The comic is just a retelling of the show. Three episodes are included in this book- Dark Cupid, Horrificator, and The Mime. I've seen all of these episodes and reading them makes the stories seem flat. I'd rather read a comic that is new and not just a retelling of an episode.

Marinette is a middle school student who one day learns she has the power to transform into the Superhero known as Ladybug. Along with her ally, a fellow superhero named Cat Noir, they use their powers to save Paris from the villain known as Hawk Moth, who seeks to steal their powers.

This is another one of those pseudo-comics that take screenshots from a TV series and paste the dialogue over top. These kind of books are hard to review. On one hand, this book does what it sets out to do- tell the story of the television show in a comic book format. On the other hand, that's all it does. There isn't much more outside of that.

However, to it's credit this one does more than just put the screenshots in the same size box 6-8 times and call it good. This tries more for a legitimate comic feel, with different sized boxes and some overlayed on others. The screenshots they used are expressive and well chosen for the dialogue. However switching from the animated format to this static image book does have it's problems.

The action scenes are where this book fails in it's execution. Not for lack of trying but simply because an animated medium tends to be able to take shortcuts in quick action scenes. Slow those down and put them into static images, it gets a bit confusing. And since the action scenes take up quite a bit of the story, it's definitely a very big downfall of this book.

I would recommend the television show before I would recommend this book. However, if you're a big fan of the TV show or have no access to the actual animation, this is your best bet. Kids who love the show would probably get the most enjoyment out of this. For everyone else who has seen the TV show, there just really isn't anything new or interesting to make it worth the read.

4/5 stars
This was fun a read. It felt like watching the episodes all over again. You get the same amount of fun, adventure, and cuteness only it's in stop-motion this time. You read me right. Copy and paste. The same graphics with the same story lines. (Apparently, it is a popular thing nowadays.) For a fan of the show, like myself, this should not be a turn off. You saw the TV Show thus you know the content already. Sooo... I am a little biased in this review as you can see.
Oops! ^_^'
They did a great job with the transition process from motion-picture to paper. The dialogue is on point and the graphics are well arranged. As a reader, it was easy to follow the story through the lines of the characters.
"Aaand why did I take a star off," you ask. Well, I was expecting something different like some other stories added to the universe or the graphics to be more cartoon-ish - comic book style.
All in all, this was my cuppa tea. If you are looking for a fun and easy read, it might be yours too.

This is my sole opinion. ^_^

***I would like to thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy of this comic book in exchange for an honest review. ***

First off, I have never seen this show. However, I can see what kids like about it. A new version of superheroes, who use things like yoyo’s as their weapons. It is perfect for the children who watch the show, as the book is just the stills taken from the show, laid out in graphic novel form (or at least that is what it seems like). The storytelling is light, but appropriate for the age which it is meant.

Unfortunately the link didn't work so I wasn't able to read the entire book I found and read a sample and it was excellent from what I've seen so far. I have seen the episodes before and I appreciate that the comic didn't abridge from the show.

I try to have a lot of patience with graphic novels based on tv shows. while I find them generally shallow I can't fault people for building off of something popular. With this book, though, it became apparent within a few pages that it was just screen shots from the show with speech bubbles applied.

This is a wonderful series. I really enjoy it. I would recommend it to anyone.

Three stories from this animated TV show from France.
Story #1:
It’s the dreaded Valentine’s Day in Paris, and most of the characters can’t say I love you to the face of their crush, while the one who does gets crushed on the bridge of locks. . . then turns evil, making people fall out of love with the sling of an arrow.
If there’s a quibble, it’s in the fight scenes, which in two dimensions are confusing. And I don’t think I’ll ever forgive them for having the villain actually say “Mwahaha!”
Story #2
The kids are filming a movie in class, but the lead heroine is scared of. . . well, everything and everyone, it seems. Perfect candidate to be made evil; too bad the ensuing monster wasn’t scary at all.
It’s funny how Marinette likes Adrien when he’s himself and loathes him as Cat Noir, even though they’re the same person. And he likes her as Lady Bug but doesn’t spare her a second look in her civilian guise.
#3
The father of one of the girls is a mime about to star in a big production, but his understudy blocks him, leaving him susceptible to the dark side. Have to admit, giving the bad guy the superpower of. . . mime was inspired.

Marinette is an awesome character. For a teen to be a superhero but unable to gloat about it, and always failing to get what she wants in the end, she takes things remarkably in stride, never losing her sense of humor or sweetness. Her big aquamarine eyes, which get even bigger when she’s joyful, perfectly offset the purple hair. Early on there’s a shot of her caught as she’s rooting through the trash, and the look she gives is priceless, worth the price of admission alone. She’s incredibly cute and usually doesn’t mind being teased, and is one of the most intriguing teen protagonists I’ve ever seen. Adrien manages to pull that off in no small way as well, even when his fame and wealth are added to it, though he becomes a bit of an arrogant jerk when he’s dressed feline.
The best parts of these stories are the humor and the way the friends have each other’s backs. My one pet peeve is in wondering: when the person in each story gets turned evil, how do they instinctively know their powers? Who told them they could suddenly fly or use their props to shoot lasers and such? But anyway, ignore those plot holes and just enjoy.
There are 225 pages for only three stories—including “Exclusive digital pages!”—which seems like a lot of work until I realized that these are screencaps from the TV show, with everything 3-D and bubbly.
BTW, I liked the first of these so much I went looking for the TV show, and found it on Netflix! It’s surprisingly accessible for adults. Can you say “binged?”

I seem to have accidentally picked issues 10-to-12 of a comic series intended more for middle-grade or teens, I could not read it all and therefore cannot review it properly.

