#IReadsYou Book Review: STAR WARS THE HIGH REPUBLIC: Light of the Jedi

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC: LIGHT OF THE JEDI
RANDOM HOUSE/Del Rey

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

AUTHOR: Charles Soule
COVER: Joseph Meehan
ISBN: 978-0-593-15771-8; hardcover (January 5, 2021)
400pp, B&W, $28.99 U.S., $38.99 CAN

Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi is a 2021 Star Wars novel from author Charles Soule. Star Wars: The High Republic is an all-new storytelling initiative set in the world of Star Wars.  This publishing program will feature interconnected stories that will be told across multiple publishers, including book and comic book publishers, and that will be targeted at multiple age groups of readers.

Star Wars: The High Republic's saga takes place 200 years prior to the events depicted in the film, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), in an all-new time period.  The High Republic is set in an era when both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are at the height of their power, serving and protecting the galaxy.  This is a hopeful and optimistic time, and the Republic and the Jedi are noble and respected.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi opens in a golden age.  Intrepid hyperspace scouts have expanded the reach of the Republic to the furthest stars and into the Outer Rim.  Worlds flourish under the benevolent leadership of the Senate on the Core world of Coruscant and its leader, Chancellor Lina Soh.  Peace reigns, enforced by the wisdom and strength of the order of Force users known as the Jedi Knights, who are at the height of their power.  The light of the Jedi spreads across the Republic, and every citizen knows that “We are all Republic.”

The Republic has a new project, “the Starlight Beacon,” which will connect the inhabitants and new settlers of the worlds of the Outer Rim to the Mid Rim and Core worlds.  In fact, the “Legacy Run,” a Kaniff Yards Class 4 modular freight transport, is traveling through hyperspace with a full contingent of new setters to the Outer Rim.  Then, a shocking catastrophe in hyperspace tears the Legacy Run apart, and multiple pieces and sections of the ship emerge from hyperspace like a flurry of shrapnel.

These “Emergences” from hyperspace into real space threaten disaster and total destruction for the entire Hetzal System, an Outer Rim system of mostly agricultural worlds.  The Jedi quickly race to the scene, but the scope of what will be called “The Great Disaster” pushes even the Jedi to their limit.  A single mistake on their part could cost billions of lives.

Behind this emergency is a new enemy, a band of marauding and mysterious “space vikings” known as “the Nihil.”  The threat of the Nihil has largely stayed beyond the boundary of the Republic, but this hyperspace disaster is part of a new sinister plan that just might strike fear into this golden age of the Republic.

THE LOWDOWN:  Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi is the first Star Wars novel that I have read in about eight and a half years.  The last one I read was author James Luceno's Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (2012), which was part of the defunct “Star Wars Expanded Universe.”  Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi is the perfect book to welcome a returning Star Wars novel reader to the franchise.

Charles Soule is a novelist and attorney, but I know him as one of Marvel Comics' very best Star Wars comic book writers … ever.  I was surprised to see that he would write one of the novels that would launch Star Wars: The High Republic, but Soule turns out to be one of those perfect choices.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi works because Soule's prose and storytelling slowly draws the readers into the narrative.  Then, he forces readers to race through this book that roils like a summer potboiler novel.  The chapters are relatively short; there are 44 of them, plus a prologue, an epilogue, and a few interludes, but almost everyone of them packs a wallop.  Anytime is the right time for a book that you, dear readers, can't put down.

Soule gives readers a good taste of the characters:  Jedi, non-Jedi, and adversaries in Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, but character writing isn't what Soule does best in this book.  In a way, the characters' personalities, conflicts, histories, relationships, doubts, goals, motivations, etc. seem somewhat allusive.  I think that is partly because these characters are still in a state of development so early in this publishing program.

Still, Jedi like Avar Kriss, Loden Greatstorm, Bell Zettifer, and Elzar Mann promise to be quite interesting and fun.  What is the highest recommendation that I can give Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi?  By the time I reached the end of this book, I really wanted there to be more.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Star Wars novels will certainly want to give Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi a try.

8.5 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/DelReyStarWars
https://twitter.com/DelReyBooks
http://www.randomhousebooks.com/
https://www.starwars.com/the-high-republic
https://twitter.com/starwars
https://www.starwars.com/
https://twitter.com/CharlesSoule


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------------

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#IReadsYou Book Review: Roald Dahl's THE WITCHES

THE WITCHES
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE/Puffin Books

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Roald Dahl
ILLUSTRATOR: Quentin Blake
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3716-5; hardcover with color dust jacket; 5.31 in x 7.75 in; (September 3, 2019)
224pp, B&W, $17.99 U.S.

Ages 8-12

The Witches is a 1983 children's dark fantasy novel written by the British author, the late Roald Dahl.  The book was published with almost 100 full-page and spot illustrations by Quentin Blake (who illustrated many of Dahl's works).  This review is based on a hardcover edition of The Witches published in September 2019 by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The Witches is narrated by an unnamed young British boy who recounts his and and his grandmother's experiences battling a society of child-hating witches.  Some people are familiar with The Witches through two film adaptations, director Nicholas Roeg's 1990 adaptation, which starred Anjelica Huston, and the recently released 2020 film directed by Robert Zemeckis.

The Witches opens in Norway where we meet the story's narrator, an unnamed seven-year-old English boy whose parents were Norwegian immigrants to England.  After his parents are killed in an accident, the boy goes to live in Norway with his grandmother, whom he calls “Grandmamma.”  He has already previously spent much time with her, and he loves all her stories, especially the ones about horrific witches who seek to either kill human children or to transform them into animals.  It turns out that Grandmamma is a retired witch hunter, and she tells the boy how to spot witches.  They all look like ordinary women, but they are actually disguising their deformities,  For instance, they have bald heads, have claws instead of fingers, and do not have toes, to name a few of their deformities.

The boy eventually returns to England with Grandmamma in tow, and while on holiday at the grand Hotel Magnificent in Bournemouth, England, the boy has his second experience with witches.  While hiding in the hotel ballroom, the boy discovers that a meeting of the “Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” (RSPCC) is really the annual gathering of all the witches in England.  At that meeting, the boy sees something that almost no human has ever seen – the Grand High Witch, leader of all the world's witches.  And nothing can prepare the boy for the Grand High Witch's diabolical plan to get rid of all the human children in England.

