Adam

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-I didn't love this as much as [b:Wolverine: Old Man Logan 6238080 Wolverine Old Man Logan Mark Millar https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347582885s/6238080.jpg 6420803], but that set a pretty high bar. This was still great, but it's different. Clint is fighting old demons and I think the back story here will run a little deeper. We see a man confronting his mortality and it's very much about trying to finishing something started a long time ago. There are several characters introduced that I won't spoil, but especially near the end this started to ramp up in the best way. I look forward to reading the next installment of this title to see where it's going. Bullseye makes an interesting foil, but in this book he's waaaaaaaay unhinged and it's pretty compelling.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

I received an ARC from Graphix at c2e2 this year thanks to the ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table.

This was a silly book about friendships, video games, making choices that have consequences and growing up just a little. The art here works really well for the story being told and I appreciated that poor life choices were reflected as hurting friendships and relationships around us. There was some nice subtle work being done for parents here.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge- (Sorry, I've been away for spring break with the kid and cleaning up reviews I didn't finish.) I received an ARC from DC Ink at c2e2 this year thanks to the ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table. Publishers were kind to us librarians and I was excited to see this because I've been seeing a lot of buzz around the new DC imprint. As a parent and librarian I'm always glad for new entry points for interested readers, especially when they are trying to do something a little different. This was a pretty solid introduction to Mera as a character and it certainly feels well suited for middle grade or YA readers. The art by [a:Stephen Bryne 18116507 Stephen Bryne https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] was the star of this show. The color pallet was rather muted sea foam colors with the exception of Mera's red hair. There was something really nice about the layout and approach for this book. The content was a completely serviceable introduction to the character and her backstory. My hang up is she meets Arthur and falls in love with him in like 2 days. I'm fine with "destined lovers", but the Disney approach of love this fast is disappointing considering the audience and it's 2019. This isn't an overly sexualized character either in design or story telling, and that's appreciated. I'll be recommending this for younger readers looking for something a little different stylistically or any young women trying to find something for them after Captain Marvel brought them into the fold.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-(I'm behind on several reviews for books I finished at the tail end of March, so there will be a couple coming quickly.) - This was great btw. I like a lot of what Lemire did in this book story wise and the art was fan-freakin-tastic. I had been reading Green Arrow as individual issues during Blackest Night/Brightest Day era and really enjoyed what was happening during [b:Green Arrow: Into the Woods 9695203 Green Arrow Into the Woods J.T. Krul https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320565698s/9695203.jpg 14583342][b:Green Arrow: Into the Woods 9695203 Green Arrow Into the Woods J.T. Krul https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320565698s/9695203.jpg 14583342]. I liked the art during that series and it was an old, grown up Ollie that I was interest in. I wasn't a regular subscriber by the time Lemire took over and this DC Essential collection was great for me trying to catch up on young Ollie and this story arc. I won't rehash the war mentioned in the title other than to say it was for more satisfying that I thought it would be. There is a HUGE reveal in this book that I'm still on the fence about, but for storytelling purposes it was a great bombshell. The characters surrounding GA in this book may, arguably, be more interesting the the man himself, but that really only strengthens the overall tone of this book. - totally recommend, really glad I was able to get my hands on it.

audiobook “re-read” July 23 - the audiobook really reshaped how I thought about some of the characters, but neither in a good or bad way. Book 1 is still my favorite in the series.
re-read Sept 2020 - still great, took too long a gap between this and the 2nd/3rd book. Amazing series and well worth the time

This is the best book I've read in some time. I could. not. put. it. down.
The characters all feel individual and fully realized, the story is interesting and layered, and the pace is perfect. You get to know the characters through the eyes of a girl who has trust issues and no people skills, yet they all slowly reveal themselves and their natures in a supremely satisfying way.

