Graphic Novel mini-reviews #30

Saga (volume 2)

Written by: Brian K. Vaughan; illustrated by: Fiona Staples

Published: 2013

My thoughts: I'm finally reading Saga again! After the first volume I decided to quit it for awhile, not because I didn't enjoy it but because sometimes the pain of waiting for the next issue is just TOO MUCH. It took me a few pages to recall what happened in volume 1 (which apparently I never reviewed?) but once I got back into the rhythm of it, I was back in a big way. This series is, sort of, space Romeo and Juliet, at least in the sense that the two main characters (who loooove each other) are from two warring species and their togetherness and the procreation of their teeny tiny adorable baby is causing major problems.  Except in this volume these problems are magnified when Marko's parents and ex arrive on the scene (separately, and with very different intentions). It's hard to know where the series is going to go, other than forward and away from the people who wish this trio harm, but I'm enjoying the great writing and art nonetheless.

Fables: Sons of Empire (9)

Written by: Bill Willingham; illustrated by: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, Gene Ha, Joshua Middleton, Inaka Miranda, Mike Allred.

Published: 2007

My Thoughts: This volume is a bit of a placeholder. It lays the groundwork for the upcoming Fabletown war and provides a little insight into the Adversary's war council but most of the volume is actually short 1-3 page stories featuring a bunch of the fables characters that has very little, if anything, to do with the war. I could imagine this being annoying to some, especially with the war teasers at the top of the volume, but I really liked the vignette style glimpses into life as a Fable. It's nice to see what life is like for them away from the calamitous fears of war and sadness over their lost homelands.

Princess Ugg (Volume 1)

Written by: Ted Naifeh; Illustrated by: Warren Wucinich

Published: 2014

My Thoughts: Princess Ulga finds herself completely out of her element when she leaves her mountain home to attend a princess finishing school. Gone are the battle axes and war helmets and in their place instead are musical instruments and princess gowns. While she knows she needs to attend the school if her mother's wish for her family to find peace with the frost giants is to be accomplished, she's alone and lonely and ridiculed by her fellow princesses. There is a lot to like about this book, like none of the princesses bar one are you standard blonde, white Sleeping Beauty type. There's the beautiful watercolour art used for flashbacks or dream sequences. And there's Ulga (or Ugg as the other princesses call her) who accepts herself in spite of being completely different, is freakin' ripped and determined to make princess school work. That said, I'm not totally sold on the series. There are some moments where the story lags or the writing is a little awkward, so I think I'll wait to get volume 2 from my library before decided whether I'll proceed or not.

Pages to Panels: A Bookish Guide to Getting into Comics (1)

Comics are a hard medium to break into. Unless you're purely sticking with the literary graphic novels you have 60 years of convoluted, conflicting and confusing story lines to try and get your head around. There are a tonne of great sites online that can help you work out which story line to start with for certain superheroes or which to avoid, but since everyone who reads this blog is a book reader first and foremost I thought I'd write a bit of an introductory post for people wanting to break into the comic world.

There are the obvious choices that I'm sure most of your have already read or at least heard about. Maus by Art Spiegelman, From Hell by Alan Moore, Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. They're typically one off editions (or two in the case of Maus) and heavy on the literary angle. They're all brilliant and you should definitely read them *stares menacingly until you all add them to you Goodreads lists*. But what if you're thinking you want something a little more serial in nature? Something that tackles a particular genre or story line or character arc over a much longer time frame. Well aren't you a lucky duck? I'm here to do exactly that. And to make it even easier, rather than just list a bunch of awesome comics (I mean, you could just check out my review tab for that) I'm going to give you a neat little pathway to wander down, complete with shonky paint graphics.

I'm just starting with 5 recommendations today, but if people seem to enjoy these I'll plan out a few more posts*. And maybe work out a way to make these graphics look less pathetic. These are a mix of new and old comic series, but they're also all fairly straight forward. You're not likely to have any cross-over nightmares to deal with here, thank god.

