Giant! (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Deedrick is an alchemist. Though from the looks of the current predicament Deedrick is in, he's not a very good one. When his latest experiment results in embarrassment for the leader of his township, Deedrick is assigned to detail duty for the castle protectors. 

In other words, he's been made to clean pigeon poop off the the community's gargoyles.

Deedrick's day is about to get much worse however when he accidentally turns one of the stone grotesques into flesh and bone. The shock causes the boy to drop his cleaning brush which sets off a Rube Goldberg-like series of events throughout the town until the cleaning tool knocks over a seemingly innocent looking tablet containing various runes. Oh, and the damage to the runes awakens a giant menace who's been slumbering under the town for hundreds of years. 

Chris Warton's Giant! began as a 2013 Kickstarter campaign. Successfully funded, Warton's book was self-published under the banner of Salamander Studio. Only about 500 copies of Giant! were published. I became aware of this book years later when I found a used copy with an original sketch of the gargoyle in the inside front cover. It must have been an incentive for one of the backers. Nowadays, interested readers either have to get lucky hunting for one of the few existing print copies or they can obtain an ebook copy on Amazon as well as at Warton's personal website. A few other digital works are also available from the artist. In 2020, Warton saw another successful campaign funded, the fantasy heavy Venture Cats. 

Original sketch from my copy.

Perhaps Chris Warton's biggest claim to fame are his YouTube videos. Warton's channel features dozens of how to draw mini classes as well as time-lapsed detailings of his latest works of art. 

As for the continuing adventures of Deedrick and the living gargoyle, there's not currently any announced plans. 

Completing this review completes Task #29 (A Book Involving Gargoyles) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Saints (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Though Saints debuted concurrently with Gene Luen Yang's Boxers in 2013, it is considered by many to be a sequel and not just a continuation of the story. Consulting with both Google and Amazon, Saints is a sequel. I felt like it was a sequel. To call Saints the second volume of the story is wrong because that book actually retells many of the events that occurred in Boxers from a different point of view. The story ends right where Boxers ends with the destruction of the Hanlin Academy Library and the fall of the rebelling Boxers. 

I fact my biggest complaint about this award winning work is that there isn't a third volume that tells of what happened after the Boxer Rebellion ended. Boxers is from the perspective of a Chinese villager wanting to free his land from foreign invaders. Saints is from the perspective of a native who finds the family that they always wanted in the foreign bureaucrats' sponsored Catholic Church. I would have liked a third book from the perspective of the victorious 'foreign devils' after repelling the rebellion.

Saints is the story of Vibiana. In the Chinese language, the word for the number four sounds almost like the Chinese word for death. Being the fourth child in her family, Vibiana is considered a pariah. It also doesn't help that  she was born on the fourth day of the fourth month. Her grandfather also blames her for the death of her father, the elder man's son, and names her 'Four-Girl'. The mistreatment causes Vibiana to rebel, making a horrifying scowl at everyone she meets. When taken to a local acupuncturist, she finds friendship and warmth from the man and his wife who teach her the scriptures. Soon the Four-Girl gets baptized by the local Catholic missionaries and is rechristened Vibiana.

Vibiana proclaims her new faith to her family. In response, she was severely beaten for her conversion to Christianity. Vibiana runs away with the missionaries who have been ordered to congregate behind the protective ramparts of the capitol city of Peking.

Working in the orphanage, Vibiana meets a young convert who is in training to become a monk. Love seems to be in bloom between her and the boy. However, when the horde of Boxers lead by volume one's protagonist Bao, arrives at the city gate, the relative safety Peking's defenses offers appears seemingly in doubt. 

Inspired by visions of the French Catholic hero, Joan of Arc, Vibiana decides to quickly learn about kung-fu from her paramour, seemingly inspired to save her new family from the heathen Boxers. Only in a strange twist fate, Vibiana's new found faith in God will result in saving the life of the most unlikely of all people involved in the uprising; an enemy that readers of both volumes had thought was long deceased. 

Boxers, along with Saints was nominated for a number of awards. It won the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best young adult literature as well as well as being named one of School Library Journal's best books of the year. Boxers & Saints has remained in print by publisher First Second, with several editions including a a 2-volume boxed set and a deluxe size compendium of both books in a single paperback edition.

Completing this review completes Task #4 (A Graphic Novel Sequel) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Boxers

Gene Luen Yang crafts an incredible account of the Boxer Rebellion. While the main characters are fictional, I learned a ton about a part of World History that a week ago, honestly, I couldn't have told you anything about other than I know that the combatants were the Chinese vs. Missionaries. And it turns out that I wasn't even 100% correct about that.

Yes, Christian missionaries, primarily from the Catholic Church, were working to convert the heathen natives of China. However, it wasn't the ruling government who was rebelling. The ruling house in China at the time was pretty much powerless because of a conglomerate of British, German and even the American government, pushing to colonize China. The monks and nuns of the Catholic Church were seen as foreign devils, seeking to pervert the people of China to follow Christ and thus becoming enslaved by Western ideals. To become a Christian meant permanent banishment from your family and possibly your community in China. 

