Warriors: The Rise of Scourge by Dan Jolley, Bettina M Kurkoski, created by Erin Hunter

I have been taking a break from reading the new Warriors series by Erin Hunter, and have been instead checking out the graphic novels. These are not written by Erin Hunter, but they are authorized by her, and she writes an introduction to each one to explain why she felt this particular story needed to be told. This is the second Warriors graphic novel that I've read, but I haven't reviewed the first one yet because it is part of a series.
The Rise of Scourge tells the story of how a kitten named Tiny became the leader of Bloodclan, known as Scourge. Scourge comes into the Warriors timeline towards the end of the first series, when Tigerstar attempts to take control of all four clans. But Scourge has other plans. He very violently kills Tigerstar, before being taken down himself eventually. This graphic novel tells how he became this seemingly evil, violent cat. It's not a pretty story. And as Hunter says in her introduction, she is not making excuses for him, just trying to tell his story.
I am sometimes surprised by how violent these books can be. I always say that I would have loved these if they'd been out when I was a kid, but really I think they probably would have been too violent for me. Especially this graphic novel version. Not that it really shows any blood, of course, but it is still a bit disturbing. Kurkoski's art is great though. She does a perfect job of capturing the way the cats move and look, while the other graphic novel I've read in this series (not illustrated by her) looked pretty much terrible. So it was at least nice to read something that wasn't hideous, and actually looked really good. This book would really only be enjoyed by those kids who are already involved in the Warriors series, but it may pick up some new fans as well.