Pepper Page Saves the Universe!

by Landry Q. Walker, Eric Jones (Illustrator)

Overview

Landry Walker and Eric Jones' Pepper Page Saves the Universe is a middle-grade futuristic superhero story about a shy comic book girl-geek becoming her own superhero inspiration!

The year is 2421. Awkward and shy, Pepper buries herself in the universe of the classic fictional superhero Supernova to avoid dealing with the perils of the 9th grade. But then fate intervenes when Pepper encounters a strange cat named Mister McKittens and stumbles into a volatile science experiment run by a sinister substitute teacher named Doctor Killian.

Pepper is flung into another dimension, bringing her face to face with an order of cosmic beings who declare her to be the steward of their great power, champion of harmony in the universe, protector of worlds present and past.

Now, in the 21st Century, Pepper finds that she herself is the real Supernova. But as Pepper soon learns, escapist fantasy and reality are two very different things.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250216922
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	02/16/2021
Series:	The Infinite Adventures of Supernova
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Landry Q. Walker is a New York Times bestselling author who has been making stories happen for over twenty-five years. He has worked on Batman, Supergirl, Star Wars, Frozen, and most everything else. When he is not randomly punching letters on a typewriter, he can be found in his backyard, absolutely failing to grow pumpkins. If you want to know more about Landry, he can occasionally be found babbling incoherently about stuff online.

Eric Jones has been drawing and painting since he was two years old, which is a very long time. Usually working with his friend and nemesis Landry Q. Walker, he has drawn everything from Star Wars to Batman to Supergirl to Phineas and Ferb. Eric has worked with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legends Green Day, and acclaimed filmmaker Henry Selick, and he once saw Corey Feldman at a party. He collects old toys, listens to punk rock, and sometimes leaves the house, usually for groceries.

Editorial Reviews

"With strong line work, lanky characters, and luminescent colors, artist Jones cuts between the present and Supernova’s golden age–inspired comics in pages that reflect both screen tones and newspaper print."—Publisher's Weekly

"Walker and Jones lean in to their metafictive adventure, deftly admixing superhero tropes into Pepper’s down-to-earth emotional journey. ...A fast-paced, feel-good romp."—Kirkus

"A gallery of images in a highly readable afterword gives some insight into just how much work goes into a well-developed graphic novel... It’s a relief to see this is a planned series, so readers need not fret that this is the last of Pepper."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

From the Publisher

2020-11-27
Evoking a golden-age sensibility, this pulpy origin story is short on dialogue, rife with onomatopoeic sound effects, and rendered in Technicolor hues.

Within, 15-year-old orphan Pepper Page is a 25th-century fangirl: introverted, out of place, and obsessed with superheroine Supernova. Pepper’s only power—an encyclopedic recall of vintage comics—proves of little value in school. Though she dreams of fighting for what’s right, best friends Zola and Tally always handle her bullies. Everything changes when Pepper stumbles on an experiment conducted by Professor Killian, a renegade physicist masquerading as a history teacher. After falling through space-time alongside a cat she seeks to rescue, Pepper finds herself staring down the Overlords of Order within the Supersymmetry of Suns—from her favorite comic. According to these omnipotent, omniscient, oversized disembodied babies’ heads with a proclivity for end rhyme, Pepper’s precious comics were actually training manuals: She is Supernova, and the time has come to beat back the forces of chaos in the 21st century. Aided by Mister McKittens (the energies that transformed Pepper into Supernova also affected the cat), Pepper must prevent the pretentious, power-hungry Killian from assuming unimaginable power. There’s just one problem: Mired in trepidation, unsure of herself, and too familiar with Supernova’s arc, Pepper has no interest in saving the universe. Walker and Jones lean in to their metafictive adventure, deftly admixing superhero tropes into Pepper’s down-to-earth emotional journey. Pepper, Zola, and Killian present White; Tally has brown skin.

A fast-paced, feel-good romp. (gallery) (Graphic science fiction. 11-16)

Kirkus Reviews