Bingo 20: Purple
When the public library has a summer reading program that adults can do, and also get prizes, it’s a good time. The past few years, the top reading level prize (defined by minutes read) is you get to take home a new book from a seemingly random selection the library ahs gotten. This year I went with The Glass Scientists volume 1. It was on the YA list, but I tend to keep an eye out for things I can use in class that students might like. It’s also got a largely purple cover.
Things to know:
- This is a graphic novel series.
- It’s a re-telling/remix, of among other things, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and maybe The Werewolf of London.
- It’s also steampunk-ish
- It’s not surprisingly kind of dark on several levels
Basic plot: Dr. Henry Jekyll wants to rebrand the mad scientist (actually we don’t say that, we say “rogue scientist”) as responsible citizens who don’t deserve to be chased by angry mobs. He’s created a home for such individuals, and he’s always showing up to smooth over any supernaturally tinged happenings. He’s also got to continuously be on the hunt for wealthy patrons since these endeavors are not cheap. He rescues the werewolf/budding rouge scientist Jasper, and takes him home to the Society for Arcane Sciences. They decide to have a science fair to show the world they aren’t bad. But it turns out Dr. Jekyll has a bit of a secret (guess what that is), and Hyde gets out and causes some mayhem that eventually ends up in helping the Creature rescue Dr. Frankenstein (bit of surprise with the Dr.’s character and the accuracy of Shelley’s story per them) who turns out to be more of a radical “free the Madness!” which suddenly puts the respectable science appearance Dr Jekyll wants in danger, and when Hyde gets massively locked up (how and by whom is actually kind of interesting), what’s going to happen when he gets out again? {end volume 1}.
There’s a lot of purple smoke and eerie light, lots of explosions and action, but also some quieter more psychological battles. If you know the source material, this all makes sense, but the combination and almost whimsical art style makes it more interesting. There’s also kind of a funny interlude where the Creature goes out for coffee, runs into a bunch of actors who are doing a melodrama “Dr Frankenstein” play, and gets to critique the script and give the actors notes.
You probably don’t need to know any of the original source material to appreciate the story here, but it definitely helps make things more interesting.