Adam
3.5 stars if that was a thing.
I actually had pretty low expectations for this book and was surprised at how much I liked it. Does it have some issues: Yes. Are they prohibitive to enjoying the overall story: No.
There are some YA Heroine tropes here that I could have lived without, but I FULLY expected them going into this book and that helped shape my reading. The fantasy elements of this book were stronger than I expected, which kept me reading. This was also a pretty quick-paced book, so I got through it a lot faster than I expected.
Overall this was a surprise for me and I think I'm intrigued enough to come back and read more in this series. I know I'm not the target demographic, so it's not going to wholly win me over, but as a fantasy fan I am interested in how the magic system will develop in the rest of the series and how the politics will sort themselves out. -Worth checking out if you're on the fence!
This was a very interesting story. I'm really looking forward to reading the next part to see what all crazy magick is going to wrap this story up. Witches, cops, demons (I think) plenty of psychological drama... there's a lot going on.
I appreciated the art: it was unique and incredible detailed, color was used to brilliant effect and it was very engrossing. I also like how Rucka is slowly doling out the details and really building towards something big. It's a very enjoyable comic, but trends told an older or more mature audience (thank you Image Comics for letting artists do their thing and bring us bold stories and art.)
Still a pretty good story, maybe not quite as gripping as the fist volume. At this point I'm curious where the story itself is heading as it's building towards either a familial fallout or simply chaos in the kingdom. I'll be back for the next installment, but maybe not with the same excitement I showed up for with this one.
I see why this book gets the love it does from those who've found it. There is an interesting subtlety to the writing. It draws you in, but at a slow enough pace for the story to build with some suspense. The art is reminiscent of [b:Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars 25546167 Descender, Vol. 1 Tin Stars Jeff Lemire https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435054237s/25546167.jpg 45338966] or [b:Royal City, Vol. 1: Next of Kin 34975030 Royal City, Vol. 1 Next of Kin Jeff Lemire https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498915534s/34975030.jpg 56251682] with it's soft water colors over loose line characters. The writing also has some tinges of [a:Jeff Lemire 543719 Jeff Lemire https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1300396580p2/543719.jpg] or [a:Jason Aaron 580494 Jason Aaron https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1528539067p2/580494.jpg], specifically [b:Southern Bastards, Vol. 1: Here Was a Man 22358444 Southern Bastards, Vol. 1 Here Was a Man Jason Aaron https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467375064s/22358444.jpg 41765472]. I don't often use comparisons in reviews like this, but this was comfortable, almost familiar and I think it's because of how it felt tonally like these others while being it's own story. Really good read. A little dark, a little mysterious, very open-ended.
This is a hilarious and enlightening book. [a:Shea Serrano 6985009 Shea Serrano https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] fills this book equally with humor, personal anecdotes illustrating why some of these songs are important and actual research to back up his claims. There is a great rebuttal at the end of each year where someone else writes a quick word about what song should have been picked and all of this (and an incredible use of footnotes) is explained at the very beginning. It's well laid out, easy to follow and a lot of fun to read. I'm really glad I picked this up and I recommend it to even the most casual of rap/hip-hop fan.
This is probably a 3.5 star book for me. It's better than blah, but it's not high concept. I think that there is plenty of potential for this title/character, but for me this volume wasn't overwhelming. The first issue included here is a crossover with Squirrel Girl that really added next to nothing to Laura's character or personal history that couldn't have been 4 panels of a different story. That is the heart of my problem with this volume: it mostly felt like bits and pieces assembled to make something instead of feeling wholly connected. I'll certainly read Vol 3 as both Gabby and Laura are interesting characters with a high ceiling for both entertainment and story value, but this one mostly left me wanting.
This series has gotten progressively worse as a title for me personally. It looks like there are some folks out there still enjoying it, but not as many as those who also share my opinion. Just look at the progression of the cover art for these volumes and you can see the slid into obscurity happen.
These are the frustrated ramblings of someone who wholly bought in with volumes 1 and 2 and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen with this awesome, offbeat cast of characters. Then, “After artist Roc Upchurch was arrested on charges of domestic violence in November 2014, Wiebe announced that Upchurch would no longer be illustrating the series.” Stjepan Šejić and Tess Fowler would both do their level best to keep the series looking good, but the formula was already different. By the time Owen Gieni was on-board full time, it was already too late. The story telling was all over the map. The earliest plot lines were no longer really being held together and most of the promise for where this might go was just gone.
