Oh, I found a new library to wander through her corridors searching for a literary gem. The Scottsdale library also boasts a much larger graphic novel section.

I thought this might be one of those gems. But alas no.

This book uses a couple minor characters from the Sandman Universe drawn in manga form. Two ghost boy detectives are asked by students from a girl school to investigate a murder. They zoom across the Atlantic and go under cover as girls.

It's aimed at a much younger crowd than the Sandman. Maybe if you really like the cutesy graphics ... lately, I have been more into storyline. Something more meaty. This is just more like a cupcake. It's not gem. But it's hardly a lump of coal either

( )

Rowland and Paine are some of my favourite minor Sandman characters, since they provide a light comedic touch of adventure. Thompson's take on them is even more playful that other authors' and it suits them perfectly! Both of the boys have adorably school-boy crushes on the girls who hire them to find a missing classmate, so even though they are searching for an apparent kidnapper/murderer there are many moments of light-hearted fun. ( )

Jill Thompson’s 2005 manga The Dead Boy Detectives builds on the story that began in the pages of The Sandman #25 (1991) before continuing in a four-issue miniseries in 2001. The story focuses on Edwin Paine, who died in 1916, and Charles Rowland, who died in 1990, traveling to Chicago to help a group of girls at a private school find a missing classmate. While readers may benefit from having read The Sandman: Season of Mists for the titular characters’ background, it is not necessary to enjoy this story, which is relatively self-contained. The style and tone continue from Thompson’s previous Sandman manga, Death: At Death’s Door from 2003, though the Endless only make a brief cameo in this story. Overall, The Dead Boy Detectives features much more comedy and includes references to early 2000s pop culture that add a nostalgic lens to some of the humor. It’s entertaining, though it does not connect to other Dead Boy Detectives stories, such as the monthly title from from Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham that began in December 2013. ( )

Tiene momentos divertidos, me gusta el estilo de la autora, pero lo lees buscando algo más del estilo de Sandman y es simplemente entretenido. ( )

Jill Thompson expands on the adventures of Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland, the Dead Boy Detectives. This time they head to America at the behest of a young girl attending an international school in Chicago who is concerned over the disappearance of her friend.

Each clue the boys find lead them to some sinister conclusions, and everything finally comes to a head during the school Christmas pageant. Also, the boys are forced to disguise themselves as girls since they are investigating in an all-girls school.

Following the same style as Death: At Death's Door, Thompson tells a fun, cute story about a pair of ghost boys on the run from Death having as many adventures in the land of the living as they can until She finally catches up to them. ( )