Little Bao is a young boy who sees a missionary destroy one of his village's beloved idol gods. Eventually, some of the villagers become followers. But in reality, some are using their new found religion as an opportunity to bully their own people. Any attempt to resist a missionary or one of their followers is met with government force as the foreign government officials in Peking see the church as a way to subdue the masses. 

When a beloved member of Little Bao's village is killed for attempting to save a town from foreign government brutality, the boy begins a pilgrimage to Peking in hopes of freeing China from it's devilish overlords. Using the lessons in the martial arts that he learned from his fallen mentor, as well as encouraged by visions of the first Emperor of China, Bao leads a group of men to the capital city. Along the way, he gathers countless followers including a group of women martial artists. But once at his destination, the leader of the Boxers, those devotees of kung-fu who fight with their hands and their passions, will find that the situation within the walled community isn't so black and white as war makes even the most noble of intentions become corrupted.

What makes this work so unique is that this is not the end of the story. 2013's Boxers tells of the Boxer Rebellion from the side of the Chinese population who believed that the foreign bureaucrats and missionaries were evil invaders who turned their disciples into traitors. Volume 2, titled Saints will show a different perspective of the conflict. Only it's not from one of the foreigners but of a native Chinese citizen who finds not just safety and religion, but a sense of belonging they never received from their blood family.

I personally own the copy of Boxers that I read. I waited a very long time to get a copy of Saints before reading. While that book is about a third of the size of Boxers, I didn't want to wait a long time to read it. I was also concerned that I might forget something. if I waited. The Boxer Rebellion is so complex. It's not a 2-sided coin kinda thing. There's so many parts, players and philosophies behind what transpired in the very early 20th century in China. I'm very glad at Gene Luen Yang's attempt to present both sides of the story. It's a creative yet bold endeavor from a creator that my fandom is growing with every work of his I read. I look forward to seeing that other side, much sooner than later, thankfully. I think it's going to add so much depth to this already weighty story.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Smurfs Christmas (Family Comic Friday)

The Smurfs Christmas is a festive collection of several shorts. 3 directly involved Christmas. One mentions writing letters to Santa and is set during wintertime. Another involves snowmen, which are holiday icons. And then we've got that one story that involves a very hungry ogre.

Story #1 sees Santa down with a case of the flu. Knowing Gargamel is a sorcerer, Claus seeks a potion to help him complete his rounds. The dastardly medicine man finds opportunity to kidnap Santa and become the Jolly Old Fatman in hopes of infiltrating the Smurf village and stealing some for his Christmas dinner. 

Story #2 finds Gargamel captured by a hungry ogre. Thinking quickly, the fiend convinces the ogre that Smurfs make better tasting meals. There's quite a bit of tension as the Ogre with Gargamel still in his clutches, inch closer to Smurf village!

Story #3 starts off with a the Smurfs building snowmen. With warmer weather in the forecast, the snowmen come alive, trying to make it to the safety of the frigid Northern lands. But an encounter with Gargamel results in the snowmen betraying their Smurf creators.

Story #4 has the Smurfs exploring their nearby territory. Things are awfully quiet with all the woodland creatures taking warm refuge from the winter weather. All this quiet results in Sleepy Smurf cuddling up in a dormouse hutch. As the rest of the Smurfs write their letters to Santa, Sleepy Smurf and friend find themselves unknowingly the target of a hungry poacher- because they're sleeping through their entire predicament!!!

Story #5 stars Lumberjack Smurf who while looking for the perfect Christmas tree, almost chops down a talking pine. Turns out that the verbose tree is actually a little girl who was turned into a conifer by a witch. 

The final tale is a reunion between Gargamel and Santa. Faced with being on the naughty list again, the wizard can earn a gift for Christmas if he delivers gifts to all the Smurfs. But should he fall into temptation, Gargamel will be turned into an earthworm!

When I grew up, religious groups proclaimed the Smurfs to be agents of the devil. There's a little bit of magic in the book. It's mostly Gargamel's doing. Papa Smurf does refer to a book of prophecy in the Orge story. But by the end of it, he burns the book wanting to make his own destiny. There is some Looney Tunes level slapstick. That's mostly at the hands of Jokey Smurf and his love of those exploding gift boxes. 

What got on my nerves was the progressive use of the word 'Smurf'. It's gently sprinkled into the vocabulary in the first couple of tales. By the end of this book, it literally peppered it to the point of overuse. I mean, it smurfingly smurfed getting on my smurfing smurfs! (Hopefully, you get my drift...) It's a Christmas tree! Not a Christmas smurf!!! I don't care what the back panel on the book says...

