Monster Locker Vol 1 by Jorge Aguirre & Andrés Vera Martínez

Coatlicue help me, I’m pretty sure my kids have infected me with their brainrot, because as soon as I realized that this story was set in Ohio, I began chortling to the tune of Swag In Ohio.

But that Midwestern state (and Gen Alpha shorthand for weirdness) is honestly the perfect setting for this tale of strange hijinks revolving around a middle school locker that’s really a portal to the monster realm. Even better: it’s set in Columbus, which is a city I particularly enjoy from years of visiting for the Origins Gaming Convention (which nearly always coincided with Pride!)

Our young hero Pablo Ortiz would certainly fit in with the crowds of nerds I’m used to hanging out with. A figurine-painting, druid-larping sixth grader, he’s hoping to make friends at his new middle school, since most of his old ones from elementary school have been zoned to a different institution. Unfortunately, the two guys who did come with him from his old school seem to have no inclination of not being jerks to him anymore. One of them, his former best friend Dylan, even steals his assigned locker, forcing him to take a new one in the allegedly haunted basement.

Pablo isn’t thrilled by any of this, especially when he learns that his locker really is haunted. A ghost named Obie wants Pablo to use the portal in his new locker to summon monsters onto the earthly plane. Pablo is smart enough to decline but when he’s tricked into accidentally releasing Coatlicue, the Goddess of Earth, from the monster realm, he’ll have to figure out how to stop her before she can exact her vengeance on an ungrateful humanity.

This wonderfully layered first volume of the eponymous graphic novel series not only sets up a terrific context for the story going forward but also resolves its Monster Of The Week scenario with ingenuity and humor. Pablo is a terrific protagonist, tho I’ll freely admit that my favorite characters — in a cast of so many lovable people! — are his new friend Takashi Rosenberg and his eccentric, adorable abuela. I love that none of the cast is cookie cutter, and that the story tackles not just themes of friendship and family but also representation and being unafraid to make waves. Pablo’s Mesoamerican heritage plays a huge role in this book, both in the fantastic and in the mundane. I loved learning more about Aztec mythology, as well as Nahuatl pronunciation from the backmatter. The story also had me craving xocolotl and tamales, tho in fairness, I’m almost never not craving tamales.

The art is the epitome of delightful. Pablo is so cute I want to adopt him — he’d fit right in with my three adorable sons! Maybe he could teach them how to appreciate a good role-playing game, too… But I digress. Kinetic and expressive, the cartoony panels are rich with details that are just as thoughtful and clever as the plot. This is a terrific start to a middle grade graphic novel series about world mythology and monsters, and another winner from the consistently outstanding First Second Books.

Monster Locker Vol 1 by Jorge Aguirre & Andrés Vera Martínez was published October 1 2024 by First Second Books and is available from all good booksellers, including