Review by Colin Credle
Middle school has been deluged with graphic novels telling the tale of the minority student who is bullied and can’t fit in because no one understands their culture or identity. Setting the stage has unfortunately become rather clichéd – queue in the bullying white jock who prides in his ignorance, denigrating sarcasm and petty cruelties; queue in the white childhood friend who betrayed our victim for unknown reasons and now uses their familiarity to fuel cruelly intimate barbs; and most certainly, queue in the white apathetic teacher who refuses to acknowledge the need to include our victim’s culture or identity in the curriculum. These tired stereotypes diminish the message that every group has good and bad people, nuance helps in understanding people and asking questions can lead to some interesting new ideas and experiences.
Once writer Jorge Aguirre works through the cliché checklist and introduces Pablo Tlaloc Ortiz and his family, Monster Locker steps up several notches. Aguirre hails from Colombia and clearly warms to his subject of Aztec mythology. Pablo is instantly likeable, amusing and keeps your attention. There is also Pablo’s scene-stealing Abuela, or grandmother, whose quixotic behaviour slowly becomes more important to the story. There is a universal tangent on a middle schooler’s relationship with their cell phone that evolves unexpectedly into an essential plot point.
At the start, Pablo eschews the spicy hot chocolate known as Xocolatl. This too is introduced seamlessly to become part of the plot. There is a middleman monster known as Obscuro the Evil, which is shortened to “Obie” who haunts Pablo’s basement school locker with all the desperation of a failed car salesman, but Pablo finds allies in two other Middle School outcasts with unique abilities and identities. These friends become fellow combatants when the vengeful Aztec earth goddess Coatlicue is accidentally released from Pablo’s haunted basement locker. Now begins the riddle of how to get the genie back in the bottle.
Illustrator Andrés Vera Martínez showcases some fantastic Aztec mythological assistant monsters to Coatlicue, and the action is whimsical enough to soften the shock of Coatlicue’s merciless attack and thirst for vengeance. Pablo wrestles with his own insecurities and his older sister insists that Pablo not ruin her upcoming Quince Nera celebration. Monster Locker is busy and well written enough to leave the tired cliches behind and Aguirre clearly lets us know there are more volumes on the way.
Pablo breaks the fourth wall at the back section, where he introduces all the odd Aztec monsters, some of his favourite foods, legends and iconography. We also learn where the author and illustrator source their inspiration, which often has roots in real life and family history. Overall, Monster Locker is an entertaining introduction and celebration of Aztec mythology that has an uneven start, but a decent and captivating tale to tell with characters we hope to see again.
