Graphic Novels Extravaganza
I believe I promised you all a graphic novels roundup? Next up, either a Discworld or a Daisy Dalrymple post, whichever I get together first.
Bitch Planet, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Robert Wilson IV
Okay, first of all, I want to say that this was really great. The art was good, the writing even better, and the worldbuilding eerily plausible given recent US events. That said, I... didn't really like it?
Bitch Planet follows a set of women sent to the titular "Bitch Planet," a penal planet for women who are non-compliant with patriarchal rules. The comic is set in a world where men have taken over everything, and are now forcing women to fit their rules and desires and ideas of what a woman should be. The women in this story have been sent away for reasons ranging from being overweight (Penny, the MOST AMAZING and my favorite), to being outspoken (....everyone). It's diverse and feminist and wonderful. It's violent and ugly and angry, and it calls bullshit on EVERYTHING it sees that's wrong, and I really like it! In concept!
In person, I dunno, I think it might be a little violent for me, so I'm bowing out of this series. THAT SAID. If you can take the violence, absolutely pick up this comic. It is FANTASTIC, just not for me.
Better Days and Other Stories, Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Will Conrad, Dave Stewart, Michelle Madsen, Julius Ohta, and Patton Oswalt
A Firefly tie-in comic, second in the series, and actually my favorite of the bunch I've read so far. It takes place sometime over the course of the show, so I have all of my favorite characters there. We get to see River being especially badass in two of the short stories, with an additional sense of eerieness as she draws on her darker, more violent side. In the main story, Better Days, we get to see the crew's fantasies as they suddenly become rich-- Jayne's and Book's in particular are hilarious. Downtime and The Other Half are the two short stories that are more or less about River being badass and scary in the background while everyone else does different things in the foreground, like survive a chase, or wait out a snowstorm. And finally, Float On, the "how dare they" eulogy for Wash, which flows very nicely into Leaves on the Wind, the fourth installment in the series.
The Shepherd's Tale, Joss Whedon, Chris Samnee, Dave Stewart, Steve Morris, and Zack Whedon
Meh.
This is the long-awaited backstory for Shepherd Derrial Book, everyone's favorite Firefly grandpa. Quite a bit is revealed about his backstory in this, though oddly not quite enough for me. I think maybe it's the story's structure, which is a bunch of anecdotes, turning points from Book's life. While I think it's a neat structure and it does convey a lot about Book's life, I could wish for more? Particularly from the earlier parts of his life. As it is, it feels a bit spare, and we don't really get to know much of his life beyond the BIG. TURNING. POINTS. that feel kind of hammered in.
That said, it's interesting. I just don't think it quite lives up to all the hype.
Leaves on the Wind, Zack Whedon, Fábio Moon, Dan Dos Santos, and Georges Jeanty
The third Firefly tie-in I read recently, and the fourth in the actual series-- I'm still working on getting the first. This one's okay. It consists of a miniseries that takes place well after Serenity, when our heroes have been hanging out in deep space avoiding the fuck out of the Alliance. They are forced by a medical emergency to leave hiding and get the injured crew member to a hospital, where that member is promptly captured and put onto an Alliance prison base. Cue prison break.
It's fun, it's a nice adventure story, but that's about all that it is. There isn't even a proper ending; we just kinda get a cliffhanger. So, it's fun, but it's not really that deep. A nice continuation to the movie, but nothing much under the surface.
Saga vol 6, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Saga, continuing their awesome right where they left off (well, ish, there's a three-year time jump), with Hazel growing up in prison with her grandmother while her parents search for them. Hazel attends kindergarten, and learns some interesting lessons about who she can trust. Marko and Alana have been looking for their daughter for years, and teaming up with some unlikely people to do it. I admit I don't much care for whatever the fuck is going on with The Will, and I did not like the absence of Gwendolyn and Sophie and the near-absence of Lying Cat. Still, we did gain an awesome new (trans!) character, and Ghus returns in all his adorable badassness. Klara even found a new niche in life for herself, and I wish her well on that! Also, Hazel's reunion with her parents (her father in particular) was just... tearjerking and marvelous.
So. Here's hoping that Gwendolyn and Sophie and Lying Cat return to make The Will interesting again, and in the meantime, I'll still be following the adventures of this family with great interest and enjoyment.
Kristy's Great Idea, Raina Telgemeier, Ann M. Martin
So the Baby-Sitters Club was my childhood, although I was always more of a Little Sister girl. Reading this was like a blast from the past, nostalgia everywhere, but in a good way.
For the three or four of you unfamiliar with the premise of the Baby-Sitters Club, it revolves around... I think eventually six girls who form a club of babysitters, though in this book there's only four; Kristy, Stacy, Claudia, and Mary Anne. They meet weekly in Claudia's bedroom, and parents can call them during the meetings to set up babysitting appointments. As Kristy puts it in this book, it means the parents can call one number and be almost guaranteed to get a babysitter, instead of having to call around everywhere. The girls, in turn, are almost guaranteed work. There's also always a subplot or two; in this book, it's Kristy's conflict with her mother's boyfriend, Watson. Though she eventually softens toward him, at first she's understandably resentful and worried by his intrusion on her family.
This graphic novel is more or less a note-for-note translation of the first book, but Telgemeier's distinctive and excellent art adds another, very nineties dimension to the plot that I very much appreciated. Cute, nostalgic, and fun; what's not to love? I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the series.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/409830.html. Please comment over there if possible.
