how to get people to do what he wants. He knows how to work the system. That is until Achilles takes over the street gang. Bean needs a way out, Battle School might just be the answer. A place training young people to be ready for the next war with the Formics.

I really loved this story. I forgot how amazing the story was. I liked Bean a lot more than Ender after reading Ender's Shadow. Bean is a different character. He is very self-aware of his situations and is looking to survive. It makes for a great story. The art is amazing too. It's a loose style that allows for flow. I feel it brings the characters to life better than some other styles. All and all I love th story and think everyone needs to read Ender's Shadow and Ender's Game.

[Nelson Zagalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second part on the Ender's series by Orson Scott Card, is way better than Ender's Game. Ender's Shadow as the name states, is the story about a "shadow" kid for Ender Wiggin messias. Bean is a kid with no parents living on the streets, with no one to take care of him, Ender Wiggin on the contrary was living with good and rich parents, with brother and sisters, a total regular life. But the different feelings we get from the reading is not the guilt of the content, but the way it was chosen to be portrayed.
Bean get's to be interiorly much more described than Wiggin, and this is what makes this second part much interesting, much compelling. On the art side Shadow get's a much richer art, more detailed and singular, giving texture to drama represented.
The original concept for both came from Orson Scott Card, but the teams doing comic adaptation of Shadow and Game are different. In Shadow we've Mike Carey as author and Sebastian Fiumara as illustrator. For Game we've Christopher Yost as author and Pasqual Ferry as illustrator. And this explains the differences of tone. Carey has been working with much more dramatic material than Yost, and here we can feel both flavours at work in the same series.

[Jacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: This graphic novel gives the backstory of Bean, a secondary character in the Ender series. Tiny Bean survives in a street gang by means of his wits until finally a caring nun recommends him for Battle School. He excels, but discrimination against his size and social status may hold him back.

Verdict: Pretty spiffy.

Yay!: This book pleasantly surprised me. Character development is strong all around, particularly Bean's. His ability to perceive the intentions of others and strategize accordingly makes him believable as a prodigy. The story of his life before Battle School is gritty but interesting, and the side plot involving the search for his point of origin adds depth as well. The art is surprisingly well-done, especially when compared to Ender's Game: Battle School.

Nay!: I found the cliffhanger at the ending a little unbelievable, but will not elaborate so as to prevent spoilage.

[Chris McGrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ender's Game graphic novels were beautiful but not terribly interesting, due to a focus more on the storyline and less on the battles, which are a big part of the original novel. Luckily, Ender's Shadow was much more story and less action, so the same kind of focus works much better in this graphic novel. Although it obviously skims a lot of the story, I felt like this gave a much better recap of the book and captured a lot of the drama well.

Still, I would not recommend anyone read this if they haven't read the book, but only because both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are fantastic and easily accessible novels that anyone with an interest in sci-fi should check out. To read the comics first would be to ruin a lot of the story.

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Ender Wiggin stories, so I thought I would check out this graphic novel version. I found it quite satisfying and the artwork was superb (I think; what do I know about art?). Looks like there will be a series of these and I am looking forward to them. If you are familiar with the Ender series then you will some image of Bean in your mind as well as the other children that feature prominently. Because of the rare intelligence we sense they are adults but to see the images of them as children engaged in intergallactic contests for the survival of their species is uncanny. Bean does not disappoint.

[fennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i hate to say it, but this was exponentially better than the ender's game: battle school graphic novel. the story flowed really well and all of the emotion and mystery that is in the original is played out perfectly. there were no places where i felt the storytelling was truncated. really, reading this made me love bean even more. you can really feel his wariness of the world around him along with his attachments to poke and carlotta. the artwork is quite brilliant, though graphic/gory in certain scenes. reading this actually got me excited for the future graphic novels and made me want to reread the ender's shadow series.

[Mti Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the graphic novel version of a companion novel to Ender's Game, the classic coming-of-age, science fiction story that most of us had to read at some point in school. I liked Ender's Game when I first read it probably about 15 years ago now, but never felt any interest in reading the other books in the series until these graphic versions started coming out. I really LOVED this book, both the story and the art. The main character, Bean, is drawn really well, he's such an ugly little runt.

Set in a dystophia version of our world, after humankind has battled and defeated an alien race known as Formics or Bugs.

[Krystl Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely visual companion to the novel, and I think I would've liked it still had I not read the novel, but it's hard to know if I would've understood it as well.
Of course parts had to be cut and condensed, but really, I think they did a nice job with that. Wonderfully intriguing storyline, just like the book. Beautiful illustrations, too.
I look forward to reading the next installment (and to reading the graphic novel of Ender's Game, since I haven't yet).

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and easy to follow exploration of the complex origin of Andrew Wiggin's shadow: Bean. The writer managed to find a workable way to compress and tell his story on the streets, on the space station, and Sister Carlotta's investigation of his past. The artist also does a fine job capturing and expressing the characters and settings. The layouts keep things moving. Next up: Command School (for both Ender and Bean).

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

oh i was sooooo excited! and then the disappointment, oh the disappointment. the art was hideous, and ugly and stupid it made my eyes want to bleed... the interpretation of the book was skewed and strange... i read maybe five pages before skimming and i still wanted to just well burn the thing... very sad makes me sorta glad there will never be a movie becuase they would jack it up royally

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! They took the storyline up to Dragon Army and condensed it into a graphic novel that just... works.

Obviously much of the inner thought process that Bean goes through is missing, and they made some of the thoughts dialogue, but as they say "a picture tells a thousand words" and in this, it does.

Thoroughly enjoyable. If you liked Ender's Game, you will love this.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Orson Scott Card's re-visitation of Ender's Game in the novel version of this story. To take a book I've loved since I was an early teen, rewrite it from another character's perspective, adding layers and depth and twists I hadn't imagined--fantastic. This visual presentation was well done. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is exactly the same as the book - even down to the dialogue. I have spent years imagining this world and just didn't picture the characters and scenes like they are drawn. As a result I wouldn't go back to these again like I do the books, but it was still fun. If you haven't read the book in a while (or ever) these would probably be better.

[Rawanaat · Rating 5 out of 5]

when I took this I thought it belonged to the Ender's Game series but it actually belongs to the Ender's Shadow series which I suppose is about Bean. Its really amazing to find out about Bean's past and I certainly didn't think it would be like this. I might try reading Ender's Shadow when I'm done with Ender's Game.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The next best thing to having the movie made! It was sometimes hard to visualize all the battle school kids, so I enjoyed seeing them in this book. I especially liked the portrayal of Sister Carlotta, Achilles, and of course Bean himself.