11.07.2015

 

Saga vol.3


by Brian Vaughan & Fiona Staples, 144 pgs, paperback
Series: Saga vol. 3
Overall Grade: B+

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 10:34 AM

10.10.2015

 

The Emerald City of Oz

original author: L. Frank Baum, writer: Eric Shanower, artist: Skottie Young, 120 pgs, hardcover 
Series: adapted from 'The Emerald City of Oz' book 6 in the Land of Oz series
Overall Grade: B

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 10:37 AM

5.31.2015

 

Saga vol.2

written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples, ~144 pgs, softcover
Series: Saga vol.2
Overall Grade: A-

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 3:13 PM

10.26.2013

 

The Search Parts 1 & 2

authors: Gene Luen Yang, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
editor:  Dave Marshall 
artist: Bryan Gurihiru
~80pgs each, paperback
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Overall Grade: A

Set shortly after the events of 'The Promise', Aang, Katara and Sokka travel to the Fire Nation and join Zuko and his sister, Azula, in the search either find Zuko's mother or find out what happened to her. With liberal use of flashbacks, we learn about Ursa's past and Zuko's early life. I am gratified with the relevations so far - they explain much about why Ozai treated Zuko the way he did. I also admire the way Azula's mental troubles are presented. Yes, she's still a nasty piece of work to everyone around her, with her hallucinations apparently getting worse. But despite their inclinations, the main characters don't react with violence when she's obviously unhinged. I eagerly await the final installment in November.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:49 PM
 

The Promise

written by Gene Luen Yang, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino; 
art by  Bryan Gurihiru; ~240 pgs, paperback
Parent Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Overall Grade: B

Originally released in 3 parts but now available in one collected volume.
Set a few years after the end of the cartoon, Aang, Katara and Sokka are still travelling the world helping ease the transition back to peace. Toph is off running a metal-bending academy. The conflict about how to handle the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom (some of which have been there for generations) places Aang and company squarely in the middle of their two friends, the Earth King, and Fire Lord Zuko, and builds to an inflamatory brink.
I'm recommend this to fans of the animated series, but there's not much stellar about it. Frankly, Aang and Katara being lovey-dovey and calling each other 'sweetie' gets old almost immediately. But we do see the seeds of how Republic City came to be, as well as the Air Nomad culture enthusiasts seen in 'Legend of Korra' came from.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:30 PM

9.25.2013

 

Saga vol.1

written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples, ~160 pgs, softcover
Series: Saga vol.1
Overall Grade: A

Definitely not a young-adult graphic novel (due to plentiful gore and sex). Narrated from the future by their daughter, the story begins literally at her birth. Her parents are soldiers from two different warring humanoid races (species?) who fell in love and ran away. Pursued by armies, bounty hunters, and weird tv-headed robotic royalty, Marko and Alana are struggling just to keep themselves and their newborn daughter alive and find a way off the planet.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:21 AM

5.22.2013

 

The Death-Ray

by Daniel Clowes, 41pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: C

Grown-up Andy tells us the story of his teenage years when he was living with his grandparents, both his parents are dead and he has only one friend. When he discovers that he has superpowers under certain conditions. When he built a death-ray that only works for him.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:44 AM

4.14.2013

 

Soulless vol.2

story original by Gail Carriger, art by REM, 242 pgs, paperback
Series: adapted from The Parasol Protectorate book 2
Overall Grade: A


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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:09 AM

3.23.2012

 

Soulless


author: Gail Carriger, artists: REM, 228pgs, paperback
Series: The Parasol Protectorate book #1
Overall Grade: A-

This graphic novel adaptation had me in giggling fits. As much as I like my own versions of the characters from my imagination (Alexia a bit plumper and more Italian, Lord Maccon more Scottish, cutting a more imposing character & with facial hair, Lord Akeldama a touch more masculine and French, Tunstell a more solid, rugby-player type of guy), still it was nice to see everyone, and Ivy's hats!