I read this one hoping for some of that old razzle-dazzle that made the first two so great (and vol 3 to a lesser extent), but outside of the Orc Dave story in the very beginning, this was a mess. I have no idea what was supposed to be happening by the end and I'm mostly sad for the comic I used to know. I'm the Weezer fan wishing this was still Pinkerton.
These books are fantastic and challenging and hard to read. I am sure I said all this about the last volume as well, but it's still true. I like this series a lot and wonder how long this is supposed to run. I feel like we're coming up to the end of big “chapter” in this story and it leaves me curious what's would happen next. Well worth the read.
I'm a fan of Westerns and tales about the old west. (I realize this means I'm turning into a 70 year old white man) I like the few YA westerns I've read and I'm on record as being a huge Jonah Hex and [b:All-Star Western, Volume 1: Guns and Gotham 13532242 All-Star Western, Volume 1 Guns and Gotham Justin Gray https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391572332s/13532242.jpg 19093918] fan, so I suppose it's no surprise I'm predisposed to enjoying this book on premise alone. However this was also quite different from many westerns I've read. It was a lot more introspective and conversational. There were moments that were lighter and funnier than in most western tales. It was in equal measures bizarre and poignant. There are plenty of reviews of this book that will hash out the plot for you, but I'll say that as a western about 2 assassins-for-hire, this book was wildly different than what I expect and, for me, in the best way possible. No white hats vs black hats, no real damsels-in-distress, no taming of wild land. More like a road movie about the two brothers journey and their relationship against the backdrop of the west.
Long read ahead... Ye be Warned It was brought to my attention (thanks Anne!) that I didn't have a review/rating listed for this book. This must then be a title from my life B.G.R. before GoodReads. This realization prompted me to reread the book before reviewing it as I remember really enjoy it, but couldn't pin down the details. This was fortuitous, because I also learned that my feelings about this title have changed. Backstory no one asked for: I had a personal comic book renaissance in my mid-twenties when I discovered a really great comic shop in Chicago (shout out to Chicago Comics on Clark St. It's my happy place.) I hadn't read comics in years and I fell in love with them all over again and started trying to pick up with titles and characters that I had once been deeply devoted to. Daredevil was one of those characters for me. -Here's the thing though: the character and the story telling around him had changed in the decade or so since I'd been a regular reader. The Daredevil I picked up that really resonated with me was [b:Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev: Ultimate Collection, Book 1 8092501 Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Ultimate Collection, Book 1 Brian Michael Bendis https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355039703s/8092501.jpg 12843117]. This arc, with this creative team, became the watershed moment in Daredevil story telling for me. It's what other stories have to live up to from now on. When these two artists did [b:Moon Knight, by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Volume 1 11477945 Moon Knight, by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev, Volume 1 Brian Michael Bendis https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505321745s/11477945.jpg 16412868] it was like someone had been reading my dream journal. Why this terribly long story in a review of an entirely different book? The BMB/Maleev Daredevil that I came to love is a very dirty and “lived-in” world that has a lot of hard hits and bloody fights. ( it also rains constantly in that version of Hell's Kitchen. like all the damn time) It has a heartbeat all its own. It is also about 100,000 miles away from the Loeb/Sale book. Tim Sale's loose watercolors and Jeph Loeb's methodical pace really do turn [b:Daredevil Legends, Vol. 1: Yellow 485381 Daredevil Legends, Vol. 1 Yellow Jeph Loeb https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1298522195s/485381.jpg 148836] into a quiet, almost romantic look at a Daredevil I had never really read before. It was so different that I loved it for it's simpler, gentler approach. Fast forward to today when I've read quite a bit more Daredevil and quite a few other comics to boot and live in a post- [a:Mark Waid 5363 Mark Waid https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1281876586p2/5363.jpg], [a:Paolo Rivera 6518797 Paolo Rivera https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Chris Samnee 63765 Chris Samnee https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] Daredevil world (ps: the whole run was excellent on [b:Daredevil, by Mark Waid, Volume 1 15984378 Daredevil, by Mark Waid, Volume 1 Mark Waid https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441442612s/15984378.jpg 44555536]) and I find that I feel differently about Loeb/Sale and their book. It's not that it's a bad book and it's not that it's bad storytelling. It's more that it's not a deep enough dive into a character that has a incredibly rich back story and more heart that just about any other hero. It's a little too simple and while that's likely the intention, this is a great jumping on point for new readers, for anyone with a history with this character it's just not enough. If you're still here, I appreciate your herculean effort. This is a decent book and it deserves the praise it gets as one of the might pillars of the Loeb/Sale “Color” series. It may just have broader appeal to those who aren't as embarrassingly devoted to the man without fear (Matt Murdoch that is, not the Frank Miller book which is a whole different entry of its own)
I think I might have expected too much from this premise. The short version is there is a new STD that makes people Classically Beautiful and, it turns out, is also a slow death sentence. Intriguing, right? It was enough to get me to pick up this volume. The beginning of the story was also interesting and we met the cast who would tackle this thing like ...
