Review: LIFEFORMED: Cleo Makes Contact

LIFEFORMED: CLEO MAKES CONTACT
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Matt Mair Lowery
ART: Cassie Anderson
LETTERS: Cassie Anderson
COVER: Cassie Anderson
ISBN: 978-1-50670-177-6; paperback; 6” x 9” (September 13, 2017)
192pp, Color, $12.99 U.S., $$17.50 CAN (September 2017 – First printing)

Age range: 12; Genre Science Fiction, Action/Adventure

Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact is a young adult, science fiction graphic novel from writer Matt Mair Lowery and artist Cassie Anderson.  A paperback original, this graphic novel was first published by Dark Horse Comics in September 2017.  Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact follows an 11-year-old orphan and the shape-shifting alien she befriends as they travel the countryside in the wake of an alien invasion... and fight back.

Cleo Elward can be described as the typical 11-year-old girl on the verge of teen brat-hood.  Her single-father, Alex Elward, is loving, doting, and involved; the two of them are making the best of life.  Then, suddenly, unbelievably, the sky is filled with strange airships, heralding an alien invasion, and Alex is killed during first wave of the attack.

Just as suddenly, an alien arrives and approaches Alex Elward's body and then shifts its form so that it resembles Cleo's father.  Aided by this alien shape-shifter, who turns out to be a rebel, Cleo escapes the invasion by traveling the countryside.  It is not long, however, before she must join “alien dad” in fighting the invaders.  Can Cleo work through her grief and find the courage to fight back?

Earlier this year, Matt Mair Lowery, the author of Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact, made contact with me via Twitter.  He offered me a PDF copy of his graphic novel for review.  I was surprised that I had never heard of it, as I have been perusing Diamond Distributors weekly comics shipping list and posting it on my blogs and at the Comic Book Bin for almost a decade.

I am glad that Lowery reached out to me because he and artist Cassie Anderson have created in Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact one of the best young adult graphic novels that I have read over the last few years.  Lifeformed's themes of courage and choice resonate throughout the narrative, and the story ponders the questions of what it means to be human without being heavy-handed.

Cassie Anderson's illustrations and graphical storytelling are powerfully dramatic, but, at the same time, they are lively and colorful, going down the old gullet of the reader's imagination smoothly.  Anderson's clean drawing style is easy on the eyes, but also depicts the characters' emotions in a varied manner that gives the characters' personalities depth.  I found myself in love with these characters, and Cleo is even more lovable when she is being annoying and bratty.  That is the joy in reading Lifeformed – loving the heroes and being intrigued by the villains.

I hope young readers discover Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact.  It is not to late to discover this enjoyable YA comic book, Lifeformed: Cleo Makes Contact.

8 out of 10

Cassie Anderson:
cassieanderson@wwdb.org
https://twitter.com/CassieDoesArt

Matt Mair Lowery:
mattmlpdx@lifeformedcomic.com
https://twitter.com/mattmlpdx
http://www.lifeformedcomic.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: RELIC OF THE DRAGON

RELIC OF THE DRAGON
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Adrian Benatar
ART: Miguel Angel Garcia
TRANSLATION: Anna Rosenwong
LETTERS: Ron Estevez
COVER: Miguel Angel Garcia
EDITORS: Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon
ISBN: 978-1-68405-215-8; hardcover (March 2018)
56pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN (February 21, 2018)

Relic of the Dragon is a hardcover, full-color, comic book from artist Miguel Ángel García and writer Adrian Benatar.  At the trim six of 6.25 x 9.25, Relic of the Dragon is like a half-size version of the European graphic album and the children's picture book.

Relic of the Dragon uses the classic you-choose-the-story format to tell the story of a dwarf forced to embark on a dangerous quest to find a new relic that will benefit his village.  Relic of the Dragon combines elements of classic sword-and-sorcery RPGs (role-playing games) and classic sword-and-sorcery storytelling (Conan the Cimmerian), Norse sagas, and epic fantasy (The Lord of the Rings).

Relic of the Dragon introduces Urik the dwarf, a great warrior.  A village elder has just consulted the “Oracle of the Gods,” and the word of the gods has revealed the arrival of a “new relic.”  According to the elder, Urik is just the hero that can find “The Relic of the Dragon.”  Urik is surprised to discover that he is the brave warrior who must obtain the relic, but he is a bit unsettled that the elder refers to him as “a tribute” rather than as “a brave warrior.”

Urik begins the quest to find “The Relic of the Dragon,” and he will need help from his trusty spirit guide if he is to find the relic and return home safe and sound.  There is just one problem.  You, the reader, are his spirit guide that will chose which path Urik will take every time he comes to a proverbial fork in the road.

I must say that Relic of the Dragon is such a wonderful, imaginative, and colorful comic book that I wish Miguel Ángel García and Adrian Benatar were the creative team behind at least one comic book based on a Robert E. Howard character (Conan, Kull, Red Sonja).  Now, that I think about it, Relic of the Dragon has a bit of Sergio Aragones' Groo the Wanderer about it.

Benatar has written a surprisingly delightful story with many imaginative twists, turns, and traps.  The variations are inventive enough that many readers will, upon finishing the story, go back and read the parts of the story they did not choose.

García's fantasy cartooning is the best that I have seen in quite a while, and his coloring is a storm of rich and vivid hues.  Talk about eye candy; I can't help but keep flipping through this comic book that is almost an art book.  Letterer Ron Estevez delivers lettering that highlights the epic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery in this story, but also manages to capture the wry humor that undercurrents this tale.

I like being surprised by comic books of which I did not expect much, and this comic book certainly surprised me.  I hope that Relic of the Dragon is the first of many comics from Miguel Ángel García and Adrian Benatar produce.

8.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review - Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken: Troublems with Frenemies

PIRATE PENGUIN VS NINJA CHICKEN BOOK 1
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS – @topshelfcomix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Ray Friesen
EDITORS: Chris Staros and Brett Warnock
ISBN: 978-1-60309-071-1; hardcover (June 2011)
96pp, Color, $9.95 U.S.

Ages 7 to 13

Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken is a graphic novel series by cartoonist and webcomics creator, Ray Friesen.  Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken (Book 1): Troublems with Frenemies is an all-ages humor graphic novel that was the first in the series and was originally published five-and-a-half years ago.

The stars of the series are Pirate Penguin, a penguin who is a pirate (complete with a hook for a right hand, an eye patch, and a pirate hat), and Ninja Chicken, a chicken who is a ninja (complete with ninja pajamas costume).  They're roommates, bestest of friends and also the worstest of enemies.  Now, see them in action – in stories so small and epics so epic.

See them fight over smoothies.  Watch them scuffle over peer pressure.  Witness their friend Camoflaugey Chameleon cause chaos by impersonating one or the other.  Join arguments over stuff like ice cream or origami.  Then, in “The Biggest Giantest Epicest Pirate Penguin versus Ninja Chicken Story Evar!,” Pirate Penguin rockets off into space, and Ninja Chicken attends a ninja convention in Las Vegas, but can they really be apart for 11 chapters?

Top Shelf sent me a copy of Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken (Book 1): Troublems with Frenemies when it first came out – yes, that long ago.  I lost track of it, but recently found it again, which was fortuitous because the second graphic novel, Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken (Book 2): Escape from Skull-Fragment Island!, was recently published.

I didn't think that I would like this, but I did.  Of course, this is a kids' graphic novel, but there is a reason that it is described as “all-ages.”  Anyone who can read this, regardless of age, will like some or all of it.  The short comics, usually two pages in length, are little gag strips that play on the inherent silliness of traditional humor comic books.  A pun, a philosophical point turned on its pin head, an argument:  Ray Friesen is clever and imaginative in creating humor.

