The Mall

The Mall #1-6

by Don Handfield, James Haick III, Rafael Loureiro (Illustrations)

“The Breakfast Club meets Goodfellas.” – Graphic Policy



Three 1980s teenagers from different cliques learn they are all related when a Florida crime boss leaves them each stores in the local mall that are really fronts for the mob in this surprisingly touching genre mashup about family and fitting in.



It’s 1985 in suburban Florida…The QUARTERBACK, the PRINCESS and the GEEK all find out they’re related when their real father, a low-level Florida crime boss, dies at the hands of the mafia and leaves them each a store inside the local mall. The catch is, the stores are fronts for the mob, and the teens must decide whether to break bad or try to go legit, all while trying to navigate all the high stakes John Hughes type high school drama of the 1980s. Finding a date for the prom is one thing, but doing it with the Columbian drug cartel out to kill you is another.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Comic Book, Historical

168 pages, Paperback

First published December 21, 2021

About the author

Don Handfield is an American writer, director and producer. He is the co-creator of Knightfall on History Channel, producer of The Founder starring Michael Keaton and the writer/director of Touchback, starring Kurt Russell and Christine Lahti, which is based on his novel of the same name.

He is also a published author and essayist with a degree in Journalism and Theatre from The Ohio State University. Don lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Tressa, and his children, Robinson and Deacon.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billed as Goodfellas meets The Breakfast Club is a accurate description. It's more slanted to the Goodfellas side though but set in high school. Three high school kids find out their dad was a mobster and has left each of them a business in the mall. Each is a cover for shadier stuff, drugs, sports betting, and a protection racket. Some of them take to it eagerly while others just want out. My problem with the book is there's not a single likable character in the book. They are all 80's stereotypes to the 9th degree. The nerd, the jock, the rich cheerleader and they never really grow out of that. I think part of the issue is there are a lot of moving elements to this story, probably too many for six issues. The story could use more time to breath. Still it was an entertaining book and the art was surprisingly good.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

The Mall feels very heavily plotted and lacks an organic quality and heart. The historical aspects of 1985 Florida never really hit well, the mafia storyline is particularly ugly, and none of these kids are very likable. The ending is highly unsatisfying and what seems like a win is very obviously the heroes' biggest loss. "Goodfellas meets Breakfast Club" is an accurate description though - so much so that I wonder if the author decided to throw the two random movies into a blender to see what he got. Much more Goodfellas than Breakfast Club, ultimately.

Story: Three teens at a St. Augustine high school are each facing their own difficulties at home and at school. The Jock, Dallas, is considered 'white trash' due to his single mom working several jobs to survive while also trying to control a drug addiction. The Princess, head cheerleader Lena, has a pedophile stepfather and jerk of a jock boyfriend to deal with. Diego is the son of Cuban immigrants and has to deal with the racism and insults daily. All three want out of their lives; when a scholarship letter arrives awarding them an opportunity for work study at the local mall, they grab at the chance. But it turns out that what they get instead is an inheritance from a dead biological father they never knew - 3 stores in the mall that seem benign on the outside but are actually fronts for illegal activities in the back. As they become embroiled in the mob while also dealing with the continual abuses of being teenagers in 1980s America, it is sink or swim for our kids as each uses their unique skills to survive.

First and foremost, understand that this is a very ugly book. All the themes running through it are the worst of humanity - racism, pedophilia, greed, envy, violence, drug addiction, corruption, discrimination, and more. The quirky 1980s veneer does little to counterbalance all the ugliness. This is not a fun and vibrant teen story with a mobster undertone - it's a 'the world sucks, suck it up" instead. I'd like to say that the author didn't spare any punches but instead I have to say it is more like the author added all the nastiness with glee. There's so much of it that it overshadows and destroys any fun that could have been had from the milieu. The story doesn't feel clever so much as derivative and force-fed.