This is also the best YA book I've ever read. (I know it's not a YA book, hear me out):
1) there is a “Chosen one” character/theme
2) protagonist is a young woman who is inherently great at combat
3) she's in a private school setting (a convent in this case) making friends/frienemies
4) there is a magic system that the kids have to grow into and develop their talents by overcoming obstacles and antagonists.
5) she can't see her own value, but is a diamond in the rough

Right? There is no love triangle, but that really helped in this case as it let the younger girls be younger and deal with all the other world shaking stuff the author threw at them.

I get that there are other weird stories out in the world about nuns with powers or training assassins, etc, but this was my first foray in to a world like that and everything about it worked for me. I am extremely excited there is more in this series and I have already borrowed book 2 from the library because this book (non-spoiler spoiler) doesn't end gently.

If you'll excuse me I have to see what the Sisters of Sweet Mercy convent are doing right the hell now.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

This volume wasn't as much fun or quite as startling as the first one. It certainly tried to be exciting and throw us a couple twists, but the didn't land as well. I think the bigger problem I had was this was kind of a slow crawl towards whatever is supposed to be happening. The circle of protagonists gets a little bigger in this volume and there are more complications, but it still felt too long.

The art in this book is generally great. It's detailed, it's got an energy that helps move everything along, etc. I will say that I thought the character of Sister Krone is depicted in a borderline offensive manner. Everything is just over the top and pushes towards stereotyped. It's pretty far removed from me personally, but it raised an eyebrow.

Certainly picking up the next book as I'm hoping that the next “chapter” of the story propels us forward more than this one did. It's fine that they are building dramatic tension, but we need some kind of pay off.

This book was tough because it gets in the way of its own success. Yes, a graphic novel would be a great format for a biography of someone like Hawking: trying to understand his world and mind is a big task and this medium should help make it more accessible. At the same time I found the actual visuals of this book unpleasant and a little unpolished. The text tended to be contained in over-sized white spaces and many speech bubbles were much larger than the content required. I also had a some trouble following some of the science, but I don't think that was prohibitive to following the story.

Received an advance copy from First Second and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a gory, trippy book and it's pretty good. The Winter family produces a hallucinogenic drug made of human ashes that's all the rage in New Orleans. The story picks up with outside influences coming in trying to take over the market and the family struggling with supply and demand. The family dynamic was laid out nicely. You learn a little about everyone, slowly building to the big climax/cliff hanger at the end and how it affects them all.

Cullen Bunn does a couple interesting things in this book that made it work for me, even though this isn't really my style. There are different motivating factors for each of the Winter family members. There isn't really anyone you're rooting for as it's all about drug dealers, but there is a humanity to them that makes at least a few sympathetic. I don't read a lot of horror type comics, but this might be an exception. I know I'll check out Vol 2 as the end on this left me very interested in what comes next.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and BOOM! Studios in exchange for an honest review

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

The Super Pets show up and get a whole issue of their own here. If I were younger, that might have been a selling point. I am not, so I'll say that the following issue with Talia Al Ghul was good enough to help me move on and still really enjoy this book.

I know I mentioned this is a fun series before, but I should also mention that it still has stakes. They may be slightly different than in other titles as they are more specific to these kids. Family dynamics play a big part here and that's not unique, but the tone is and that's not bad. It's also a nice change of pace as it's not all doom and gloom here. Banter is underrated and Damien is a really funny character to poke at with any Kent.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

Ok, this one is ‘shame on me' for not realizing I started the wrong volume and read this and the last one out of order. FWIW, it had no effect on the overall story being told of Jonathan and Damien as this was a story line of its own. To reiterate, “The Batman of Tomorrow travels to the present to prevent a cataclysmic disaster before it happens, revealing that Superboy will soon be responsible for the deaths of millions.” The thing I would point out is “this crossover event is a must-have for Superman, Super Sons and Teen Titans fans alike! Collects SUPER SONS #11-12, SUPERMAN #37-38 and TEEN TITANS #15.”
I would argue that it's not actually a “must-have” for literally any of those groups. If you hadn't read this you wouldn't miss anything for any of those titles. I don't know where this Tim Drake Batman came from and I really don't care. This is some of the over-sized nonsense DC does with crossovers that really ruins the continuity of ongoing titles. Their “events” usually aren't all that satisfying and, again, only serve to interrupt the titles I had been enjoying.
Is isn't a must-have, it's at best an ok read.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

This book starts out just fine plot wise, if it's not a little slow going. The pace never really improves and you could have carved 75-100 pages out of this and not missed anything. I know I say this a lot during the YA Reading Challenge, but I am not the intended audience for this book and it was pretty difficult to finish. There is A METRIC TON of YA tropes at work here!


