Comics for the week of May 19, 2010

Deadpool #23

The Avengers #1

Age of Heroes #1

Joe the Barbarian #5

American Vampire #3

X-Men Legacy #236

Zatanna #1

Battlefields #6

Haunt #7

Comics for the week of May 12, 2010

Fantastic Four #577
Amazing Spider-Man #631

Jack of Fables #45
Teen Titans #82
Black Widow #2
New Mutants #13
Echo #21
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #1

Fables #95
Thor #609
 

Review - The Unknown

The Unknown
written by Mark Waid
art by Minck Oosterveer
Boom Studios

The book for The Unknown collects the first 4 issues of the comic series. It is about a world famous detective named Catherine Allingham who uses Sherlock Holmes like hyper-logic to solve closed room murder cases. The story opens up where Catherine hires as an assistant a muscular bouncer who has an natural ability to read people named James Doyle. We learn early on the Catherine is dying of a brain tumor and suffers from hallucinations. One reoccurring vision she has is of a tall, pale man with a thin smile. Though disturbing, Catherine knows it's just a figment of her condition and ignores her fear. Ultimately, Catherine with her rational mind and terminal condition, is compelled to try and understand what happens to people after they die. Her investigations lead her to take cases that might shed some tangible scientific truths about an afterlife.

I really liked this book. I remember seeing it at the comic shop when it first came out, but it was a thick week and I couldn't justify picking up another book to myself. The characters are interesting. The really interesting character in the story is James Doyle. We really don't know his past. There are some flashbacks to tragedy, but we're not privy to what his background might have. Catherine is interesting in that she is focused on solving problems all the time. We don't get any real glimpses into her background. But we really don't need any. She is driven to find the Truth, no matter where it leads while James seems to question weather finding the Truth is a good or bad thing.

The artwork by Oosterveer is really good. The narrative is clear and the characters are expressive. Catherine almost always has a smug expression while James has more range from confused to concerned. Readers will be able to follow the action easily and should be really creeped out by his hallucination character of the pale man.

I'll catalog this book in the teen area. There is no bad language, nudity, sexual situations or gratuitous violence that would offend sensitive parents. This is a good mystery with a supernatural twist that people who don't want to read super hero stories should check out. I just hope that they make more so we can follow Catherine and James to see if they can find the answer to the ultimate question.

Comics for the week of May 5, 2010

I, Zombie #1
Sweet Tooth #9
New Ultimate Avengers #2
Incorruptible #5
S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
Irredeemable #13
Uncanny X-Men #524

Two Historical Graphic Novels from First Second

Booth
written by C.C. Colbert, illustrated by Tanitoc

Resistance: Book 1
written by Carla Jablonski, illustrated by Leland Purvis

These two books were received by the library last month and are interesting since they are both based on actual historical events. Booth shows the life of John Wilkes Booth from 1863, two years before the assassination of Lincoln to Booth's death shortly thereafter. And Resistance is less biographical, but tells the story of a family in Vichy France during the Nazi occupation and how they became members of the French Resistance.

I like to think of myself as pretty smart about the Civil War. I've taken a couple college courses. Read all the Bruce Catton books. And even seen the Ken Burns Civil War series a couple times on PBS. So maybe I'm a little biased about the lack of information in the book Booth, but I found it to be rather terse and somewhat superficial. I know, more books have been written about Lincoln than anyone in history. And the timeline and plots around the conspiracy of his death have been well documented. So I won't consider this a definitive biography of the actor, but I would of like a little more historical though and context in the story.

I found the book Booth to be very disjointed. And it seems the author takes liberties in creating situations which might be a little outside the historical record. I had not heard of Booth's relationships with either Lucy Hale, a daughter of a Republican Senator, or of a romance with a barmaid named in the book only as "Ella". But the book seems to focus mostly on the relationship Booth had with these two women and the actual conspiracy to overthrow the government is almost like an afterthought in the book.

Though I didn't really like the artwork on first reading the book, it grew on me. It is rough with heavy, dark lines. But slowly I realized that the colors used for the characters made it a little easier to follow the story. Booth is always in a green outfit while his brother Edwin is in blue. Ella has a red dress and purple is the color for Lucy.

I didn't order this book and I don't know if I would of picked this book up for the library. It kind of fails on both sides of its intent. Someone interested in the Civil War or Lincoln would find many things to criticize. And someone interested in graphic novels will find better works elsewhere.

I liked Resistance more than Booth. I think that was because it's not based on a well known historical figure but a fictional French family living in the Vichy France. The Tessier family, whose father has been captured by the Germans. The young daughter Marie and her brother Paul one day return home and their neighbors the Mr. and Mrs. Levy have been taken by German soldiers. Their son Henri Levy was away swimming and was not picked up. So Marie and Paul hide Henri in their wine cellar. As the story progresses and peoples secrets are revealed, we learn more about the France resistance movement. The feeling of paranoia and repression grows as the Tessier's try and reunite the Levy family.