Despite their wacky names, Pirate Penguin and Ninja Chicken are actually good characters.  They are lovable, and the fact that they like each other in some way makes this work.  These two characters are bickering, gently contrarian characters, and their attitudes and personalities make them lovable.  There are also some good supporting characters, like useful third-wheel, Camoflaugey Chameleon, and a character whose profession makes it easier to expand the settings for stories, Astronaut Armadillo.

I think Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken (Book 1): Troublems with Frenemies is a little more than its cover suggests.  I won't describe this as great, but it is surprisingly cute, funny, and enjoyable, and like me, you may be surprised to find yourself liking it.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE Graphic Novel Adaptation

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE GRAPHIC NOVEL ADAPTATION
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon. and please, visit the "Star Wars Central" review page here.]

WRITER: Alessandro Ferrari (Manuscript Adaptation)
ART: Igor Chimisso (character studies); Matteo Piana (layout)
INKS: Igor Chimisso, Stefano Simeone
PAINT: Davide Turotti (background and settings); Kawaii Creative Studio (characters)
COVER: Eric Jones
ISBN: 978-1-68405-220-2; paperback, 6 3/4” x 9” (December 2017)
80pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN (December 12, 2017)

IDW Publishing is currently publishing an all-ages Star Wars comic book, entitled Star Wars Adventures.  Announced at Star Wars Celebration (April 2017) in Orlando, Florida, Star Wars Adventures is geared toward readers ages 7 to 10 and features one and two part stories that are not steeped in Star Wars continuity.

In addition, IDW Publishing is also publishing U.S. editions of Star Wars graphic novels drawn by a group of Disney artists, apparently based in Italy.  This group's art is intended to bridge the gap between Star Wars and traditional Disney animation, making these Star Wars comics more attractive for younger audiences that are probably familiar with Disney style art in Disney comic books and illustrated books.

This group also produced an adaption of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the eighth live-action Star Wars film.  Released in 2016, Rogue One is a stand-alone film, meaning it is not part of the original, prequel, or sequel trilogies.  Rogue One's story is set immediately before the events depicted in the original Star Wars (1977).  IDW is now releasing that Rogue One graphic novel as Star Wars: Rogue One Graphic Novel Adaptation.  It is written by Alessandro Ferrari, who has adapted numerous Walt Disney and Pixar films into the graphic novel format and has also written many comics for Disney Worldwide Publishing.

In Star Wars: Rogue One Graphic Novel Adaptation, the Death Star, the Galactic Empire’s ultimate weapon, looms large.  Its near-completion means doom for the Rebel Alliance.  Enter Jyn Erso, daughter of the Death Star’s reluctant creator, Galen Erso; she desperately seeks to save her father from Imperial control.  For this quest, Jyn will join forces with Rebel spy, Cassian Andor; his reprogrammed Imperial droid, K-2SO, and a small band of rebels.  Aboard a ship one of them dubs “Rogue One,” they will attempt to steal the Death Star’s plans and keep hope for the Rebellion alive.

At 64 pages of actual comics, IDW's Star Wars: Rogue One Graphic Novel Adaptation is half the size of Marvel Comics' six-issue miniseries, Star Wars: Rogue One Adaptation.  Writer Alessandro Ferrari has to excise chunks out of many scenes and sequences, yet he makes the most of the narrative space he has.  Ferrari's Rogue One adaptation runs hot and the dialogue is passionate.  The threat that looms above the Rebel Alliance, the Death Star, seem genuine and larger than life.  It reads as if it were a behemoth bearing down upon the rebels even when it is nowhere near them.

The art is gorgeous.  The character drawings convey the dark personalities of the characters and the intensity of their emotions and the grittiness of their determination.  The backgrounds and settings are wonderfully painted.  You would think the painters were doing this high-quality work for an animated film project, but no, they are turning out this sumptuous painting for a kids' comic book!

The screenplay for the Rogue One film was written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy (from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta), and Alessandro Ferrari and the artists of Star Wars: Rogue One Graphic Novel Adaptation have done these writers proud.  I hope this creative team gets the chance to do a graphic novel adaptation of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and I am sure I am not the only one waiting to see what they can do with this new Star Wars film.

A
8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: ELENORA MANDRAGORA: Daughter of Merlin

ELENORA MANDRAGORA: DAUGHTER OF MERLIN
IDW PUBLISHING/EuroComics – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Severine Gauthier
ART: Thomas Labourot
TRANSLATION: Edward Gauvin
COLORS: Grelin & Thomas Labourot
LETTERS: Ron Estevez
COVER: Thomas Labourot
EDITORS: Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon
ISBN:  978-1-68405-008-6; hardcover – 8¼”  x 10¾” (November 8, 2017)
60pp, Color, $14.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN

Age 10-17; Grades 5-12

Elenora Mandragora: Daughter of Merlin is a full color, hardcover graphic novel recently published by IDW Publishing.  Written by Severine Gauthier and drawn by Thomas Labourot, Elenora Mandragora: Daughter of Merlin is French comic book originally published as a graphic album, entitled Aliénor Mandragore – Merlin est mort, vive Merlin! by Paris-based publisher, Rue de Sèvres.  The IDW edition has a trim size of 8¼”  x 10¾” and comes in at 60-pages long.

Elenora Mandragora: Daughter of Merlin focuses on Elenora, the daughter of Merlin the wizard.  Merlin is the greatest druid in the forest of Broceliande, and he spends most of his time in his “Mushroomery,” a dank and dark place in the woods where a variety of mushrooms grow.  Elenora lives with her father, but the impish and undisciplined girl has no interest in “druiding,” which her father insists on teaching her.  Elanora has no talent for magic.

That all changes one day when Elenora does something that kills her father.  However, Merlin's ghost is determined not to stay dead, and it falls on Elenora to befriend the one person who may have the ability to revive Merlin.  That would be her father's greatest rival, Morgana the fairy magician and sorceress.

IDW's press materials for Elenora Mandragora: Daughter of Merlin compares this graphic novel to the work of legendary creators of stories for children:  author Roald Dahl; animated filmmaker, Hayao Miyazki; and American legend and mogul, Walt Disney.  I am quite versed in Miyazaki and Disney, but I have only read two Dahl books (that I remember), and with that experience, I can still say that IDW is not far off with such comparisons.

Elenora Mandragora: Daughter of Merlin is a fantastic comic book and original graphic novel.  I think middle school students who read fantasy literary will likely enjoy this.  I think older teens and high school students familiar with comic books will also enjoy this graphic novel.

It is not perfect; there are some oddly extraneous characters in the story, characters I am assuming will be important in later Elenora Mandragora adventures.  However, the three core characters:  Elenora, Merlin, and Morgana form a solid trinity of motivations, desires, conflicts, rivalries, back story, and endearment.  They are the powerful engine that drive this engaging and magical story of fathers and daughters and mentors and students.  This is a love triangle, of sorts, that propels this wonderfully inventive comic book.

Elenora Mandragora: Daughter of Merlin is infused with a sense of magic, and the setting is a place to which you will want to return, even if only in your dreams.  And the characters – you will want to visit with them again... and again.