Sarah J Maas is, for me, officially “queen of ya shortcuts” and I'd like to thank “The YA Bookshelf” for providing the following checklist to see if yourself are a YA protagonist:
You're probably a YA protagonist if...

-You're female. (Sorry guys – you're probably a complicated love interest.)
-All the adults in your life are useless, cryptic and/or evil.
-You survived three life threatening situations before breakfast.
-You can go a whole day-long battle without needing the bathroom once.
-One of the guys in your love triangle is frequently and inexplicably shirtless.
-People are obsessed with your blood.
-Your eyes flash, and no one finds this disturbing.
-Your week starts with vampires and ends with a war against the System.
-Your school offers magic classes but never teaches you to read and write.
-You frequently wake up in a daze.
-You've discovered you're actually half-human, half-mythological creature and are taking it in your stride.
-A Resistance made you their leader, no experience necessary.
-A disembodied voice describes your (green) eye colour whenever you look in a mirror.
-You just released a breath you didn't even know you were holding.
-There's always someone around to heal your otherwise life threatening wounds. You may or may not remember you have scars.
-You have so many decisions. Life or death. Freedom or control. This handsome guy or that handsome guy.
-Your life is segmented perfectly into a trilogy.

OTHER STAND OUT TROPES IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
Protagonist as outsider, The protagonist is typically a teenager, “The Chosen One” protagonist, White, able-bodied, straight protagonists, Starting a rebellion and overthrowing the government, Dead, absent or estranged relatives of the protagonist, The Love Triangle, Unqualified Protagonist Succeeding Above Overly Qualified Supporting Characters, Biting Lip Syndrome: Overly Simple Characterization, The Love Triangle, The Gullible Martyr, The Unambiguously Bad Bad Guy...

CLEAN SWEEP YA'LL! TROPES CONQUERED, ARGUABLY ‘HAPPY' ENDING ENSUES, DEAR GOD SHE WROTE 2 AND 1/2 MORE OF THESE! stay away.......