This was a great assortment of holiday and winter time Smurfs stories by their legendary Belgian creator, Peyo. But why was that ogre story thrown in? I would have been with just those 5 other stories alone in order to make this a more cohesive collection. The only reason I can figure out for addition of the ogre oddity is that this book is about 55 pages long. Without the 8 pages of 'The Ogre and the Smurfs ', this 2013 offering from Papercutz would barely clock in at 47 pages. I have the paperback edition which at $5.99 is a steal. But I bet the smaller page count just wouldn't have been feasible for Papercutz', hardcover edition.Lots of seasonal fun with a small detour in the middle. Sure to delight generations of Smurfs fans.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Krampus! #1

I don't know why, but I like Krampus. I know he's a demon. Yet, for some reason I dig the European concept of an anti-Santa, who punishes bad kids. Maybe it's because as a teacher, I see how our of control today's youth are. They need something like Krampus, who puts the fear of God into those little monsters.

In the opening chapter of this 203 comic from Image, someone has stolen the bones of Saint Nicholas, the ancient inspiration of the modern Santa Claus. This theft has resulted in the Secret Society of Santa Clauses jumping to action at the North Pole. While there, it's discovered that the magic of the Santas has gone away. This results in the Society turning to their only hope: Krampus.

In the 1960s, the Society imprisoned Krampus when the demon refused to stop eating bad little boys and girls. So for the past 6 decades, Krampus has been resting in a super max prison on the top of the world. If Krampus can find who stole Saint Nicholas's remains and restore the magic of Christmas to the Santas of the world, he'll finally earn his freedom. But to make sure he doesn't turn on them, Krampus has been fitted with a bomb that will detonate should the fiend wind up on naughty list...

Krampus! #1 was the debut work of Brian Joines. I thought it was a brilliant introduction that combined international customs of Christmas, in particular the Scandinavian countries, along with some modern touches that I hope one day becomes new additions to the Krampus legend.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Marble Season (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

From the look at 2013's Marble Season, one can see a fight about to break out. However, based on the name of the title, the about to begin melee is not over the classic kids game of marbles. 

Marble Season is a semi-autobiographical look at the childhood of Gilbert Hernandez. More of a series of glimpses in the lives of a group of school kids that live in an interracial neighborhood in Southern California. Set sometime in the early 1960s, these vignettes reflect a nostalgic love for the music, TV shows and films, games, comic books and especially that childlike wonder of growing up.

The title for this book actually is about the events that transpired during a child's book-ended experience with the game of marbles. At the beginning of this book, main-character Huey, a Hispanic boy of around the age of 10, is teaching a young girl how to play the game. To help her practice, Huey gives the girl one of his marbles. Once Huey leaves, the child promptly swallows the glass ball. At the end of this graphic novel, Huey is informed that the little girl had to be hospitalized after swallowing several more marbles! Everything that happens in-between is the official Marble Season game card.

Author and artist Gilbert Hernandez is one of the founding fathers of the second generation of underground comics. In 1981, Gilbert, along with brothers Jaime and Mario, created the groundbreaking comic Love and Rockets. In issue #3, Gilbert introduced readers to the magical land of Palomar. Set in a fictional Latina American village, Gilbert's Palomar is a land out of time, free of modern day technology, led by a fiercely independent young woman named Luba.

2014's Bumperhead is a rough follow-up to Marble Season. The book doesn't have any of the main characters from this book. But like the first book, Bumperhead is set in Oxnard, Gilbert Hernandez' hometown, and all of the adults are mysteriously absent. Critics liken both stories as a sort of mature, lifelike Peanuts. And if you take a look at Huey's baby brother, he sure does look like a tiny version of Charlie Brown. However more adult Marble Season may be considered to the Charles Schulz comic strip, this work is nothing compared to the more explicit subject material covered in Herandez' Love and Rockets and further body of work. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #19 (Main Character is a Minority) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires #1 (2022 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

In 2011, DC Comics decided it was time to reboot their comics line once again. First up in this New 52 were the obvious retooling of the adventures and origins of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League. A few months later, there was an announcement for a new addition that left many of us doing a double-take. Returning to print was those junior tycoons, The Green Team after a nearly 40 year absence from store shelves.

Created by Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti, The Green Team was first featured in the May, 1975 issue of DC 1st Issue Special #2. The Green Team originally was a group of child millionaires that sought out adventures by investing in new and exciting projects for the investment sum of a flat one million dollars. The 2013 reboot took into effect inflation. To be a member of the 2013 Green Team, you had to have a trillion dollars or in the case of leader Commodore Murphy, the promise of such. Murphy will inherit a trust fund of $64 million dollars upon reaching his 21st birthday. 

Modern day Green Team members also were teens instead of pre-pubescents. Comprising the new team was superstar actress Cecilia Sunbeam and oil tycoon J.P. Houston. J.P.'s twin sister Lucia Lynn is an honorary member. There's a fourth member of the team, the Arab prince Mohammad Qahantii. But as of the first issue, the prince isn't a member yet.