9 out of 10
A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: HOME TIME: Under the River

HOME TIME: UNDER THE RIVER - OGN
IDW PUBLISHING/Top Shelf Productions – @IDWPublishing @topshelfcomix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTONIST: Campbell Whyte
ISBN: 978-1-60309-412-2; hardcover – 9” x 9” (August 2017)
228pp, Color, $24.99 U.S., $33.99 CAN

Home Time: Under the River is an original graphic novel from Australian comics creator and arts educator, Campbell Whyte.  A full-color, hardcover (9” x9”) book, Under the River is Whyte's debut graphic novel and is the first in a series that is apparently inspired by the worlds of fantasy fiction that Whyte encountered in the 1980s and 90s.

Home Time (Book One): Under the River introduces Lilly and David Watanabe, who might be twins, but they don't agree on much.  December 15th marks the beginning of their last summer before high school, and they at least agree that they are going to enjoy it.  This is going to be a perfect time of relaxing with friends:  Nathan Dermott, Ben Miller, Amanda Holm, and Lawrence Baudin.  They are going to play fantasy games, watch movies on video, and have sleepovers., and there might even be some romance.

The best laid plans of mice and almost-high-schoolers, however...  David and Lilly and their friends fall into a local river.  When they wake up, there are in a strange land where they meet peculiar diminutive plant-like people that call themselves the “Peaches.”  Taken to the Village of the Peaches, the kids learn that these beings consider them to be savior – “sky spirits” that have come to save the Peaches from their enemies.

The kids are trained in the art of tea-brewing in preparation for an upcoming festivals.  The boys also explore and discover that there is more to this world than they imagined... or were told.  Now, they have to discover the truth and find their way home – if they can tolerate each other long enough.

Back in the 1990s, I read an article in which the author stated that he believed children's literature and picture books had become safe.  He said that publishers were unwilling to tell stories that were dark and dangerous or that placed children in peril.  That probably was his perception based on what children's books he encountered, or maybe, his intention was to complain about political correctness and/or be nostalgic for an era before he was even born.

I often encountered dark and edgy children's storytelling back in “those” days.  Lord knows Harry Potter (which began publication in 1997) seems to trade in the currency of death, duplicity, and betrayal.  A main character who is a child is actually killed in Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (first published as Northern Lights in 1995).

Well, if readers young and old... I mean mature are looking for children's literature of a darkling kind, they will find that in this most excellent graphic novel, Home Time: Under the River.  It is hugely imaginative, and it grabs the readers with its sense of dread, doom, and finality.  We follow the children on many explorations, and there is always, around the edges, an ominous atmosphere surrounding everything.  So even as the children keep discovering in this world of color and natural splendor, there is menace in the garden of delights, making the story richer and more engaging with each page.

Home Time: Under the River may end up being the best or be on the shortlist of best graphic novels for any age this year.  Campbell Whyte's storytelling is a celebration, an exploration, and a display of shifting drawing mediums and graphical styles.  There is more imagination in Whyte's story than you will find in an entire year of most of Marvel and DC Comics's superhero comic book titles.

People looking for classic children's storytelling for their young readers will want to buy Home Time: Under the River, and then fight over who reads it first.

A
9.5 out of 10

www.topshelfcomix.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: ECTYRON AGAINST LAGAXTU

ECTYRON AGAINST LAGAXTU - OGN
CANDLE LIGHT PRESS/Warning Comics – @candlelightpres @attila71

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Carter Allen
SCRIPT: John Ira Thomas
ART: Carter Allen – @attila71
LETTERS: John Ira Thomas
ASSISTANCE/MISC. ART: Will Grant
32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (2017)

Ectyron Against Lagaxtu is a new comic book published by Candle Light Press (CLP).  It is written by CLP stalwarts Carter Allen and John Ira Thomas and drawn by Allen.  CLP regular Will Grant assists Allen and Thomas and also provides a pin-up illustration.

Ectyron Against Lagaxtu introduces the super-cyborg warrior hero, AtoM.I.K.E.  He is always on the lookout for the kind of giant monster that hides beneath the Earth before finally surfacing to wreak havoc.  Lagaxtu is one of those monsters, a “kaiju,” a beast like Japan's Godzilla.  AtoM.I.K.E. (a “tokusatsu” like character) can kick some monster butt, but he will need help from another behemoth beast, one who can sense evil.  Here, comes Ectyron!

Ectyron Against Lagaxtu is the kind of monster comic that writer, artist, cartoonist, designer, and graphic novelist, Carter Allen does so well.  His Gozilla-sized creations, which includes monsters, beasts, machines, contraptions, and heroes, are pure comic book fun.

Where do monsters dwell?  When Marvel Comics stopping publishing comic books like Where Monsters Dwell, the spirit of B.A.M.s (big-ass monsters), had to go somewhere, and occasionally that spirit shows up in American comic books, such as Allen's.  The screwy artistry of the Jack Kirby-Dick Ayers art team that drew monster comics is well in evidence in Ectyron Against Lagaxtu.

I do think the software Allen used to produce the art in Ectyron Against Lagaxtu steals some of the energy that is usually in evidence in his hand-drawn monster goodies.  Luckily, John Ira Thomas's dialogue and exposition (which reads as if it were written for a TV reporter witnessing this monster mash) gives the wackiness a jolt.

There are six monster pin-up illustrations in the back of this comic book.  I think they can act as incentives to encourage comic book readers to buy Ectyron Against Lagaxtu when they visit the CLP table at comic book conventions around the country.  The promise of more CLP monster mash comics might also spur a purchase.

A
8 out of 10

http://candlelightpress.tumblr.com/
www.warningcomics.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Graphic Novel Review: HER BARK & HER BITE

HER BARK & HER BITE - OGN
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS/IDW – @topshelfcomix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: James Albon
EDITOR: Chris Staros
ISBN: 978-1-60309-407-8; softcover with French flaps – 5 4/5 x 8 1/3 (April 25, 2017)
72pp, Color, $9.99 U.S.

Ages 16 and up

Her Bark & Her Bite is a comic book from award-winning Scottish illustrator James Albon.  Published by Top Shelf Productions, this 2017, full-color graphic novel is the story of young painter, her charismatic lover, and the ugly dog that comes between them.

Her Bark & Her Bite opens shortly after Rebecca, a budding young painter, arrives in the big city.  She movies in with her cousin who does not like it when Rebecca paints.  Rebecca meets a charismatic young man named Victor Koenig.  Although he is initially standoffish with Rebecca, he eventually embraces her.  The two fall madly in love, and Victor plunges Rebecca into a socialite world filled with glamorous parties where Victor is the center of attention.

Soon, being with Victor pays off, and Rebecca has a studio where she can a paint.  Life among the layabout debutantes and dilettantes means meeting people who allow Rebecca to show off her work at exhibitions and in galleries.  Eventually, however, something comes between Rebecca and Victor and threatens to upend their relationship – a pug named “Princess.”

I often wondered what it would be like if someone who was a cartoonist for The New Yorker (or for a comparable publication) produced a comic book or graphic novel.  I found something like that a few years ago with the illustrated short novel, After the Fall, by Victoria Roberts.  I found something closer with the new short graphic novel, Her Bark & Her Bite.

Her Bark & Her Bite's creator James Albon is certainly on the level of a New Yorker cartoonist, having produced work for newspapers such as The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal.  Albon's artistic educational credentials are certainly impressive.  Her Bark & Her Bite is his graphic novel debut, and is impressive; it certainly makes me think of cartoons found in high-end and high brow periodicals.  I think Charles Addams, had he produced a comic book, would have created something not that far from James Albon's lively graphical storytelling in Her Bark & Her Bite.

