Tag: comics

September TBR

Posted September 1, 2015 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

Here goes — another attempt at having a TBR! Of course, I can already think of books I want to read outside of the ones listed here. Guess I’ll just have to start reading faster… I can have another five random slots once fifteen of the ones listed here are read!

ARCs

  1. Of Bone and Thunder, Chris Evans.
  2. Pacific Fire, Greg van Eekhout.
  3. The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson.
  4. The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson.
  5. Seven Forges, James A. Moore.

Library

  1. The Darkest Part of the Forest, Holly Black.
  2. The Dark Blood of Poppies, Freda Warrington.
  3. Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson.
  4. Deadly Curiosities, Gail Z. Martin.
  5. Landline, Rainbow Rowell.

Series

  1. Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore.
  2. Blood Bound, Patricia Briggs.
  3. Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews.
  4. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two, Catherynne M. Valente.
  5. Timeless, Gail Carriger.

Owned

  1. The Martian, Andy Weir.
  2. California Bones, Greg van Eekhout.
  3. Permanent Present Tense, Suzanne Corkin.
  4. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe.
  5. Clariel, Garth Nix.

Comics

  1. The Wicked + The Divine: Fandemonium, Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie.
  2. Rat Queens: The Far-Reaching Tentacles of N’rygoth, Kurtis J. Wiebe.
  3. Captain Marvel: Alis Volat Propriis, Kelly Sue DeConnick.
  4. Hawkeye: LA Woman, Matt Fraction.
  5. Thor: Who Holds the Hammer?, Jason Aaron.

Wildcards

  1. Overture to Death, Ngaio Marsh.
  2. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield.
  3. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks.
  4. Hawkeye: Little Hits, Matt Fraction.
  5. Wildfire at Midnight, Mary Stewart.
  6. ?
  7. ?
  8. ?
  9. ?
  10. ?

I have an exam this month, and a conference/workshop thing in London, plus a load of travelling. So I’m not sure how well this is going to go. I guess we’ll have to see! Anything you think I should get onto right now?

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Review – Persepolis

Posted August 10, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Complete Persepolis by Marjane SatrapiThe Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi

I’ve been meaning to read this one for ages; I first picked it up around when I got Fun Home (Alison Bechdel) and Maus (Art Spiegelman), but it takes time to get round to reading an autobiographical graphic novel, for me. It’s a different kind of reading, and for some reason it always takes way more of my attention than ordinary comics or ordinary non-fiction.

I think the first half, depicting Satrapi’s childhood, is actually the best part. The way the art compliments her childhood naivety, the particular view you get of the conflict coming from someone who was a child during it, all of this comes across really well. The latter half of the book is more about growing up in Iran, and less about just being in Iran, to me, and so it was less interesting, because a lot of the issues are shared between cultures. Although, for some people, that might be a revelatory thing to realise, so I’m not criticising the fact that Satrapi wrote about it — it just wasn’t as interesting for me.

I wanted to know more about Marjane’s mother, where she came from, how she formed her beliefs. Her father too, actually. Both of them sounded pretty wonderful, from Satrapi’s point of view, and that’s perhaps unexpected for the Western reader. I wish we’d got to know them a bit more through this, rather than as rather all-knowing, all-tolerating parental figures on a pedestal.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 8, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 16 Comments

It’s been a bit of a spree week for me again, I’m afraid. I’m going to blame the heady feeling of getting paid for freelance work several times this week!

Bought

Cover of The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin Cover of The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac Cover of A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett

Cover of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch Cover of Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch Cover of Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

Cover of Shadows by Robin McKinley Cover of Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey Cover of A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer

Cover of Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn Cover of Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn Cover of Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn

So excited to fiiiiinally have my hands on The Fifth Season. The Rights of the Reader was pretty interesting; I’ve been meaning to read it for a while. The Scott Lynch books were just because I didn’t have a physical copy of any of them, though I am intending a reread! The Lackey book is for a challenge to read a book published in the year I was born… The Kitty Norville books came as a bundle from The Works, always worth checking there for good deals like that.

Comics

Cover of Rat Queens vol 2 Cover of The Wicked + The Divine vol 2 Ms Marvel cover

Rat Queens… well, I wasn’t sure about the first volume, but I have been encouraged to try the second, so. I’ll try. The Wicked + The Divine was gorgeous in the first volume, so is probably just as stunning. And this issue of Ms Marvel is the one we’ve been waiting for, really: the team-up between Captain and Ms Marvel.