The debut issue starts off with Prince Mohammad searching out the Green Team. Eager to proof himself to his wealthy father, the prince secretly travels to a pop-up expo of scientists and researchers eager for Green Team backing. But instead of impressing the Green Team, Mohammad accidentally alerts a team of madmen eager to kill Murphy and his wealthy pals. 

That's where issue #1 ends. I don't own the remaining 7 issues of this short-lived series. I also wasn't expecting to be a fan of this book. But despite the millennial take on the Green Team, I enjoyed this book. Social media wasn't something anywhere on the horizon in 1975. But the excessive of use of Wi-Fi is a natural progression of events in this comic. What I didn't expect is for Commodore Murphy planning on becoming a superhero. But once the madmen attack the expo, the Green Team leader activates a digital set of armor a la Iron Man. 

The 2013 series was written by Art Baltazar and Franco (Tiny Titans). This is one of the duo's few Teen rated works. Normally, the pair are known for their all ages family fun. On art duty was the Brazilian Ig Guara (Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers) with regular covers by Harley Quinn's Amanda Conner.

The original Green Team was supposed to garner at least 2 issues. But editorial retooling and the DC implosion made it a scraped project. The modern cousin was hoped to run 52 issues. It only made it to 8, one of the first casualties of The New 52's second wave. So far, the reboot has never been compiled into a trade paperback or hardcover. So for collectors and interested parties into the rest of this story, such as I, we'll need to test our luck in the bargain bins for a good deal!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #1 (With a Color In The Name) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Doctor Who: The Vault: Treasures from the First 50 Years by Marcus Hearn

Celebrating everything Doctor Who, just in time for it's 50th anniversary- which occurred 6 years ago!

I got this amazing book right around when Doctor Who turned 50th. I was born on November 24th. Doctor Who's first appearance on TV was November 23rd, 1963. So this was a birthday present. 

I remember that I read it through Christmas of 2013. But sometime in early 2014, I got off track and put this book away in my reading cabinet. I promptly forgot about it. that was until about a week ago.

BBC America was showing a massive marathon of Doctor Who episodes as a sort of countdown to the New Year's Day premiere of the newest season (12th) of the long-running time travel series. Around this same time, I was organizing my reading cabinet and I came across this book again. Seeing that I had made a pretty big dent, and I was excited for more Who after a year without any new episodes, I dug back in.

I've read several VAULT edition books. While the format of the Doctor Who vault is petty similar to them, there are some big differences. Most VAULT books have 'artifacts'; removable items that readers can examine. These are things like stickers or blueprints or even scripts. The Doctor Who book has tons of images of a lot of cool stuff. However, there is nothing removable here.

Another difference is the formatting itself. Most VAULT books are separated into chapters that resemble a museum exhibit. But here, each chapter is broken down by year or season. However, there are not 50 chapters. As there was little to no Doctor Who from 1990 until the early 2000s, those 'wilderness years' are lumped together. (Only 1996 in which the movie debuted on national TV is given a separate year entry.) Still, this is a pretty lengthy book about about 40 chapters. I think the shear volume was why I put this book aside for a while.

This is a must for fans of Doctor Who. It's very British. But then again, so is Doctor Who itself. One thing that's a bit aggravating is how much detail is devoted to the show's ratings. I understand that the show spent a long time on the brink of cancellation. But couldn't all of that have been combined into one or two chapters and not spread out throughout the book? I found the production and fun facts parts of this book very interesting. But the devotion to viewership was a bit mind numbing. 

Maybe THAT"S why I put this book away for a while.

Lots of fun but sometimes bogged down in some boring details.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars. 

Wolverine: Season One

I've been a big fan of Marvel's Season One books. They were too expensive for me to buy when they were new in 2012-13. But over the past couple of years affordable copies have come on the market at used book stores and Ollie's of all places. 

Logan/Wolverine's origin has been explored to an Nth degree. There's been Wolverine: Origin, his time as in the Weapon X project in Marvel Comics Presents, and numerous looks at the mutants first days with the X-Men. But finally do I learn of Wolverine's ties to Alpha Flight!

I remember an issue of The Marvel Saga briefly mentioned on Wolverine being a member of that Canadian superhero team. But nothing further was ever explored. So I always wondered about that. For the most part, writers Ben Blacker and Ben Acker (Thrilling Adventure Hour) do an exceptional job with that. 

Though one confusion remains. In both that issue of The Marvel Saga and other books, Wolverine is shown leading heroes such as the hairy but diminutive Puck and the hairy but quite large Sasquatch. But neither character is in this book and this book covers all of Wolverine's time with Alpha Flight. So, was there a retcon? Had to be. It's the only explanation.

Speaking of explanations, I loved the why behind Wolverine's costume change from his first appearance in Hulk 180-181 to what you see in Giant-Size X-Men #1. 

Plus, if you love Wolverine's first appearances with the Hulk, you are going to love this book.