I am not sure what color medium Albon uses to produce the art for Her Bark & Her Bite – color markers, color pencils, pastels?  The result is scintillating and quicksilver, as the art is not so much drawn on art board as it is something that seems to dance on the page.  The art crackles with energy and the result is a story that seems like a recollection of a real event rather than something the author contrived.  The characters cannot help but be engaging; they pulse with the verve of life.  The story cannot help but capture the reader's attention; it snaps, crackles, and pops.

I cannot imagine that readers who like to experience the breath and width of alternative comics and the modern graphic novel would not want to read this.  It's bark is flashy, but its bite is substantial.  Her Bark & Her Bite is an exceptional debut.

A
9 out of 10

www.jamesalbon.com
www.topshelfcomix.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: SURFSIDE GIRLS, Book One: The Secret of Danger Point

SURFSIDE GIRLS, BOOK ONE: THE SECRET OF DANGER POINT
IDW PUBLISHING/Top Shelf Productions – @IDWPublishing @topshelfcomix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Kim Dwinell
EDITOR: Chris Staros
ISBN: 978-1-60309-411-5; paperback (6” x 9”) with French flaps (July 2017)
236pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN

Diamond Order Code: APR17-0634

Rating:  Ages Middle-grade (8 to 12 and up)

Surfside Girls, Book One: The Secret of Danger Point is a 2017 full-color graphic novel from cartoonist, animator, and educator, Kim Dwinell.  The first in a new series of graphic novels, The Secret of Danger Point focuses on two middle school girls who find ghosts, strange creatures, and a hometown conspiracy during their summer vacation.

Surfside Girls, Book One opens during the height of summer in the sleepy west coast beach town of Surfside.  We meet 12-year-old Samantha Lynn “Sam” Taylor and her best friend, Jade Lee.  Lately, Jade always seems to be in a fit of giggles whenever she is around boys, and Sam thinks that this is ruining their summer plans to surf and hang-out.

While having fun on the water, Sam discovers a secret underwater cave that surprisingly leads to the cliff-side area known as “Danger Point.”  Sam is even more shocked to discover that Danger Point is occupied by ghosts!  One of the spirits, Mr. Jian Wu, insists that it is Sam's “duty to do what needs to be done.”  What is he talking about?!  Well, Sam needs Jade's help if they are going to get to the bottom of this mystery in time to save their town.

One of the defining moments of my young life was the discovery of the classic Saturday morning animated television series, “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” (1969).  It began a life-long love of mystery fiction, as I moved from youthful mystery to adult stories of crime and mystery-solving.  However, part of me has never let go of Scooby-Doo and mysteries with a supernatural bent.

Surfside Girls, Book One: The Secret of Danger Point recalls Scooby-Doo and his pals (known as “Mystery Inc.”), as well as other classic Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon kid-detectives.  Dwinell's heroines, Sam and Jade, are the plucky, resourceful, meddling kids who never take “No!” for answer and also do what they have to do to get around their parents' admonitions.

The Secret of Danger Point, however, is true and pure comic book.  Kim Dwinell's page design and layout is perfect just about every page.  Panel size and type is just right.  Pages 92 and 93, which recount young pirate Robert's life, are good examples of how design and layout can evoke feelings and emotions in the readers, as well as tell them a story.

Sam and Jade are sparkling, likable characters, the kind young readers will want to follow.  Very few of the supporting characters seem extraneous, and everything in and around the town of Surfside is worth discovering – from beaches and secret caves to neighborhoods and the town square.  These are the ingredients of a great summer graphic novel read, and the sunny colors Dwinell uses in her art could chase away the chill during a winter read.

There is a timeless quality to The Secret of Danger Point.  It is set during a summer vacation that feels endless in a place that is perfect for an endless summer vacation, with supernatural mystery-solving thrown into the mix.  I highly recommend The Secret of Danger Point... for all ages.

A
9 out of 10

www.topshelfcomix.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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FARLAINE THE GOBLIN: Book 5 - The Vaultlands

FARLAINE THE GOBLIN #5
STUDIO FARLAINE – @TreeGoblin

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Pug Grumble (formerly “Anonymous”)
COVER: Pug Grumble
VARIANT COVER: Skottie Young
ISBN:  978-0-9890058-5-2; paperback (May 2017)
58pp, B&W; $5.00 U.S.

All-Ages

Book 5” “Farlaine in the Vaultlands”

Farlaine the Goblin is a series of graphic novels published by Studio Farlaine and written and drawn by the cartoonist who currently uses the name “Pug Grumble” (but was previously credited as “Anonymous”).  Mr. Grumble recently sent me a review copy of the the latest Farlaine edition.  [I first contacted Studio Farliane in 2015 and received review copies of two Farlaine the Goblin books, including the fourth book.]

Each comic book/graphic novel is published as a paperback (landscape dimensions 11.8” x 7.75”).  The story focuses on Farlaine the Goblin, a tree goblin and a shaman from the forest of Fin-Din.  He has spent years wandering the many Oddlands of Wug in search of a forest that he can call his own.  Farlaine has two companions.  The first is Ehrenwort, a tree he carries in a sack on his back; Farlaine also talks to Ehrenwort, whom he describes as his “Verdan.”  The second companion is a “Tink” from an earlier adventure in the “Tinklands.”  A rotund, mechanical fellow (think Star Wars' BB-8 with two wheels), he has been named Drowsy by Farlaine.

Farlaine the Goblin: Book 5, Vaultlands begins as Farlaine, Ehrenwort, and Drowsy leave the Twistlands behind.  Now, it is on to the next land as Farlaine continues his search for a forest.  Welcome to the Vaultlands!  The first person the trio meets is Jabs Jibber, Vaultlands realtor and guide, but he seems like scam artist.

Farlaine and friends discover a land full of... well, vaults.  There are vaults the size of post office boxes (and stacked like them, also) to ones that look like lock boxes.  The deeper they go into Vaultlands, the more diverse and stranger the vaults become, and farther still, they are older, larger, and more mysterious.  There is a treasure hunter to meet and also a creature with a taste for one of the crew, but will Farlaine finally find that forest?

After reading Farlaine the Goblin, Trade Paperback, Volume 1, which collects the first three graphic novels in the series, I was surprised that a comic of such high quality could not find a publisher, forcing the creator to self-publish it.  After reading the fifth issue, I am still surprised that Farlaine the Goblin is not a huge hit and a multiple Eisner Award nominee.

I wish I could say that the best thing about Farlaine the Goblin: Book 5, Vaultlands is the Uncle Scrooge reference, but the truth is that there are so many “best things” about this delightful edition of a fantastic series.  Farlaine is a fantasy adventure.  It is epic fantasy on a small, but no less engrossing scale.  Farlaine the Goblin is in the spirit of the Looney Tunes and Lewis Carroll, and Book 5, The Vaultlands epitomizes all of that.

The Vaultlands is funny and inventive, delightful and imaginative.  How the heck can a land full of vaults deliver so strongly as it does on whimsy and wonder?  Maybe, it is the magic of Pug's beautiful black and white art that recalls classic illustrated books for children from the 19th and early 20th centuries.  I could see Farlaine and company at Toad Hall.

I highly recommend Farlaine the Goblin: Book 5, Vaultlands and this series in general.