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 1. Rat Queens - Kurtis J. Wiebe, Roc Upchurch (8 issues, ongoing)

If you like the comedic fantasy stylings of Terry Pratchett and Christopher Moore you will probably adore Rat Queens. Rat Queens has the style of D&D fantasy world elements and characters you'd expect to find in a Discworld novel and it's fantastically coupled with the biting humour of both Moore and Pratchett. It's foul-mouthed and rough, but the camaraderie between the four female protagonists is the real motivator in the story.

Similar comics you might also like: Saga (Brian K. Vaughan), Chew (John Layman)


2. Transmetropolitan - Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson (10 volumes, completed)

Big fan of Hunter S. Thompson and his outlaw breed of gonzo journalism? Then you should absolutely follow Spider Jerusalem's antics in Transmetropolitan - since he's inspired by the gun-wielding, drug-taking, truth-talkin' HST. The books take place in a futuristic world where morals, ethics and anything resembling self respect has been traded in for cold hard cash. The humour is dark and the social criticism biting. This was actually my very first graphic novel series and (fun fact) the way Tom wheedled his way into my heart when he saw me in a bar wearing a HST t-shirt ("have you heard of the comic Transmetro - I have the whole series if you want to borrow it").

Similar comics you might also like:  Preacher (Garth Ennis), Watchmen (Alan Moore)


3. Ms Marvel - G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona (9 issues, ongoing)

Ms Marvel is a pretty big deal for a number of reasons. It's the first (or close to) comic to represent both a muslim and female protagonist in an incredibly progressive and positive way. It manages to take the stress of suddenly becoming a superhero and make it incredibly relatable. Khamala Khan deals with the issues every teenager deals with - doing her homework, abiding by her parents rules, conflicting with friends and school bullies, doubting with your self-worth and appearance every other minute - but it does it with the added lenses of being a Pakistani-American and a superhero. There are probably a half dozen YA novels I could have listed here, but one of the best qualities of Ms Marvel is how fresh and funny the dialogue is. Lots of pop culture references and self-deprecating humour, with  moments of startling reality thrown in to add weight. If you're a fan of Allie Brosh's ability to blend serious discussions on depression with ridiculous dog stories in Hyperbole and a Half and/or love Cline's pop culture rich Ready Player One then you should hunt this series down.

Similar comics you might also like:  The Runaways (Brian K. Vaughan/Joss Whedon), Lumberjanes (Noelle Stephenson), She-Hulk (Charles Soule)


4. Locke and Key - Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (6 volumes, completed)

If I am going to recommend one comic it'll probably be Locke and Key. Like NOS4R2 and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Locke and Key blends horror and fantasy elements with stories of family and loss. They're fun and exciting and a teeny bit tense but they also pack a wallop of an emotional punch that hits you when you aren't expecting it. A horrific coming-of-age story, if you will.

Similar comics you might also like:  The Cape (Jason Ciaramella), Pretty Deadly (Kelly Sue DeConnick)


5. Fables - Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham (145 issues, ongoing)

Okay, so throwing in Once Upon a Time is a bit of a cheat since it's TV but it did begin as an adaptation of Fables, so cram it. Bookwise though, I see a lot of similarities to the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. While Thursday is an outsider coming into the literary world, Fables is told entirely from the perspective of the displaced fairytale characters. Both work hard to infuse clever nods and hints to their literary origins and are broad mystery series. They also have a lot of heart and a good idea at its core but didn't really come out of the gate at full speed. Which is a nicer way to say that I was pretty meh when I first read each of them, but ended up loving a lot of it in later volumes.

Similar comics you might also like: The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (Alan Moore), Kill Shakespeare (Conor McCreery), Unwritten (Mike Carey)

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* If people have specific genres or styles of books they'd like to find a comic partner for let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do!