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-There really isn't a lot to say about this title in the best way possible. The premise of these two characters teaming up will either sell you on the book or it won't andthat's just fine. Not every book has to be for everyone, but this has all the potential to be. This is a fun book, [a:Peter J. Tomasi 171132 Peter J. Tomasi https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1389368849p2/171132.jpg] is great at this kind of teammate storytelling. The art switches up a couple times, which is mildly distracting, but doesn't hurt the overall experience. [a:Dustin Nguyen 306735 Dustin Nguyen https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1305954729p2/306735.jpg] variant cover gallery in the back of this is the icing on the cake. Look, this ain't a Grant Morrison mind-melter or some high minded Alan Moore morality play. This is an easily accessible, all-ages book that's a good jumping on point for new comic readers and plenty of straightforward joy for those of us jaded old readers.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-I read [b:One-Punch Man, Vol. 1 25783832 One-Punch Man, Vol. 1 ONE https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435109815s/25783832.jpg 24732221] by [a:ONE 7020317 ONE https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1447926200p2/7020317.jpg] and I really enjoyed it. Like, immediately binged as much of the series as I could get my hands on and am still currently invested it in. - When I was given a copy of this book (thank you Alisha) I was optimistic as I had a lot of faith in the author... I have mixed feelings at this point. The art was the supreme disappointment in this book. [a:Yusuke Murata 386922 Yusuke Murata https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1447926522p2/386922.jpg] absolutely ruined me for reading a manga like this. The standard set in O.P.M. was high and all the weird, sweating people in this book were really distracting. It wasn't just less dynamic art, it was bad quality. Lots of sweating, vague/featureless people, minimal panels... it all felt like a let down. The plot and story are fine, but again, this book didn't grab me the same way and I found myself really distracted as such. I wholeheartedly contend that you should judge an author's work individually and let each book/series speak for itself. That said while this might have had a lot of the funny, playful tone of O.P.M., it also doesn't have the same relationship dynamics. The characters are more stilted here? I think that's what I'm trying to say. I'll likely read Book 2 at some point as a lot of people seem to enjoy this series and I want to give it a chance, but first I have to wash the taste of this art out of my mouth.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-This book was a nice change of pace after several things I really had to grind through. The elevator pitch is “What if near the end of the American Civil War there was a zombie outbreak? The hero is a young black girl who is sent to a ‘combat school' where she learns to fight/kill... we'll call them Shamblers, so she can one day be a personal aid and protect a wealthy person.” This could have been really problematic for all the obvious reasons, but I thought [a:Justina Ireland 5833089 Justina Ireland https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] did a nice job sidestepping the places controversy could have been waiting. I enjoyed the pace of this story and the turns this took. There are some nicely fleshed out characters that really inform the story and there are only a few loose stereotype characters to fill in the corners. I haven't really come across a lot like this for YA readers (in my admittedly limited research), so this stands out as something that's easy to recall and recommend if you're looking for something along the lines of historical revision fiction. I saw a couple reviews complaining that there wasn't a lot of action or a lot going on, but considering the audience and the story being told I don't believe that. This is a different book that does a good job with representation and I thought it took a familiar idea (insert zombies into anything) and turned it just enough towards real events to create a believable world.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

There is a lot to love about Damien acting very grown up and important next to Jon trying to be as normal a 10 year old as possible when Superman is your dad. This book is fun and that's getting rarer all the time in comics. More impressively, it also manages to actually show a growing relationship between the 2 super sons that is a pretty close mirror to what their fathers went through learning to trust one another.

That's really all you need to say about this one: it's a fun take on 2 characters who really have a lot to offer each other and it is entertaining the whole time. It's not a totally flawless book plot wise, but I DON'T CARE, you just get to enjoy this and the wholesomeness of Jonathan Kent next to the angry brooding of Damien Wayne. Looking forward to more of this title.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

FWIW I'm not going to say anything about this book that hasn't already been said. Like most of the other reviews I just skimmed to see if I'm alone (I'm not), I felt: 1) Bryan Lee O'Malley disappointed with this after how much I enjoyed his other work. 2) Leslie Hung's art is great and feels like the one redeeming quality here. 3) The character(s) are so unlikable that it's mind boggling.

I don't know who this was for. I picked it up during the YA Reading Challenge, but I can't imagine tweens or teens enjoying this. It everything about this felt like:



This apparently only came out 2 years ago (Feb 2017), but it already feels Jean-Ralphio Voice Dated as heeeeeeellllllll!

Main character is a super vapid fashion blogger. Like, that's it! That's the big gimmick/hook for this book, pretend fancy lady without soul has allergies. -How that isn't turning away every potential reader is beyond me, yet here we are.

There wasn't a huge mystery here (even if the book thinks there is) and it feels like the title thinks it's smarter than it really is. It's a very self-important book full of self-important people.

Also, THIS PIECE OF SH*T IS SOMEHOW STILL AN ONGOING TITLE?! Image Comics really needs to tell me how many of these they are selling (I believe this is a bi-monthly title), where this is actually popular and what the demographic is buying it.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

Woof.
Ok, short version: re-imagining of the Peter Pan origin story. Peter and some other orphan boys find themselves sold to a rickety old ship bound for a made up place. Boat's bad, sailors are worse, boys treated badly, yadda yadda yadda: commence hero's journey type trials. (So far, I'm in)

“Black Stache” is introduced as maybe the worst pirate name ever. I get that he doesn't have the hook yet, so we can't call him Captain Hook yet, but really? like, really? Set up as a really terrible human and great villain we're off!