Artist Salva Espin (Deadpool) adds a level of sensuality to this book. It appears that Logan finds himself in love triangles with stuffy team leaders and brainy babes with red hair quite often! Plus that painted cover totally rocks!

This origin story wasn't what I was expecting. However, I've got no complaints as this Season One explores areas of Wolverine's life that I had always pondered. There's still some anachronisms floating around. But a large chunk of my questions into Logan's time with Alpha Flight has been answered.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Man of Steel: A Retro Review

I've been cleaning out my archives and discovered that I never posted this review of 2013's Man of Steel. Well, better late than never...

It’s been a few weeks since Man of Steel came out and from what I saw, it was fantastic. The film’s made over $530 million worldwide and yet it’s been panned by critics and viewers alike. I think the trouble was that this Superman isn’t just 'not your dad’s Superman', he’s not really the Man of Steel you remember growing up with.

The Henry Cavill Superman is essentially the New 52 Superman with tones of Superman: Earth One and New Krypton Superman thrown in.

This Superman isn’t quite so concerned about his secret identity. The world’s got more serious problems these days and trying to keep a pesky girl reporter from finding out who you are when the cape comes off is not one of those problems.

Now, does that mean this Superman wants to be found? Absolutely not! But since this Clark Kent is still trying to find his place in this world, he’s more free to run when his powers are reveal to the public then to try and fool the public with robot look-a-likes or blaming swamp gas bouncing off of Venus for what looks like a young man pulling a tractor off Old Man McGregor.

People gave Cavill a bad rap for not separating his Kent and Kal-El personas. But, at this point in Superman’s career he’s always been Clark Kent and only now finding out he’s from Krypton.

The casting is spot on for the most part. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are the perfect models for Ma and Pa Kent. Laurence Fishbourne is a fantastic Perry White, who does such a great job that you don’t hear people yelling at the screen “Perry’s a white guy in the comics!” With the actor, race doesn’t matter and he transcends the role. Russell Crowe’s Jor-El is quite good, but he’s even better as a ghost acting as the AI tutor to Clark as he discovers his Kryptonian heritage.

The biggest problem I had was with Amy Adams. She’s not bad as Lois Lane, but she’s not great either. I think some of that problem has to do with her acting chops. Fishbourne’s Perry White is black, yet he’s got the role of Daily Planet Editor down pat to which fans have correctly overlooked this. Adams’ Lane is gutsy but she’s just a little too aloof an actress to play Lois Lane as opposed to Margot Kidder or even Teri Hatcher. There’s just a little chemistry missing in that part.

And where the heck is Jimmy Olsen???

Lastly, let’s talk about the villain: General Zod. This Zod has been bred for war and to protect Krypton at all costs. He blames Jor-El for his planet’s demise and since Jor-El is dead, then naturally, the general sees that the sins of the father is past down to the son.

SPOILER- I’d heard how Man of Steel ends and I thought to myself, “Superman doesn’t kill.” But I was happy with the ending because Zod placed Superman in a Kobyashi Maru situation. He could either submit to Zod, thus dooming planet earth or allow Zod’s heat vision to turn a family of four into charcoal brickettes. Superman had to kill Zod, but you can tell he had no choice and thankfully, they show Superman in a moment of pain after everything transpires. They don’t have him shrug it off and fly out into the sunset.

In the end, I was very pleased with Zack Snyder’s efforts and I commend him. Good job. The only problem is now how do you follow up with s sequel. You can’t just focus on Lex Luthor, who thankfully was absent from a Superman film for the first time in history. To focus on a villain any lower than Brainiac or maybe a Luthor/ Brainiac team-up will just be an understatement.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen

    The graphic novel medium is pretty much an untapped resource when it comes to food. Yet, with it's visual aesthetic, you'd think that this would be the perfect venue for it. Maybe that's because no one's been able to crack the code- until now...

    Lucy Knisley's Relish is a glimpse at her life story and how food has had such an impact on her life and that of her family. Her mother was a superstar employee at Dean & Deluca and later a much sought after caterer in Northern New York. Her uncle ran a trendy Big Apple gourmet shop in the 80s and her father is a consoussier of the Manhattan restaurant scene. 

    Added to this neat tale are several recipes. Knisley draws out pictures of each item and provides unique insight into the selection of products, substitution of ingredients, and other variants. Her pasta carbonara recipe is something that I am dying to try out one day soon.

    This 2013 graphic novel by First Second has a suggested reading of ages 6-12 but really, this is a memoir and tribute to food that any age can enjoy. I think it should be required reading at the culinary school where I teach. It's got some many great insights on food trends, what it means to be a chef, and how food brings people and cultures together.

     A really awesome read that I highly recommend. Be on the lookout for other food related graphic novels by Knisley, like I am: French Milk (2008) and An Age of License (2014.)