Graphic Novel mini-reviews #18

Fables: Wolves (Volume #8)

Written by: Bill Willingham; Illustrated by: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Shawn McManus, Andrew Pepoy

Published: 2006

My Thoughts: There was a lot to like about this volume but it also had a few issues I just can't quite get past. After being exiled from Fabletown Bigby went on the run and since then Mowgli has been trying to find him with little luck. Mowgli finally finds Bigby and convinces him to come back to perform a secret agent style mission back in the Homelands in exhange for being able to reunite with Snow and their children. But when Mowgli finds Bigby he's shacked up with another woman. Why? Is this going to play into it somehow, will she be coming back? We know that Snow has been waiting for Bigby's return, so is this just to show us that he's a pretty shitty dude or is it about something else? He's supposedly loved Snow since they first met and he's always been a bit of a loner so why did he need companionship? I just don't understand what this serves and it felt kind of hacky. As for the actual mission he goes on - that I liked. It's pushing the story into an interesting direction and I think there'll be some action-heavy volumes coming up. I also really liked Cinderella's story arc in here, secret agent/assassin  is a much better career than Stepmother's cleaner or Prince Charming's wife. She actually reminds me a bit of Buffy minus the vampires which could never be a bad thing right?

The Strain (Volume 1)

Written by: David Lapham; Illustrated by: Mike Huddleston

Published: 2012

My Thoughts: While I wasn't wowed by the book, there were elements I really loved. The vampires for one. The medical investigation for another. The graphic novel streamlines the book; it cuts out some of the unnecessary waste, reshuffles the plot order, places some reveals earlier (where it holds much more weight) and visually depicts the nightmarish vampires Del Toro created. The art style is dark and frenetic, perfectly representing the chaos and panic of the narrative. The vampires are horrific, gory and terrifying. Eph and Nora are much better with less time spent on unnecessary characterisation, and Setrakians flashbacks work beautifully in this medium. It's a much tighter and successful story, and I think I might stick to the graphic novel from now on.

Batman - Streets of Gotham: The House of Hush (Volume 3)

Written by: Paul Dini; Illustrated by: Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs

Published: 2011

My Thoughts: I haven't read the previous two volumes but I decided to pick this one up when I was at the library and realised how long it'd been since I'd read some Batman. I don't know how this went in concluding the story set up in the previous two volumes, but I thought it was interesting - and easy to get on top of considering I was coming in for the final act. There's a side-along story about a small time crook named The Carpenter who builds traps and hide-outs for Gotham's villains that was fun but went way too far in the pun department. The main story was typical for a Batman comic, vengeance, mistaken identities, double and triple crossing. I like the illustration style but did find that the tall, handsome, dark haired dudes got pretty hard to tell apart by the end. A problem exacerbated by the fact that there are two Bruce Waynes featured in this story. Not bad though, might go back and read the first two.

Graphic Novel mini-reviews #17

Runaways: Teenage Wasteland (Volume #2)

Written by: Brian K. Vaughan; illustrated by: Adrian Alphona

Published: 2004

My Thoughts: I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this series. The basic story progression is interesting enough as is the struggle the kids are having coming to terms with their new found powers and their parents real identities but there is still something lacking. I do love that it seems to realistically tap into that conflicting moment when teenagers realise their parents are people with a life outside their role as mother/father and that adults aren't automatically to be trusted or relied upon. These real life struggles woven into a superhero/fantasy setting work really well, the hiccups seem to be the sudden additions to the fantasy world that come without warning. Take for instance the main story thread in this volume. A kid who appears to also have dodgy parents turns out not to be what he seems and while it isn't completely out of left field (there are definitely hints) there also isn't anything to make me believe it wasn't a plot chosen purely for the shock factor rather than adding anything to the world. I'll keep getting them from the library though, especially since the Joss Whedon arc is coming up.