Library

Cover of Soul Music by Terry Pratchett 4788658 Cover of Built by Animals by Hansell

Cover of Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie Cover of The Stainless Steel Rat omnibus by Harry Harrison

A somewhat random grab bag of library stuff, really. I blame The Stainless Steel Rat on Ryan from SpecFic Junkie, of course, and Soul Music on Cardiff’s SF/F bookclub — I figured I’d read it even though I won’t make it to the meeting.

What’s everyone else been getting their hands on? Anything particularly exciting?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 25, 2015 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

Sooo, it’s been a nice week for books for me. I did buy a few more that aren’t here just to have physical copies, but I’ve featured them here before.

Bookshop haul

Cover of Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine Cover of Half the World by Joe Abercrombie Cover of Half a War by Joe Abercrombie

Cover of The Godless by Ben Peek Cover of The Child Eater by Rachel Pollack Cover of Dark Run by Mike Brooks

Dark Run basically sounds like Firefly. Colour me hopeful. The Godless, I, uh, had to review. Long ago. The Child Eater just caught my attention.

My copy of Half a War is actually signed, too! It’s not as special to me when I don’t actually meet the author/get a personal inscription, but it’s still kind of cool. And hurrah, I can take Half the World back to the library for whatever poor person wanted it after me… Speaking of!

Library

Cover of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling Cover of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling Cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Cover of Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin Cover of The Dark Arts of Blood by Freda Warrington Cover of Hollow Crown by Dan Jones

 Cover of The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale Cover of The Thinking Woman's Guide to Magic by Emily Croy Barker Cover of Lockstep by Karl Schroeder

I don’t think I ever owned these Harry Potter books, though I might’ve had Order of the Phoenix. So, raided the community library for them. Order of the Phoenix, though, the size of the thing! Did Rowling’s editor quit? Heh. I haven’t got the third of Freda Warrington’s books — The Dark Blood of Poppies — so I’m really hoping the library gets it in before I go away… Other than that, a round up of stuff I’ve been recommended.

Comics

Spider-woman

Just one comic this week; most of the comics on my pull list seem to be on hiatus or something? Probably a good thing, I’m spending enough money… Thinking I’ll pick up Bitch Planet soon, though.

What’s everyone else been getting? C’mon, show off your hauls.

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Review – Sex Criminals: Two Worlds, One Cop

Posted July 23, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Sex Criminals vol 2 by Matt FractionSex Criminals: Two Worlds, One Cop, Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky

No, really, what the hell am I reading?

I like that this discusses depression. I like that Suzie and Jon aren’t automatically super happy forever just because they can both stop time with their orgasms. I like that Jon goes to therapy, and the first therapist doesn’t do him much good, and that the one who does begin to help (and it is only beginning) is idiosyncratically suited to him. That’s the way it works. (I’m not as keen on the exhortation to get out there and exercise ’cause that’ll fix it. It’s true for some people. It’s not always true, and it’s not always possible.) I like the portrayal of Jon’s depression where he goes all grey and there’s a bad Jon-voice telling him everything’s terrible, and the meds level him out and take the edge off everything. That, too, rings true.

It’s also cool that the porn star from the first book is fleshed out a bit, and has a whole backstory of her own and a relevance to the plot. Also cool that female sexual health is a key thing, and that it acknowledges that not all women like the same stuff, just as they don’t think or act the same way. Whether they’re porn stars or not.

The plot, though? The timeline is all over the place, Jon is kinda creepy sometimes, and I just do not care about all this sex. And it’s difficult to root for people who’re using secret powers to rob banks, however noble the cause — or at least, it’s difficult to find someone trying to stop them totally evil.

I think there’s two strikes against me and this comic here: one, I don’t have that kind of sense of humour. We’re pretty sure I have one, but you need a microscope. This is not the kind of humour that works for me, nor the kind of weird that I find interesting. And two, I’m ace, and I just do not understand the appeal of all this sex. I don’t know if that’s playing into my lack of shits about this series, but probably.

Rating: 2/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted July 21, 2015 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday celebrates diversity! So I’m gonna pick out some of my favourite diverse characters of all kinds.