THE LOWDOWN:  My experiences with Roald Dahl revolve around his 1964 children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the two film adaptations of it, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).  I read the novel once, sometime after the release of the 2005 film, and I have seen both films a few times.

I remember when Nicholas Roeg's film adaptation of The Witches was originally released, and I planned to see it but never did.  I have been putting off seeing the film ever since, but when I heard about Zemeckis' then-upcoming adaptation of The Witches, I chose the book as one of my Christmas 2019 gifts.  After finally reading it, I wish that I had read The Witches a long time ago.  I feel it could have been a formative reading experience for me when I was young.

That aside, it is a fantastic novel.  I am amazed that Dahl could create such evocative and vivid prose in writing for children.  Well, I guess that's why he is beloved by generations.  From the moment he introduces the unnamed boy, Dahl transports readers into another world, one that is fantastical, but one in which the readers will want to believe.

I also love that Dahl makes both the boy and his grandmother, who is 86 in the book, both plucky and adventurous.  The boy is not afraid of new things, and his child's sense of wonder and nosiness makes him not afraid to try new things and to go new places, as well as to try dangerous things and to go to dangerous places.  The boy is one of those classic characters onto which the readers will graft themselves in order to follow him on an incredible and perilous journey.  The witches of The Witches are unique and scary, but are also a little pathetic and funny, which is enough to make them creepy.

The best thing that I can say about Roald Dahl's The Witches is that when I got to the end of its 200 pages, I could have read another 200 pages.  Also Quentin Blake's illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to the novel.  I feel like the world of The Witches as my mind imagines it should look similar to the way Blake presents it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Of course, fans of Roald Dahl should read and re-read The Witches, and fans of great children's literature will want to fight The Witches.

[This volume includes a 16-page from another Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.]

10 out of 10

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


https://www.roalddahl.com/
https://twitter.com/roald_dahl
https://www.facebook.com/roalddahl
https://www.youtube.com/c/roalddahl
https://www.penguin.com/publishers/puffin/
https://twitter.com/PuffinBooks


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------

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#IReadsYou Review: THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS

THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS
RANDOM HOUSE/Random House Graphic – @RHKidsGraphic

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Johan Troĩanowski
TRANSLATION: Anne Smith and Owen Smith
ISBN: 978-0-593-11840-5; paperback (January 21, 2020)
272pp, Color, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

Demographic: Middle-Grade

The Runaway Princess is a new, full-color, paperback graphic novel from Random House Graphic (or RH Graphic).  This is Random House's new imprint that publishes picture books, graphic novels, and other books that use graphics to tell a story.  [For the record, I use the term “graphical storytelling” to describe stories that use graphics (like lettering and sound effects), pictures, drawings, and illustrations (sometimes in sequence) to drive the narrative.  That includes the stories found in comics, comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, manga, etc.]

The Runaway Princess is comprised of three stories.  The first is “The Princess Runs Away (And Makes Some Friends).”  It stars Robin, the princess of the kingdom of Seddenga.  The story opens with the Queen and Elias, a royal household member, searching the royal castle for Robin.  After all, it is time for the princess' etiquette lesson with Elias.  They can't find her, but they are sure that she is nearby.

However, Robin is not a princess who will stay quietly and obediently at home.  This fiery red-haired girl is the kind of princess who will run away to have her own adventures, and this princess can’t resist the lure of adventure.  So Robin leaves the royal city of “Renoir” and heads out for adventure.  In “the Ogre's Forest,” she meets four brothers:  Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar, and after avoiding the ogre, Robin leads her new friends to the city of “Noor,” where “the Aquatic Festival” is in full swing.  But can this adventurous princess and these lost boys handle all the (mis)adventure and strange beings that will come their way?

In the second story, “The Princess Runs Away Again (By Accident This Time),” Robin, Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar are frolicking in the castle gardens when Robin falls into a secret passage.  The brothers are determined to find and rescue their friend, but Robin has already made a new friend, Plum, a curious girl with a thing for pumpkins.  But neither Robin nor the brothers realize that they are in “the Kingdom of Darkness” and that there is more to Plum than she has revealed.

In the third story, “The Princess Tries to Stay in One Place (But the Weather Doesn't Cooperate),” Robin finds Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar playing aboard a small, sea-worthy boat that is land-ridden in a grassy meadow, so she joins them for some play.  When a sudden storm lifts the boat and carries it to an unknown land, the children have to find their way home.  In this adventure, the quintet encounters the eccentric scientist, inventor, and collector, Professor Dandelion; giant trees; the “Doodlers;” and a group of treasure-obsessed pirates that sail aboard a ship-in-a-bottle.

I can unequivocally say that RH Graphic's The Runaway Princess is one of the best kids' graphic novels that I have ever read.  I would probably have to go way out of my way and way overboard to find something wrong with it.  But first some background:

RH Graphic's The Runaway Princess is an English language collection of the French graphic novel series, Rouge.  Rouge is a comics series that began in 2009 and was written and illustrated by Johan Troĩanowski, a French comics and graphic novel creator.  In 2015, French publishing house, Makaka Éditions, published the first book collection (or graphic novel) of Rouge comics, entitled Rouge – Petite princesse punk.  That was followed by Rouge et la sorcière d’automne (2016), and Rouge - Lîle des Gribouilleurs (2017).  In the original comics, The “runaway princess'” name is “Rouge.”

RH Graphic's The Runaway Princess collects all three Rouge books in one handy, gorgeous paperback volume at the very reasonable cover prince of $12.99.  If you, dear readers, are considering purchasing The Runaway Princess, know that it shares characteristics with classic children's literature such The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows, to name a few.  The three stories contained in this book also recall the stories of the Brothers Grimm and other classic fairy tales, especially the ones that Walt Disney turned into beloved animated feature films.

Johan Troĩanowski is a hugely imaginative and inventive storyteller.  I remember a writer once saying that The Wizard of Oz is such a perfect children's tale because things just happen without explanation, as if children were imagining the story.  The Runaway Princess works that way.  Troĩanowski imagines so many wonderful things and places and characters, and they do not seem frivolous or like throwaway characters.  Each thing and every person seems to have some back story – his, hers, or its own tale outside of Robin, Paul, Matt, Lee, and Omar's story.