Fables: Arabian Nights (Volume #7)

Written by: Bill Willingham; Illustrated by: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Jim Fern, Jimmy Palmiotti, Andrew Pepoy

Published: 2006

My Thoughts: I'm well and truly into the Fables series now and really loving it. While the previous volumes have mostly centred around Fabletown with mentions (and brief looks) at the Homelands from here on out we start to learn about how far this world actually spans. In this volume characters from the Arabian Fables (think Sinbad, Aladdin etc) journey to Fabletown to try and forge a relationship that will unite them against the adversary. But there are factors that work against this potential truce, cultural expectations, language barriers and nefarious dealings going on behind the scene. It felt a little too "cultured and wise" white America vs "ignorant and aggressive" Middle Easterners at times (there were some definite cringe moments) but I think they managed to extricate themselves from that awful dichotomy eventually and with an interesting resolution. The extra story "The Ballad of Rodney and June" about the love and sacrifices of two of the Adversary's wooden soldiers though...eh, I'm not so fond.

iZombie (Volume #1)

Written by: Chris Roberson; Illustrated by: Mike Allred

Published: 2011

My Thoughts: I had seen volumes of this series in my library and comic book store but it was the news that it was being made into a TV series by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) that finally got me interested. It's an interesting concept, a female zombie eats brains once a month to stop herself from degrading to the Night of the Living Dead level of zombieness while living also trying to live the life of an early-twenty woman. She's joined by her friends, a go-go ghost and were-terrier and there's a mysterious Egyptian mummy man. It's kind of ridiculous but it really commits to how absurd the concept is, so even when things make me want to roll my eyes at time (a were-terrier...really?!) I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It also set a couple of really interesting mystery based story threads up for the next few volumes so I'm excited to see where it heads.

Graphic Novel mini-reviews #16

Fables: Homeland (Volume 6)

Written by: Bill Willingham; Illustrated by: Mark Buckingham, David Hahn, Steve Leialoha

Published: 2006

My Thoughts: My library was missing volumes 4 and 5, but I was in a real Fables mood and decided to skip ahead. There was a bit of a transition period, A LOT happened in those two volumes, but there was a handy little catch up section at the start. As it were, this is almost like reading a whole new story, most of the characters from the first three volumes are no longer part of it (but hopefully will be back). The majority of the book focuses on Boy Blue as he makes his way back to the Fables homelands, armed with the witching cloak and vorpal sword. He's such a small character prior to this, and I loved how bad ass he was. I'm excited to see what he does next. And we find out who the Adversary is. Maybe it's because of the two volumes I missed, but it came as a hell of a surprise to me!

Runaways: Pride and Joy (Volume 1)

Written by: Brian K. Vaughan; Illustrated by: Adrian Alphona

Published: 2004

My Thoughts: I heard about this series awhile ago when I went through a it of a Brian K. Vaughan phase and when I found out the concept - kids find out their parents are evil super-villains and they have their own powers - and that it was eventually taken over by Joss Whedon. Welp, I. Was. In. I really enjoyed this volume, the story was exciting (who is the mole?), the characters were unique and fleshed out well, and the writing was tight. I wasn't quite as fond of the illustrations, they were fine but I prefer art that was drawn by someone who cares what the human form actually looks like. It's not bad enough to turn me off the series by a long shot, but it's definitely not my favourite style either.

Fables: The Mean Seasons (Volume 5)

Written by: Bill Willingham; Illustrated by:Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Tony Akins, Jimmy Palmiotti

Published: 2005

My Thoughts: I might have skipped ahead two volumes, but that was only until my library could delivery the missing volumes into my hands. Turns out volume 4 exists in no library in Brisbane, for whatever reason, but I'll skip past it for now I guess. Anyway, volume 5 is a transition volume. There are characters leaving, new characters taking on new roles, the ebb and flow of Fabled life in the Mundy world. Snow gives birth, a murderer is hunting down Fables, we meet a spy of Bigbys, and there is a new mayor in town. There's plenty to fill the pages, and it's all really interesting and fun, but the fact that it's a transitional piece is hard to escape. There's also a brief two-part story about Bigby during WWII which was fine, but nothing to write home about.