My girls loved this book. It entertained them the who way through the book. Even my two year old sat down and waited for me to turn the pages so she could listen to ne read.

As much as I could see some appeal in the launch title in this series, this time round it just grated - the Valentine's theme was really juvenile, and the way it played out, with no action, and the CG characters looking more like digital plush puppets, meant I had no interest in continuing.

Akumatized vol. 4 brings together Miraculous tales #10 - #12 in one volume continuing Lady Bug and Cat Noir's courageous, and often comedic, attempts to keep Paris safe from Hawk Moth and his dangerous akuma.

Volume 4 is fun and a great read for readers of all ages. It keeps the essence of the much loved animated show, not straying much from the line art. They look like direct screen grabs, but the graphic novel layout keeps it modern and fun for readers to follow. The panels look like snapshots from a digital camera.

Much of the humor and Cat Noir's fantastic puns and comedic relief translates fairly well to the page. He's funny on and off the screen.

Fans will find this as a delightful addition to the show, but will find there isn't much difference.

I didn't finish this, after the first few pages the general art style and layout of the comic itself just didn't sit with me and I found it hard to even concentrate on the story because of that.

It's basically the show in comic book form. Nothing is wrong with that but I was expecting something different. Not direct copy and paste from the actual show. Still cute tho!

I was thinking that maybe the comic wolud be a different story from the series but it's the same I've watches many times, despite that, I like it as a collectable comic of the series

A terrific tale for children. My daughter loved see Lady Bud and Cat Noire fight evil and be victorious. Cute stories for young readers.

From my 7 yr old daughter: I like that Cat Noir is a superhero that is a cat, Lady Bug is cool and brings good luck. They made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen.

Ah, Ladybug! When I saw this title on the Read Now list on NetGalley, I snagged it up because...curiosity got to the cat! Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir - Akumatized presented by ZAG Entertainment, and published by Diamond Book Distributors is available in e-book format, as well as in print. This book is a tie-in to the French television series which also goes by the name of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. It contains stories of three televised episodes from Season 1: Dark Cupid, Horrificator, and Le Mime.


Marinette Dupain-Cheng is an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, but by night, she patrols the city of Paris as the super-heroine, Ladybug, along with her crime fighting partner, Cat Noir. Most of the time, they are busy fighting against people who have been "akumatized" or "evil-ized" into being villains by the Supervillain, Hawk Moth. The process of akumatization typically begins when the victim experiences negative emotions as a result of being emotionally hurt by the actions of other people or by life's circumstances. These leave them susceptible to the influence of Hawk Moth's akumas (moths that have been "evil-ized," and who give Hawk Moth control over his victims to do his will). In each story, there is at least one person who becomes akumatized and given special powers by Hawk Moth to take revenge against the person who hurt them, or against the world. These powers are offered in exchange for a special favour; Hawk Moth wants the akumatized person to take the miraculouses (contact objects which give Ladybug and Cat Noir their special powers) and give them to him for his own nefarious purposes.


In Dark Cupid, the Horrificator, and Le Mime, the stories follow the formula mentioned above; hurt/broken hearts and anger leave a gateway open for Hawk Moth to seduce two classmates and a classmate's father into working for him so that they can pursue revenge. I have seen Dark Cupid and Le Mime on television, but haven't seen the Horrificator yet. Generally, the art work looks fairly true to the televised series that I wonder if they are actually screen shots. There are a couple of frames that have been altered to fit into the comic book format (I noticed a frame in which the Mime appears to be a reverse image of what appears in the televised episode). A few frames showed blurry motion, which created an interesting effect for activity, but again, I wonder if this could be due to a screen shot effect. I didn't gain any extra information about the stories from the comic version compared to the televised version, except that I could read the text of hand written notes more easily than from what appeared on television, because it was stationary and didn't disappear into the next scene. Although the dialogue in the galley that I looked at was written in English, I was curious if the artists would translate the text of the handwritten notes into English in the comic, but as with any text that appears in the television series, these were also written in French.


In my opinion, the Dark Cupid and Horrificator stories were easy enough to follow; they are similar enough to their televised counterparts in getting the stories told. However, Le Mime had some frames in which it was difficult to understand what the Mime was doing. Because I had previously viewed the televised episode, I knew what he was doing, but it is understandably difficult to show what the mime was doing without filling the frame with textual explanations, or risk losing the story's momentum by showing more frames of all of his motions, which could slow down the urgency of the action scenes. For the Le Mime story, I would say that the televised episode was superior in getting the story across.




Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir - Akumatized from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions stated in this review are mine.


Addendum:

From a Christian perspective, there may be some parents who are concerned about any spiritual content that may be present in this book. In the Ladybug universe, the miraculous that Ladybug possesses are her earrings, which allow her to transform from Marinette into Ladybug. In order to become Ladybug, a kwami, Tikki, (a tiny magical being that is several thousand years old) enters the earrings and transforms Marinette into Ladybug. Her powers include an ability to create a lucky charm that allows her to defeat the akumatized person, and to "de-evil-ize" and strip the akuma butterfly of its ability to make its victims evil. Cat Noir's miraculous is a ring into which Plagg, another kwami, enters. This gives Cat Noir the power to destroy whatever he touches once he activates that power. An akumatized person is somewhat possessed, where they are overcome by the influence of an evil akuma butterfly.

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this, I just saw Miraculous and automatically clicked the button. I'm a massive fan of the tv show and, not going to lie, starved for new content. For some reason I thought that this would be essentially a comic book-looking comic book rather than just screenshots from the episodes with added speech bubbles. Still, it was fun to recount some of my favourite episodes this way so I can't be too salty about this.