Then the book gets interminably slow. Most “chapters” in this book range from 3 pages to like 6. Some are slightly longer, but we wind up pinball-ing around with basically 3 different character sets throughout much of the book and it really hurts the pace.

I understand I'm not the intended audience here. I get it. I also read this specifically to better familiarize myself with YA/JUV fiction. This just got really hard for me to grind through. I couldn't understand why we weren't given a little more time with some of these groups or some of this wasn't better edited down. There was plenty of exposition for exposition sake and it never really helped the story. By the end, which wasn't a surprise to anyone who's familiar with the original story line, I wasn't really invested in anyone outside of one friendly old sailor.
–Those are bad odds considering how many characters were introduced to us.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

For the love of B-list characters, what did I just read? Did Jeff Lemire really write this? Did he and the art staff draw the short straws and decide it was time to into tank-mode so that this books would shrivel up and die and they wouldn't have to work on it anymore?

Mr. Terrific was completely unlikable and I saw no reason for him to be in this story. Like, he did basically nothing and I cannot imaging this would have been any different without him here. There was a character here called “Phantom Girl” (she was new to me) who could have provided some pathos for this story, but was pretty 1-dimensional (pun intended as we crossed into at least 1 other dimension in this dumb book.) Metamorpho the unexplained-bad-drawing was also a weird stereotype I couldn't quite pin down for a muscle-y block headed tough guy type with an implied accent I couldn't place either. Then Plastic Man, who is usually a character I enjoy a lot, was largely under utilized.

Like I don't know what this was supposed to be. A wise man compared this to DC trying to create a Fantastic Four analog, (you should read Chad's review of this one, he articulates this well) and I can certainly see the similarities without any of the charm, warmth, humanity, etc, etc, etc....

This isn't the worst thing I've ever read, but it really confounded me. I don't recommend it.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

I had held off reading some Spider-Man related titles until now as I knew they would be great for our yearly YA Reading challenge. I was going to start with Spider-Gwen vol 1, but saw on the first 2 pages that they referred me back to this title for character introduction. So... here we are.

This was a lot of fun and I am for sure going to read more of the Spider-Verse run. I saw the movie and loved it. Like, absolutely would go back for multiple viewings loved it. That covered a lot of the ground that was in this book. While I can freely and in good conscious recommend this book for Spider-Fans, if you want to know something about this story GO SEE SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE! It's not spoilery at this point as so much of the story is now in both the movie trailer and like a dozen different comics and cross-overs, but there are multiple Spider-Men/Women/Animals and they are being hunted. They choose to band together to save themselves and stop whatever it is that's coming after them.

Again, this book should be an easy sell for anyone who enjoys a good Spider-Tale. The artist change with every knew story and Spider-Hero introduced and it really does help with both tone pace. I was impressed and look forward to the rest of this series.

-Read for 2019 YA Reading Challenge-

I skipped S-G Vol 0 for two reasons: 1) I didn't realize it existed when I started this, 2) reviews made it sound like I wasn't missing anything by not reading it so I didn't stop this to pick it up.

THAT BEING SAID: This was pretty good and I totally get the popularity with today's youths. “How do you do, fellow kids?” It's an interesting parallel universe situation in the ever-popular Spider-Man universe (or Spider-verse if you will.) Representation matters, so I understand how a young, female spider-hero holds a lot of appeal. Gwen Stacy being a character a lot of Spider-Man fans have a frame of reference for doesn't hurt this one either. This is a great “what if” story that takes Peter Parker out of the equation, but still leaves the family tension and drama of a young person with that much power trying to do the right thing when they aren't always sure what it is.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this for a YA audience and will likely seek out more in this series for myself at some point. This wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, but it was certainly entertaining and interesting.

