Astonishing X-Men Volume 5 Review

Astonishing X-Men, Volume 5: Ghost Box. Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. 2009. Marvel. 184 pages.

Rating: 2/5

Expectations may have been a bit high coming off the fantastic Joss Whedon run on Astonishing X-Men. There is definitely a shift in gears after the M-day event, which removed a huge number of mutants from the Marvel universe. I feel like there were too many changes made at once though, and this book suffered for it.

The core group is basically the same from the previous volumes, expect Colossus and Kittie Pryde have been replaced by Storm. She is a strong addition to the team, so there are no problems with that.

They have moved from New York to San Francisco and are working as a task force for the police. During this work, they come across someone who appears to be a mutant, but not one that is known to be alive. This leads into an investigation that involves parallel worlds.

Part of what I didn't like here is the attitude of the characters themselves. Scott in particular is much more pessimistic. They are a lot more mercenary than the X-Men I am used to reading. This matches the darker tone of the book, but it seems out of place.

And that darkness is reflected in the art, which can be cool at times. Something that bothered me about the art, and it may be nitpicking, is that the artist seems to struggle drawing eyes. Unless there is an up-close shot of one of the characters faces, their eyes look like they are closed or just not filled in. This made it hard to keep focused on the story.

The two issues at the end explore what would have happened if the X-Men had acted differently. I liked these quite a bit because they are set in alternate dimensions that have their own little quirks. There is some rehashing of the plot from the rest of the book, which felt unnecessary.

East of West Volume 3 Review

East of West, Volume 3: There is No Us. Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta. 2014. Image Comics. 144 pages.

Rating: 5/5

Check out my reviews of volume one and two.

This book brings us back to the alternate America in which the Four Horsemen walk the Earth. They are divided with Death searching for his son and the others trying to fulfill the prophecy of the destruction of the world. The leaders of the major nations are meeting to prevent, or in some cases start, war.

The art in this book is beautiful, just as it is in the previous volumes. All of the characters are drawn in a way that makes them unique. This isn't always something that happens in comics. Plus there is a large cast of characters to illustrate.

The Death storyline is my personal favorite and this volume continues that trend. Wolf and Raven are fantastic companions to Death. The quest to find his son is pretty powerful with some nice twists thrown in.

Speaking of Death's son, this volume really brings him forward. He had a brief introduction before, but now we see just what the son of Death and one of the nation leaders can do. The end of his storyline left me wanting to pick up the next volume to find out what happens.

The war conference was the weakest part of the story to me. It moves a bit more slowly than the others and didn't have any major surprises. It is more political in nature and really seems to be setting the stage for things to come.

Street Magicks Review

Street Magicks. Paula Guran (Editor). 2016. Prime Books. 384 pages.

Rating: 4/5

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Street Magicks is a collection of urban fantasy short stories. All of the stories in this volume have been published elsewhere, and some of them only have a tenuous connection to the title. They all involve magic to some degree, but I found the use to be fairly light in a number of stories.

The standout stories for me were "A Year and a Day in Old Theradane" by Scott Lynch and "Painted Birds and Shivered Bones" by Kat Howard. Lynch's story is downright fun as a group of female thieves come out of retirement to steal a street. The feel of it is very similar to The Lies of Locke Lamora, meaning fans of that book will enjoy this story. Howard's story seems more like an urban fairytale. A young woman thinks she is going crazy after seeing a man transform into a bird. She becomes obsessed and as a painter feels a need to explore that transformation through her art.

I was glad to read Jim Butcher's story, "Last Call", featuring Harry Dresden. I am a bit behind in the book series featuring this character so there were moments that were a little jarring, but wouldn't be a problem for diehard fans or newcomers. Neil Gaiman's story, "The Goldfish Pond and Other Stories", was okay. It is about a writer who has his book opted by Hollywood and struggles between staying true to his work and writing a script that the studio wants to use. Nothing about the story wowed me though.

Overall, this is a good collection of stories. There can be a bit of a stretch fitting them into the theme, but anyone with a remote interest in fantasy stories can find something to enjoy here.

Ghostbusters International Review

Ghostbusters International. Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening. 2016. IDW Publishing. 120 pages.

Rating: 2/5

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy via NetGalley for an honest review.

First of all, the galley I received only contained the first half of this work. That alone didn't impact my opinion on this book, but it was definitely building to something that may have left a better impression than what I was able to read.