A+

www.farlaine.com
facebook.com/FarlianeTheGoblin
twitter.com/treegoblin

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: A CONTRACT WITH GOD - Centennial Edition

A CONTRACT WITH GOD And Other Tenement Stories
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY – @wwnorton

[This review was originally posted by Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Will Eisner
ISBN: 978-0-393-60918-9; hardcover (March 7, 2017)
224pp, B&W, $25.95 U.S., $34.95 CAN

Introduction by Scott McCloud; December 2004 Preface by Will Eisner

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories is an original graphic novel written and drawn by legendary comic book creator, Will Eisner (1917 to 2005).  It was first published in 1978 and is composed of four comic book short stories that revolve around several poor Jewish characters who live in a tenement apartment building in New York City, apparently sometime between World War I and World War II.

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories (often referred to only as A Contract with God) was not the first graphic novel published in North America, but it was a seminal graphic novel because of its influence on other comic book creators to produce work that was more ambitious than standard superhero fare and children's comics, both in terms of content and format.

2017 marks the centennial of Will Eisner's birth.  In celebration of what would have been Eisner's 100th birthday, W.W. Norton & Company is publishing what is essentially a “Will Eisner Centennial Edition” of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories.  This new edition is a hardcover book and contains the four stories from A Contract with God reproduced in high-resolution from Eisner's original art boards.  This book also includes “Introduction to the Centennial Edition” by Scott McCloud (a comic book creator and friend of Eisner); the essay “A Brief History of A Contract with God;” and Will Eisner's “Preface,” written in 2004 for a 2005 edition of the book published by Norton.

The narrative of A Contract with God is a short story cycle of four stories.  The stories are mostly set in a tenement at 55 Dropsie Avenue, the Bronx, New York.  Tenements were apartment buildings built to accommodate the flood of immigrants that flowed into New York after World War I.

The title story, “A Contract with God,” opens the book.  It focuses on Frimme Hersh, a devout Hebrew man who grieves the loss of his adopted daughter, Rachele.  Hersh believes Rachele's death is a violation of his “contract with God,” violated by the Almighty himself.  Hersh rebels against his previous life, but years later decides he needs another contract with God.

Eisner's creation of the entirety of A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories was driven by his grief over the loss of his own daughter, Alice, but especially the story, “A Contract with God.”  I think the central message of this story is about man's foolish belief that he can actually not only initiate a contract with God or eternity, but also dictate terms and conditions.  I cannot tell if Eisner wishes to convey acceptance or resignation to fate and God, but the sense of futility is obvious here, while also being wearily hopeful.  Life goes on...

The second story, “The Street Singer,” is set in the 1930s and focuses on Marta Maria (not her birth name), an opera singer who long ago abandoned her career, and a street singer named Eddie.  Their chance meeting gives birth to hopes of a career revival for one and a debut for the other, but a simple error on both their parts endangers their bold plans.

Other than the 10 pages that depict Marta and Eddie's meeting and their sexual and professional consummation, I am not crazy about this story, although I like it.  However, those ten pages contain some of Eisner's best page and individual panel design of his late career as a graphic novelist, especially that two-panel page in which Eddie walks into Marta apartment and then, enters her boudoir.

The third story is “The Super,” which is about Mr. Scruggs, the mean superintendent of the tenement at 55 Dropsie Avenue and his fateful encounter with Rosie, a poppet who might be one of the youngest femme fatales ever in comic books.  I am not a big fan of this story either, but it has some of Eisner's best cartooning of the human figure an exemplified in Mr. Scruggs.

In his post World War II work on his foundational comic book, The Spirit, Eisner frequently showed off his dexterity in cartooning the human figure in motion.  He matches that with the “The Super.”  This story opens with two masterful full-page illustrations, one suggesting Scruggs walking and the other a magnificent pose showing off Mr. Scrugg's physicality and his ability to intimidate using the threat of his physical prowess.

The final of the four stories is “Cookalein.”  The term refers to a kind of resort farm in the Catskill Mountains; 150 miles north of New York City.  City residents went to such places for summer vacations, and in this story, a wife and her two sons travel to a “cookalein” one summer.  However, marital stress lines between the wife and her husband, who will follow his family to the “cookalein” sometime later, grow wider, while the older of their two sons, Willie, has a life altering experience one hot summer night.

I have lost track of how many times I have re-read and perused all four of these stories in whole and in part, especially “Cookalein,” which is one of my all-time favorite Eisner works.  I had long hoped that Eisner would expand on this story, making it a larger, self-contained work or perhaps as a long-running serial featuring all the main characters from the story.

Over my many years of reading articles about A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories, I have come to understand that some comic historians and aficionados consider this work to be the pinnacle of Eisner's career.  I don't.  I consider Eisner's post-WWII work on The Spirit, his comic book published as a newspaper insert during the 1940s and early 1950s, to be his best work.  I do think that A Contract with God is the height of Eisner's comics that are his personal expressions, both as a storyteller and as an artist working in the comics medium.  This graphic novel may also be the best blending of Eisner's expression of pre-World War II Jewish American culture in New York City with his own history as a boy and then as a young man before WWII.

I can say that I love A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories even with my mixed feelings about some of the stories.  In the times that I have read or looked over A Contract with God since Will Eisner's passing, I find myself missing him something fierce... although I never met him.  Anyone who reads graphic novels has not really read graphic novels until he has read A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

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Comics Review: WHO KILLED KURT COBAIN?

WHO KILLED KURT COBAIN?
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

CARTOONIST: Nicolas Otero
TRANSLATION: Ivanka Hahnenberger
LETTERS: Troy Little
ISBN:  978-1-63140-726-0; hardcover (October 2016)
152pp, Color, $24.99 U.S.

IDW Publishing recently published a new hardcover, full-color graphic novel, entitled Who Killed Kurt Cobain?: The Story of Boddah.  This is an English language release of the French graphic novel,  Le Roman de Boddah, written and drawn by Nicolas Otero and published earlier this year by Editions Glénat.  Otero's graphic novel is a comic book adaptation of the French novel, Le Roman de Boddah (2013), by author Heloise Guay de Bellissen.

Who Killed Kurt Cobain? is a work of fiction that recounts real-life events from the life of Kurt Cobain.  For those who don't know, Cobain was the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band, Nirvana.  This musical trio exploded onto the American music scene in late 1991 with the album, Nevermind.  Less than two and a half years later, Cobain committed suicide in April 1994.  [Dave Grohl, the founder of the Grammy-winning rock band, Foo Fighters, was Nirvana's drummer, and Krist Novoselic was the band's bassist.]

Cobain allegedly had an imaginary friend named “Boddah,” to whom he supposedly addressed a suicide note.  In Who Killed Kurt Cobain?, the readers see the rise and fall and the highs and lows of Kurt Cobain through the eyes of Boddah.  Cobain becomes modern rock's greatest icon in a journey that begins in the dark clubs of Seattle before rocketing the young musician onto the world stage.  The journey to rock immortality then plummets through a torrent of drug abuse; a dysfunctional marriage to fellow musician, Courtney Love; and self-loathing and depression before the final stop, self-destruction and suicide.

Who killed Kurt Cobain?  Unless Perry Mason knows something else, then, the answer is Kurt Cobain.  I have not read Heloise Guay de Bellissen's novel upon which this comic book is based (nor do I plan to), so I will focus on what I think Nicolas Otero attempts to do in the graphic novel, Who Killed Kurt Cobain?

It seems as if Otero tries to fabricate a time line of events – what happened in Cobain's life – and then presents them in a murky, impressionistic haze to reflect the fictional Cobain's state of mind.  I think Otero also tries to fabricate Cobain's interior life – his thoughts, creativity, imagination, delusions, illusions, etc, which he also presents in a murky, impressionistic haze.  The narrative is shocking and even confrontational, but the meaning or purpose of the series of events depicted is oblique.

