Yen Press Spotlight: Daniel X volumes 1-3

 

 

 

PUBLISHER:

Yen Press

 

James Patterson’s Daniel X series has been very successful in the middle grade market. I’ve been meaning to pick up the series, so I was excited to find the first three volumes of the manga series at my local library.Yen press has had a successful run with Patterson’s  Maximum Ride series in their manga magazine and now they have added Daniel X to their lineup.  Daniel is a young intergalactic bounty hunter from the planet Alpar Nok. His parents were immigrants to Earth who have compiled a list of all the aliens living on Earth. It is this list  that Daniel uses to track down and destroy threats to the planet.

Daniel has the unique ability to transform his body into different shapes and also able  to create projections with his mind . Book one shows Daniel going after Ergent, number 6 on his list a scary horse faced creature that holds the clues to pieces of Daniels origins. This was a fun fast paced read with gorgeous art by SeungHui Kye.Though the books are in an oversized manga format they do read from Left to Right. Daniel is such a great character and the reader really bonds with him emotionally. See all of Daniels friend’s are projections from his mind. When Daniel returns to his home planet he discovers that his friends actually really existed, as childhood friends they had all formed a special bond called a Drang which is why Daniel’s constructs of them are so realistic.

 

In Volume Two Daniel continues to move up the list and he finds himself in Holliswood hunting down an Alien filming a deadly reality show  for Alien viewers.  In the process of hunting down the alien Daniel meets an attractive young  waitresses who is drawn into his case and is attracted to Daniel. This volume really showcased the viciousness of some of Daniels foes which is important since he utterly destroys them!

 

In Volume Three we see the long term effects of an Alien occupation as the crew goes after a fire bug that has spent years in London. The crew barely has time to enjoy the sites before the wage war against their powerful foe.the art was the star of this volume for me . For a black and white book the artist does a great job expressing the vicious power of fire. this series just keeps getting better and better! looking forward to future volumes :)