Comics Read
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Recently Read – Normal, Saga #9, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, Paper Girls #3
Normal by Warren Ellis Published: 2016 Narrated by: John Hodgman Series: Normal #1-4 Length: 03:24 (148 pages) I love Warren Ellis as a comic writer, even though it’s been years since I read anything by him, but he’s been a little hit or miss as a novelist. I really disliked Crooked Little Vein but enjoyed Gun Machine. This one falls somewhere between the two. I listened to this as a single audiobook, but I see now that it was originally released serially in four installments. Maybe it read better in small chunks like that, where each stood as essentially a fictionalized essay around digital culture, but as a full work,…
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X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont Illustrated by: John Byrne Publisher: Marvel Collects: Uncanny X-Men: #138-143 Published: 1981 Length: 184 pages This was a bit of an odd one. It consists of six issues from a 1981 run of Uncanny X-Men, but only two of those issues are actually the Days of Future Past storyline. The first issue is essentially a recap of every major event in the X-Men timeline, which is a cool idea but excruciatingly dull to read through. It read like an overview from an excited child. “And then Magneto attacked them, and then they were in the Savage Lands with dinosaurs, and then aliens…
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Akira, Vol. 3
Akira, Vol. 3 by Katsuhiro Otomo Translated by: Yoko Umezawa Series: Akira #3 Publisher: Kodansha Comics Published: 1986 Length: 282 pages I found the first half of this one to be a bit tedious. It’s a cat and mouse chase between multiple groups that just felt bogged down to me. It was full of action and intrigue, but just in a very repetitive and dull way. I wanted to get on with it and was a bit worried for the series. What I’ve liked, up to now, was that Katsuhiro Otomo never seemed to get too hung up on a particular plot point. I think when a story has a…
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If We All Spat at Once They’d Drown
If We All Spat at Once They’d Drown: Drawings About Class by Sam Wallman (editor) Published: 2016 Publisher: Pen Erases Paper Length: 200 pages This is a collection of comics and drawings from various illustrators and writers around the world, over sixty in total, that I picked up last year while in Melbourne. It was crowdfunded by Melbourne cartoonist Sam Wallman and focuses on issues of social class, general issues as well as some specific to Australia. Class isn’t something that’s discussed very often in Canada, from what I’ve seen, at least not in the way it seems to be elsewhere. I’m not sure where Australia lands on this, but…
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Paper Girls, Vol. 2
Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Cliff Chiang, Matthew Wilson Publisher: Image Comics Collects: issues #6–10 Published: 2016 Length: 128 pages This series didn’t take long to go in a completely different direction than I was expecting. What I thought was going to be an 80’s adventure throwback has turned into an outlandish time-travel story. The girls have found themselves in the future, our present day, and are trying to escape their pursuers from the even-more-distant future. I’m still not really sure where this is going, but I’m having a blast following along. There are some interesting themes to explore in this series. Meeting your future…
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Nimona
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson Format: Original Graphic Novel Publisher: Harper Collins Published: 2015 Length: 266 pages I believe this started its life as a webcomic and eventually became Noelle Stevenson’s debut graphic novel. She has since gone on to write Lumberjanes, which is a comic I’ve considered in the past and am much more interested in after reading this. A young woman shows up in a villain’s hideout and declares herself his new sidekick. This begins as a classic young adult fantasy narrative between an ineffectual (in the big picture) villain, Lord Ballister Blackheart, and the town hero, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, who are in a state of a perpetual, and…
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Akira, Vol. 2
Akira, Vol. 2 by Katsuhiro Otomo Translated by: Yoko Umezawa Series: Akira #2 Publisher: Kodansha Comics Published: 1984 Length: 301 pages This second volume really ramped up the action. The entire thing was basically a string of action scenes connected with short bits of dialogue. It made for a very fast and exciting read, while still moving the plot along. In the first volume, we were left with a lot of questions, but this did a great job of answering a lot of the big ones while leaving more to discover, so it didn’t feel like the reader was being teased along continuously as can happen sometimes in some serialized…
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Paper Girls, Vol. 1
Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Cliff Chiang, Matthew Wilson Publisher: Image Comics Collects: issues #1–5 Published: 2016 Length: 144 pages Having seen this described as The Goonies meets Stranger Things, there was really no choice for me but to make the purchase. There’s something about an 80’s story featuring foul-mouthed kids riding their bikes down the street that just hits that perfect nostalgia note for me, and this particular story is centred around that very premise, but this time with a central cast of girls rather than the usual token friend for tagalong girlfriend, which is a refreshing change. This features a group of papergirls…
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Sex Criminals, Vol. 4: Fourgy!
Sex Criminals, Vol. 4: Fourgy! by Matt Fraction Illustrated by: Chip Zdarsky Series: Sex Criminals #4 Collects: issues #16–20 Published: 2017 Length: 136 pages I not sure why I keep reading these. After the initial premise was set up, the plot has really gone nowhere. There’s been some character development, and we’ve fleshed out the world a bit, but nothing is happening. It’s a bit frustrating because the character development is actually great. The relationships and the problems that come along with them have depth and feel genuine. A lot of the humour is still really on point, and Zdarsky’s art is great. It all feels a bit wasted, though.…
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Saga, Volume 8
Saga, Vol. 8 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Fiona Staples Published: 2017 Publisher: Image Comics Length: 146 pages Collects: issues #43-48 I am still very much enjoying this series. I feel like the plot was getting away from them a few volumes back, but the jump forward in time and has really brought everything together again. I love the whole cast and the interactions between them. Petrichor has turned out to be a fantastic addition, adding a great mix of humour and unhinged aggression to the story. The way Hazel has turned to her as a confidant and friend, against her will in many ways, is a great subplot…