Graphic Novel Mini-Review #15

Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood (Volume 3)

Written by: Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col; Illustrated by: Andy Belanger

Published: 2013

My Thoughts: If you've read and liked Fables, you will probably love Kill Shakespeare because it's a very similar concept but with Shakespearian characters. This volume takes place on Prospero's island and I looooooved all of the magic and double-crossing and twisty-twist-twists. The art style and colouring is gorgeous, and the writing is consistent, although I'm kind of hoping this is the last volume. As much as I enjoy it, it is a little gimmicky and I think it'll be a very quick switch from enjoyment to eye-roll inducing. Make sure you read the volumes in the correct sequence for continuity.

Fables: Storybook Love (Volume 3)

Written by: Bill Willingham; illustrated by: Mark Buckingham

Published: 2004

My Thoughts: I really, really dig this series and it just gets better with each volume. Generally I'm pretty bleh towards remakes/reboots/reimaginings but when they're done well, as Fables is, they're fantastic. Yes you know the characters, but it's because you know them that it works. It's brilliant to see these darker or disappointing versions of our Disney heroes and heroines, because we're always complaining about how dreary and unrealistic the Disney effect actually is. But it's not just gritty for grit's sake, there's a complex story unfolding within these smaller narratives and I am so excited to see where it goes. This volume is all about our exile's falling in love and struggling to make connections and I can't tell you how gratifying it is to read about Prince Charming actually being a manipulating asshole, or to learn that the Big Bad Wolf's father is the North Wind. I mean COME ON, that's awesome!

Ten Grand (Issues #2-4)

Written by: J Michael Straczynski; illustrated by: Ben Templesmith

Published: 2013

My Thoughts:  This series pulled me in from the start, but I found it stagnated a little in the centre before finally expanding the story to a place where I really connected with it and the characters. But even when I wasn't actively engaged (and how disengaged can you really be about a former mob enforcer who is returned to life by an angel every time he dies so he can carry out demon slayings on Earth?) Ben Templesmith's art provided the emotional resonance the writing was lacking. God damn he's good at what he does. I've heard that Templesmith isn't going to be involved in the rest of the series, which makes me a little conflicted. I love this series, it's really pretty solid, but without his distinctive art style I'm not sure if it'll be the same. Wait and see I guess.

Mini Graphic Novel Review #13: A whole pile of awesome

Fables: Animal Farm (volume #2)

Written by: Bill Willingham, Illustrated by: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha

Published: 2003

My Thoughts: I am so into this series. It's well written, the art is fantastic (and the cover art is SO amazing I want to frame them and hang them in my lounge), the characters are funny, unique and well-rounded. Each volume builds upon the primary characters (Snow White, Rose Red, the Big Bad Wolf etc) but draws on a different book/fairytale to centre the story around. It's political, creative, intelligent and everything that is good in the world. It's fast becoming my favourite series, can't wait to read even more.

 The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born 

Written by: Stephen King (story), Robin Furth, Peter David, Illustrated by: Jae Lee, Richard Isanove

Published: 2007

My Thoughts: Adapting Stephen King into film can go either way, but so far King graphic novel adaptations have been phenomenal. The Stand was the perfect visual companion to the book, and The Gunslinger is OMG amazing. I haven't finished the series, but these are actually prequels to the books, building on the themes and components of the books but bringing something new and awesome to the table. The art is gorgeous, the colouring is stunning and the writing reflects the original series and the overarching themes and style to perfection. If you've been wanting to get into graphic novels, and love King, then this is the series for you.

The New Deadwardians (Issue #2)

Written and illustrated by: Dan Abnett

Published: 2012

My Thoughts: I was a little lukewarm about the first issue, but it already feels like Abnett is learning from his early errors. The story, writing and art are all stronger, and i'm genuinely curious to see where this 8-part series heads. The original concept (that the wealthy became vampires to survive a zombie outbreak) was always good, but it's really beginning to live up to it's potential. An intriguing murder-mystery/crime story with supernatual elements? Yes please!