Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel

From a Little Free Library.

Title: Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel
Date: 2007
Publisher: Hyperion (Disney Books)
Writer: Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin
Artist: Giovanni Rigano
Colorist: Paolo Lamanna

Adapted from the middle-grade prose series. Artemis Fowl, twelve-year-old professional evil genius is one of the few people who is fully aware of the existence of the underground fairy realm, and he's determined to pull off the greatest crime of all time by robbing the fairies of a stash of fairy gold. A series of elaborate and ruthless ploys lead to the abduction of a fairy cop named Holly Short, who's low on magic and pretty much out of luck.

The rest of the story turns into a hostage negotiation standoff with a decent amount of plot twists. Think Die Hard with fairies and you get the idea. Holly is likeable. Artemis, who is meant to be vaguely likeable in an anti-hero sort of way, really isn't. The worldbuilding, especially the technology-based fairy society is interesting. The resolution left me questioning the internal logic of a few of the final plot developments, but there was some good action and drama.

I've seen better urban-fantasy fairy stories, but this was one of the more unique takes, so credit for that. Having a character unexpectedly revealed to be a pro wrestling fan out of nowhere was a cute surprise.

This was entertaining, but didn't particularly sell me on the novel series it was adapted from.

Rating: 5.5/10