The illustrations are doused in bright, vivid colors that make the art and story almost seem to leap off the page, as if the story contents of The Runaway Princess are coming to life.  There are also a few times in each of these three adventures when Troĩanowski asks the readers to help move the adventure forward.

The Runaway Princess is aimed at “middle-grade” readers, which I guess means readers ages 8 to 12, but over the decades, children have learned to read by reading comic books.  I think a child younger than eight who wants to tackle The Runaway Princess can handle it.  So yeah, The Runaway Princess might be the first great children's graphic novel of 2020.  I highly recommend it to readers young, older, and young at heart.

[This book also includes a back section featuring Johan Troĩanowski's preliminary art for the series, such as character sketches and story page sketches.]

10 out of 10

Website: https://www.rhkidsgraphic.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RHKidsGraphic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhkidsgraphic/

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


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.


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Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for March 14, 2018

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

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Review: Charles Burns' SUGAR SKULL

SUGAR SKULL
PANTHEON BOOKS – @PantheonBooks @AAKnopf @doubledaypub

CARTOONIST: Charles Burns
ISBN: 978-0-307-90790-5; hardcover (September 16, 2014)
64pp, Color, $23.00 U.S.

Charles Burns is the American cartoonist and illustrator best known for his graphic novel, Black Hole, which was originally published as a comic book series, first by Kitchen Sink Press, and finally by Fantagraphics Books.  His comics short stories have been collected in such book collections as Big Baby and Skin Deep.

His most recent comics work is a graphic novel trilogy that began in X'ed Out and continued in The Hive and now, comes to an end in Sugar Skull.  The long strange trip of a guy named Doug comes to an end that is both mind-bending and heart-wrenching (or pathetic, depending on how you look at it).

In X’ed Out, Burns introduces Doug, a photographic artist who has a head injury of some kind.  One night, he awakens and sees his cat, Inky, who is supposed to be dead.  Doug follows Inky through a hole torn in a brick wall, where he discovers a place called The Hive.  This place is likely an alternate reality that has been induced by the trauma Doug experienced and by the prescription medications he uses.  In the Hive, Doug's persona becomes that of “Johnny,” a version of Nitnit, his performance art alter-ego.

In The Hive, Doug begins working in that nightmarish alternate world as a lowly employee who carts supplies around the Hive.  He also strikes up a friendship with a breeder named Suzy, and that new relationship is almost like another Doug previously had.  Meanwhile, back in reality, Doug slowly transforms from an ambitious young artist into a guy who merely drifts through life, bereft of his hopes and dreams.

As Sugar Skull begins, Doug-as-Johnny is back in the the Hive.  After a troubling encounter with a sow-life creature and her thing-lets, he reunites with a his Hive-chick, Suzy.  However, she is about to undergo a bodily function that disturbs and freaks-out Johnny.  Meanwhile, back in reality, Doug is now fully a lost and ambivalent man, but he lives with Sally, a woman who clearly loves him

Doug has regrets and questions.  What does the Hive represent?  What happened to him? Where is his former girlfriend, Sarah?  As he digs for answers, he seeks out Sarah, who has a surprise for him.  We also finally learn how Doug received the head injury that has put his reality into a crazy, mind-bending, dream/nightmare loop.

I have enjoyed Charles Burns' trilogy of graphic novels.  [I don't know whether to call this “The Hive trilogy” or the “X'ed Out trilogy” or even the “Nitnit trilogy.”]  I like the publishing format for these comic books:  hardcover, large-sized at 8.9 x 11.8 (which is similar to a French album or graphic novel), with a cloth-covered spine and beautifully illustrated end papers.

I found X'ed Out to be especially intriguing and captivating; I could not help but be taken in by the mystery and reality-warping, which seemed straight out of a David Lynch movie.  The Hive was vague and sometimes seemed like filler material, which can be a problem with the middle installment of a trilogy.  I was somewhat frustrated with it.

Four years after I read X'ed Out, Sugar Skull rewards my patience.  Suddenly, the answers pour forth, and they will break your heart.  For all the surrealism of much of story prior to the final volume, this ending is surprisingly human.  Burns depicts the melancholy nature of a promising life that has decided to settle for the mundane.

This trilogy operates on so many levels and layers, and Doug and perhaps a few other characters exist in different persona.  Time, symbolism, and metaphor exist in multiple layers.  Sugar Skull is more grounded than the other books.  It forces reality and consequence, even in the alternate reality.  A “sugar skull” or calavera is a representation of the human skull made out of clay or sugar and is used in the Mexican celebration, Day of the Dead (which takes place over three days beginning on October 31st).

Is Doug dead?  Is he an unreliable narrator?  I don't think that Doug is a deceased character, who is narrating the last of his life.  Rather, he is forced to confront the truth about himself, and that can be more painful than a blow to the head.  Sugar Skull justifies this entire enterprise undertaken by Charles Burns, and it proves that Burns' stories may be strange and intense, but they are not impersonal.  They are unique depictions of the human condition, and, as Sugar Skull shows, they are deeply personal.

A

www.facebook.com/pantheonbooks
www.pantheoncomics.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

#IReadsYou Review: Bryan Lee O'Malley's SECONDS

SECONDS
RANDOM HOUSE/Ballantine Books – @randomhouse

CARTOONIST: Bryan Lee O’Malley
ART ASST: Jason Fischer
COLORS: Nathan Fairbairn
LETTERS: Dustin Harbin
COVER: Bryan Lee O’Malley
ISBN: 978-0-345-52723-3; paperback (July 15, 2014)
336pp, Color, $25.00 U.S.

Born in Canada, Bryan Lee O’Malley is a cartoonist and comic book artist and letterer.  He is best known as the creator of the bestselling graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim, which began in 2004 with Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life.  The series was adapted into the 2010 film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (directed by Edgar Wright).

O’Malley’s first original graphic novel since Scott Pilgrim ended is entitled Seconds.  A full-color, hardback (6.2” x 8.2”), Seconds was just released by Ballantine Books (a division of Random House).  Seconds is the story of a talented young chef who misuses the magic that allows her to correct a blunder.

Seconds focuses on Katie Clay.  She is 29-years-old, and her 20s have been very good to her.  Once upon a time, she opened a restaurant with some friends; named “Seconds,” the place was successful.  Four years later, though, Katie is ready to move on and open a new restaurant, and she wants to name it “Katie’s.”  She has even found what she thinks is the ideal location, an old building that seems to have a magical charm about it (at least to her).