Who Killed Kurt Cobain?  I don't care.  I hate to go hard on this graphic novel, especially because I am reviewing a copy IDW Publishing generously sent me.  I try not to bum-rush or be too harsh on books I receive as review copies, but I am not really interested in Who Killed Kurt Cobain?, the graphic novel or the real-life question.

I was and still am a huge fan of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain the musician and singer-songwriter.  I don't remember the date, but sometime in or around September 1991, an employee at Paradise Records (which has been closed for almost two decades) in Baton Rouge, LA, just off the northern side of the campus of Louisiana State University, recommended Nevermind to me because I was looking for rock music outside the mainstream.  I bought Nevermind and immediately brought it home, and after the first listen, I was a fan.

I was shocked and hurt upon learning of Cobain's death, but whatever went down with his death was and is beyond my control.  I loved Nirvana because I thought the music was good – real good, and like Paul McCartney, I don't just like genres of music, I like good music.

Who Killed Kurt Cobain? is not a bad graphic novel.  I suspect some people find it quite intriguing; otherwise, IDW would never have published a snazzy hardcover, full-color edition of it.  In this work, Nicolas Otero is ambitious and thoughtful.  This work just ain't for me... not anymore.  There are, however, readers who want comic books about real-life rock musicians or ones that feature fictional versions of them, and Who Killed Kurt Cobain? may be something they want to read.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: HOCKEY KARMA Original Grahic Novel

HOCKEY KARMA
ANIMAL MEDIA GROUP

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Howard Shapiro – @hockeyplayer
ART: Andres J. Mossa
COLORS: Andres J. Mossa
LETTERS: Ryan Ferrier
ISBN: 978-0-9861489-3-4; paperback (November 1, 2016)
160pp, Color, $14.95 U.S., $17.95 CAN

Hockey Karma is an full-color, original graphic novel written by Howard Shapiro; drawn and colored by Andres Mossa; and lettered by Ryan Ferrier.  Published by Animal Media Group, Hockey Karma is the third graphic novel in the Forever Friends Trilogy.  This final installment focuses on an aging hockey star and his frustrated best friend.

As Hockey Karma begins, hockey star, Jeremiah “Jake” Jacobson, is struggling with his place on the team for which he has been a star for 14 seasons, the Bay City Blades.  Thirty-two-years old and struggling with injuries, Jake has focused his ire on fast-rising newcomer, Barclay Pedersen, an 18-year-old rookie.  As Jake sinks deeper into bitterness, his wife, Felicity, notices that Jake is practically absent from the lives of her and their two children.  Can Jake stop his downward spiral?

Meanwhile, Tom Leonard, Jake's best friend and agent, is struggling to get a charitable organization started.  Jake was supposed to help him, but is uber-focused on preserving his fading career.  Tom begins to realize that he might be on his on, and a chance encounter with a former flame who might help Tom discover the power of believing in himself.  Can Tom step out of Jake's shadow?

I have not read the previous entries in the Forever Friends Trilogy, Stereotypical Freaks and The Hockey Saint.  I received a copy-for-review of Hockey Karma and the press materials helped me focus on this third novel rather than on the other two.  Still, I think any reader can find Hockey Karma enjoyable without reading the other comics before it.

Writer Howard Shapiro presents Hockey Karma in fairly hot and cold terms.  This is a character, family, friendship, and workplace drama without tears.  Shapiro makes the characters blunt about their shortcomings.  There are no teary interventions; the character with an addiction is presented with the resolution in stark terms.  The book offers a rah-rah, happy ending that might make even Walt Disney roll his eyes, but the characters have earned it because it did not come easy.

I recognized artist Andres Mossa's name from his work as a colorist on some of Marvel Comics' Star Wars comic book series.  Mossa is not a grand master of figure drawing, but his characters have a poignant human quality about them.  Also, it is hard not to like Mossa's dazzling colors.

On the title page for each chapter, Howard Shapiro offers “recommended listening,” songs that he thinks could be the right soundtrack for that particular chapter.  The songs are a collection of classic and modern rock songs and selections from alt-rock and college radio.  I don't think that Hockey Karma needs a soundtrack, although there are a few times when it needs an injection of drama.

Hockey Karma moves to its own beat, digging into themes of friendship, life changes, and intimate relationships.  And that beat engages the reader until its satisfying final chapters and last panel.  Hockey Karma is not perfect, but it has heart and its emotions feel genuine.

www.animalmediagroup.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: COUSIN JOSEPH: A Graphic Novel

COUSIN JOSEPH: A Graphic Novel
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY/Liveright – @wwnorton and @LiverightPub

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST:  Jules Feiffer
ISBN: 978-1-63149-065-1; hardcover (August 3, 2016)
128pp, Color, $27.95 U.S., $35.95 CAN

Born in 1929, Jules Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, author, playwright, screenwriter, and comics creator.  He may be best known for his long-running comic strip, entitled Feiffer, which ran for 42 years in the venerable New York City weekly, The Village Voice.

Two years ago, Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company, published Kill My Mother: A Graphic Novel, a brand-new, Film-Noir inspired graphic novel by Feiffer.  Kill My Mother opens in Bay City, California in the year 1933.  The story revolves around a woman named Elsie Hannigan and her estranged teenage daughter, Annie, who hates her mother.  Elsie is a widower, following the murder of her husband, Sam Hannigan, a policeman.  Elsie's life is hectic and complicated.  Her boss is her late husband's former partner, Neil Hammond, a hard-drinking, has-been private detective who takes shady jobs.  Hammond ends up murdered, the beginning of a mystery spread over a decade.

Feiffer's new comic book is entitled Cousin Joseph: A Graphic Novel, the follow-up to Kill My Mother.  Cousin Joseph is set in Bay City in 1931, two years before Kill My Mother opens, and it reveals why and how Sam Hannigan was killed.  Detective Sam Hannigan is a bare-knuckled, tough, no-nonsense cop who does not hesitate to use his fists to resolve a case or a dispute.  Sam is also a bag-man for a mysterious Hollywood power broker that he knows only as “Cousin Joseph.”  Sam delivers payoffs to other Hollywood types for Cousin Joseph, and if they don't comply with Cousin Joseph's demands, Sam also delivers brutal beatings.

Bay City is also roiling with labor unrest.  Hardy Knox, owner of the cannery, Knox Works, is facing a strike by his employees who are members of a union led by Billy Doyle.  Billy and Sam go way back, but Sam may have to call out his union-busting team, The Red Squad.  Sam knows that he is on a mission, but it may be the wrong mission – one that will make him enemies – some close to home and some quite deadly.

The first time I tried to read Kill My Mother, I stopped after a few pages.  I avoided the galley/review copy that the publisher Liveright has sent to me.  I finally forced myself to read Kill My Mother and ended up loving it.  I had no such problems with Cousin Joseph, for which I also received a galley, as I dove right into book.

Cousin Joseph is a quintessential American graphic novel and comic book, something rare.  Jules Feiffer not only tackles the complexities of the American dream, he also illustrates how Americans see it differently.  He even delves into the notion which some American have that the American dream is not for everyone who lives in America.  Only certain people can have the best of America, these people believe.  Everyone else:  the second class citizens, those with the wrong skin color, those who worship differently; is of an undesirable ethnic origin.  Those people have to know their place, and it ain't anywhere near the top.  For some, America is about dreams of a place at the top of society and joy of finally reaching that pinnacle.  For others, there is struggle and prejudice, and that is the way it should be, almost as if it were part of a natural order in a certain kind of America.

