Gold!

Maximilian Midas is a gold-obsessed, repp-tie-wearing redhead who presents as white; with a “touch/ For raking in the dough,” he pooh-poohs parental love and sells sips of lemonade at market price on the hottest days. When “plucky neighbor girl” Sadie, portrayed as Black, opens a lemonade stand “to help some needy kids,” Max sabotages her product, building a lemonade empire to acquire the literal mountain of gold he’s coveted from an early age. Unrepentantly isolated, mogul Max eats a heap of gold dust with his breakfast cereal and immediately turns into a solid gold statue. In nightmarish images (including a Twilight Zone–worthy extreme close-up), golden Max proves capable of a lone redemptive tear, and finishes the story as not only a loving offspring but apparently a conscious capitalist as well, enlisting Sadie to “help me/ use my millions/ To make a better world.” Shannon (Mr. Nogginbody Gets a Hammer) gets mixed results in casting the Midas myth as a critique of cold-blooded capitalism: if his exaggerated, even grotesque, art style fits the theme of excess, Sadie’s role in Max’s salvation feels misguided at best, and a closing line about making “millions more” does little to dismantle the capitalist myth. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)