The plot in Resistance is a little clearer that in Booth. However, unlike Booth, the book is not tied to well documented historical events. Indeed, the Author's Note at the end of the book is a fantastic description of historiography and how past events can not be seen as clearly back and white.

The artwork in this book more traditional than in Booth. With cleaner lines and more emphasis on facial expressions, it is easy to follow the story and it's characters.

I feel this book is a good purchase for the library. There are several different themes that would draw readers in. First, the main characters, Paul and Marie can be understood by children reading this book. Also it is a good book that display the treatment of Jewish people without the nightmare inducing imagery. I would definitely recommend this book for kids wanting to know about civilian life in Europe during World War II.

Comics for the week of April 28, 2010

Thick week. Glad I got my tax refund. Also, make sure to go by your local comic shop for Free Comic Book Day on Saturday.

Review - Grendel: Behold the Devil

Grendel: Behold the Devil
by Matt Wagner
Dark Horse Comics

Grendel has been around for almost 30 years (he first appeared in 1983 in a comic anthology by Comico) and I have been reading him off and on for most of that time. So when I saw collected volume of a brand new 8 issue Grendel mini-series, I thought it would be a good pick for our library.

For those of you who don't know, Grendel is not a good guy. Nor is the story related in any why with the Beowulf saga. The initial Grendel stories revolve around Hunter Rose, who is a best selling novelist and at night is a ruthless crime lord named Grendel. As the original Grendel comic series and mini-series continued, the Grendel persona is pass onto later generations of people far into the future. But this book, Behold the Devil, is back in the world of Hunter Rose. Telling the tale of a two week period where the notebooks and journals of Hunter Rose were missing, we see a more vulnerable side of Grendel. Feeling like he's being followed, Grendel must rely on magical tools to resolve the problem he is experiencing.

I have been a fan of Wagner's work for decades. Though I don't have all the Grendel stories, I have read enough to know about his world. And I think that readers of Behold the Devil, unless they know much of the previous stories, might not appreciate the book as much as I did. That's not to say that the it's not worth reading. Any comic fan should pick this up and give it a try. I've often considered Grendel to be like an anti Batman. Hunter Rose is like an evil, amoral Bruce Wayne.

The artwork is striking. With mostly black and white line drawings, Wagner also adds red to enhance they impact of the narrative. The red he uses is always the same shade. And when there is wine, or roses, or blood (especially blood) is when the red color appears.

I'm going to put this book in the libraries adult non-fiction area. As I allude to, there is quite a bit of blood. Also, some profane language and nudity hit the trifecta in things that parents might get upset about. So I'll keep this away from the young adult area.

Comics for the week of April 21, 2010

Guardians of the Galaxy #25
Kill Shakespeare #1
Power Girl #11
Joe the Barbarian #4
Dark Wolverine #85
The Magdalena #1
Battlefields #5
American Vampire #2
Image Firsts: Girls #1
X-Men Legacy #235

Comics for the week of April 14, 2010

Chew #10
Batman #698
Black Widow #1
Mindfield #0
Daytripper #5
Wonder Woman #38

Video Games into Comics

Often, lifting ideas from one media to another does not work too well. How many movies are better than the book they were based on? How many crappy video games are made from blockbuster movies? But recently, I've seen several comic books come out that are based on video game properties that have some pretty big name talent involved in their creation.

The Halo Graphic Novel was the first comic based on a video game that I noticed. It was the talent use in this book that attracted me to it. Artists like Simon Bisley and Moebius had been favorites of mine, so when this came out in 2006, I made sure to pick it up. Interestingly enough, there is also a wordless story told by Tsutomu Nihei. I talked about his work Biomega a little while ago. With four stories written and illustrated by different creators, there are many different aspects of the Halo universe displayed for readers. Subsequently, there has been a couple other comic books issues including Halo: Uprising, Halo: Helljumper and Halo: Bloodline.

God of War is a 6 issue limited series from Wildstorm and is scripted by long time comic writer Marv Wolfman. Not that I pick up everything he does, but since reading Teen Titans in the 80s, I take a look at titles that have his name attached to them. In the first issue of this series, we look back into the early life of Kratos. As a newly trained Spartan warrior, Kratos' wife gives birth to a deformed baby which must be put to death to conform with Spartan law. But Kratos being who he is, finds out that there is a cure that the gods have which will cure his daughter. But without any inkling to Kratos, each god has selected a mortal who is in need of the cure, and only one will win the prize.

Dragon Age is an interesting comic since it is written by science fiction author Orson Scott Card. Published by IDW Comics, this story tells of a young mage named Veness who falls for templar named Sadatt. Those who have played the game know that templars are meant to keep mages in line. And if necessary, hunt and kill rogue magic users who use the taboo practice of blood magic. Though set in the Dragon Age world, this story could be picked up and enjoyed by any fantasy fan. Though I only have read the first issue, I like the game enough and the story could be interesting enough to get the rest of the series.