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
      

Thor: Season One

Sometimes I get really lucky and I find a book that I've been wanting somewhere for a steep discount. That was the case here with Thor: Season One. My library had carried a couple of the books from this Marvel series that recounts the origins of some of it's most popular character's while giving them a modern twist and I enjoyed them.  Plus, I've really been getting into Thor a lot and he's grown into one of my favorite characters. So, to find this hardcover for less than $7- oh I had to jump on it!

   Here we learn what exactly got Thor in trouble with his father Odin, resulting in the Asgardian's exile to earth. We also see the early formations of the Warriors Three and experience Loki's discovery of his true heritage. But what really interested me in this story was the dynamic between Thor in his human persona of Dr. Donald Blake and his partner, Jane Foster.

   In this story, Jane is Don's equal. Both are doctors and together, they start a clinic right as Blake begins to uncover the truth of his past as Thor. Jane even knows Blake is Thor. Yet, every time Thor took over instead of Donald Blake, I kept hoping it would hurry up so we could get back to the good stuff. Yes, Donald Blake's ho-hum life as a crippled doctor was just that much more interesting to me and that my friends is a sign of great writing under the Marvel Comics banner.

   Matthew Sturges, whose work I've enjoyed in the pages of Vertigo's House of Mystery and Blue Beetle, is a master at back stories. He makes the person behind the capes and superpowers so engaging and so intriguing. That's exactly what Stan Lee did when he created the Marvel Universe over 50 years ago and I can tell from this book, that someone took notes and kept with the time-honored formula.

   The Season One books were all published in 2013. Now three years later and with Marvel's reboot of its entire universe for the first time ever, I doubt seriously that we'll ever see a Thor: Season Two. But this book was a masterpiece and is a classic that shouldn't be ignored. No matter how much you think you know the story of Thor, this book with art by Pepe Larraz (Star Wars: Kanan) will make the Norse gods new to you once again!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The Fifth Beatle

John, Paul, George, Ringo, and the Fifth Beatle.

   But just who is this Fifth member of the greatest rock and roll band of perhaps all-time? Is it drummer Pete Best, the band's first tempo keeper kicked out in favor of Ringo Star? Was it Eric Clapton, who played lead guitar on the White Album's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and was frequently asked to join by the quartet? Was it Yoko, who once she married John, was joined at the hip and known to sit in on sessions? Or was it Billy Preston, asked to play piano for the Let It Be sessions in order to help keep the peace amongst the band in the throes of breaking up? 

    While the answer has stymied fans for decades, the most definitive answer has always come from Paul. In the 70s, McCartney once said 'If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian.' The Brian in question was the late Brian Epstein. After reading this graphic novel about the unsung first manager of the Beatles, I am inclined to agree.

   Without Epstein, the Beatles probably would be just another band playing gigs in Liverpool. They were good but they weren't at that next level that would make them legends. It was Brian who got them to that legendary status. 

   The new manager made the band be more clean cut, drop Best for Ringo and made John marry his girlfriend Cynthia whom he just got pregnant. Epstein was also behind getting the band on Ed Sullivan which kicked off the global phenomenon called Beatlemania! I think this also shortened the band's lifespan by about 5-10 years, in which the grueling pace caused riffs and exhaustion amongst the four friends and their eventual breakup in 1970.

    Not only does this book focus on Epstein's role with the Fab Four, but it also chronicles the pain and struggles of a hurting man. Brian was gay and though the Beatles and his parents knew, it was kept secret. I didn't know this but until 1967, it was a crime in Great Britain to be homosexual. So, Epstein frequented Spain and the Big Apple, two more 'tolerant' areas during his holidays from the band in order to live his life a little more openly. But all of his hiding plus the frantic pace of being the manager of the biggest band in the world saw Brian taking tons of drugs, therapy, and alcohol all of which lead to an accidental overdose just one month before the criminal band of homosexuals in the UK was lifted.

   I got this book in a Comic Bento box as a gift from my wife over the Christmas holidays last year. But this graphic novel has been available since November of 2013. At the time, Brian Epstein had yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and gay marriage was still illegal in about 38 states. A lot has changed in the past 3 years and I think this book had a lot to do with those changes.

   Less than one year after the Fifth Beatle was published, Epstein finally got inducted in Cleveland. And just last year, the Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is legal nationwide. Now, you might be thinking 'how did this book help gay marriage?' Well, in the back, legendary underground comix artist and writer, Howard Cruse wrote an afterword expounding Epstein's influence on his life. That page goes on to say that proceeds from this book went to the Freedom to Marry campaign, which was a fund for the gay marriage fight in the US Supreme Courts system. In 1966, Epstein inspired the world to know 'All You Need Is Love' and after he telecast that song worldwide on a Beatles simulcast, that challenge was took up by many, including Cruse.

