A little over two weeks have passed since I posted Graphic novel POOL!
Here are the results:
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 1. 55.56% (5 votes)
Red Sonja vol 1. Queen of the Plagues 22.22% (2 votes)
American Vampire Vol 1. 11.11% (1 votes)
Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon 11.11% (1 votes)
Largo Winch Vol. 1. : The Heir 0% (0 votes)
Total Votes: 9
We have a winner!
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 1. by Alan Moore (Author), Kevin O’Neill (Artist)
Published little over a decade ago this graphic novel has made a transition into classics among its kind. Stage is set at the end of the 19th century and the players are some of the greatest characters from science fiction masterworks – Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, Henry Jekyll (and his monstrous alter ego) and many others!
Together they form a League of Extraordinary Gentelmen!
Bumping it up on my reading list and review is soon to come!
I wish to thank all who voted and hope for you to continue participate in my future pools.
What I really loved about it was the introduction written by one of the most prominent graphic novel DC writers Elliot S. Maggin.
I like the idea this graphic novel presented about what it is to be a hero and what it means to be human. Some of the ideas were inspiring to say the least. This is a story about Superman and an alternate world Elseworld where things take a different turn than most cannon Superman novels.
From the Introduction by Elliot S. Maggin
“The heroes of fable and fact to whose virtue we aspire, are not only colorfull people leading vivd lives; they traditionaly understand the value of human life in all its places and conditions. But real-life heroes, unlike many icons we created, also understand human dignity and human immortality, … Heroes especially need to understand the value of the things of a life: it’s artifacts, it’s ideas, it’s loves. It is markers that you leave along that road that define you.”
The story is seen trough the eyes of an elder human minister Norman McCay who is lead by The Spectre as a witness to a time of disaster possibly so great that it might mean the end of the world. The children of superheroes and villains that once were are creating havoc to the human world. Characters we knew have gotten old…
From the Introduction by Elliot S. Maggin
“We have an obligation to know who we are and where we are and what we can do. We have an obligation to understand the ramifications of the things we do, and to choose to do them – or not – with our eyes open.”
Dialogue between Lex Luthor (bald cigar smoking guy on the left) and The Riddler/Edward Nigma (glasses wearing guy on the right)
At times I found the art to be feast for the eyes but the story as a whole did not rise to my higher expectations inspired by the introduction. There is a strong redemption theme and a question of morality.
“It’s really very simple. In this world, there is right and there is wrong … and that distinction is not difficult to make.” Superman
Superman confronting elderly Batman on questions of morality
This graphic novel raises the question of Free Will against the Divine Intervention.
“…we learn here that the most ordinary among us are heroes, and the most colorful and vivid among us are quite ordinary and flawed.”
It also has a dedication I found an awesome addition to the issue!
(English title: What We Don’t Know about Children)
Author: Simona Vinci
This is a book I read years ago as a very young person. I read it in Croatian translation under the title: O djeci ne znamo ništa.
This is not a book for people who get scared easily.
Main focus of the book are group of children age 10 to 15 who left to themselves for the summer begin to explore their sexuality.
This is a story about coming of age and social need to be a part of a group. We read the story from POV of a ten year old girl named Martina.
I found this book to be horribly fascinating.
While I was reading it I was assaulted by many disturbing images but at the same time I was driven by curiosity to read on in a similar manner as the protagonists in the book.
Sexual curiosity is a natural thing.
The good, the bad, the joy and the pain, even horror and disgust are very much real.
What started out as a summer break children past time story turned into a morbid and tragic tale of when things go wrong.
Things went wrong when children who were turning into young people tried to imitate their elders sexual desires.
Eroticism is tainted by the desires of adults that leave the children as victims of their own confusion and powerless.
Children may not always listen to what their elders say but they watch and see what we are not telling them.
What I learned from reading this book is that sometimes we cannot leave things to chance and keep quite about certain truths that we are all part of. Childhood is a time that needs to be kept safe and preserved for every child so it can safely make a transition to a healthy adult individual. Keeping quiet is not keeping safe.
This is a hard book with a heavy theme.
“…brave exploration of eroticism and a harsh indictment of a society whose dark, disturbing aspects leave that most fragile, vulnerable blessing–childhood–forever at risk.”
The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group by Catherine Jinks
I bought this book since my boss made a joke about it. I find the title funny and interesting.
It is a story of a teenage boy that one day finds himself waking up in a zoo dingo pen not knowing how he got there. Dingoes are confused as well!
From that point on comes a rather realistic story of a teenager in a predicament. What I was amazed with in this story is how author choose to portray what happened afterwards. Main character is named Toby. Toby doesn’t remember what happened to him and the fact that he doesn’t remember is a scary one.
When all normal reasons for Toby’s weird morning get ruled out and some strange people start offering help Toby must decide what the truth is for himself.
We see his transformation from a kid who likes goofing around with his friends into someone who learns all the unpleasant excitements that danger can bring.
Maybe it’s me not being a kid anymore that got me to notice some children safety messages through the book.
“..why can’t werewolves have any fun? “
I found the mother character to be quite convincing!