Years ago, I heard an old white lady tell someone that she loved movies like A Few Good Men (1992) because they reflected the best of us (America).  I like Cousin Joseph because it skins the American myth raw.  This comic book is about the story Americans tell themselves and the whole world, but Americans have no plan to make that myth the real thing.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: In Search of Lost Time: SWANN'S WAY

IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME: SWANN'S WAY
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY/Liveright – @wwnorton and @LiverightPub

ORIGINAL STORY: Marcel Proust (novel)
CARTOONIST: Stéphane Heuet
TRANSLATION: Arthur Goldhammer
ISBN: 978-1-63149-035-4; hardcover (July 13, 2015)
240pp, Color, $26.95 U.S., $32.00 CAN

Stéphane Heuet is a French comics artist, who is known for his work in Franco-Belgian comics, which are called bandes dessinées (or “BD”).  Two decades ago, Heuet made a big leap in his career, which was also a huge risk, and this career-changing decision was connected to Marcel Proust.

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust, best known as Marcel Proust (1871-1922), was a  French novelist, critic, and essayist.  He is considered one of the greatest authors of all time, and his prominent work is À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time).  This monumental novel was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927.

The novel first gained fame in English under the title, Remembrance of Things Past.  This lengthy work has a theme of involuntary memory, and it follows the narrator, a middle-aged writer, as he recalls his past, the people he knew, and the places his visited.

In the early 1990s, Stéphane Heuet, decided to adapt In Search of Lost Time into comics form.  In 1998, he published Combray (Editions Delcourt), what he hoped would be the first of about a dozen large-sized, hardcover comic books (graphic novels?), the number it would take for him to adapt In Search of Lost Time into comics.  As of this writing, Heuet has published five books in this series.  In 2003, NBM Publishing released an English edition of Combray in North America.

The original prose Swann's Way is the first of the seven books that comprises Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.  Last year, in July, Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton and Company, published the large-size, full-color hardcover, In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way.  This book collects Heuet's comics adaptation of Swann's Way.  Liveright's In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way is also an English-language edition of the French comics hardcover, Du cote de chez Swann: Edition Integral (Editions Delcourt), which also collects Heuet's comics adaptation of Swann's Way.

In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way opens with “Combray,” in which the narrator, an aspiring writer, evokes the village in which he grew up, Combray.  This opening section includes the famous “episode of the madeleine.”  While visiting his mother, the narrator has tea with her and eats a madeleine, a small pastry in the shape of a cockle shell.  The taste of the pastry causes the narrator’s memories to return to his boyhood (the “involuntary memory”).

The second part, “Swann in Love,” tells the story of the romance between the aristocratic Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, a prostitute.  Swann's infatuation with Odette causes him much torment, especially once he comes to believe that she cannot stand his presence and is also having an affair with the Comte de Forcheville.  Although he comes to believe that Odette is beneath his station, Swann cannot stop thinking about her and wanting her.

The third part, “Place Names: The Name,” details the narrator’s idealized boyhood love for Charles and Mme (Odette) Swann's daughter, Gilberte.  This part also deals with the narrator's preference for the manner of women's fashion, make-up, and hair as it was when he was a boy in the past, as he compares it to the way things are in the present, now that he is an adult.

While researching Marcel Proust, Stephane Heuet, and this graphic novel, I found a New York Times article from 1998 about the controversy that ensued in France after the release of Heuet's first In Search of Lost Time graphic novel, Combray.  I don't know why I found myself surprised by the controversy, as the French are so open-minded...

Anyway, it took me a long time to read this (in addition to the fact that, at one point, I misplaced my reader's copy).  I am assuming that all the dialogue (word balloons) and exposition (caption boxes) that Heuet uses in his comics adaptation come directly from Proust's original text.  Proust's winding prose reads as if someone took Shakespeare and stuck every line together to form one incredibly long run-on sentence with little to no punctuation.  Yet Proust, at least in this comic book, is not abstract.  The language is meant to be evocative, and I found that certain words go together to form phrases which in turn are meant to evoke involuntary memories in my mind.  It is as if I were remembering something that not only did I not experience, but may also not even be real.

And I like that.  I think Heuet's adaptation works best if the reader can unravel the layers of the text.  Some words are mere flights of fantasy, while others are metaphorical.  Some deal with memory and are, therefore, highly descriptive.  In “Swann in Love” I found myself having to reread portions of the text to discover when the story was focusing on the matter at hand:  character, personality, relationship, conflict, and narrative.  I think the translation of Heuet's original French text into English by Arthur Goldhammer is likely the best a translation of this can be.  It is reader-friendly, but emphasizes the beauty of the prose.

It is also easy to get lost in Stephane Heuet's beautiful art.  His “clean line” (or “clear line”) style recalls the work of Tintin creator, Hergé, and it gives the story a sense of wonder and of adventure.  That makes this journey into the narrator's memory a joyful trip.  I was never bored; I was always curious about where this story was taking me.  Honestly, In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way is not the easiest read, but it is a remarkable book, and the map of Paris and illustrated Proust family tree that comes with this version of the book helps.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: THE STORY OF MY TITS

THE STORY OF MY TITS
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS – @topshelfcomix

CARTOONIST: Jennifer Hayden
EDITORS: Chris Staros and Leigh Walton
ISBN: 978-1-60309-054-4; softcover with French flaps (September 2015)
352pp, B&W, $29.95 U.S.

Mature readers (16+)

The Story of My Tits is a 2015 black and white, original graphic novel from Jennifer Hayden, an author, children's book illustrator, and comix creator.  Published by Top Shelf Productions, The Story of My Tits chronicles Hayden's life from her years as a girl with a flat chest to her battle with breast cancer in her forties.

Born in the early 1960s, Jennifer is an ordinary girl, but over time, she comes to discover that unlike other ordinary girls, her breasts are taking their own sweet time to develop.  Eventually, Jennifer's tits do appear as she discovers boys, sex, and break-ups with boys.

However, the innocence of youth quickly gives way to the chaos of adulthood.  There is college, a long-term relationship with Jim, the young man who later becomes her husband.  There is her mother's brush with breast cancer that eventually leads to a mastectomy, and while her mother suffers a health crisis, her father has a mistress.  Jennifer experiences the ups-and-downs of two families after she marries Jim, but the biggest downer is her own diagnosis of breast cancer.  It comes during the summer of 2004 when she is 43.  It is then that Jennifer has to chart her own difficult course of surgery, recovery, and renewal.

Any description of The Story of My Tits cannot come close to truly describing this monster of a comic book.  I understand why it would be sold as a graphic novel about cancer, because breast cancer is a dark shadow that looms over this story.  It is hard to find people who have not had a brush with cancer in their lives.

My paternal grandfather died of it.  In 2014, a friend who was long misdiagnosed died of pancreatic cancer.  I took my mother to a doctor's appointment a few years ago, not knowing that a biopsy was planned.  When I was told that the doctor was concerned about the possibility of breast cancer, I finally understood what people mean when they say that they feel as if the walls are closing in on them.  It was as if I were in a large room that instantly shrunk to closet-size around me.

The Story of My Tits is a story about life, love, and loss.  It is an epic biography about family and friends, about having jobs and having a career, about saying goodbye to cherished loved ones almost at the same time welcoming new life into the world.  Because Jennifer tells us so much about her life, we buy into her story.  And when we buy into the story, we buy the cancer, too.  Jennifer's confusion about her health and her fear of death become a real thing with which we the readers must grapple.