Mass Effect: Redemption is written by Mac Walters and John Jackson Miller. What makes this interesting is the Mac Walters was the lead writer on the Mass Effect 2 video game. While the other comics I talk about here are set in or use characters from their games without any real reference to specific game events, this comic is actually a prequel to the events you play in Mass Effect 2. With a mention made in the game to the events chronicled in this comic series, it's a real insiders fanboy glimpse into the Mass Effect world.

There are many other examples of video game material being turned into comics. Gears of War and the online world Free Realms are published by Wildstorm along with Starcraft and Dante's Inferno. Some are better than other of course, but all should be considered for purchase by a public library. Video games are hugely popular, and there are tons of teenagers who spend tons of their time playing these games. So by having this type of materials on hand for them to read after school, maybe a teenager will actually pick up a book and read something they're interested in for a hour or so.

Comics for the week of April 7, 2010

Thick week. I have to cut back a little...

Tales of the Dragon Guard #2
Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #6
Gotham City Sirens #10
Dragon Age #1
Madame Xanadu #21
X-Men Second Coming #1
Wolverine: Origins #46
Mass Effect: Redemption #4
Wonder Woman #42
Orc Stain #2
Dark Wolverine #84
Sweet Tooth #8
Uncanny X-Men #523
G.I. Joe: Cobra II #3
Ultimate Comics X #2
Batman and Robin #11
Shuddertown #1

Review - Mercy Thompson: Homecoming

Mercy Thompson: Homecoming
Written by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence
Art by Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo
Dabel Brothers

There is a new genre we have added within the last year to our catalog to reflect a trend in new books. If you look up Paranormal Romance in our catalog, you'll see a couple hundred titles. From the uber popular Twilight series, to the Sookie Stackhouse books, people seem to love reading about humans getting it on with vampires, werewolves, demons, zombies, or whatever goes bump in the night.

And with this popularity, many of the successful series get turned into graphic novels. We have at the library a couple Anita Blake graphic novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Also the Jim Butcher Dresden books have a comic book adaption. But one appeared on my desk that must have been a donation.

Patricia Briggs writes about werewolves. Her main character is named Mercy Thompson, who is not a werewolf, but she is not completely human either. She is a walker, which is a being that has the ability to change into coyote. Mercy is in the Tri-Cities area to interview for a teaching position at the high school, but is rejected. However, when an attack by a rogue pack of werewolves wrecks her car, she finds that the garage where her car is being fixed could use some help. The garage is run by Zee, a Fae, and his son Tad. It seems the garage also repairs cars driven by vampires, so the whole gallery of mystical beings seem to live in this world. Eventually getting hired at the garage, Mercy seems to be starting a new chapter in her life.

I thought this book was pretty good. Not great, but not completely terrible. It was an introductory story where we get to meet all the players in the world of Mercy Thompson. We learn what their other-worldly manifestations of the characters, and discover some of the peculiar traditions of the different paranormal/undead societies in the course of this book.

In the middle of the story there was a change in artists, so the flow is interrupted slightly halfway through. I found the art to be pretty interesting. The first artist, Francis Tsai, has a cleaner style. His style is more subdued than Amelia Woo, who did the art for the last half of the book. Amelia's style is a little rougher and more kinetic feel, which I think makes for a better fit with the story.

As far as this book goes, I would add it to any Young Adult graphic novel collection. I would hesitate to recommend it to people under 14 due to some violence and nudity. But it is relatively mild and should suitable most teens.

Review - Cat Burglar Black

Cat Burglar Black
by Richard Sala
First Second

I was hesitant to pick this book up for the library. Being a bad librarian and just judging a book by its cover, I wasn't captured by the image of a young girl with white hair and a black mask caught in a searchlight. But after reading several positive reviews, I added it to last months book order. And I'm glad that I did.

Cat Burglar Black is about a young lady named Katherine Westree, but she prefers to go by the initial K. The story starts with K entering a new school, which turns out to be a front for a secret organization of thieves called "The Obtainers". We find out that K, since here parents disappeared when she was very young, was placed in an orphanage where she along with the other children were trained to be pickpockets and thieves. At her new school, K meets three other girls who who also are trained thieves. K and the others are eventually told that there is a pirate treasure and that they must break into houses in the area to acquire three portraits of the schools founder Anodyne Quinn. These portraits are clues to the hidden treasure and are guarded by very eccentric keepers.

I found this book to be a charming mix of a Nancy Drew style mystery with an Edward Gory vibe. The old house where the school is held and the unique, almost Dickensian, characters are sure to keep sleuthful minds interested. The art work grew on me. Initially the designs I thought were a little crude, but for the story and it's intended audience, the drawing style fit very well. The story flows along at a good pace. There are creepy moments and times of high suspense. But there is also heartfelt, touching touches. Especially when K is thinking about her parents.

This book is definitely worth adding to any library collection. And looking in the California Catalog, it looks like many libraries have already added this to their stacks. I would recommend this to any tween, bus especially a girl, who is looking for a Lemony Snicket, Nancy Drew type story.