   I see this book as being the next non-superhero comic book blockbuster in theaters and currently writer Vivek J. Tiwary is working on a screenplay. I kinda hope the film is at least partially animated relying on the artwork of artist Andrew C. Robinson, who does a beautiful job making the Fab Five come to life. The only thing I was not a fan of was Kyle Baker's inclusion as the artist for a scene in the Philippines. I'm not sure why he was even used for this book. I love Baker, but his comical anecdote detracted from the rest of this beautiful book.

   A must-read for Beatles fans whether you like graphic novels or not!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action (Family Comic Friday)

 

When a knight errant and his trusty steed come across some seedy characters in the forest, they learn that their beloved king is in peril. At the castle, the knight discovers that the king is missing and a famous director has decided to hold casting calls for his replacement. But the knight will have to get in line to audition if he's interested in the job.

   Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action is one in a series of books presented by the Center for Cartoon Studies. Just what is the Center for Cartoon Studies? It's an educational institution based in Hartford, Vermont. The school's focus is on sequential art, primarily cartooning. Adventures in Cartooning is written and drawn  by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost: graduates from the CCS. 

    This 2013 book is like Schoolhouse Rock or Sesame Street in that they make learning fun again. Here, the series creators take a bizarre situation, such as a director turning a castle into a movie set, and add details that inform you on how to best draw characters. For Example, there are two characters that look like Albino peanuts and they can change into anything. They are also father and son. But how can you tell? Well, it's explained by the bigger 'peanut' that his son has a smaller body and larger head proportionately compared to his. 
  
   At the end of the book, the knight is taught by his friend the Magic Cartooning Elf how to draw characters. One of the steps he teaches our hero is that when drawing kids make their heads larger than their bodies. Hmm... I wonder where I heard that tip???

    Adventures in Cartooning takes the beloved art of drawing and creating and boils it down to a more age appropriate level. When I was a kid just about the only art book for those under the age of 21 was 'How to Draw the Marvel Way.' But the art was so advanced in that book for a kid the age of 11 to copy that I got frustrated that my stuff looked nothing like the experts and I gave up quick. 

   I'm not saying The Marvel Way isn't a good book. In fact it's a classic! But it's just too much for children of ages 6-13 to master. I'm ecstatic that the CSS has issued these books. But I'm a little jealous too as I wish I had books like this growing up! If your child is interested in possibly becoming a cartoonist or just want to learn how to draw in general- run, don't walk, to your computer or iPhone and order all of the books in this series. 

   Along with Characters in Action, the other books in the Adventures in Cartooning series, published by First Second are:

• Adventures in Cartooning (2009)
• Adventures in Cartooning Activity Book (2010)
• Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special (2012)
• Sleepless Knight  (2015)
• Gryphons Aren't So Great (2015)

Check these books out, your children and the next generation of comic book enthusiasts will thank you!

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

By the way, if you have a child or teen who is interested in one day becoming a cartoonist or involved in the comic book industry, check out the website for the Center for Cartoon Studies. It's never too soon to start getting ideas about college and they might even offer camps and have other links for getting your child on the right track to becoming the next Jack Kirby or Alex Ross.

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil

 

   On the island of Here, everything is seemingly perfect. There's no crime, no litter, everyone is clean shaven and life is easy. It's also amazingly banal on Here. But at least it's not like There, where the ocean begins and the world is dark, scary, and nobody returns from.

   All that changes when Dave wakes up to an out of control beard growing on his face. It's not a simple matter of a little stubble as when Dave shaves his face, it grows back within minutes. The old adage of 'if you shave, it will grow back fuller and darker' is true here as Dave's beard begins to grow to such a point it threatens the safety of the citizens of Here and their property and more importantly their simple way of life.

    The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins is a black and white 2013 graphic novel that challenges the concept of conformity. The story includes elements of the film Pleasantville with the people of Here's fear of the unknown anything different that the norm. The eerie perfection of the island community also reminds the reader of the idyllic setting that Jim Carrey's character is subjected to in the Truman Show. Along with the very bizarre flowing beard and the satirical bent towards pre-accepted social mores, this book could easy have been written by Roald Dahl or the subject of the next Tim Burton picture.

   I thought this graphic novel was incredibly engrossing. There was a perverse curiosity behind why the people of Here were a community of Stepford People. But I don't think that the beard was truly evil. It didn't have a mind of its own and it didn't try to eat the town like the creature in the Blob. I think it's malevolence was more in the minds of the people of Here because it represented that dark and forboding unknown of There.

   Another great read that, unfortunately, has a slightly ambiguous ending. Again, it's not a knock at the quality of the work or at the talents of Mr. Collins. I just don't favor books with unsettled endings.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Sesame Street/ Strawberry Shortcake Free Comic Book Day Flip Book (Family Comic Friday)

 

  In 2013, Ape Entertainment attempted to produce titles based on the television series Sesame Street and the popular girls toy line Strawberry Shortcake. To advertise the forthcoming releases, the publisher issued this free comic book day comic. On paper, these should have been home runs. But for some reason, these titles couldn't find a successful readership.