“Toby, this is all a conspiracy!’ Mum cut me off. Her voice cracked on a sob as she fumbled for the handbrake. Her eyes were glazed with panic and she was trembling all over. “We got to get out of here, now!” she ranted. “We got to get away from these people!””
I like the authors explanation on werewolves and how they came to be. And I like how the rest of supernatural creatures were portrayed even tho the vampires were less than glamorous.
I couldn’t help but notice all the humane things about the monsters in this book and all the monstrous things about humans.
One of the lines from the book stuck with me:
“Any changes you make have to be for the better, or you shouldn’t be making them.”
Iron Druid Chronicles is a urban fantasy book series by Kevin Hearne.
Like it’s author it is unbelievably likable and catchy book series!
“Kevin Hearne is a middle-aged nerd who still enjoys his comic books and old-school heavy metal. He cooks tasty omelets, hugs trees, and paints miniature army dudes. He lives with his wife, daughter, and doggies in a wee cottage.”
It is fun and fast paced story of a modern day druid and his considerably entertaining adventures. Main character is Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids. He lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old – when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old.
With two thousand years behind him he’s gathered quite a bit of enemies and slowly they all start showing up to set the record straight.
The series is full of interesting characters coming from many known and some less known mythologies all around the world.
This book series has 6 books and the seventh one Shattered is coming soon!
With the addition to the books there are two super fun novellas about Atticus: Grimoire of the Lamb and Two Ravens and One Crow that came out as ebooks.
This is one of the rare series I read together with my boyfriend – we both like it and that is no easy feat for a book to achieve.
I will mention that any book about Atticus that comes out in print is automatically on my wishlist.
Also there are certain fan products that I want to get my hands on! Like this one that describes motto of the Iron Druid:
The fun to be had for all readers of the series is amplified by fan organized events like this one!
Now onto some shelf porn!
Strong recommendations for all readers of urban fantasy and lovers of mythology!
Good stories accompanied with good graphic solutions are even better!
I keep finding many graphic novels that catch my attention for one reason or the other.
This is where the time factor makes life difficult!
I decided to make a pool for five graphic novels that caught my attention.
This is the pile of graphic novels for this pool!
1#American Vampire Vol 1.
by Stephen King (Author), Scott Snyder (Author), Rafael Albuquerque (Artist)
Eisner Award winner with a story by one of the notorious writers of horror genre Stephen King! Fairly new series that started going out in 2010.
This first volume features two stories about vampires in 1920 America. I can’t seem to make up my mind whether to read it or not.
2# League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol 1.
by Alan Moore (Author), Kevin O’Neill (Artist)
Story by the man named the best graphic novel writer in history. This first volume in the series won the 2000 Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative.
Steampunk and alternate history at the start of the 20th century with a wonderful array of characters!
I watched the movie but never took the time for the graphic novel that inspired it.
3#Red Sonja vol 1. Queen of the Plagues
by Gail Simone
Red Sonja OR the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard’s 1934 short story “The Shadow of the Vulture”. She first appeared in the Marvel Comics book Conan the Barbarian #23 (February 1973).
Red Sonja became the archetypal fantasy figure of a fierce and beautiful female barbarian and as such she was ranked first in Comics Buyer’s Guide’s “100 Sexiest Women in Comics” list.
I love reading about female heroines that can kick but and this version intrigued me since it was written by a woman!
4# Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon
by Matt Fraction (Author), David Aja (Illustrator), Javier Pulido (Illustrator)
Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye): Sharpshooter, Avenger, and occasion screw-up.
I heard only good things about this one. And there is something to be said about books that start with first sentence: Okay… This looks bad.
Lotsa action in this one!
5# Largo Winch Vol. 1. : The Heir
by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme
One of the European graphic novel series – Belgian to be exact. It is a story about an orphan that gets propelled to the head of a business empire. It is an unlikely success story that remains one of the most popular in Europe. The series is among the most popular comics series in French, with annual sales of nearly 500,000 copies. I wanted to see the movie and never actually did but now I want to give graphic novel version a try as well!
Please take the time to vote and maybe comment on my pickings for this particular voting pool!
As usual all recommendations for a interesting graphic novel read are welcome!
This novel had some good stuff and some bad stuff.
The story is about a woman named Ellie who moves to SpiralStone retreat center to figure out what she wants from her life. She does some grunt work to compensate for her food and stay. The retreat turns out to hide some magic and supernatural creatures.
Enter two retreat kitchen chefs – Jake and Kyle
Ellie can’t help being attracted to them both. She even tries to avoid them. But it is hard to resist two gorgeous men with food
!
I really like the setting of the story. – Idea of a retreat center as a community of supernaturals is not that far fetched and had a nice touch to it.
I had problems with how sex scenes were written. – Some of the wording made me cringe.
Characters and their traditions were intriguing – but they were only mentioned and nothing was really explained that well and that’s a shame since I felt there was more they could have added to the story.
Sometimes I had a feeling that flow of the story was too mechanical – this proved to bother me most during sex scenes.
anastasiaadamov 