Dog Man: For Whom The Ball Rolls

The Kiddo borrowed this from a friend at school.

Title: Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: September, 2019
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi, Aaron Polk

Petey is released from Cat Jail, but will he be able to be the father that Li'l Petey wants him to be? When Petey's own father suddenly comes back into the picture, Petey must face his own abandonment issues, even as he finds himself part of a very nontraditional extended family with his son, Dog Man, and 80-HD.

Meanwhile, Dog Man gets some well-intentioned Pavlovian behavior modification to cure him of his obsession with chasing balls, but when a (not) new villain unleashes a horde of ball-shaped robots, Dog Man's greatest weakness becomes, well, his greatest weakness. Just in an even worse way.

Dav Pilkey drops Ernest Hemingway and Eric Carle references, confronts the reality of toxic family relationships, and expands the character development of a bunch of returning cast members.

This was a fun step forward that brought some new ideas and kept the same impressive joke-density of the previous books in this series.

Rating: 8.5/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway

The second of two Wimpy Kid books that the Kiddo purchased during our summer travels. He got this one at the Surangel & Sons department store in Koror, Palau.

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway
Publisher: Amulet Books (a division of Abrams; series website at wimpykid.com)
Date: 2017
Writer: Jeff Kinney
Artist: Jeff Kinney

The Heffley family change up their Christmas plans and book a vacation at a tropical beach resort. As is typical, things begin to go wrong, starting with a luggage mixup and a series of unfortunate encounters with local wildlife.

It's not complete misery, though. It was nice to see a few moments of the family having fun, even if those were few and far between.

I get frustrated with the lack of sympathetic characters in these books, although Kinney does come up with some genuinely funny jokes. The end sequence, which plays on a nice double meaning of the title, was a nice cascade of mayhem.

But I also find that the series has a pervasive low-grade sexism that never seems to go away. Greg's mother is a collection of over-the-top tropes, with the least character development of any of the family members, and a character who is a romantic interest for Roderick isn't even given a name. Their arc also ends in pretty much the most tired cliche imaginable.

I did like this one better than the similarly-themed The Long Haul (reviewed here), only because the scenario rang a bit more true, and there were a few more of those rare moments of joy here. I realize that moments of joy is not exactly the vibe that the series is going for, but I just don't feel invested enough in taking much amusement from seeing the family get their comeuppance for their bad decisions and bad luck

Rating: 4.5/10

Shade: The Changing Man #44

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Shade: The Changing Man
Issue: 44
Date: February, 1994
Publisher: DC Comics (Vertigo)
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Chris Bachalo
Inker: Rick Bryant
Colorist: David Hornung
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Shelly Roeberg, Karen Berger
Cover: Duncan Fegredo

Trapped in the midst of an outbreak of 17th Century witch hysteria, Lenny and Karen are about to be hanged, and Shade is not helping matters at all. In fact, he's actually transformed himself into the gallows tree as he wages an internal battle between his love and hate for Karen. Meanwhile, John Constantine tries to figure out the spell to get all of them out of this mess, only to find that the secret he needs is buried in a very dark place in his own past.

Loaded with overtones of abortion politics and religious puritanism, the story also features some heartbreaking interactions between all of the main characters. It also fills in some interesting backstory on Constantine, and serves up a side helping of time paradoxes.

I didn't read the issues leading into this one, so I probably missed some of what was going on here. There was a LOT going on. But even without all of the backstory, this was a memorable chapter in the tale of Shade and his fellow travelers.

Rating: 8.5/10

Sky Pirates of Valendor #5

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Sky Pirates of Valendor
Issue: 5
Date: 2008
Publisher: Free Lunch Comics
Writer: Everett Soares
Penciler: Brian Brinlee
Inker: Alex Rivera, Keith Murphey
Tones: Jet Amago
Letterer: Steve Kuster
Editor: Amy Haley, Dave Haley

As Tobin Manheim and the crew of the Rogue's Revenge race to deliver their prisoner to the port of South Gate, the Temple of Khorii calls upon the full might of its fleet to blockade the approach to the floating island.


But Tobin is not out of tricks, and he's got one last favor that he can call in.


This was the conclusion to the current storyline, and it had some fun mass battle scenes between the sky ships of the Temple of Khorii and the returning (Yay!) Pirate Queen.

The more personal confrontation at the climax was fine for what it was, but would have been helped by a bit more depth and personality for the villain. Still, it delivered a fun moment and a satisfying end to the story arc.

Rating: 6/10

The Warriors #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: The Warriors
Issue: 1
Date: 2009
Publisher: Dabel Brothers
Writer: David Atchison, David Shaber, Walter Hill, Sol Yurick
Artist: Chris Dibari
Colorist: Kieran Oats
Letterer: Bill Tortolini
Cover: Chris Dibari, Kieran Oats
Editor: Rich Young, Eric Ruiz

This is the Diamond Exclusive cover.

Adaptation of the 1979 film. The Warriors is one of those iconic films I remember from my childhood ("Warriors... Come out and play!"), and writer David Atchison is clearly sticking very close to the script of the film. The story has a Coney Island street gang framed for the murder of a leader who was trying to unite New York's gangs at a meeting clear across town from the Warriors' turf. Hunted by every gang in the city, the Warriors make a desperate late-night journey home.

there is a one-page bit that sets the story up with an ancient tale that was a parallel and inspiration, from the Persian War of Ancient Greece. But from there, it launches right into the plot of the film.

While it might have been nice to see some expansion of characters and background that could be provided in a comic, I appreciate the faithfulness to the source material that is evident here. The pace is fast right from the start, with the minimal dialogue needed to convey the story.

Artist Chris Dibari did a nice job of highlighting the tension between characters through expressions and body language.

This was an enjoyable bit of nostalgia, and still a solid story.

Rating: 8/10

Sky Pirates of Valendor #4

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Sky Pirates of Valendor
Issue: 4
Date: 2008
Publisher: Free Lunch Comics
Writer: Everett Soares
Penciler: Brian Brinlee
Inker: Brian Brinlee, Michael W. Kellar
Tones: Jet Amago
Letterer: Steve Kuster
Editor: Amy Haley, Dave Haley
Cover: Brian Brinlee, Jet Amago

The skyship Rogue's Revenge comes upon a seemingly abandoned floating island, but when they attempt to claim salvage rights, they find themselves in competition with a crew of gnolls, and then fighting for their lives against a horde of zombies, controlled by a figure from Shyni's past.

The climactic fight scene was good,  but getting there involved a whole series of bad decisions by people who should have known better (heroes and villains alike). It also felt like some of this was resolved too quickly, although there was still plenty of plot left open at the end.

One thing is absolutely loved was the spectacular cover art by the Brinlee/Amago team.

Rating: 6.5/10