Review: The Adventures of Nikki Harris the Cybermation Witch Omnibus Vol. 1

THE ADVENTURES OF NIKKI HARRIS THE CYBERMATION WITCH OMNIBUS VOL. 1
CANDLE LIGHT PRESS/Warning Comics – @candlelightpres

CARTOONIST: Carter Allen
ISBN:  978-0-9895371-0-0; paperback (June 21, 2013)
160pp, Color, $14.95 U.S.

Carter Allen, prolific cartoonist, comic book artist, and graphic novelist, presents the first trade collection of his comic book series, The Adventures of Nikki Harris the Cybermation Witch.  Nikki Harris is a comic book character who has made annual appearances in her own comic book series for the last seven years.

The latest Nikki Harris publication is The Adventures of Nikki Harris the Cybermation Witch Omnibus Vol. 1.  This full color paperback book reprints The Adventures of Nikki Harris the Cybermation Witch 2.0 #1-2, and The Adventures of Nikki Harris the Cybermation Witch #3-5.  This includes five stories, several pages of pin-up art, and some character profiles.

In these five comic books, Nikki faces a sci-fi rogue’s gallery of weirdo adversaries.  First, Nikki battles an old Voyd war machine (#1).  Then, she faces Lady Opulent Red in Old Europe (#2).  In the ersatz, Disney World-like Candy Citadel, she smacks sweets with Citizen Cane (#3).  Nikki returns to her alma mater, Grantham Academy, and gets grief from both the bitchy Headmistress and the “mirror image” or a villain from her first issue (#4).  Finally, on the planet, Qua, the “Love Boat” becomes “Die Hard-on-a-boat” when Nikki faces Nautilie (#5).

As a fan of Nikki Harris comic books, I am happy for The Adventures of Nikki Harris the Cybermation Witch Omnibus Vol. 1.  It is the best way to read the series, which is still ongoing.  One handy edition, this omnibus captures the graphical, visual, and storytelling elements that make Nikki Harris’ adventures a unique comic book reading experience.

From the exotic quality of the presentation to the quirky, but sparkling sci-fi, Nikki Harris is an ode to the joy of reading a comic book.  This series is the traditional fashioned with the tools of a new medium.  Nikki’s brash personality and cowboy-hero persona are now in one volume, which may (or may not) be enough to hold Nikki fans between issues.

A

www.candlelightpress.com
www.nikkithewitch.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Happy Birthday, Scott Dunier

IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor celebrates his birthday.

07-Ghost: Xinglu? I Know Him!

I read 07-GHOST, Vol. 6

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics, which you can also buy).

Book Review: THE ENGLISH GIRL

THE ENGLISH GIRL
HARPER (HarperCollins Publishers) – @HarperCollins

AUTHOR: Daniel Silva
ISBN: 978-0-06-207316-7; hardcover (July 16, 2013)
492pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S.

Number-one New York Times bestselling writer Daniel Silva has a new novel, The English Girl.  In fact, The English Girl debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List for “Hardcover Fiction” for the week of August 4, 2013.  It debuted at #2 the same week on the Times’ “Combined Print and E-Book Fiction” list where it stayed for two weeks behind the #1 book, The Cuckoo’s Calling, J.K. Rowling’s stunt book that she published under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith.

The English Girl, a spy and espionage novel, is the thirteenth book in Silva’s “Gabriel Allon series,” which began with The Kill Artist (2000).  Gabriel Allon is a master assassin and spy for the Israeli secret service, and in his downtime, he is an art restorer.  In The English Girl, Allon helps the British Prime Minister after his lover is kidnapped.

The English Girl opens with a tale of 27-year-old Madeline Hart, an English girl on vacation on the island of Corsica.  She is an up-and-coming star in British politics, and she is also having an affair with British Prime Minister Jonathan Lancaster.  And that gets her kidnapped by a shadowy group of French criminals seeking to blackmail Lancaster.  The kidnappers want ten million euros – the cost of getting the safe return of his lover.

Enter Gabriel Allon, an art restorer.  His current restoration project is the painting, Susanna and the Elders by Jacopo Bassano.  He has to put that on hold when an old friend, Graham Seymour, MI5’s counterterrorism officer, calls in a favor.  Now, Gabriel has less than seven days to find Madeline and bring her home safely.  He needs help:  “someone extremely capable, utterly ruthless, and without a shred of conscience.”  Gabriel gets that in former SAS (Special Air Services) officer-turned hired killer, Christopher Keller.  Even with the ruthless Keller at his side, Gabriel may not be able to unravel a mystery in which nothing is what it seems.

Daniel Silva divides The English Girl into three parts:  Part One: The Hostage; Part Two: The Spy; and Part Three: Scandal.  While reading “The Hostage,” I was reminded of director John Frankenheimer’s thoroughly underrated thriller, the film Ronin (starring Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno).  “The Spy” reminded me of the first Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible film and of Ben Affleck’s Oscar-winning, Argo.  “Scandal” reminded me of what it is like to read about a political scandal that dominates the headlines for several weeks, secrets slowly being revealed via countless newspaper and magazine articles that arrive almost daily – each with a shocking new revelation.

So, in a sense, The English Girl is two novels and a short story, and each one offers a different mood or the reading equivalent of a musical note.  The Hostage is a pulse-pounding thriller, and my favorite part of the book.  The Spy is spy fiction as a heist movie with a jazzy score.  Scandal is the wrap-up.  And it is all good reading.