  1. Yeine, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. She’s a minority (or at least lower-class) character in her own world and she’s from a matriarchy.
  2. Bran Davies, The Dark is Rising. An albino and a Welshman, how could I ignore him?
  3. Dave Brandstetter, Fadeout (and others). A gay detective — sorry, insurance claims investigator — in 1970s California.
  4. Alana Quick, Ascension. She’s a badass female mechanic (sky surgeon). And she’s got a chronic illness, and she’s queer. Wooo.
  5. Billy Kaplan (Wiccan), Young Avengers. Gay, Jewish, total geek. What’s not to love about this wiseass?
  6. Roshanna Chatterji (Tremor), The Movement. Asexual character!
  7. Peter Carmichael, Farthing. A gay detective in a Nazi society.
  8. Reese Holloway, Adaptation. A bisexual teenage girl, who also happens to have alien DNA!
  9. Savedra Sevaros, The Bone Palace. A trans* character, who is portrayed in a loving sexual and romantic relationship.
  10. Priya Darshini, Karen Memory. And Karen herself, of course. Lesbian heroes of a steampunk world!

Looking forward to seeing other people’s posts this week!

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Review – ODY-C

Posted July 19, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of ODY-C vol 1 by Matt FractionODY-C, Matt Fraction, Christian Ward

Wha… what did I just read? I’d vaguely heard of ODY-C before I picked it up for my partner in Chapters, and I thought it sounded pretty cool: genderflipped space-faring retelling of The Odyssey, done by Matt Fraction who is at least consistently entertaining, even if his humour isn’t always my thing and I’d rather worship at his wife’s altar, comic-wise.

The description on the front pretty much nails it: “A trippy, gender-flipped version of Homer’s Odyssey hurtling through space on psychedelic, science fiction wings.” Thanks, Wired. You said it so I don’t have to. And I guess there are people who love that kind of thing, but I don’t. The correspondences to The Odyssey weren’t actually close enough, for me; there’s this whole new backstory that changes everything. The backstory is cool, but… there’s so much going on here, I kind of wanted the familiarity of the original story to keep me with it.

The art is not a style I love, though it definitely fits the psychedelic nature of the comic, and some of it is pretty striking. Not a comic I’m going to keep up with, though — it’s just so completely not my thing in execution.

Rating: 1/5

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Review – Rat Queens: Sass and Sorcery

Posted July 15, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Rat Queens: Sass and SorceryRat Queens: Sass and Sorcery, Kurtis J. Wiebe, Roc Upchurch

I might have to revise this review after some thought, because I’m not sure what to make of Rat Queens. It’s cheerfully NSFW, LGBTQ+, full of unapologetically kickass female characters of various types who are living it up and having a great time. The problem for me is with the drugs, sex and wholesale violence aspect; I’m not that interested by those as motivators for characters, and the total lack of background for the Rat Queens leaves me pretty cold. All we see for most of the book is the drugs, sex and violence. I want to know why they’re friends, how they know each other, where they’ve come from and where they’re going. There’s not much of that here, beyond a few hints.

On the upside, the art is gorgeous, and I do enjoy some of the banter, the camaraderie between the Queens, and the unapologetic nature of all of it. I just want more meat in terms of characterisation. I’m going to try the second volume and see if that helps.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Ms Marvel: Crushed

Posted July 13, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Ms Marvel: Crushed by G. Willow WilsonMs Marvel: Crushed, G. Willow Wilson, Mark Waid, Takeshi Miyazawa, Elmo Bondoc, Humberto Ramos

Ms Marvel continues to be fun and cute, though I have to say this volume felt pretty fragmented. First there’s the Loki stuff, then a brief dodge back to the Inhumans plot, and then to an unrelated incident in Kamala’s school. Kamala’s geekiness and enthusiasm is still awesome, and the glimpses into her interactions with her family, but with the first bit dealing with Agent of Asgard stuff and the last dealing with SHIELD stuff (Coulson! <3)… I felt that the Inhumans plot was the only thing of substance, and it was over so fast.

I like most of the art in this volume, but the Loki section definitely isn’t my favourite style. And despite not being that fond of Wolverine/X-Men in general, I kind of miss that weird mentor relationship he had with Kamala in book two — there’s no sign of him!

It feels weird to me the way comic and movie-verse are collapsing together. This seems to fit in with what I know of Agents of SHIELD canon; does that mean it fits into the MCU too? Does that mean young!Loki is going to be a thing? Sometimes I long for the simplicity of a book series you can just read in order.

Rating: 3/5

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