All at once, however, progress on the new location bogs down.  Seconds still calls to her – it doesn’t help that she lives in a room above the restaurant.  Her ex-boyfriend, Max, starts showing up again.  Katie is having a fling with Andrew, the 25-year-old chef she chose to replace her at Seconds, but that relationship seems to be souring.  Then, Hazel, a gorgeous young waitress at Seconds, is hurt in an accident caused, in some measure, because of Katie’s actions.  Katie’s life seems not to be so very good anymore.

If only she could have a second chance…

A mysterious girl named Lis suddenly appears in Katie’s room in the middle of the night.  Lis has simple instructions that will magically allow Katie a second chance to change a bad thing that happened into something much better.  And it works!  The problem is that Katie is only supposed to use that magic once.  Katie’s drive to fix everything will take her down the road to hell.

I am a huge fan of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and I have enjoyed the work of cartoonist and comic book creator/theorist, Scott McCloud.  I received a review copy of Seconds from Ballantine Books, and it came with a one-page press release for the book that included one-line quotes from both Del Toro and McCloud.  I don’t know if they actually read Seconds in its entirety or just parts of it, but neither of quotes conveyed what a truly unique comic book Seconds is.  With that said, let’s see if I can do some conveying.

Ever since I first came across the phrase “great read” in a book review I have used it in many of my reviews to let the reader know what fun I had reading a particular book.  Seconds is a great read.  I found myself going back over many pages, which is why I am a little late with this review.  Seconds is the kind of graphic novel that keeps me reading comic books, knowing that this medium can and does deliver unique and rewarding works like this.  Seconds is exemplary of that kind of supremely entertaining and imaginative work that only comic books can do.

Seconds is an uncanny mixture of magical realism and the fairy tale.  It is as if Bryan Lee O’Mally makes Katie’s story both a realistic drama and a Grimm-like cautionary, timeless in that it can be retold for any period.  Thematically, Seconds is about regret, the cycle of creation and dissolution in relationships, the ambivalence of change, and the yearning for supernatural (especially if it can solve our problems), among others.

The story suggests that trying to exert total control of the perceived chaos in our lives only brings actual terrible chaos instead of order.  Katie’s frantic desire to fix every problem, blunder, setback, etc. seems to make her more frantic.  The chaos that ensues drives this narrative, making it simmer like a potboiler.  It’s fun for us, but not for her.  Still, Seconds is more than just a thrill ride through Katie’s mounting problems.  It is also a funny, beautiful, and haunting examination of the human desire to make things work out just the way we want them to be.

Fans of Bryan Lee O’Malley and readers look for exceptional comic books will want to ask for Seconds.  This is a truly exceptional comic book.  And it’s a great read!

A

www.ballantinebooks.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Review: A GAME OF THRONES: The Graphic Novel, Volume 3

A GAME OF THRONES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, VOL. 3
BANTAM BOOKS/RANDOM HOUSE – @randomhouse
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

WRITER: George R.R. Martin
ADAPTATION: Daniel Abraham
ART: Tommy Patterson
COLORS: Ivan Nunes
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
ORIGINAL SERIES COVERS: Mike S. Miller, Michael Komark
COVER: Tommy Patterson with design by Charles Brock, Faceout Studio
ISBN: 978-0-440-42323-2; hardcover (March 11, 2014)
226pp, Color, $25.00 U.S., $29.95 CAN

A Game of Thrones is a 1996 novel from science fiction and fantasy author, George R.R. Martin.  The novel is the first book in Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy novels.  The series is also the basis for the award-winning and popular HBO television series, "Game of Thrones."

Dynamite Entertainment is currently producing a comic book adaptation of A Game of Thrones, the novel.  The adaptation will run for 24 issues, at about 29 pages of story per issue.  The writer responsible for adapting George R.R. Martin’s prose into comics form is science fiction and fantasy novelist, Daniel Abraham (who sometimes collaborates with Martin on fiction).  The artist is Tommy Patterson, who has drawn comic books for Boom! Studios and Zenescope Entertainment.  Mike S. Miller is the series’ regular cover artist.

Bantam Books collects Dynamite’s comic book adaptation as A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel.  A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 3 collects A Game of Thrones, issues #13 to 18.  Vol. 3 includes “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 3” which presents almost 40 character sketches rendered by Tommy Patterson for this series.

A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 3 opens in the aftermath of the attack on King Robert Baratheon (Lord of the Seven Kingdoms).  Now, Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, the Hand of King Robert and in charge of protecting the King, finds himself surrounded by enemies in King’s Landing.  Eddard’s most miserable source of irritation is the House Lannister, to which Queen Cersei belongs.  Many of his other enemies hide behind smiles, pretending to be friends.

Meanwhile, far to the north, Jon Snow, Eddard’s bastard son, is newly sworn to the Night’s Watch, though not in the position he coveted.  As he takes the first steps to his destiny, he finds two dead bodies – two strangely dead bodies.  Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen must finally deal with her brother, Prince Viserys, the Dragon.  Her husband, Khal Drago, Lord of the Dothraki and the father of her unborn child, makes a crucial decision.  And a character innocently reveals his tremendous male endowment.

Prior to reading A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1, I was not familiar with A Game of Thrones, although I had heard of the television series.  I did not even know that the novel was being adapted into comic book form until Random House sent me a review copy of the first graphic novel in early 2012.  I did not expect much from that first experience with A Game of Thrones, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it.  Luckily, Random House also sent me A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel Volume 2 and recently sent me a copy for review of Vol. 3.

If one considers A Game of Thrones the novel to be a masterpiece, then, it only makes sense that only the best talent should try to adapt the novel into a medium.  It is debatable as to whether writer Daniel Abraham and illustrator Tommy Patterson are among the best of their chosen fields – Abraham in science fiction and fantasy fiction and Patterson in comic books.  I am not familiar with their work outside of this adaptation of A Game of Thrones (nor have I yet read the original novel).

Judging strictly by their work on A Game of Thrones the comic book, I think writer Daniel Abraham and illustrator Tommy Patterson are just super duper.  I start reading this book and I’m reading it as fast as I can, unable to read as fast as my eyes want to scan across the page.  I lose track of how fast I’m flipping pages.  Before I know it, I have finished one entire chapter/issue, and I am half-way through another.

