Throughout my extensive years of teaching, which I must humbly confess have been numerous, I have yet to encounter a book that possesses the extraordinary power to intimately connect with the boundless realm of a child's imagination, as this exquisite book undeniably does. This book first caught my attention during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and since then, I have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dive into its pages. At long last, that moment has arrived, and it was a true delight. Although my days as a teacher have concluded, I will be recommending this book for my library, and I ask that you do the same. The children of today and those of tomorrow are in dire need of literary works of this caliber. This book possesses the rare ability to resonate with a child's soul and provide an authentic voice for their hopes and dreams. It fills me with immense satisfaction to witness these vanguard publishers who are spearheading books like this. On behalf of educators everywhere, I commend each and every one of you.

Announcing an immersive book in "video game" mode was very ambitious, and I expected more than a succession of texts similar to text messages or visual novel cartridges. The drawings are very beautiful, but the narrative choices are disappointing. I was expecting at least a few drawings in "platform game" mode or in first-person view with game icons, a life bar, things like that. Instead, we have a long, very "info-dumpy" intro that ends abruptly by explaining that "yes, by the way, I killed everyone, so everything I told you so far is irrelevant". A moment of extreme frustration. I found the advertising inserts illogical in that we're supposed to be in a video game and not on TV. But I admit that this is not what bothered me the most. Somewhere it gives a Starship Troopers vibe, but it doesn't make up for the frustration felt about the narrative choices made. So, for me, it's a pity, because the summary and title were full of promises...

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.  I was intrigued by the premise of this and how it was a mobile game.  However, I found myself disappointed with the execution.  I didn't just want to read the conversation between the characters.  I wanted to see more of the actual action of the storyline.

Thanks @netgalley for this review copy!

This comic is a videogame comic. It almost is like playing a videogame.
The videogame, which you ‘play’, reminds me of d&d. Or at least an rpg.
In the book/game Dizzy Doom has to resolve the mystery.
Most of the book was dialogue.

The art was lovely. Playful, videogamish. It totally fit the story.

The story started really interesting but during the book it bored me a bit, because of all the conversations.
But if you’re really into rpg, pick this one!

DNF.- I really didn't feel like the format of this worked. You have all these cool full page illustrated scenes, and then the dialog is broken up into a separate page using just emoji's of the characters face. It really broke up the pacing and the action. The character exchange was a bit confusing as well when all you see it the characters face outside of the action. The humor throughout was pretty lackluster and kind of put me off.

This is a tough one to get into, at least as an adult reader.

Based in the world and the parlance of video games, the opening is a lot like the tedious openings of video games where you mash buttons just to get through to the good stuff.

Except here, once you get past that opening...the good stuff just isn't there. I appreciate the creativity in the way the story is formatted (as a series of texts/instant messages in the world of the game while stills of the action show on the facing page), but it just makes it difficult to really get into the story. Add that to characters that just don't feel complete and it's a tough one to stick with.

I'm unsure of whether I'll get the printed edition for my library - I would need kid feedback first before that judgment - but Digital Lizards of Doom just isn't for me.