Say hello to your new favorite graphic novel, Barb The Last Berzerker

Graphic novels are a cat video literary equivalent to things in the classroom. The great ones spread like wildfire to all corners of every reader and leave them gnawing at the pages for more. A great graphic novel can give younger readers the encouragement that they need to read longer-form books of any type. They can also provide mental downtime and allow readers to simply enjoy their book time. Barb The Last Berzerker, Book 1 is a great graphic novel the opens up a whole new world in the best of all non-Beauty and the Beast ways. It has the epic feel that will grab in older readers, the manic silliness mid-elementary students want, and street smart humor that allows the book to go to high school and beyond.

Barb The Last Berzerker starts out as if the audience has missed something. We see the quaint town of Balliwick and it’s being besieged by a hoard of monsters. Thankfully the Bezerkers are there to put an end to this seemingly endless conflict. They’re a motley crew of warriors armed with swords, arrows, axes, and Barb is with them. She’s a warrior too but is often told to say behind by Thunder, the leader of the Bezerkers. After a large battle, the team is trapped by the biggest monster of them all, Witch Head. Barb, being curious goes in, sees the battle, and tries to save them, but does manage to retrieve The Shadow Blade, a massive and cool-looking sword. With her team trapped, she gracefully jumps on Witch Head’s head and smashes through a giant window to freedom. All of that happens in the first 26 pages of a 250-page book.

Barb has a fast-paced flow that makes it a joy to read. There’s a sly sense of humor, confidence, action, and heart that lets readers know that the book is never taking itself too seriously, despite the dangers that Barb finds herself in.

Porkchop is Barb’s traveling and adventure companion, he’s also a yeti. Yetis get very hungry and Porkchop eats some berries that start their indebted friendship with some elves that live in the forest. Barb tells some great stories to the elves which lead to more adventures in real-time where she meets the Snot Goblins and their 80-foot tall monster called Grom. There are actually many little adventures that The Last Berzerker goes on and all of them have energy and power, but also add up to a big bad that happens during the climax.

The book feels like a graphic novel equivalent to Fartquest. That book is mglit that happens in the same general time period. Barb, The Last Berzerker offers the same humor-to-action formula, but has the story play out in a graphic novel. I’ve heard others compare Barb as a graphic novel to those who enjoy Dog Man. To that end, we’d also say that if your reader liked Investigators, then Barb is a great graphic novel that’s cut from the same cloth.

What left us most impressed about Barb The Last Bezerzer was simply how much fun it was to read. Audiences aged 8 and up will love the book too. It’s broken up into chapters and the anthology aspect to the way that part of the book is divided will throw those readers a curveball. Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson, the authors/illustrators behind the characters have found something that runs equally for boys and girls, regardless of what they normally read, and nails the rare category of “jamming graphic novel for all” to the floor.

Barb The Last Bezerker, Book 1 is from author/illustrators Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson and available on Simon & Schuster.

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