As such, there were no likable characters. We have a diverse cast and yet it only seems to serve so that the author can make lines like, "Gino would stick his meat into anything" (the three kids are told they are all the biological children of the same gangster Gino). The kids' diversity is also greatly skewed - e.g., despite his father hoping he will be proud to be hard working (even if washing windows), the kid instead will call upon a relative's Cuban druglord connection to make fast money. He'll even get the cheerleader he coveted and cocaine in a very jarring scene - life goals?

One aspect that the author got right is that teen dramas in the 1980s were about poor kids and class struggles. From Pretty in Pink to Some Kind of Wonderful, teens were searching for their place in the world, typically from the bottom rung of the social ladder. And then Clueless ushered in the rich class fascination that has lasted to even now, with Kardashians, Osbourns, 90210, and Rich Housewives. And though this is true, The Mall's version of that outlook still feels very much like a checkmark the author ticked on his story outline "Class struggle - check". It is too obvious and with the subtlety of a Mac truck landing on your head.

There are many inside jokes to 1980s culture. E.g., a mall looking exactly like the Back To The Future location (Twin Pines Mall becomes Twin Palms Mall) and with a delivery truck in the parking lot named "J. Fox Delivery." But they are fewer than you would suppose would be cleverly interspersed throughout. The 1980s milieu could be considered wasted here - it could easily have been a grunge 1990s, for example. I imagine the author was going for the dissonance created by 1980s over the top hedonism paired against Goodfellas outright violence and nastiness. I think it would have worked better with characters we could like and without nearly every single person being either racist, a pedophile, self centered, hyperviolent, or unpleasant.

A rating of 2 does seem harsh - the book is well illustrated, the story flows smoothly, and clearly this is a professional production. But I just can't get past this being nothing more than a bait and switch - quirky 1980s setting and covers but rotting meat inside. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Breakfast Club meets Goodfellas."

This elevator pitch was all it took for me to be interested in this book.
Three teens from very different walks of life are thrust into the backwater deals of their local mall.
They find out they each have unique family secrets and now have to decide how to move forward.

I really enjoyed this and am happy it was my first read of the year.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really is a super fun mash up of John Hughes and Martin Scorsese. The main characters were all fun, flawed, and very easy to root for.

[SheMac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the pleasant stroll down memory lane suggested by the cover ... instead a gritty tale of the Mafia and murder.

[Mori · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know I borrowed this from the library but I want financial compensation for the 30 minutes I wasted reading this shit.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get what it was trying to do but I found it needlessly dark and disturbing for a bunch of teenagers who are being thrown into an underworld of criminality based on being left "a store in the mall" by a biological father they all share but whose front is not the same as how they make their money in the back, It was weird. I thought it was going to really be about the mall of the 80s and 90s, even if it was a little dark, but it was something else entirely and was full of torture techniques, murder, and abuse. The cover and description don't necessarily match what's actually between the pages.

It's redeeming quality was the fashion and a bit of the connection between the 'teens' (who read and looked more like every "teen" drama on television- 20 and 30 year olds presenting to be teenagers giving kids a false sense of what it means to be a teen).

[Kim (BritishLass929) · Rating 3 out of 5]

You may not be able to judge a book by its cover, but I have to admit that the cover of Issue #1 in this graphic novel hit me immediately with its homage to John Hughes and all things cheesy 1980s films from my teenage years. The premise is original. Three kids, all supposed offspring of a dead mafia don, are given stores in a mall. However, the stores are fronts for criminal activity. It seems crazy on paper. It shouldn’t work, but yet it does. I have two complaints - the last issue feels rushed and I would love a Volume 2. This is a quick but amusing read for any of us missing Shermer High School, Shermer Illinois 60062.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Josh Newhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t quite work for me as full of unlikable characters. I wanted to love the nostalgia but it kind of turned out ugly imho.

[Whatcha Reading Heather? · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I love about Brat Pack movies and mob/crime stories in comic form. I want more!