Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block YP FIC BLOCK

Pen has a story to tell.  Stories have power and hers may just save the world. At least what's rest of it.  The Earth Shaker ripped the world apart and the sea reclaimed the land.  all Pen wanted was to find her family, a home, but she'll have to make a journey first. An odyssey.  She'll make a new family, face down giants, and fight the man that destroyed the world. 

This is the best posy-apocalyptic reimagining of the Odyssey I've ever read! Sure, it's the ONLY one I've ever read, but that's just another point in it's favor.  Francesca Lia Block always writes beautiful stories with amazing descriptive prose that can pull you into any world or person she imagines, so it is no surprise she can make something as odd as a post-apocalypse Odyssey come to life. Like the Odyssey before it this book is really about the power of stories and storytellers.  It also goes deeper into what gives the stories power.  Things like hope, faith, loyalty, love, hate, death, and more.  It is also about how we make our own family's but are also tied forever by the family that made us.  If this all sounds pretty philosophical and heady, well, yes it is.  It's also beautiful and magical and filled with an unashamed wonder of words and magic.  It's a love letter to the power of belief and fantasy.  It's also a look at what happens when the good things in life are betrayed and twisted.  This won't be a story for everyone. It tosses and turns and gets twisted inside and out before it all comes back together.  For me that was a frustrating, but ultimately rewarding experience.  I realized I was taken on a journey, too.  Like Pen it was not the one I wanted, but it was the right journey.  If you want a very strange trip, I can't recommend this book enough.

You can find Love in the Time of Global Warming in our catalog here.

Batman VS Superman: Batman: Year One by Frank Miller art by David Mazzuchelli YP FIC MILLER

In celebration of our Batman VS Superman election, I'll be reviewing MY favorite Superman and Batman books Of All Time! I'll try not to reveal any Bat-Bias or Super-Subjectiveness that could unduly influence this election. 

One night changed Bruce Wayne's life forever. A random act of violence took away his parents and gave him something new: a mission.  Now, after year of training his body and mind he is ready to com home.  He is ready to take back Gotham.  A city of crime, sin, and corruption at the highest levels.  Can one man save a city? No, but maybe a bat can.

This one book, even more than Miller's also excellent the Dark Knight Returns, changed the course of Batman forever.  It is as if Miller completely rewrote his DNA and brought Batman in all his dark glory into the real world. This is a young and inexperienced Bruce Wayne, that barely survives his first disastrous outings. It allows the reader to see the Batman form over time and have a real understanding and investment in what makes Bruce into Batman. In starting Batman over from scratch, Miler gets to the core of what makes Batman so fascinating: an obsessive drive to make sure that no one else has to watch their loved ones die by crime and a fanatical devotion to a code of honor.  

Miller also greatly enlarges the importance of characters that were underutilized at the time, like Catwoman and Jim Gordon. Placing a young and principled Jim Gordon on the incredibly corrupt Gotham police force made Gordon into a whole new character as vital to the Batman story as any character.  

Mazzuchelli's art is perfect for the book.  He has Batman as a menacing figure using shadows and his cape to look larger than life, but gives Bruce the realistic body of a superb athlete.  This isn't the highly muscled Batman that is seen in most comics and this makes the Batman even more impressive, because he seems so much more human.  The reality makes the idea of a man taking on crime single handed all the more impressive.

Miller is able to make Batman's war with the mob that owns the city as compelling as any Two-Face or Joker story ever written.  If you are a fan of the Christopher Nolan Batman films, then you owe a debt of thanks to Year One.  This is a perfect book for both those that are already batty for Batman or total Bat-beginners.

You can find Batman: Year One in our catalog here.

Batman VS Superman: All Star Superman by Grant Morrison Art by Frank Quitely YP FIC MORRISON

In celebration of our Batman VS Superman election, I'll be reviewing MY favorite Superman and Batman books Of All Time! I'll try not to reveal any Bat-Bias or Super-Subjectiveness that could unduly influence this election. A coin flip decided that this time Superman goes first (but YOU will decide who laughs last!)

Superman is dying.  A fiendish plot by the archest of fiends, Lex Luthor has overdosed Superman on solar radiation.  Superman has to decide how to best spend his last days while also uncovering Lex's final plan to Take over the World!  Will Superman be able to save the day one last time? Or will the Last Son of Krypton fizzle out too soon?