For me it dropped off pretty significantly after the first issue. I don't care about any of these people as people. They one dimensional and never really develop, we don't know them enough to care. The dialog was also fairly strained. It felt artificial or contrived... I don't know, the characters let the lofty story premise down for me and I don't know that even after the giant cliffhanger ending I care enough to come back for more.
This is a really great series that's really hard to read. It's hard to read in the same way that racism, sexism and brutality are hard to deal with anytime. I think [a:Jason Aaron 580494 Jason Aaron https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1528539067p2/580494.jpg] has done a tremendous job with this title and the art from [a:Jason Latour 4456310 Jason Latour https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1488513529p2/4456310.jpg] really leaves a lasting impression. I'm not trying to say this isn't a heavy handed title at times, but it is very unique in the landscape and it stays with you. It's tough to say I'm enjoying this series because again the context and content are meant to be difficult. I can say that I find it very compelling and I will continue to read it as it's engrossing. I also rate it highly because it stands by itself. It's not been apologetic for what it is and there is a density here you don't often get. Ok, I guess I am enjoying it after all.
I honestly don't know how I feel about this volume. It wasn't a terrible comic, but there was a lot of weirdness in here. Not like the normal, run of the mill weirdness from this series. Like 1960's space travel/nuclear war inspired weirdness. I also have no idea who all the villains are at this point. I feel like this series is spent, but they won't quite let go. The things I really enjoyed about this early on are also gone, so.... maybe I'll read more... I dunno.
This is an unbelievable, almost scripted, true life story that was really rushed to print to capitalize on the momentum of a World Series win and David's overnight celebrity. It was optioned as a movie immediately, before it was printed, because it's a cinematic dream to tell. The thing about all that noise though, it's only that - noise. David Ross is really a genuinely good guy. He really did provide some of the magic mojo for the 2016 Chicago Cubs that brought in their first World Series trophy in 108 years. He really is respected and beloved by his peers.
This book has been my evening read for a while now, when i want to shut out the rest of the nonsense that has been 2018 so far. This is a very conversational book that I imagine would be great as an audio book read by the author. It is not high art. It is not classical literature. It could probably have been more polished if given more time, but that's not what this is. It is a book about what it means to one guy who is first described as a great teammate to be a great teammate.
You'll learned about David's career in baseball, his journey to the Cubs and alllllll about the day of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. It's a fun book for Cubs fans, baseball fans, fans of underdog stories, etc. It may not be polished enough to convert anyone who wasn't a baseball fan, but it's a quick, light read for anyone in the fold.
We jump forward to the 1960's and get a whole new look at the villain facing Pearl and her friends. The world around them has changed quite a bit, but Pearl and Skinner are surviving. The stakes are higher and psychologically this one is more intense. I was hoping this series would pick up and I got my wish. The threats feel a lot more ominous and it's harder to talk about without spoiling anything.
It's an improvement that I'm really enjoying.
This isn't a terrible comic, but it also felt like filler. The next volume is really supposed to start the next “Chapter” in the saga of American Vampire, so this feels like tales Snyder wanted to tell before moving on. It's fine. Not super inspiring, but also not a wasted read.
The series is losing a little momentum for me, so Vol 7 will be interesting to pick up after this.