The Ghostbusters are currently employed full time through the city of New York, handling the various hauntings that pop up. After completing a job for the United Nations, they are approached by a man who wants to buy out the operation and use their services to convert haunted real estate into usable property. A deal is struck between the mayor of New York and this businessman to split the use of the team. This leads to a trip to Venice for their first international mission.

The premise sounds pretty interesting. It gives the Ghostbusters a reason to travel outside of New York, which has more than its share of problems. The way they are approached for the deal and the implications of what the land will be used for set a little bit of mystery and tension.

I had two problems with the book though. The art on the Ghostbuster characters didn't work for me. It was kind of cartoony and exaggerated. The ghosts and some of the side characters were handled much better, and the backdrops were well done. The second thing that was a miss with me is the characters themselves. There wasn't an introduction to them at all. While the reader can infer who each of them are, it would have been better to give some information about them first. There is some of the banter that readers familiar with the franchise would expect, I felt like it didn't match the potential.

This book may appeal to die hard fans, but it is not a place for new readers to jump in.

Footnotes in Gaza Review

Footnotes in Gaza. Joe Sacco. 2009. Metropolitan Books. 432 pages.

Rating: 4/5

This is the third book by Joe Sacco that I've read and I must say that I really enjoy the level of detail that goes into each one. He puts a lot of effort into researching each topic. Since these are basically journalistic pieces, the tone is very different from other historical books I've read.

Footnotes in Gaza is based around two events in the Gaza Strip in 1956. Both events involve Israeli soldiers attacking Palestinian refugees living in the Strip. Sacco is meticulous in setting the scene by describing events leading up to these attacks, while also comparing the situation of the refugees then to that of the Palestinians now. He describes these events as historical footnotes and attempts to raise them above that status.

There is a clear bias here because it is told from the view of the Palestinians, but Sacco incorporates historical documents when available and builds the tension between the two sides. So we are seeing the events from one side, but there is an understanding of why the other side acted the way it did to a degree.

Once he gets to the main conflict, which occurred in a schoolyard in Rafah, that tension between the two sides is unleashed. This is extremely powerful and horrifying. It speaks to Sacco's skill that he is able to bring this conflict to life and evoke such strong emotions. The book can be a slow read at times, but it is worth it.

Complete Alice in Wonderland Review

The Complete Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll, Leah Moore, John Reppion, and Erica Awano. 2016. Dynamite Entertainment. 184 pages.

Rating: 3/5

Dynamite's The Complete Alice in Wonderland is a superb reproduction of Lewis Carroll's classic tale. I've just never been a huge fan of  his writing. This copy came as part of a bundle that I purchased through Humble Bundle.

For me, the story is too choppy. It jumps from event to event without great transitions. This is something that carries over from the original and is not particularly a fault of this book.

The art is great. I think it really captures the feel of the stories. It is definitely influenced by earlier iterations, but that doesn't detract from the work at all.

There is a short chapter called "The Wasp in the Wig" that was cut from the original publication of Carroll's book, which has been added back in here. It doesn't have a lot of action, but it is a nice little piece.

I highly recommend this adaptation for fans of Carroll's work.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1 Review

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1: Squirrel Power. Ryan North and Erica Henderson. 2015. Marvel. 128 pages.

Rating: 3/5

Squirrel Girl is a very strange character. The issue at the end of this volume depicting her very first appearance is proof of that. This isn't a bad thing, but I felt like she never really clicked with me.

The book opens with her getting ready to go to college and move into the dorms. It wasn't explained in much depth, but this is huge for her because she hasn't interacted with other people a whole lot. In the first few days of her college experience, she confronts multiple supervillains.

One of the things that didn't work for me with this book is the art. It is a little more cartoonish than I prefer. It wasn't distracting or detrimental to the book as a whole, in fact the style works pretty well with the tone of the story. I just didn't care for it. It also took me a while to get used to Squirrel Girl's personality because she is very different from other superhero characters.

There are a number of things that I enjoyed about the book too. First, Squirrel Girl has a more realistic appearance compared to other female superheroes. Second, the book is funny. The little editorials at the bottom of each page are pretty amusing. The humor extends beyond that to her interactions with other characters (the fourth issue is great for this). Third, squirrel suit.

I recommend giving this one a shot if you are looking for something a little different to read.