So you can also make an argument that the best, Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson, were indeed chosen to adapt George R. R. Martin’s beloved fantasy classic into a graphic novel.  After reading the previous two collected volumes of the comic book, I think this is a stunning fantasy comic book series.

Abraham scripts a sumptuous character drama, in which his storytelling crawls into every character.  Patterson’s art in combination with Ivan Nunes’ luxurious colors create the graphical storytelling expression and appearance that is perfect for the kind of detailed, historical fiction and high fantasy story A Game of Thrones is.  However, this masterful comic book is more than just good fantasy comics; it’s simply superb comics.

A

www.bantamdell.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics

THE DC COMICS GUIDE TO CREATING COMICS
WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS/DC Comics – @CrownPublishing and @dccomics

WRITERS: Carl Potts
COVER:  Jim Lee, Bill Reinhold
ISBN: 978-0-385-34472-2; paperback (October 8, 2013)
192pp, Color, $24.99 U.S., $27.95 CAN

Forward by Jim Lee

Comic book writer, artist, and editor, Carl Potts joined Marvel Comics’ editorial staff in 1983.  Potts co-created Alien Legion, a comic book series published by Marvel’s Epic imprint, and he helped develop The Punisher as the character went from supporting/guest player to title character.

Potts may be best known for working with numerous comic book artists early in their career, including Jon Bogdanove, Whilce Portacio, and Scott Williams, among many.  Potts also helped Jim Lee and Art Adams break into the comics industry.  Potts’ work as an editor and his work with young comic book creators make him the perfect author for books about creating comics.

Potts is the author of The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling, the latest book in the DC Comics Guide series.  The series previously focused on drawing comic books:  The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics, The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics (both authored by Klaus Janson), and The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics (by Freddie Williams II).

With such a pedigree and with so many accomplishments, it should be no surprise that The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics is not a book for beginners.  It is not that this book is highly technical; it actually goes into great detail about the art and craft of creating comics.  It discusses everything from the goals and principles of “visual sequential storytelling” to how a creator can affect the comics reader’s experience.

To me, at least, the people who can get the most out of The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics are writers and artists, especially the latter, who have created comics.  Those writers and artists who have some professional experience or who have produced comic books (even if they have had to self-publish) will get the most out of this because they already either already understand comics (either by theory or practice) or have attempted to make comics.

The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics is generously illustrated book, but this is not about pretty pictures and slick comic book art.  It is about teaching and guiding.  Potts makes his points with covers, whole pages, thumbnails, pencils, inks, details from larger pieces, etc.  I think my favorite part of the book is Chapter Twelve: Watching the Pros Work.  Three artists:  Whilce Portacio, Bill Reinhold, and Phil Jimenez take the same three-page script and provide breakdowns or thumbnails and then, turn those into pencil art.  Seeing how three veteran artists interpret the same script in ways that are both graphically and visually similar and different is a joy for a comic book fan and will likely be of use to someone wanting to learn the DC Comics’ way of drawing comic books.

So readers wanting to learn more about creating superhero comic books will want The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling.  Carl Potts is a good teacher, and this is one good looking book.

A-


An incomplete list of the artists and writers whose work appears in this volume:
Arthur Adams, Joe Bennett, W.H. Haden Blackman, Brett Booth, Doug Braithwaite, Rick Bryant, Greg Capullo, Nick Cardy, Tony Daniel, John Dell, Steve Ditko, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Dave Gibbons, Russ Heath, Adam Hughes, Klaus Janson, Phil Jimenez, Geoff Johns, J.G. Jones, Joe Kubert, Andy Lanning, Jim Lee, Francis Manapul, Mike Mignola, Grant Morrison, Kevin Nowlan, Yanick Paquette, George Perez, Whilce Portacio, E. Potts, Bill Reinhold, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Risso, Alex Ross, P. Craig Russell, Walter Simonson, Scott Snyder, Ryan Sook, Ardian Syaf, Bruce Timm, Alex Toth, J.H. Williams III, Scott Williams, and Jorge Zaffino

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

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

Review: A GAME OF THRONES: The Graphic Novel Volume 2

A GAME OF THRONES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, VOL. 2
BANTAM BOOKS/RANDOM HOUSE – @randomhouse
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

WRITER: George R.R. Martin
ADAPTATION: Daniel Abraham
ART: Tommy Patterson
COLORS: Ivan Nunes
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
ORIGINAL SERIES COVERS: Mike S. Miller, Michael Komark
COVER: Tommy Patterson with design by Charles Brock, Faceout Studio
ISBN: 978-0-440-42322-5; hardcover (June 11, 2013)
240pp, Color, $25.00 U.S., $29.95 CAN

A Game of Thrones is the 1996 novel from science fiction and fantasy author, George R.R. Martin. The novel is the first book in Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy novels, which are the basis for the HBO television series, “Game of Thrones.”

Dynamite Entertainment is producing a comic book adaptation of A Game of Thrones. The comic book adaptation of the novel is expected to run over 24 issues of about 29 pages per issue. The writer responsible for adapting George R.R. Martin’s prose into comics form is science fiction and fantasy novelist, Daniel Abraham (who sometimes collaborates with Martin on fiction). The artist is Tommy Patterson, who has drawn comic books for Boom! Studios and Zenescope Entertainment. Mike S. Miller has provided the cover art for most issues of A Game of Thrones the comic book.

Bantam Books is collecting the comic book adaptation as A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel. A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2, to be released shortly (as of this writing), will collect A Game of Thrones, issues 7 to 12. The book also contains some back matter. “The Making of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2” illustrates how a section of Martin’s novel is transformed into 5 pages of A Game of Thrones #9.

In A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 2, the action takes place in the icy north of The Wall, the valley of the Eyrie, the decadent south and the capital city of King’s Landing, and the Dothraki’s sacred Vaes Dothrak. Much is happening. Lord Eddard Stark, the King’s Hand, continues to investigate the death of Jon Arryn, the previous Hand. Stark’s wife, Lady Catelyn Stark, accuses the dwarf Tyrion Lannister of trying to kill her son, Brandon (“Bran”), and of another possible murder.

In the barbarian lands, the young princess, Daenerys Targaryen, has found the unexpected in her marriage to Dothraki warlord, Khal Drogo. Meanwhile, her petulant brother, Prince Viserys (who calls himself “The Dragon”), continues to demand that the Dothraki help him reclaim his inheritance as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms from King Robert Baratheon. Meanwhile, the Lannisters continue to plot against everyone.

