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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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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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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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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…
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Saga, Volume 7
Saga, Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Fiona Staples Published: 2017 Publisher: Image Comics Length: 152 pages Collects: issues #37–42 I had no idea the new volume of Saga was out until I saw it on the shelf, so that was a nice surprise. This series has had some ups and downs, as most do I suppose, but overall it’s still been fantastic. And honestly, even the downs haven’t been that bad, forgettable but still enjoyable to read. In this volume the group is forced to land on a war-torn comet to gather fuel. They end up staying longer than expected and allowing a local family of native…
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Saga, Volume 6
Saga, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Fiona Staples Published: 2016 Publisher: Image Comics Length: 152 pages Collects: issues #31–36 Maybe it’s because nearly a year has passed since I read the last volume, but this really felt like a return to form. The last couple of books had characters everywhere, with different objectives, and it felt scattered. New characters were being introduced at an alarming rate, and minor characters were getting lost in the shuffle. Quite a dramatic event happened at the end of the fifth volume, and it took me a while to remember who the character involved was, which was clearly not intended reaction. This…
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We Stand On Guard
We Stand On Guard by Brian K. Vaughan Format: Deluxe Edition Hardcover Illustrated by: Steve Skroce, Matt Hollingsworth Series: We Stand On Guard #1-6 Publisher: Image Comics Published: 2015 Length: 160 pages Brian K. Vaughan, author of many loved comics, including Saga, tackles the often joked about idea of the US invading Canada in this six issue limited series. Vaughan lives in Canada with his Canadian wife, but was born and raised in Cleveland, so even though Americans do get painted as the baddies in this, it is one of your own doing it at least. It’s the year 2124, and major droughts have left the Americans without water, which…
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Saga, Volume 5
Saga, Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Fiona Staples Published: 2015 Publisher: Image Comics Series: Saga #5 Collects: issues #25–30 Length: 152 pages I described the last volume as having a teen-drama vibe, in an annoying way, but this got right back into the adventure. The team is still split up, which I’m actually finding a little annoying. I was really enjoying their story together, and while that’s still the underlying theme, it was more interesting overall for me when that was the focus – watching the relationships grow between a group of people on the run. This volume felt a little scattered compared to the first few,…
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Saga, Volume 4
Saga, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Fiona Staples Published: 2014 Publisher: Image Comics Length: 144 pages Collects: issues #19-24 Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples know how to open a volume with a bang. You’re off running right from the first page with a close-up of an alien birth in action. They’re excellent at having little shocks in their books in an age where it’s difficult to shock anyone. I love that I just don’t know what I’m going to get when I open these pages. The story jumps ahead a bit here. The crew is somewhat settled now, and it turns into an odd slice of…
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Saga, Volume 3
Saga, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan Illustrated by: Fiona Staples Published: 2014 Publisher: Image Comics Length: 144 pages Collects: issues #13-18 This series has been consistently fantastic since the first issue. That makes for excellent reading but also boring blogging, so I’ll keep this fairly brief. It’s just great, plain and simple, so I’m afraid this will mainly be gushing. In this trade, Vaughan went back and explained what was happening behind the scenes during the end of the last story arc – the same scene but expanded and following other characters. Similar in concept to the time overlap that George R.R. Martin used in book four and five…