Bitch Planet, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Robert Wilson IV
Okay, first of all, I want to say that this was really great. The art was good, the writing even better, and the worldbuilding eerily plausible given recent US events. That said, I... didn't really like it?
Bitch Planet follows a set of women sent to the titular "Bitch Planet," a penal planet for women who are non-compliant with patriarchal rules. The comic is set in a world where men have taken over everything, and are now forcing women to fit their rules and desires and ideas of what a woman should be. The women in this story have been sent away for reasons ranging from being overweight (Penny, the MOST AMAZING and my favorite), to being outspoken (....everyone). It's diverse and feminist and wonderful. It's violent and ugly and angry, and it calls bullshit on EVERYTHING it sees that's wrong, and I really like it! In concept!
In person, I dunno, I think it might be a little violent for me, so I'm bowing out of this series. THAT SAID. If you can take the violence, absolutely pick up this comic. It is FANTASTIC, just not for me.
Better Days and Other Stories, Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Will Conrad, Dave Stewart, Michelle Madsen, Julius Ohta, and Patton Oswalt
A Firefly tie-in comic, second in the series, and actually my favorite of the bunch I've read so far. It takes place sometime over the course of the show, so I have all of my favorite characters there. We get to see River being especially badass in two of the short stories, with an additional sense of eerieness as she draws on her darker, more violent side. In the main story, Better Days, we get to see the crew's fantasies as they suddenly become rich-- Jayne's and Book's in particular are hilarious. Downtime and The Other Half are the two short stories that are more or less about River being badass and scary in the background while everyone else does different things in the foreground, like survive a chase, or wait out a snowstorm. And finally, Float On, the "how dare they" eulogy for Wash, which flows very nicely into Leaves on the Wind, the fourth installment in the series.
The Shepherd's Tale, Joss Whedon, Chris Samnee, Dave Stewart, Steve Morris, and Zack Whedon
Meh.
This is the long-awaited backstory for Shepherd Derrial Book, everyone's favorite Firefly grandpa. Quite a bit is revealed about his backstory in this, though oddly not quite enough for me. I think maybe it's the story's structure, which is a bunch of anecdotes, turning points from Book's life. While I think it's a neat structure and it does convey a lot about Book's life, I could wish for more? Particularly from the earlier parts of his life. As it is, it feels a bit spare, and we don't really get to know much of his life beyond the BIG. TURNING. POINTS. that feel kind of hammered in.
That said, it's interesting. I just don't think it quite lives up to all the hype.
Leaves on the Wind, Zack Whedon, Fábio Moon, Dan Dos Santos, and Georges Jeanty
The third Firefly tie-in I read recently, and the fourth in the actual series-- I'm still working on getting the first. This one's okay. It consists of a miniseries that takes place well after Serenity, when our heroes have been hanging out in deep space avoiding the fuck out of the Alliance. They are forced by a medical emergency to leave hiding and get the injured crew member to a hospital, where that member is promptly captured and put onto an Alliance prison base. Cue prison break.
It's fun, it's a nice adventure story, but that's about all that it is. There isn't even a proper ending; we just kinda get a cliffhanger. So, it's fun, but it's not really that deep. A nice continuation to the movie, but nothing much under the surface.
Saga vol 6, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Saga, continuing their awesome right where they left off (well, ish, there's a three-year time jump), with Hazel growing up in prison with her grandmother while her parents search for them. Hazel attends kindergarten, and learns some interesting lessons about who she can trust. Marko and Alana have been looking for their daughter for years, and teaming up with some unlikely people to do it. I admit I don't much care for whatever the fuck is going on with The Will, and I did not like the absence of Gwendolyn and Sophie and the near-absence of Lying Cat. Still, we did gain an awesome new (trans!) character, and Ghus returns in all his adorable badassness. Klara even found a new niche in life for herself, and I wish her well on that! Also, Hazel's reunion with her parents (her father in particular) was just... tearjerking and marvelous.
So. Here's hoping that Gwendolyn and Sophie and Lying Cat return to make The Will interesting again, and in the meantime, I'll still be following the adventures of this family with great interest and enjoyment.
Kristy's Great Idea, Raina Telgemeier, Ann M. Martin
So the Baby-Sitters Club was my childhood, although I was always more of a Little Sister girl. Reading this was like a blast from the past, nostalgia everywhere, but in a good way.
For the three or four of you unfamiliar with the premise of the Baby-Sitters Club, it revolves around... I think eventually six girls who form a club of babysitters, though in this book there's only four; Kristy, Stacy, Claudia, and Mary Anne. They meet weekly in Claudia's bedroom, and parents can call them during the meetings to set up babysitting appointments. As Kristy puts it in this book, it means the parents can call one number and be almost guaranteed to get a babysitter, instead of having to call around everywhere. The girls, in turn, are almost guaranteed work. There's also always a subplot or two; in this book, it's Kristy's conflict with her mother's boyfriend, Watson. Though she eventually softens toward him, at first she's understandably resentful and worried by his intrusion on her family.
This graphic novel is more or less a note-for-note translation of the first book, but Telgemeier's distinctive and excellent art adds another, very nineties dimension to the plot that I very much appreciated. Cute, nostalgic, and fun; what's not to love? I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the series.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/409830.html. Please comment over there if possible.