I have to admit that for quite a while, I had trouble warming up to an Israeli assassin who kills people with the ease others use to punch a time clock.  Perhaps, Mr. 007 is the only literary creation that I can accept as a character that kills with impunity.  However, I eventually warmed up to Gabriel Allon, a man haunted not only by his past, but the pasts of many others, and a man who is bothered by present circumstances.

Just in time to give Summer 2013 a roiling end comes an excellent summer potboiler, The English Girl.  Save the money you would spend on a few bad blockbuster movies and buy a copy of The English Girl, instead.

A-

www.danielsilvabooks.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Arata the Legend: Ama No Iwakura

I read Arata: The Legend, Vol. 15

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which as free comics).

I Reads You Review: TRILLIUM #1

TRILLIUM #1
DC COMICS/VERTIGO – @DCComics and @vertigo_comics

CARTOONIST: Jeff Lemire
COLORS: Jeff Lemire and Jose Villarrubia
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
COVER: Jeff Lemire
32pp, Color, $2.99 (October 2013)

Trillium is a new eight-issue comic book miniseries created, written, and drawn by cartoonist and graphic novelist, Jeff Lemire.  Lemire has described Trillium as “a time-spanning science fiction love story…” (Defy 2013 Preview – DC Comics)

So I’ll tread as lightly as I can, concerning spoilers:  Trillium #1 is a flip book, with Chapter 1 divided into two stories.  Flip Trillium #1 to the back cover, and it has another cover and opens to the second part of the story.

“Chapter 1: 3797 – The Scientist” is set in the year 3797, when a smart virus is poised to annihilate humanity.  Scientist Dr. Nika Temsmith (xeniology – a kind of archeology, maybe) knows that Trillium, a miracle flower, can possibly save mankind.  However, obtaining Trillium will require negotiations with restless natives.  In “Chapter 1.2: 1921 – The Soldier,” British World War I vet, William Pike goes into the jungle looking for “the Forbidden Temple of the Incas.”  He finds restless natives and strange doings.

Sometimes, I am reluctant to grade or pass judgment on a first issue, but I’m not afraid in the case of Trillium.  I friggin’ love this comic book, so I wonder if I’m missing something.  Is Trillium #1 really as good as I think, I ask myself?

I find the structure of the story, especially the use of the “flip book” format, really forces me to engage both sides of Chapter 1.  “The Scientist” is riveting, with its sense of desperation and doom, but also with a sense of wonder and exploration.  I don’t want to reveal anymore than I already have, but Jeff Lemire may have just presented us with the best science fiction comic book in a long time.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

#IReadsYou Review: SWEET TOOTH #1

SWEET TOOTH #1
DC COMICS/VERTIGO – @DCComics and @vertigo_comics

CARTOONIST: Jeff Lemire
COLORS: Jose Villarrubia
LETTERS: Pat Brosseau
32pp, Color, $1.00 (November 2009)

Sweet Tooth was a comic book series created, written, and drawn by cartoonist and graphic novelist, Jeff Lemire.  At that time of Sweet Tooth’s debut, Lemire was best known for his Essex County Trilogy:  Tales from the Farm, Ghost Stories, and The Country Nurse, which were all published Top Shelf Productions.

Sweet Tooth was Lemire’s first ongoing series.  Published by Vertigo (the publisher of Lemire’s graphic novel, The Nobody), Sweet Tooth is a post-apocalyptic series that focuses on a human/animal hybrid child who pals around with a dangerous friend.  The series concluded with the publication of issue #40.

Sweet Tooth #1 opens ten years after a still mysterious pandemic ravaged America.  A boy named Gus is part of a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid that emerged from the devastation.  This breed is also apparently immune to the infection that still continues to kill.  Gus lives with his ailing father in a Nebraska state wilderness sanctuary.  Gus’ father is determined to keep his son living in isolation.  After his father dies, Gus is left to fend for himself, but not for long, as the hunters arrive.

In his “On the Ledge” essay, which appears in Sweet Tooth #1 (and all September 2009-dated Vertigo books), Jeff Lemire writes that “there are no tired, played-out stories – just tired and played-out ways of telling them.”  This is a frank admission from a distinctive voice in comic books that his latest work is – plot, characters, and setting – firmly rooted in the familiar subgenre of post-apocalyptic America.  Lemire, however, is correct about tired stories, and didn’t someone recently win a Pulitzer Prize for his post-Apocalyptic-set novel?

Lemire tells stories in a voice most comic book characters avoid.  His stories are both disquieting and alluring in the tranquil way in which Lemire weaves tales of a rural folk, a breed of people who are not often seen in comics, compared to other types.  There is beauty in the way Lemire depicts desperation; it is desperation that is as serene as the landscape of wide open farms, small towns, and woodland areas where much of the Essex County stories set.  Lemire’s stories aren’t so much forlorn or even melancholy as they are calm and settled.  No matter how sad the life of a particular Lemire character may be, the reader is drawn into the stillness of contemplation, introspection, and self-observation.

This is how Lemire will make Sweet Tooth such a unique take on the post-apocalyptic world.  Lemire’s unobtrusive way is not Mad Max, but he offers the reader the chance to find insight in every panel.  Each panel is a moment in time, not to be taken for granted.  In this way, perhaps, Lemire will show us the profound even in a hopeless world, where there just might be hope.

A-

[This comic book also contained an 8-page preview of the hardcover prose novel, Peter & Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham with illustrations by Steve Leiahola.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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