Review - The Clouds Above by Jordan Crane
In “Jack and the Beanstalk,” a boy reached the sky via a giant vegetable plant and a world of human-centric wonder was revealed. “The Clouds Above” skews all that , with a mysterious junky staircase leading a cat named Jack and a boy name Simon (who’s hardly simple) to another world of wonder, but this time filled with actual denizens of the sky, clouds and birds.
Simon is late for school and rather than face the wrath of his wretched teacher Mrs. Poe, he heads for the roof of the school, where he finds — amongst a load of junk — his entrance to the world of the clouds. Together they encounter the sorts of cloud-centric adventures you would expect — thunder storms and a great difficulty seeing where they’re going because all the clouds are blocking their view — as well as some more fantastic ones, including a talking cloud invigorated by a newfound freedom and a group of very rude birds.
What Simon and Jack end up discovering is that there a multiple implications to being in charge of your own life — there’s good and bad — but also learn a great deal about not only teamwork, but the power of mobs against oppressive bodies. In fact, the most potent lesson is brought about by the mean birds and that in itself is a triumph of wisdom — I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything in a book aimed to kids that even hints at the idea that even your enemies might offer useful tips worth noting. If the original problem is Mrs. Poe and the prime intent is to overcome her glee for tyranny.
Writer/artist Jordan Crane allows his tale to unfold a page at a time. Rather than lay it out as a traditional comic book with several panels on a page, there is one per, a format that insists the book be called a page-turner — you have no choice. As the excitement of the adventure builds, you find yourself flipping pages faster and faster, trying your best to keep up with the action while still attempting to take a moment to appreciate Crane’s animated and colorful panels. If at times it feels like you are indulging in one of the most gorgeous flip books imaginable, that only adds to the immediacy of the tale. This is a fantastic graphic novel for kids and adults alike.
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