The Junction by Norm Konyu – A Graphic Novel Review

Blurb:

When a missing child, Lucas Jones, reappears on his Uncle’s doorstep in his hometown of Medford after an absence of 12 years, the brief moment of joy is clouded by mystery. Where has he been? Where is his father who disappeared at the same time? And how is it possible that Lucas is still 11 years old?

As Lucas is uncommunicative, it is left to Detective Sergeant David King and child psychologist Jean Symonds to attempt to find some answers from the few belongings Lucas returned with; little more than four Polaroids and a personal journal which speaks of his time in a place called ‘The Junction’.

The story unravels through interviews, medical and police reports, and ultimately, through visits to The Junction via the pages of Lucas’ diary, jumping back and forth in time, revealing pieces of the puzzle in a mystery that keeps the reader guessing right up until the end.

Author: Norm Konyu

Publisher: Titan Comics

Release Date: 12/04/2022

Genre: Mystery/Fantasy

Pages: 188

My Chosen Format: Hardcover

My Rating of ‘The Junction’: 5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Review:

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those graphic novels that has all sorts of buzzwords assigned to it. In reviews you’ll read ‘charming’, ‘gorgeous’, ‘beautiful’ etc … and, honestly, I sat there thinking ‘How in the world can a graphic novel be charming?’

But it is.

It’s also probably my favourite graphic novel that I’ve ever picked up. From start to finish it literally is all of those buzzwords and so many more. The Junction is utterly wonderful, charming (honest), moving and just one of those books that stays with you. It has so much going for it that I feel reviewing it in any proper way is just such a hard task (hence why this will be short). As, and this is going to sound very odd, it’s one of those books that touches each person differently and will leave you with different memories of it.

The art work is delightful and simplistic in a way that works so well that I couldn’t fathom a more detailed art style ever being used for this. The story being told has layers and depth, the characters are all very believable and everything that happens, despite nothing happening in an action-packed way (it’s not that kind of graphic novel), has you hanging on for more and leaves you not wanting to put the book down.

The story of Lucas Jones and his bizarre disappearance and re-emergence is one that I honestly wish I could read again for the first time.

If you get a chance to pick this up, and you want something a little different in your comics than the usual superheroes, zombies or war spectaculars, grab this with both hands and don’t let it go until you’ve finished.