This is my all time favorite Superman story by miles and miles.  It is a two volume masterwork that pays homage to over 70 years of Superman comics.  Morrison is a huge fan of the entire run of Superman, including the often wacky and bizarre storylines of the 1940s and 50s that saw Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen getting weird powers as well as all sorts of other zaniness.  Morrison melds these wacky plots with a serious and at times sad and uplifting story of a dying Superman.  By taking silliness seriously he is able to look at Superman as a man and a myth at the same time.  There is an overabundance of big ideas that Morrison explores and the plot careens between one odd adventure to the next leaving the reader reeling.  There is a mix of science fiction, comedy, two-fisted combat, horror, philosophy, and loads of other influences. Fortunately, the books many plots all end up making sense together and pay off incredibly well.  

The art by Frank Quitely is quite breathtaking in places.  It has a fine level of detail, but remains unrealistic enough to have the garish costumes of superheroes not look silly. The beautiful art and daring design work make reading and rereading a consummate pleasure even when the plot threatens to go (way) over the reader's head.  

This is a treasure trove for long time Superfans with an almost uncountable in-continuity references to the entire Superhistory and a wonderful place for new fans to jump in and learn everything that makes Superman so super.


You can find All Star Superman in our catalog here

Batman: Death Mask by Yoshinori Natsume YP FIC NATSUME

Is Batman really Bruce Wayne? Or is Bruce Wayne a mask the Batman wears for the public? There's a demon from Japan in Gotham stealing faces and taunting the Dark Knight; a demon straight from Bruce Wayne's time training in Japan before he was Batman.  He'll have to find the answer to who Batman is and face his own dark shadow to stop this deadly new threat.

How can you not love BatManga? It's got Batman and Manga! That's chocolate and peanut butter levels of greater than the sum of its parts! This definitely isn't the best or most original Batman story or the best manga, BUT it is a fun and stylish Batman adventure.  I love the face stealing baddie best of all.  He's a super cool masked assasin with the same silhouette as Batman, but in a traditional Japanese style.  It works really well for the  book, because he is super creepy and a great visual counterpoint to Batman.  The visuals are by far the strongest selling point of the book, as Batman really pops in a manga style.  i also like how the book kept me guessing about whether the villain is REALLY a demon or if there is some sort of scientific explanation behind the mystery.  They have several fun twists with this and I love it when Batman stories are also mysteries.  The only real down sides are that these ideas have been looked at before in loads of other Batman comics and that the dialogue is a little wooden.  I think the language barrier probalby explains the latter, and it's never so bad that it's unreadable.  As for the story covering old ground, many readers won't have read quite as many Batstories as I have and the book will feel fresher to them.  Also, the great visuals more than carry the book to being a can't miss Batbook.  It's Batastic! Batrific! Batstanding! Okay, that's probably enough bats for...ever.  So if you like Batman or manga, definitely give this one a read.  If you like Batman and Manga then you are pretty much legally obligated to love it!  

You can find Batman: Death Mask in our catalog here.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson YP FIC SANDERSON

Joel has always wanted to be a Rithmatist, but Rithmatists are born and not made.  Joel, undaumnted, pured his life into knowing everything about Rithmatics he could and won a coveted scholarship to Armedius Academy.  there he secretly sneaks into classes and learns as much as he can about the magical skill he can never use.  When a new professor shows up and upsets the order of the academy, Joel learns there is more at stake than academic standing. Now he and a young Rithmatist named Melody are on the case and must find the secrets that will change their world forever.

FINALLY!!! A fantasy book that avoids the C.O.D. (Child of Destiny, foretold since the before times that will come to save the world from darkness and blah blah blah) trap.  Joel gets where he is from intelligence and extremely hard work, not birthright!  Also the magic in  this world is super well thought out, excellently described, and very exciting.  Rithmatists draw specific chalk lines that protect or attack the two dimensional monsters known as chalklings. There are excellent schematics explaining the magic at the start of each chapter and they really give the reader something to look forward to.  I really loved how driven Joel is.  It not only makes him someone you want to root for, but also keeps the plot moving very well. I liked Melody a lot and felt she really complemented Joel, but she wasn't given a lot of time to expand as a character.  Fortunately this is a series, so there is time for expansion on all fronts.  For instance, the world is very different with America a series of islands under various nation's control, but a lot of this is background and not fully explored.  However, it is very interesting background and givers the reader something to look forward to seeing more of in the sequels.  This is a unique new series with a wonderful magic system and a sparking plot.  If you are a fantasy fan then you just might have a new favorite series!