When I first read A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1, I was not familiar with anything related to A Game of Thrones, except that I’d heard of the television series. I did not know that the novel was being adapted into comic book form until Random House sent me a review copy of the first graphic novel in early 2012.

I did not expect much from that first experience, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Thus, I have been anticipating Random House sending me the second collection of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel for several weeks now, and they have sent it.

Based only on my readings of the comic book, I see A Game of Thrones as a great big character drama and an epic soap opera, told as historical fiction. The comic book, as written by Daniel Abraham, captures the epic scope of A Game of Thrones – the large cast and the expansive setting and background – by giving the reader an intimate view of all the major players. Abraham also focuses closely on bit players in the moments they make a direct impact on the narrative. Abraham engages the readers by narrowing the focus on character conflicts, motivations, and relationships.

In Vol. 1, I thought Tommy Patterson was a good artist, but I found his storytelling to be inconsistent. Now, the awkwardness I noticed in some scenes is gone. Patterson’s style is consistent and his compositions results in clear storytelling. Patterson captures everything that is big, grand, and expansive about A Game of Thrones, but his pencil has a laser focus on detailing the characters, both their physicality and personality. Graphically, visually, and pictorially, Patterson brings the characters to life with the skill of someone doing this much longer than he has.

The result of Abraham and Patterson’s efforts is one especially good comic book. Yes, you can call it a “good read,” but add “x 2” to that. As for the back matter: this book offers five pages from A Game of Thrones the novel. Then, the editors show how those pages of prose become a script, thumbnails, pencil art, lettered art, colored art, and finally 5 pages of A Game of Thrones #9.

Fans of all things A Game of Thrones will want A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, so will readers looking for a good fantasy comic book.

A

www.bantamdell.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: PEANUT graphic novel

PEANUT
SCHWARTZ & WADE BOOKS – @randomhousekids

WRITER: Ayun Halliday – @AyunHalliday
ARTIST: Paul Hoppe @HoppeIndustries
LETTERS/COLORS: Paul Hoppe
ISBN: 978-0-375-86590-9; paperback (December 2012)
216pp, B&W with some color, $15.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

Ayun Halliday is the writer and illustrator of her autobiographical zine, The East Village Inky. Paul Hoppe was born in Poland and grew up in Germany, where he published two graphics novels. Together, Halliday and Hoppe are the authors of an original graphic novel entitled, Peanut, published this past December. Written by Halliday and drawn by Hoppe, Peanut tells the story of a girl who pretends to have a peanut allergy in order to make an impression at her new school.

When her mother tells her that they were moving from Cedarwood to Plainfield, teen Sadie Wildhack knows that she will also have to undergo the torture of moving to a new school. Before she starts at Plainfield Community High School (PCHS), Sadie hatches a diabolically hilarious plan to gain the attention of her new classmates. She will tell them that she has a peanut allergy. Sadie even buys a medical alert bracelet. And it works!

Her stories of a life spent avoiding peanuts and the tale of once going into anaphylactic shock make an impression. Sadie manages to snag some new friends. There is a teen boy, Christopher “Zoo” Zuzuki, with whom she becomes close – call it teen love… maybe. She shares secrets and gossip with new gal pal, Louann.

All is not perfect. Her best friend back in Cedarwood, Cheryl, rarely calls or returns phone calls. Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Howard Larch, is always on the lookout for peanut danger, and she owes Miss Anderson, the school nurse, some paperwork. And one little lie often sires more little lies, on the way to a great big mess.

Out of nowhere, I recently received a review copy of Peanut, and a quick glance through the large comic book told me that I would not like it. Turns out, I was wrong. Peanut is actually a good read, and now I can see why it was made “A Junior Library Guild Selection.” It is a young adult graphic novel that captures the snakepit/wonderland that is high school, both with blunt honest and genuine warmth.

Writer Ayun Halliday offers some conflict between Sadie and the others denizens of PCHS, but the best struggle is the one inside Sadie – to tell the truth or not. It carries Peanut through some drier moments of the narrative that seem like padding. Sadie’s rough path to honesty will have readers racing to get to the end of the story. Artist Paul Hoppe uses a clean style of vigorous line work, and that makes the compositions hop with activity. If Charles M. Schulz had drawn the Peanuts gang in high school, it might look like Paul Hoppe’s art style in Peanut.

I would like to see co-authors Halliday and Hoppe work together again, on the strength of Peanut. Unlike Sadie Wildhack, I’m not lying about that.

A-

http://ayunhalliday.com/

http://paulhoppe.com

Review - BLOOD CRIME: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel

BLOOD CRIME: AN ORIGINAL HOLLOWS GRAPHIC NOVEL
DEL REY/RANDOM HOUSE – @randomhouse

WRITER: Kim Harrison
ART: Gemma Magno
LETTERS/COLORS: Mae Hao
COVER: Juliana Kolesova
ISBN: 978-0-345-52102-6; hardcover (October 2012)
176pp, Color, $25.00 U.S., $29.95 CAN

Kim Harrison is a penname used by American author Dawn Cook. Harrison is known as the author of the Hollows series, which is also called the Rachel Morgan series. This series of mystery/urban fantasy novels and short stories focuses on Rachel Mariana Morgan, a witch detective, and her partner, Ivy Alisha Tamwood, a living vampire.

The Hollows series has already spawned one graphic novel, Blood Work (July 2011), written by Harrison and drawn by Pedro Maia. This week sees the release of the second one, which is also written by Harrison; it is entitled Blood Crime: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel. Drawn by Gemma Magno with colors by Mae Hao, Blood Crime finds Ivy and Rachel delving into a conspiracy that seems to target several people, including themselves.

Without going too deeply into the mythology (as I understand it), the Hollow series takes place in an alternate history version of Earth. In the 1960s, a plague killed off a significant portion of the human population, an event called “The Turn.” The Inderlanders: vampires, werewolves, witches, and some other supernatural species made themselves known during the plague. The Hollows series is set about 40 years after the Turn. Rachel and Ivy work for Inderland Security (I.S.).