This dumb series is so good. I can't keep track of everything in the best way possible. My desk looks like the movie “A Beautiful Mind” as I try and tie all these story threads and characters together. I couldn't recap this for you all with a gun to my head, but when I read it and people/ideas resurface that we haven't seen like 2 Volumes everything comes back together in these giant AHA! moments.

I don't know that this series is for everyone as it could easily be frustrating trying to keep track of all these timelines and side characters, but it totally works for me. Brian K. Vaughan remains one of my favorite writers as I can never get ahead of him. He's always surprising me and keeping me turning pages as quickly as possible.

This was great! I don't know if I'm going to keep going with this series!
Ok, this took me an exceptionally long time to get through because I set it down several times. It wasn't badly written or boring, in fact I enjoyed the pace more than I had the first book. More of the problem here for me was how the author set up the conflict within the story lines about the politics of the country and then all the dark magic that was happening behind the scenes. It was like 2 different stories competing for your attention.

The ending of this one was also anti-climactic (until a HUGE reveal in the last few pages) because after all the build up of the first 2 book there was no way this was the end of the fight or the political intrigue. Also, there is a literal battle at the end of this book that was so underwhelming after all the other battles we've read that it really tipped the author's hand that there's more to come.

There is a lot to enjoy both in terms of the “magic” system here and the unanswered questions around it, but this story is so big and so dense that I'm not sure it's going to be all that fun to wade through. There is a ton of story left to go and it's not like I can't see the potential and begin to imagine where all this could go, it's more like “do I have the energy to last through it?” Sometimes this book was just about politicians arguing with one-another and while I understand what that meant to this story, it reminded me that in the last book there were long stretches of monotony in the desert with the army just wandering around doing chores. These are too big for that kind of non-sense.

I'm currently conflicted on what to do with this series. As great as it is, a little more aggressive editing could really elevate it and convince me that it's worth the page count.

I'm not going to unpack this whole volume, I'll just say that this is another collection of tales about the brutal life of an Edo-Period executioner and the morality of the time. That's the part that fascinates me about these books. They are harder to read than Lone Wolf and Cub, but the ideas of honor and personal code are just as deep and important here. The complex social hierarchy, the personal codes, the value of human life, all of these intricate lanes to navigate while circling back to the heart of these stories and a man whose profession is to end lives.

The art won't be for everyone. The brutality certainly won't be for everyone, but the historical and culture exploration can be really intriguing.

So [a:Kazuo Koike 28463 Kazuo Koike https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1318221100p2/28463.jpg] and [a:Goseki Kojima 28462 Goseki Kojima https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422786914p2/28462.jpg] created this world that I really enjoy reading. Koike did exhaustive research on Edo-Period Japan and wrote books that try to recreate that time. There is a disclaimer at the beginning of all of these types of books he wrote that tell the reader “To preserve the flavor of the work, we have chosen to retain many Edo-Period terms that have no direct equivalents in English.” Which is to say that there is a lot of attention paid to the detail and the creators are truly invested in this work. This story will not be for everyone as it is both violent and graphic. These books were written in a different time about a different time. They have the same intensity and beautiful illustrations as the [b:Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibus 1 17131962 Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibus 1 Kazuo Koike https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1363840778s/17131962.jpg 3063096] series, but feature a lot darker (if possible) story lines. It's about criminals and their executioner and that's really all there is to know. People WILL get beheaded in this book. Men will assault women. People will kill other people. It's dark and brutal and somehow amazing story telling all at the same time. I read it online and the formatting moved it one panel at a time and I think it's a great way to read these and it slowly reveals the art allowing it to build as Kojima often illustrates in a gradual manner. I enjoy these for how different and how powerful they are, but be warned these are not your average graphic novels.

Ugh.
The idea behind this comic is fine. The premise might even be enjoyable if you didn't come into this with any expectations. Because this was called “Lone Wolf” and took it's inspiration from Lone Wolf and Cub I hoped it would be better than this. I really liked the original series and it had some pretty dramatic story telling. This carried almost none of the emotional weight of the story telling that one did. The similarities stopped after “guy with child fights other guys”.