Review: Scoop Vol 1: Breaking News

Sophie Cooper is determined to find a way to prove her father“s innocence. He“s currently under house arrest, charged with embezzlement and money laundering from his job as manager of Matheson Savings and Trust. Her family is strained, she is ostracized at school, and her younger brother Kit is always destroying her things to create weird new hi-tech gizmos. For a 14-year-old red-headed Cuban-American girl, things are pretty tough at the moment.

The new graphic novel Scoop Vol. 1: Breaking News, from Insight Comics, drops us into the story as Sophie decides to take matters into her own hands in clearing her family name, and goes undercover as an intern at the least watched TV station in town. She finds herself in the middle of a mystery that leads her, and her new friends on the news crew to discover the accusations against her father are linked to other crimes and mysteries that have occurred in the area.
I would like to start by saying that Insight Comics consistently does a tremendous job with the art direction on their graphic novels. The attention to detail, from the jacket design, down to the weight of the pages is highly appreciated. They make very beautiful and high quality books. This, along with the illustrations by Joseph Cooper and colors by Peter Pantazis and Alba Cardona make for a visually appealing piece of work. Color shading is great and the illustrations are consistently good.

The story, written by Richard Hamilton, is fun, but does have some issues. The scene transitions felt very choppy throughout the book. Every few pages, I felt like I was dropped into a new part of the story, at a new point in time, with no explanation why. I understand the need to move the story along, but these abrupt transitions did take away from the flow of the story. This lead to a bit of confusion in the last several pages, as the mystery was being solved. Some of the details that were being alluded to felt like they were glossed over earlier, or even missed. I don“t want to give the illusion that the story is not enjoyable, because overall it is. It“s the attention to detail however that felt like it detracted from my overall satisfaction. Maybe if the ridiculously cool swamp guy had some type of explanation, I would be happier.

Overall, Scoop Vol 1: Breaking News is a good summer read for pre-teen to young adult readers. The book is beautiful and the characters are fun. Issues with the story do exist, but they are not overwhelming. Readers who are ready for a 21st Century Encyclopedia Brown may very well have found a character in Sophie Cooper they can get behind. Check it out.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

byÂ Richard L. Hamilton,Â Joseph CooperÂ (Illustrations),Â Peter PantazisÂ (Illustrations)
Published By Insight Comics

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Bryan Spaulding

In his free time, other than reading comic books, Bryan enjoys listening to his ever growing record collection and driving his 27 year old roadster named Mingo.