As Blood Crime begins, someone makes an attempt on Rachel’s life, or so Ivy thinks. Suspecting vampire involvement, Ivy confronts her vampire master, Piscary, who is apparently jealous of Ivy’s growing feelings and bloodlust (or just plain lust) for Rachel. Meanwhile, the vampire Celeste offers George, a human, immortality if he helps her in her scheme against the two I.S. agents. Another vampire, Art, is also looking to do some killing, and Ivy and Rachel are even suspicious of their I.S. supervisor, Denon. Who wants to kill whom and will anyone find out in time to save their own lives?

Like some of the other graphic novels of the urban fantasy genre that I’ve read, Blood Crimes starts off slowly, but it finishes strongly. This graphic novel has seven chapters, and I read Chapters Four through Six with gusto.

I find the characters to be a little flat. I was interested in Ivy (the narrator here) and Rachel, but I didn’t particularly care about the rest. Maybe, they read better in the prose novels, but in this graphic novel, they frustrated me because their motivations and desires were shallow or mostly missing. I think Harrison’s relative inexperience in writing comics shows not only in the characters, but in the way the plot seems awkward in the early chapters.

Artist Gemma Magno has a peculiar drawing style, but it fits this odd concept. Close-ups and medium shots are her strength when it comes to figure drawing, but panels that take in the backgrounds and environments suggest that she is not as skilled in set creation as she is at figure drawing. Mae Hao’s funky colors, however, have a way of… coloring over any of Magno’s glitches. Together, they give the book a distinctive and catchy graphic and visual style.

My complaints aside, I enjoyed reading Blood Crime: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel. I think readers who want urban fantasy comic books and fans of Kim Harrison will want this full-color graphic novel.

Blood Crime: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel includes a sketchbook section, which shows off Magno’s skill at figure drawing and at character design. There are also a few pages of story/script to art comparison.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: X'ed Out by Charles Burns

X’ED OUT
PANTHEON BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Charles Burns
ISBN: 978-0-307-37913-9; hardcover (October 2010)
56pp, Color, $19.95 US, $22.95 CAN

Cartoonist and illustrator Charles Burns rose to prominence in the mid-1980s when his comics began to appear in RAW, the avant-garde magazine founded by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly. He went on to illustrate album covers, advertisements, and magazine covers. Burns is best known for his comics works, such as the 12-issue series, Black Hole, and graphic novels such as El Borbah and Big Baby.

X’ed Out is the first volume of a graphic novel trilogy from Burns. X’ed Out is published as a 9x12 hardcover, similar to the oversized format Fantagraphics Books used for its “Charles Burns Library.” Apparently, Burns has drawn inspiration for X’ed Out from Hergé (Tintin) and author William Burroughs (although film director David Lynch could also be an influence).

X’ed Out opens in the peculiar dream time of an unusual fellow named Doug, a photographic artist who has a head injury of some kind. Doug awakens to find his deceased cat, Inky, standing next to a hole torn in a brick wall. Inky walks through the hole, silently beckoning Doug to follow. Doug follows and finds himself near a putrid stream running through a crumbling badland. That leads to some kind of egg processing plant, full of huge white eggs with splotches of red on them (the Tintin reference?). Then, his journey and the narrative become a shifting reality and landscape of reptilian thugs, pills, fetal pigs, an Interzone-like market, and lots of Polaroid pictures. Will Doug find clarity? Can he?

I first encountered Charles Burns work in RAW, but I avoided reading it (much as I would do when I first saw Richard Sala’s comix). Something about that first story I encountered made me feel uncomfortable. Someone even gave me a copy of Big Baby or El Borbah after Fantagraphics Books published them, and I still didn’t want to read Burns. Somewhere, it happened, but I don’t remember when I first relented or why.

There is something disquieting about Charles Burns’ work. He is cryptic without being oblique, and the reader can always figure out that something wrong or some problem in a story. This must be what is known as creeping dread, and X’ed Out is filled with that.

This slim volume that is X’ed Out, however, merely asks a lot of questions that future volumes will hopefully answer. Only Burns could get away with offering relatively little in an opening salvo. It is the meticulous craftsmanship of his high-contrast art and his ability to make every single element on a page matter that engages the readers’ imaginations, and for the reader, that will have to do, here. Where is X’ed Out going? I don’t know, but I will follow.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review - Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero

"High-Flying Tidbits and Anecdotes"
SUPERMAN: THE HIGH-FLYING HISTORY OF AMERICA’S MOST ENDURING HERO
RANDOM HOUSE

AUTHOR: Larry Tye
COVER: The Dynamic Duo/Corbin Images
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6866-1; hardcover
430pp, B&W, $27.00 U.S., $32.00 CAN

Random House, the publisher of Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero, bills the book as “the first full-fledged history not just of the Man of Steel but of the creators, designers, owners, and performers who made him the icon he is today.” The book is written by author, Larry Tye, a former journalist for The Boston Globe. Tye is perhaps best known for the book, Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, his 2009 biography of Negro League baseball pitcher, Satchel Paige.

In a sense, Random House is accurate in its description of Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero. This is a broad and comprehensive history of Superman and of the real life people who created him, published him, marketed him, and brought him to life in other mediums (like radio, film, and television). This book is less history than it is like a very long magazine feature full of information, tidbits, anecdotes, etc. that the casual Superman fan may not know, but the rabid or dedicated fans already know. For instance, I didn’t know that George Reeves of the famous 1950s television series, Adventures of Superman, slept in the nude. I didn’t know that Brandon Routh, who played Superman in the 2006 film, Superman Returns, wore Superman costumes so fitted to his body that he could not gain or lose an ounce until the film was released.

Tye’s Superman book is a history of Superman, sort of a fictional biography that looks at his allies and adversary, his powers, his struggles and ordeals – his mythology, if you will. However, Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero is also the story of the comic book creators, owners, writers, artists, and businessmen, as well as the people in television, film, and radio who made Superman into an international icon and one of the most famous fictional characters of the last one hundred years.

The story of Superman begins in America’s heartland, in the depths of the Great Depression. In Cleveland, Ohio, a shy, awkward teenager named Jerry Siegel dreamed up the hero he needed, but it turns out the world in which Jerry lived also desperately needed a hero just like the one he created. Joined by neighborhood pal and aspiring artist, Joe Shuster, Siegel brought to life Superman, the star of a hoped for newspaper comic strip. Fate brought Superman to a new medium, the comic book, and before long he was a media and merchandising star. Tye writes that he has drawn upon newly revealed sources (including Jerry Siegel’s unpublished memoir) to tell the story of Superman and the real-life people behind the superhero also known as the Man of Tomorrow.

Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero is not the kind of book that will compete for the Pulitzer Prize in the categories of “Biography or Autobiography,” “Feature Writing” or “History.” This book is a broad overview mostly about Superman and the people at National Comics Publications (which would later be named DC Comics) who would turn Superman from an idea and a few pages of comics produced by two young men in Cleveland into a global brand and icon. The book also covers the people who brought Superman to life on radio and in films, television series, and animation.

In that sense, Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero is essentially a book-length feature article with elements of history and biography, and that’s probably for the best when an author is trying to cover everything about Superman – fictional and real. There are over 70 years worth of multiple comic book series featuring the Man of Steel and spin-off characters, plus all the supporting characters, villains, and faux-mythology related both to the main character (Superman) and those spin-offs. As for the people behind Superman: well, that story that starts before Superman ever appeared in a comic book (Action Comics #1, April 1938); it goes back to the late 19th century and the birth of magazine entrepreneur, Harry Donenfeld, in Romania. Then, there are the people who, for over seven decades, have brought Superman to life in a variety of mass media formats: newspapers, television, film, etc.

There are so many people that Tye can only offer a few highlights (and low lights) about the prominent ones. Reading this, I get the idea that there are even better stories about a lot of these people that would fill a separate book. I know there’s a great book about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s relationship waiting to be written, to say nothing of the riveting read the tale of the relationship between Siegel and his boss, Jack Liebowitz, would be.

Still, this is a fun read. Tye’s foray into the life of actor George Reeves of the classic 1950s TV series, Adventures of Superman, seems to be right out of CBS’ “48 Hours” or “E’s True Hollywood Stories.” Tye’s account of the birth of Superman: The Movie is some of the best film history I’ve read in years.

I wished that there was more about certain individuals, but this is still a good book. People who want to know more about Superman will not go wrong with Superman: The High-Flying History of American’s Most Enduring Hero.

Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: A GAME OF THRONES: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1

A GAME OF THRONES: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, VOL. 1
BANTAM BOOKS/RANDOM HOUSE

WRITER: George R.R. Martin
ADAPTATION: Daniel Abraham
ART: Tommy Patterson
COLORS: Ivan Nunes
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
ORIGINAL SERIES COVERS: Alex Ross, Mike S. Miller
ADDITONAL ART: Michael Komark
COVER: Tommy Patterson with design by Charles Brock, Faceout Studio
ISBN: 978-0-440-42321-8; hardcover
238pp, Color, $25.00 U.S., $29.95 CAN

Born in 1948, George Raymond Richard Martin is best known as George R. R. Martin, the bestselling science fiction, fantasy, and horror novelist. Martin was also a writer and story editor on the mid-1980s revival of The Twilight Zone and was a writer on the 1980s CBS television series, Beauty and the Beast.

Martin is currently a hot commodity because of the HBO television series, “Game of Thrones,” which is adapted from his A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy novels. The first novel in that series was published in 1996 and is entitled, A Game of Thrones.

Last year, Dynamite Entertainment began producing A Game of Thrones, an original comic book adaptation of the novel (not the TV series). The adaptation is expected to run over 24 issues of about 29 pages per issue. The writer responsible for adapting George R.R. Martin’s prose into comics form is science fiction and fantasy novelist, Daniel Abraham, who sometimes collaborates with Martin on fiction. The pencil artist for A Game of Thrones is Tommy Patterson, who has drawn comic books for Boom! Studios and Zenescope Entertainment. Alex Ross and Mike S. Miller are among the artists drawing covers for the series.

Bantam Books has collected the first six issues of the comic book as A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1. This initial story arc focuses on the House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon, who resides in King’s Landing. Located in Winterfell, House Stark is headed by Eddard Stark and his wife Catelyn with their sons: Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; two daughters: Sansa and Arya; and Eddard’s bastard son, Jon Snow.

King Robert is coming to Winterfell to bestow an honor upon Eddard, one he cannot refuse. Meanwhile, Robert’s conniving wife, Queen Cersei, Jamie (her slutty brother), Tyrion (her other brother who is a devious dwarf), and Robert and Cersei’s vainglorious son, Prince Joffrey, begin causing chaos in the House Stark – everything from murder and attempted murder to crass manipulation and conspiracy.

Meanwhile, there is another vainglorious royal, Prince Viserys, heir to the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros. Viserys sets in motion a plot to reclaim the throne, and the first move in this plot is to make his sister, Princess Daenerys, a prize to win the army of a swarthy barbarian chief.

Not being familiar with anything related to A Game of Thrones, I didn’t expect much of this graphic novel/hardback collection, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unlike many mainstream comic books, A Game of Thrones is not a colorful, kinetic adventure filled with superheroes, large fight scenes, and a slavish devotion to continuity. Although this is fantasy and has an involved internal mythology, the character drama drives the story, more so than genre trappings and elements.

This comic book is basically a soap opera with a large-scale cast, but is set in the world of medieval fantasy. I have not read the original novel, and I am still impressed that Daniel Abraham is able to make so many characters interesting and intriguing. Normally, my eyes would cross from trying to keep up with all the machinations and the numerous subplots, but Abraham makes it clear and straightforward.

I think that Tommy Patterson is a good artist; he can certainly draw, but his storytelling is inconsistent. He draws some scenes with an awkwardness that is inappropriate for those scenes – such as the fight scene between the children in issue #5. Considering that this fight leads to recrimination and execution, Patterson’s composition of the fight lacks dramatic impact. For the most part, however, compositionally, stylistically, and graphically, his art creates an attractive world for A Game of Thrones. Although I mostly avoid anything with his name on it, I really liked Mike S. Miller’s cover art for issue #4, with its fine art quality drawing on Jon Snow and his direwolf.

For years, I always hoped that some publisher would take the opportunity to adapt a novel to comics, but also have the patience to produce the adaptation over a long-running series. Over the past few years, Marvel and Del Rey have ventured to do so. I consider A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1 to be the reward for my patience.

As a bonus, The Making of A Game of Thrones is a large section at the back of the book that offers a generous selection of art and text explaining the production of A Game of Thrones the comic book series. Readers that like to see comic book pencil art will find themselves quite satisfied.