   On the Strawberry Shortcake side, we get three stories. In the first tale, Strawberry gets a case of the blueberry flu. Unable to run her shop, some of her friends come in to save the day. Then the Shortcake gang go on a treasure hunt for a pirates treasure and learn that one man's junk is another's treasure. Lastly in a story that doesn't even feature the sparkling red head, a character named Sugar Plum goes on the hunt for a rare book that she mistakenly loaned out.

   All three stories were charming. Little girls would really enjoy these. The art, though drawn from the modern version of the toys, was very clean and bright. The only thing missing were the fruity smells that the dolls were known for.

    The Sesame Street side only contains one story. Starring perhaps my least favorite of all the muppets, Elmo, it also features my all-time favorite furry blue monster- Grover. In this yarn, Elmo is playing superhero when Super Grover crashes onto Sesame Street. Taken a little aback by the new competition on the superhero front, Super Grover helps Super Elmo learn that his super power isn't flying or strength- it's his heart.

    When a story can make a character that normally makes me want to barf fall in love with him, you know you've found something special. But after this FCBD offering, Ape Entertainment only released one further comic based on the Jim Henson property. For the life of me, I can't figure out why Sesame Street didn't become the instant success that it's sister property, The Muppet Show did. The only thing I can come up with is that Sesame Street is geared toward pre-schoolers and this book is pretty wordy. Also, whereas both kids and adults loved the Muppet Show mostly little tykes are fans of Sesame Street.

    Strawberry Shortcake didn't fair much better either. Ape's first series was only 4 issues long, but that was a mini-series (and one of the cover's boasted a scratch and sniff feature.) But after the release of this free comic, Ape only released a smattering of one-shots. Why couldn't this series take off?

   In 1985, Marvel released a Strawberry Shortcake series under its Star Comics kid's line. But that title only produced 7 issues. What doomed that book was the fact that little girls weren't reading comics in the 80s. Though more girls are reading comics now than ever before, it's titles published by DC and Marvel that seems to be garnishing the most attention. If you're the publisher of an indy publication, it's hard to gain a presence in stores but it's almost impossible to reach out to readers of the fairer sex in those situations.

   So, if neither of these series is still being published or considered hits, the why did I review this book? Well, to be honest, I was so busy at work this week and I forgot to devote time to the Family Comic Friday book that I wanted to read. Plus, I didn't realize until after I read this comic and did some research that I learned that these books were not winners. But I decided to go ahead and review this book if only to let parents and guardians know that there are some great comics out there for really young kids and girls that are NOT published by the big two. You just have to search for them or ask your local comic book shop to carry them.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Age of Confusion

   

   I feel like this merits some clarification. When I found the 'AGE OF ULTRON' hardcover I saw the companion right next to it. Wanting to read the entire collection of this storyline, I grabbed them both. (I literally shouted "Score!" While doing a fist pump. I was that excited.)                                  
 
    Much to my chagrin, after reading the entire hardcover edition, I found that the companion didn't have any new material in it. If you own that volume then there is no reason to own the AOU Companion. So why did Marvel publish it in the first place?          

    Obvious answer aside (to get more of your money) I did some research to find out. According to stashmycomics.com, there have only been two reprintings of AOU; the hardcover edition and a trade paperback. The hardcover, published in 2013, retailed for $75! The 2014 trade retailed for only $35, but it doesn't include the supplement issues like the hardcover does. The Companion which contains the supplemental issues was published at the same time as the trade and sells for $30 and was published in trade paperback form only. So, Marvel thought they were doing it's fans a favor by publishing the two works in a cheaper for format with the whopping discount price of $65! (Wow Marvel, thanks for the price break!)

   Another option for readers could be to just buy all of the issues in the miniseries and supplementals individually. But if you can't find the issues in a bargain bin, you'll likely pay more than the price of the hardcover. Another option is to get just the 10 issues of the AOU mini and then get the companion. It can be found on Amazon for as low as $21.45 new ($16 used.)

   So, now you've got some options. More importantly, you've been warned so that you don't spend your hard earned money on duplicate titles.

Now go read some comics!

Haunted Histories: Creepy Castles, Dark Dungeons, and Powerful Palaces (Family Comics Friday)

Though the narrator and his pet raven are fictitious, the haunted histories are real- for the most part. There are some ghost stories and the whole biz about ghosts being real is up for debate. But, the tales of crazed rulers, creepy castles, and methods of medieval torture are quite real. It's also wicked fun.

Some subject matter isn’t appropriate for kids under the age of 12. But, it’s a really interesting look at history told in a way that makes kids like to learn. Just like Grossology or Schoolhouse Rocks, I’m all for educational media that makes learning fun, even if the stuff in this book is more for a junior Hannibal Lector that fodder for the kid what wants to be president when they grow up. 

What’s more, it’s written by a college professor, just don’t tell your kids that!

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Haunted Histories can be purchased on Amazon in both new and used paper formats. There is also a Kindle Edition.