Hackerteen: Internet Blackout by Marcelo Marques (112 pages) read like an educational cartoon such as the ones with a measly ten minutes of fun plot and then twenty minutes of stuff you are supposed to learn.

STORY:

Yago was a boy too consumed with computers, so his parents, afraid he would go down the wrong path, sent him to an ethical computer-hacking academy. While there he met a group of mismatched computer hacking kids, who were flat as cardboard cutouts. Seriously, I only knew like two of the group of four/five kids' names.

After being converted to the ways of computer-hacking righteousness (to be honest, Yago never did anything wrong beforehand. His parents just freaked out instead of limiting his computer-use), Yago's family runs into money troubles. As his hacking skills improved, Yago receives suspicious calls for NOT ETHICAL *gasp* hacking.

I did not quite understand the hacking academy. What was the significance of the monks, and why did the school give out colored belts like a karate class?

CHARACTERS:

Could you even call the cast characters? Yago was supremely bland, actually, the whole cast was. Maybe Hackerteen was meant to be more story-driven as opposed to character-driven?

ART:

The artwork was a bit wonky but quirky. There are some nice artistic moments but mainly it is below average. Also, Yago's character design leaves a lot to be desired. As a twelve-year-old, he dressed like a normal kid, but at seventeen he looked like an anime character, a Speed Racer-reject to be exact.

OVERALL:

Eh, this book was not entertaining at all. It was just too dry like cornbread down your throat without a drink to wash it down. I did not have high expectations for this story, so at least I was not disappointed.

I could only recommend this to someone younger than ten years old. Not sure if anyone older, who was not a parent, would appreciate it.