You can check our catalog for The Rithmatist here.

Crap Kingdom by D.C. Pierson YP FIC PIERSON

Tom Parking has a boring normal life.  Nothing horrible or tragic had ever happened to him and that's part of the problem.  Chosen Ones always have tragic lives!  Tom knows thinking about being plucked from his world and brought to another is a ridiculous dorky fantasy and has the good sense not to mention it to his one friend or the girl he likes and is terrified of, but then he is magically transported to another world after all!  Okay, so the messenger, Gark seems weird and it is kind of lame that the portal is a donation box in a Kmart parking lot, but he's the Chosen One, this is going to be awesome, right?  Unfortunately, he's the chosen one of a kingdom so lame they didn't even bother naming it.  Their philosophy is based around the idea that being miserable and expecting more misery to come is the best thing, because you'll never be disappointed, the King despises Tom, and every one lives in filth.  Tom decides ruining and risking his life is not worth being Chosen One and chooses not to be Chosen.  However, when they choose his best friend to be Chosen One, Tom is torn.  He's really great at it and Tom is left feeling like more of a loser than ever.  Tom has to find a way to reclaim his stolen destiny, but in doing so he may doom Grrjhrhh (they just use any random noise) and Earth and a bunch of worlds he doesn't even know about!

This is a very good book that frustratingly shies away from greatness.  On the very good side the book is funny and has an amazing premise.  It skewers the Chosen One cliche incredibly well and the first visit to Ghhghast is hilarious.  Unfortunately the book sort of lags between visits to Frhasaghafs and Earth.  Also, the book introduces very few characters overall and misses an opportunity by using the characters it has pretty sparingly.  Basically it's a real Tomfest.  Fortunately, Tom is funny and Pierson really draws on his inner nerd to really nail the feelings of resentment, awkwardness, and confusion that come with high school nerdom (So I've been told. I mean, I wasn't a big huge nerdo. REALLY!). The central arc of Tom becoming a better person and facing his insecurities works pretty darn well, but the final third of the book is rushed and there isn't enough world building of the world Tom travels to or the enemy that wants to control it.  This sounds like it would be a pretty serious dealbreaker, but Pierson really nails the humor and brings a lot of heart and feeling to the book, so much like Tom it succeeds in the end. If you like fantasy, but enjoy a good satire of it OR if you hate fantasy and wish to see it mocked OR if you're on the fence about fantasy and just like laughing in general, give this one a chance.

You can look in our catalog for Crap Kingdom here.

The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin YP FIC LEGUIN

Welcome to Earthsea, where words have power and magic lives.  

A Wizard of Earthsea: A young boy is born with a special affinity for magic and dangerous ambition. Ged could change the balance of magic forever when his arrogance awakens a darkness from beyond.  

The Tombs of Atun: Tenar serves the nameless ones, ancient gods that require sacrifices of the living.  When she captures a powerful wizards with stories of the world outside will she be a faithful servant or risk everything to taste freedom?

The Farthest Shore: Magic is dying in Earthsea and there is only one wizard that can restore the balance, but it will be at a great price.

This is among the best fantasy writing I have ever read and I am literally kicking myself (ow!) for not reading it waaaaaaay (ow!) sooner! Le Guin has a deceptively simple prose style.  I say deceptive, because she squeezes so much out of her short almost stark sentences.  It reads like an oral history passed down through generations and then finally put to paper.  This makes it feel like a document discovered about an ancient world and feel timeless.  Also, the simple style allows for her to leave a lot between the lines.  Words and knowledge are the keys to magic in Earthsea and also in art.  Le Guin uses these masterfully to weave her own spells. So these books work as rousing adventures filled with larger than life characters at the same time as being examinations of much deeper themes. She looks at the nature of power, faith, honor, duty, and most of all the idea of balance.  She does this without ever having to use long diatribes or give explicit answers.  You'll just read wonderful adventures and find yourself asking the questions almost unconsciously.  This is a series that should be read and reread over a lifetime, so like the wizard Ged you change along with the story and find new wonders as you grow.  If and when you love these tales, continue with Tehanu also Tales from Earthsea also found in YP FIC LEGUIN.