The Story of My Tits is triumphant and heartbreaking.  It is glorious in its joy and candid in its sadness.  Most of all, it is a fantastic read.  I did not know that tits could be so alluring and attractive, and it would have nothing to do with sex.  Seriously, Jennifer Hayden has offered a story for our times that is timeless in its breath and scope.

A+

www.jenniferhayden.com
goddesscomix.blogspot.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (OGN)

HUNTER S. THOMPSON'S FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS – @topshelfcomix

CARTOONIST: Troy Little – @meanwhilestudio
STORY: Hunters S. Thompson (his novel)
EDITORS: Ted Adams and Denton J. Tipton
ISBN: 978-1-60309-375-0; hardcover (October 2015)
176pp, Color, $24.99 U.S.

Mature readers (16+)

Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream first saw life as a two-art series for Rolling Stone magazine in 1971.  It was published as a book  (with illustrations by Ralph Steadman)  in 1972 and has gone onto be considered one of the most important American novels ever published.

Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a full-color graphic novel adaptation of Thompson's novel.  The graphic novel is the creation of Eisner-nominated comic book creator and writer-artist, Troy Little (Chiaroscuro).  The original novel is influential; its adaptation by Troy Little is a masterwork.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson's alter ego), and Duke's attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they travel to Las Vegas.  This story is based on two actual trips to Las Vegas that Thompson took with his attorney, the Chicano activist, Oscar Zeta Acosta, who becomes Dr. Gonzo in the story.

In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Duke and Gonzo are initially in Las Vegas to cover “The Mint 400,” an off-road race for motorcycles and dune buggies that apparently offers the richest prize or purse for the winners.  The second Las Vegas assignment is a request by Rolling Stone for Duke to write a 50 thousand word piece about a four-day seminar by the National Conference of District Attorneys.

Along the way, Duke and Gonzo descend into a haze from their drug and alcohol-fueled bender.  Duke searches for the American dream and ruminates on the failure of the 1960s counter-culture movement.  After crashing a drug-enforcement conference, racking-up large room-service bills, and wrecking two hotel rooms, however, both men will discover that it is difficult to leave Las Vegas.

As a former journalism student, I have heard of Hunter S. Thompson, of course.  He was the gold-standard and a legend to fellow students, but to me, he was just another famous White journalist upon whose altar I was supposed to worship.  I have never read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, although I have had vague plans to do so for over two decades.  I had seen him on television several times before he died, and I have read at least one piece written by him.  Perhaps, I have read more, but I don't remember any of it.

I know Thompson best by the most famous parody of him, “Uncle Duke,” the character in Doonesbury, Gary Trudeau's long-running satirical daily newspaper comic strip.  I am familiar with the movie adaptations of Thompson's work, but have not seen those films.  So, when Top Shelf Productions sent me a copy of their graphic novel adaptation, Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I did not know what I was going to do.  I considered ignoring it and not reading it, but Top Shelf has always been cool with recognizing me as someone they want to review their books.

Of course, I should have had more faith in them.  This book is an absolute blast to read.  It is one of the best comic books of 2015, and I consider it a tremendous achievement on writer-artist Troy Little's part.  Readers who admire comic books as more than just escapist entertainment, and thus, are always on the lookout for standout material, should read Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The graphical storytelling, in particularly the art and illustrations of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the comic book, focuses on Duke and Gonzo's supernatural consumption of drugs, alcohol, and an amazing array of mind-altering substances.  Little's cartoon recreation of Duke and Gonzo's mother-of-all-Vegas-benders is the most beautiful depiction of debauched substance abuse that I have seen since I first watched director Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000).

The vivid and spectacular colors bring the hallucinations and the claustrophobic cafes, conference rooms, and hotel rooms to life.  Little's drawing style for this graphic novel is similar to the kind of drawing styles used by political cartoonists, which works quite well when the story engages the characters.  The political styling connects Raoul Duke's political and social examinations to the main body of the narrative, which is about Duke and Dr. Gonzo's madness.

I think that if the book has a fault, it is that the political and social ruminations are relegated to exposition in caption boxes.  The art mainly focuses on the insanity of and the savage humor in Duke and Gonzo's interactions with drugs and with other people.  Because I loved the glorious madness of Duke and Gonzo's demented Vegas adventures, I really don't want to find fault with anything, so if you want to believe that this graphic novel is not perfect, there you go...  I was genuinely sad when I got to the last page of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  I guess I'll have to start reading it again.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Review: MAN IS VOX: Barracudae (Expanded Edition)

MAN IS VOX: BARRACUDAE (Expanded Edition)
CANDLE LIGHT PRESS – @candlelightpres

WRITER: John Ira Thomas
ARTIST: Carter Allen
INKS: Jeremy Smith (“Dessert” story)
LETTERS: John Ira Thomas
COVER: Carter Allen
ISBN: 978-0-9966176-1-1; paperback (2015)
144pp, B&W and Color $14.95 U.S.

Published by Candle Light Press (CLP), Man is Vox: Barracudae is a 2003 original graphic novel (OGN) created by writer John Ira Thomas and artist Carter Allen.  The story follows a man who is essentially a killer on the search for a psycho who kills some women and abuses in terrible ways those that he does not kill.  Because of the resources and processes available to them at the time, Thomas and Allen were not able to see Barracudae published the way they intended it.

2015 is Candle Light Press' 20th anniversary.  In fact, there is a book celebrating that anniversary, CLP20: Twenty Years of Candle Light Press (http://candlelightpress.tumblr.com/clp20.htm), a book to which I have contributed a few notes.  For CLP, this anniversary provides an opportunity to re-release, re-present, and repackage some of its publications.

Man is Vox: Barracudae (http://candlelightpress.tumblr.com/barra.htm) gets a makeover with the release of Man is Vox: Barracudae (Expanded Edition).  It is the same graphic novel, but with color restored to the sections that were meant to be presented in color.  Additional material has been added to the main narrative, and there is a new color story produced by Thomas and Allen for this new edition of one of CLP's classic comics.  Man is Vox: Barracudae (Expanded Edition) is also published in a larger format, 7.25” x 9.5” (where as the original 2003 edition was small at 6” x 9”)

Man is Vox: Barracudae follows the trippy adventures of Tyson Gurst a.k.a. “The Fearsome Shade” a.k.a. “The Husband.”  Early in the story, a dying mobster tries to make a trade for his life (because Gurst is going to kill him).  The doomed criminal alerts Gurst to a bigger crime.  Traveling a state highway of gas stations and cheap motels, the Fearsome Shade will discover a conspiracy that ends with some of the most powerful good guys around.

Man is Vox: Barracudae is crazy.  John Ira Thomas is experimental and sometimes avant-garde, to the detriment of the narrative in a few places.  That said:  this comic book is unabashedly humorous, and, in its final act, it playfully skewers superhero comics, particularly the post-modern twisting of traditional superhero comics that started in the 1980s and continues to this day.  I like its ideas; truth and justice do come at a cost.  What do we really want from our saviors?  Do they really know what we want?

With Man is Vox: Barracudae, Carter Allen shows off his storytelling skills.  Mixing both media and drawing styles, Allen makes Thomas' script work as graphical storytelling without grounding it into boring practicality.  Allen remains an original voice in American comic books.

What I said about the original is true of Man is Vox: Barracudae (Expanded Edition).  It is both trippy and inspired.  It puts the original in OGN – original graphic novel.  Readers looking for high-quality independently published graphic novels will find one in the spiffy new Man is Vox: Barracudae (Expanded Edition).

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http://candlelightpress.tumblr.com/barra2.htm
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Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.