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:28 PM

2.17.2012

 

Habibi


by Craig Thompson, 665 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B

Habibi is hard to classify. It takes place in the present (or close to it), but feels like it's in the past because the characters are isolated and/or on the margins of society. It follows two characters who escape from slavery together, one as a young girl and the other as a baby. Dodola raises Zam in a boat trapped in the middle of a desert. Once Zam is a teen, Dodola is abducted by a caravan and taken into a harem, and Zam begins his journey to be reunited with her.
Not a tale for the faint-hearted (many bad things happen to both Dodola and Zam, in addition to the frequent nudity and sexual encounters), 'Habibi' is a journey of two characters apart and together, longing for what they've lost. The settings run from a ship in the desert and a harem to a half-constructed skyscaper and an enclave of eunuchs, as well as the depictions of religious stories from Hebrew, Christian and Muslim faiths. There is also a gorgeous amount of art relating to Arabic writing throughout.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:35 AM

7.28.2011

 

Will Supervillains Be On the Final?


author: Naomi Novik, illustrator: Yishan Li
Series: Liberty Vocational vol. 1
Overall Grade: A+

So I was browsing the manga section when Naomi Novik's name leapt out and grabbed me. She's the author of my beloved 'Temeraire' series. But this was much different from dragons and historical fiction, this is a graphic novel about a superhero college!
Leah Taymore is a sixteen-year-old, gifted with a powerful superpower, who is starting college early. This first volume mostly revolves about Leah's embarassing experiences and her developing relationships with several of her classmates, her empathic roommate Yuzana, her troubled reluctant-hero crush Paul Lyman, and Jeremy Blake.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 4:00 AM

11.18.2010

 

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, paperback 248pgs
Overall Grade: B+
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.6

A pretty decent ending to the Scott Pilgrim series, sequel to 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe'. Scott fights the final evil ex, if reluctantly. Maybe it's just because I had to wait so long after reading the first five for this one to be published that it didn't have as much of an impact.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:52 AM

8.31.2009

 

Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe [vol5]


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, 179pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: B
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.5

This picture does not do justice to the shiny that is this cover!
Also, this is not the last volume... I await #6!

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:14 AM
 

Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together [vol4]


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, 205pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A-
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.4

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:11 AM
 

Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness [vol3]


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, 192pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: B+
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.3

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:08 AM

8.10.2009

 

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World vol. 2


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, 200 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.2

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 7:30 PM

7.27.2009

 

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life [vol. 1]


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, 168pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.1

It's sorta like manga, except American... wait, Canadian. Like when white people get their hands on something amusingly Asian and twist it to their own ways - except this time it works.
This is what American's amusingly call a graphic novel. Anyway, the story focuses on one Scott Pilgrim, a 23-year-old without a job. He lives in Toronto, plays bass in a band and starts off dating a high-school-girl. I don't want to ruin the hilarity of reading this, but let's just say Scott soon becomes obsessed with Ramona Flowers, a roller-blading delivery girl who moved there from New York.
Yes, this moves fast, but O'Malley does a commendable job planting the plot seeds as fast as he reaps them. I am avidly awaiting my requests of the next volumes coming into my library.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 11:59 PM

11.28.2007

 

The Five Fists of Science

by Matt Fraction & Steven Sanders, 112pgs, graphic novel
Overall Grade: A

Terrific! Amazing! Hilarious! Yah!
'The Five Fists of Science' is all those and more!
So I found out a while ago that a genre I like has a name; steampunk. Thus I went in search of steampunk literature (thank you Wikipedia). This was near the top of said list and it was conveniently a graphic novel -because college students can read a whole novel oh-so-quick. Anyway, the premise of the story is that Mark Twain teams up with Nikola Tesla to end war once and for all with a combination of Twain's notority and Tesla's inventions. Basically create arms so destructive that all the major countries must have one, but would never want to use it (anyone with a modicum of history will find this a laughable solution.) But continuing, in opposition is a cabal of tycoons and scientists (Morgan, Carnegie, Marconi and Edison) who for dark and nefarious reasons don't want that plan to work. Delicious steampunk ensues!

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:15 AM

12.27.2004

 

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume II

by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, 224 pgs, hardcover
Amazon site
Overall Grade: A-
Series: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Egads, I guess this is really a graphic novel instead of a book because it's basically a bunch of comic books stuck together, but still stupendous. I think I find this series so enjoyable because it has literary allusions all over the place. Though I do have to admit that this one was disturbingly graphic in other ways that it need not have been since it made no difference to the plot. But the premise, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in its current form is a group of five characters assembled from Victorian literature by the British government to stop bad things from happening to England. This time the bad thing is the Martians from 'The War of the Worlds'. Its quite ingenious how Moore & O'Neill coordinate so much literature into how their stories unfold. Plus, the 'New Traveler's Almanac' in the back is amusing to no end. I mean really, how can a work that references 'The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek' not be on my A-list?

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:55 PM

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