You can check our catalog for The Earthsea Trilogy here.

Severed by Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft Illustrated by Attila Futaki YP FIC SNYDER

When twelve year old Jack Garron ran away to meet the father he never knew he didn’t just hit the road, he entered the food chain.  The year is 1916 and it is a hard time for the country and a dangerous time to be a boy on his own.  More dangerous than Jack could ever imagine. An old man with razor sharp teeth and a hunger for the flesh of children is hunting Jack and Jack has no idea he’s fallen into his clutches.  Jack will learn that evil walks the roads, all dreams have a cost, and nightmares are real.  

This is a truly chilling and twisted comic.  Snyder has been writing some of the darkest and grittiest Batman stories ever of late (see my review of The Black Mirror here) and he clearly knows how to look into the dark spots of the human psyche, but gee willikers! He’s really outdone himself with this look at the death of the American Dream.  His central villain is cunning, soulless, and seemingly unstoppable.  Seeing him slowly close in and circle Jack provides tension like a tightly wound string. 

 

Snyder and Tuft recreate the early 20^th century America and all its dangers very well.  The realistic setting helps ground the elements of the fantastic and make them feel all too real.  The use of string supporting characters that you grow to like is only a way to make it all the more terrifying when they are in mortal danger.  The art has a realistic quality that separates it from super hero fare and Futaki’s skill at expressing emotion on faces makes all the characters come to life quite vividly.  It makes all the difference, because a razor toothed old man could have ended up being a very silly image.  Instead he is a malevolent force of violence and death personified and a great addition to the annals of villainy.  This is an excellent comic book and a great bloody piece of intelligent horror fiction.  A great read for fans of either and so good that it could make converts of readers that think that horror or comics are beneath them. Just read it with the lights on…during the day…with someone else at home.

You can check our catalog for Severed here.

Batman: The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder Art by Francesco Francavilla and Jock

Dick Grayson has had a pretty odd career path.  Orphaned as a child, taken in by a masked vigilante to run around in bright red tights and green chain mail underwear as Robin, striking out on his own as a teenager to become Nightwing, and finally becoming The Batman after Bruce Wayne was sent back in time.  Now Bruce is back, but is off trotting the globe making Batman a franchise operation, so Gotham and all its depravity is under Dick’s protection.  Now a very unwelcome face from the past comes back and wherever he goes people die horribly.  Is Commissioner Gordon’s son really a monster or is someone else the killer.  Dick has to solve the case before the killer strikes again…and again…and again.

Scott Snyder really puts the Dark into the Dark Knight.  Did I say ‘Dark’?  I meant gruesomely, nihilistically, bleak!  But in a weird creepy way it truly works.  It sometimes feels like Saw meets Batman and people looking for happy endings and ‘fun’ may be put off by such a grim Batman yarn.  However, the art is great, the mystery and characterization are top notch, and Dick Grayson makes a great Batman.  All in all, it’s a good read for Batman fans and not a terrible place to start for people wanting to see what’s new with the World’s Greatest Detective.

Check out The Black Mirror in our catalog here.

Justice by Jim Krueger Art by Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite YP FIC KRUEGER

The bad guys have won.  In one fell swoop the world’s most powerful heroes, the Justice League has been picked apart by their most powerful enemies and led by the super-computer Braniac.  He’s used all the forces of evil in the DC universe in a all out attack to rule the world.  Now the fractured and beaten League has to regroup, fight their own brainwashed friends and family, and stop the most dangerous plot they have ever faced.

This is a near perfect super hero comic.  It has loads of action, suspense, wall to wall superheroes and villains and the gorgeous painted art of Alex Ross.  Alex Ross’s lifelike superhero comics always look beautiful, but I’ve found that his action scenes are usually kind of stiff and lifeless.  However, Justice has brilliant action scenes, because they turned the penciling over to Doug Braithwaite.  Together, they have drawn some of the best super hero art I have ever seen.  This book starts with the heroes being picked off one by one and remaining the underdogs for the rest of the adventure.  This keeps things exciting and fresh and the suspense high.   

Best yet, the book is completely understandable to comics laypeople.  It is FILLED with characters that hardcore DC fans will go gaga over, but they are used in a way that doesn’t alienate readers that don’t know the entire history of the DC universe.  This is especially useful, because the book is set in the 70s and while that makes for some pretty awesome fashions, most people don’t have an encyclopedic memory of the 1970s DC canon.  You won’t learn great truths, there isn’t any soul searching or angst, none of the heroes or villains are metaphors for War it’s just a great good vs. evil tale!