This is the first volume that really kind of slowed down for me. It's is not a bad comic, it's not a bad story and it's still totally worth checking out. For me personally: it felt like Snyder was trying to tie up some things for wherever this is going next and set up the next big baddie for this story - all without the usual intensity this title brings. That's not to say that there aren't still a couple surprises and some decent Vampire slayings. I can say the end of this book left my interest piqued and something strange and new is on the horizon. I just don't know that this book had the emotional weight for me that it was clearly intended to.
This volume is has two pretty wildly different parts, both are great. This opens with Skinner Sweet and James Book's involvement in the Indian Wars of the early 1800's. It feels like a Jonah Hex story and artist Jordi Bernet of Jonah Hex fame did the art for this story arc. It's pitch-perfect for the story.
Fast forward to the 2nd half of this book and we're in the 1950's with a greaser named Travis Kidd who lives fast and dangerously. It could feel a little over the top, but with this title it's tough for things not to feel over the top from the get-go.
Finally, we get a story line catching up with Calvin Hobbes (and here I was worried it would be a while till we heard from him) and how he's handling himself. It's a interesting story if for no other reason than it continues to expand on what we know about the Vassals and their library of abominations.
The ending of this volume too... well...
This is a pretty intense series and this is, perhaps, the most intense volume yet. This book gives us a deeper dive into the future and some characters we haven't spent as much time with. Cash and Felicia Book get a pretty big adventure tale full of Nazis, Vampires and Nazi Vampires.
Pearl and Henry enlist in the WWII war effort and wind up in the South Pacific. Skinner Sweet shows up and that's really all the more I can say because that story line is b.a.n.a.n.a.s. (and spoilery)
I like how this series keeps progressing through time and slowly introducing new characters with each new decade. It helps us move forward without getting too convoluted. I also appreciate that there is a group of human antagonists and it's not just all out Vampire on Vampire war. The Vassals of the Morning Star provide the right leverage to keep this series going. If you've read the first 2 volumes, that last spoiler wasn't actually a spoiler for you. Just the new fans.
Really happy with this book and looking forward to where Snyder and Co are going next.
I had read several reviews of this b00k that made me genuinely curious. It has fantasy elements and creates a pretty interesting and layered world in a surprisingly short span of pages. This one seems difficult to really talk about without getting to spoiler-y so I'll just give a couple bullet points of the highlights for me:
- pretty good twist late in the story that totally boosted my opinion of this book
- characters that felt complete in a short amount of time which made it easy to invest in the world
- less predictable than some things I've read lately, which made it more rewarding in the end
- a fairly dark tale that spooled out just enough hope to keep you reading, without giving too much away
A pretty entertaining entry and the most diverse story wise. There is a re-imaging of “A Christmas Carol” a story about Goon helping found a football team in his town, Dr Alloy in peril, he and Goon winding up in jail, killer robots and orphans on a mission. Also there is a story included by Thomas Lennon that's told from Frankie's point of view.
These books are a weird anomaly for me. I don't read manga outside of this, but I really love this series. (Lone Wolf and Cub is probably the exception there, but do those count as manga?)
The art work is amazing, hands down amazing. It makes every volume worth reading on it's own, especially the contrast of the heroes and monsters in all their glorious detail versus Saitama in his plain, almost crude simplicity.
The writing can be funny and self-aware or heartfelt and earnest in turns. It's wildly over the top, but somehow manages to have heart. There are monsters the size of buildings, but Saitama, in his humanity, grounds these outlandish stories.
I wish I could explain this series better... it just has “it.”
A delightful board book that's true to it's name. We spend a day with Monster and get to see he's just like us. With the exception of going to work, children will enjoy seeing Monster do all the things they do: brush teeth, take naps, eat lunch and walk their dog.
Monster is an adorable piece of art himself and I'm glad he has his own book.
This was a fantastic rebound for me after the last volume. There were some stories in here that called back to older volumes and it was nice to see that even if these volumes aren't going to be super linear, they are at least connecting characters.
HELLBOY makes a cross-over appearance here and it's pretty great for both characters. The Buzzard is back and has an oddly sad, compelling tale that was really interesting. I hope it's setting up more for down the road because I've really enjoyed the character and the perspective he brings to Goon himself.
Dr. Alloy has a couple of good moments and some very silly moments. There is a “Rampage” style fight that is more enjoyable than it really has the right to be.
All-in-all a great addition to The Goon cannon and a fantastic reminder that comics can be fun, original, and strange all at the same time.