Satan's Prep

Gr 9 Up—Trevor Loomis is a slacker. His life never amounted to much before he got zapped to death by a cheap amp. Unsurprisingly, the start of his afterlife doesn't appear to be too promising, either. As a minor, his is remanded to attending St. Lucifer's Academy for the Hopeless and the Damned. Nicknamed "Satan's Prep" for short, it's not uncommon for students to be eaten before homeroom, bullied to death by demons, or be personally dissected in science class. Trevor deals with his hellish new school with the same irreverence and disinterest he did in his mortal life. This angers school administrator Cerberus, horned jock Moloch, and pretty much everyone else at the school. After making friends with "Skeevy" Stevie and catching the eye of the beautifully mysterious Persephone Plumm, Trevor finally finds in death something worth fighting for. This graphic novel collects Guarente's inventively demonic version of high school. While the wordplay will keep teens happy, the full-color visuals sadly lack the bustling vitality readers would expect in the hallways of the damned. The very obvious shift from primary penciler Dave Fox to Luis Chichón three quarters through the comic is apparent and ultimately distracting. Still, a surprising cliff-hanger on Trevor and Persephone's doomed relationship may have teens clamoring for more.—Ryan P. Donovan, Southborough Public Library, MA