The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects by Mike Mignola YP FIC MIGNOLA

See the steam powered (well his robot bodies are), Screw On-Head battle with the undead villain Emperor Zombie to stop the total destruction of the world at the behest of President Lincoln!  Marvel at possessed puppets, Martian ghosts, wizard/snake love stories, and beanstalkery!  All told by the master of weirdness creator of Hellboy Mike Mignola.

This is a truly delightful mix of weird goodness from the fertile imagination of Mignola.  I have always thought that his collections of shorts are some of the best Hellboy books and this first Hellboy free collection of odds and ends is a wonderful companion. “The Amazing Screw-On Head” is the longest of the short stories and one of Mignola’s best.  Free from the overarching Hellboy mythology, Mignola can throw whatever wacky ideas he wants at our title character and he packs quite a bit into a few pages.  It occasionally feels rushed and like there isn’t enough, but the overall madcap nature of the story keeps this form harming the story too much.  The other adventures vary quite a bit, but have a shared trait of deliberate weirdness that never seems forced or unnecessary.  My absolute favorite is “The Prisoner of Mars”.  It is a send up of classic British adventurer stories defeating HG Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs styled Martians. As with most of Mignola’s work it mixes a load of classic pulp fiction and science fiction and blends it with oddball humor and truly unique art.  If you are a fan of Hellboy then this is a no-brainer must read slam dunk.  If you haven’t read Hellboy, then what’s wrong with you!?  Start with Seed of Destruction in YP MIGNOLA.

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes : The Authorized Adaptation by Ray Bradbury adapted by Ron Wimberly SF BRADBURY

Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show is a carnival like no other. It promises to fulfill your every dream while feeding on your darkest nightmares.  destroying every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. It’s just rolled into the small town of Green Town, Illinois and best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are determined to uncover its secrets, but some secrets are best left unknown.

This is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the original novel.  The wonderful characters and language that bring this creepy tale to magical life is fully intact in this graphic novel adaptation.  I like the artwork quite a bit.  It is funky, odd, and almost cartoonish it is so stylized. It reminds me of the European-Japanese inspired style of Taiyo Matsumoto behind Tekkonkinkreet (FIC MATSUMOTO) and that is a very high compliment coming from me. I only have a minor complaint.  Sometimes the lettering is blurry and you have to read more carefully than you should.  It’s a surprising mistake in a professional publication, but it never makes the words unreadable. With great art and a classic and timeless story you really can’t go wrong.  This is a must read for all fans of dark fantasy young, old, and in between.  Absolutely check out the source material.  The original novel can be found at SF BRADBURY.

Axe Cop by Malachai Nicolle illustrated by Ethan Nicolle YP FIC NICOLLE

Written by a 5 year old!  Drawn by his significantly older brother! Axe Cop!  The cop with an axe that chops off the heads (and frequently poisons) bad guys!  With all the adventure, action, and randomness that could be expected from the over fertile imagination of a five year old. Get ready for more AXEtion and AXEventue than you could ever imagine (unless you are a five year old*)!

Axe Cop is cool!  He has an axe and a mustache and he’s a cop and and and he kills ALL the bad guys!!!  He has a flying dinosaur with gattling gun arms that breathes FIRE and wears shades! he kills all the bad guys!!!

Seriously.  Axe Cop rules.  He has every super power a five year old can think of and fights the most ludicrous enemies imaginable (by a five year old).  I stress the five year old so much because that’s what makes Axe Cop special: it has the delirious excitement and randomness of a child coupled with great art and action scenes.  Ethan does a wonderful job of interpreting his brother’s ideas and handles them without parody.  This makes for the coolest comic ever! It has more insane ideas on one page then most comics do in volumes.  My favorite bits are from the Ask Axe Cop strips.  These mini comics are the most insane and bizarre ideas because they are off the cuff answers to real questions.  If you love Axe Cop (and you will) read his ongoing adventures on www.axecop.com.  This book is entirely reprints from the website, but has additional notes that weren’t online originally and is WAAAY easier to read than the online format.

*Please don’t let a five year old read Axe Cop! They will probably turn into a bad guy!