FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

ENDER'S GAME: BATTLE SCHOOL #1

by Christopher Yost and Pasqual Ferry

(Marvel Comics)

Reader Appeal: Tweens, teens, and adults

Genre: Science Fiction / Comic Books

Orson Scott Card is, without a doubt, one of the most popular science fiction authors of recent history. His novel, Ender’s Game, is sure to top a lot of people’s lists of their favorite sci-fi novels, and it’s not hard to see why. The book spawned a whole series that is still very popular today and ranks among the great epics of the genre.

Lately, Orson Scott Card has taken an interest in comics (you may remember my review of Ultimate Iron Man, also penned by Card), which is altogether a good thing for the genre, in my opinion. Card is a great author, and his stories are very well-written and full of classic themes that everyone, especially families and Christians, are sure to appreciate. And a comic adaptation (no doubt to be bound into a graphic novel form in the near future) is a great way to introduce readers, especially younger readers or those who don’t like plowing through long novels, to Card’s stories.

Battle School relates the first beginnings of Ender’s story and introduces us to his world, a place where Earth is locked in a perpetual war with an alien race. Humanity's only hope lies in the exceptional command abilities of a few young strategic geniuses. When we first meet Ender, an unassuming young boy, he’s undergoing the humiliating procedure of having his monitoring chip removed, which means he’s been rejected as not being worth further consideration for the battle school program. In one moment he’s gone from a child of promise to a reject, heaped with the scorn of his peers and of his also brilliant but fatally unstable and aggressive brother. Luckily (I suppose) for Ender, there’s more to the removal of his chip than meets the eye, and by the end of the issue he’s off to discover the amazing destiny that lies in wait for him.

Naturally, this is just the first part of the story, but it’s great material and it really makes you want to keep reading. Things are a bit simplified compared to the book, but the plot reads like a real novel in comic form, sort of like seeing a movie of a favorite book. Managing to capture the essence of the complex world, giving us hints of what lies in wait, giving us a picture of the relationships that will form the background that lies ahead—all of these are done very well without having to use up a novel’s worth of space. Yost does justice to the material, in my opinion, which really is saying something. And there’s no denying that it’s an exciting and intriguing story.

The art supports the story pretty well, too. Those who have read the book will have their own expectations of how things should look, just like with a movie, but I was pretty happy with everything I saw. Ender himself looks just a little creepy, but that’s kind of what I expected of a boy tactical genius. The coloration really sets the mood in each scene, and it’s easy to feel yourself drawn into the story, like you’re watching it play out on a little screen instead of just seeing drawings of one scene and then another. Everything is easy on the eyes, and even though there aren’t any real big set pieces until the last page, the panels are laid out with the eye of a director framing each shot with care.

There are plenty of intriguing themes to chew on here, as well, though it’ll really take a few issues for everything to really start playing out. Ender’s conflicted relationship with his brother and the pain and resentment they feel toward one another because of how they have been privileged or rejected is very thought-provoking. And Ender’s way of defending himself from the bullies by causing terrible pain to one of them as an example raises some hard moral questions, especially when you see from Ender’s tears how morally conflicted he feels about it himself.

If you’re a parent, this would be a great series to steer you kid to. The stories are exciting and intriguing and have a lot more meat than many other series that can play out more like flash and bang action soap operas. And if you’re a comic fan (or Card fan), there’s plenty of motivation to pick up this series for yourself, since it’s sure to please if you’ve got a taste for great sci-fi.

FAMILYFANS RATING: A

AFTER THE STORY

If your family members are interested in this book, then encourage discussion about it afterward. You can use these questions to get started:

• Do you think it was wrong or right for Ender to protect himself by beating up the bully? Explain. How do you think Ender felt about what he had done? What does that tell you about him as a person?

--MV

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.