Saga Compendium 1

From the staff book exchange shelf at my school.

Title: Saga Compendium
Issue: Volume 1
Date: September , 2019
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks, Steven Finch
Cover: Fiona Staples
Editor: Eric Stephenson

This phonebook-sized (a comparison that is becoming less and less meaningful as I get older!) volume collects the first 54 issues of the Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples epic. Narrated by a child of two soldiers on opposite sides of a seemingly endless galactic war between a techological planet and its magical moon, Saga is romance, satire, dark comedy, grim action, and most of all, a story about the nature of family.

I read the first issue of this (review is here), and really liked it, but hadn't had the chance to pick up any of the subsequent issues. Reading them as a compilation was a great experience given the huge scope of the story and the numerous plot threads that it weaves.

As I mentioned with the first issue, this is definitely R-rated material, including graphic sex and brutal violence, but the story always seems to re-center and find its heart, even in the face of a lot of sudden and tragic twists of fate.

The plot twists are a real strong point of Saga. Vaughan's writing delivers shock after shock, and Staples' artwork sets every plot twist up perfectly. The story has great pacing, moving in furious bursts and then taking time for characters to age and grow so that the reader really feels the changing dynamics of the family.

In spite of the size of this compilation, an awful lot is left unresolved at the end, and I look forward to the return of Saga in the coming year.

Rating: 9/10

A Wish Fulfilled: Accidental Time Machine

 

A project by students at my school.

Title: A Wish Fulfilled: Accidental Time Machine
Date: 2021
Publisher: Knowledge Sprout
Writer: Intisar Alkhatib, Carl Wasing
Artist: Kitty Li, Koki Kin, Airi Lyama, Annyka Ma, Seo-Jin Lee, Gyeonga Seo, Yewon Jeong, Maxon Jin
Editor: Kyle Gumangan

Introductory volume to this fantasy series by Knowledge Sprout, aimed at improving vocabulary for English language-learners while telling a fun story about a group of young friends send on an adventure through space and time.

Thirteen-year-old Amy Dickenson is worried that her friends have forgotten her birthday, but when her friends come through for her with a celebration on the beach, they unintentionally release an ancient magical power.

The story is mostly setup, but nicely establishes the characters before launching into the ending cliffhanger. The anime-flavored illustrations by the Knowledge Sprout art team are vibrant and fun.

Rating: 8.5/10

Sunny Rolls the Dice

 From my school's Fall book fair.

Title: Sunny Rolls the Dice
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2019
Writer: Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm
Artist: Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm
Colorist: Lark Pien
Letterer: Fawn Lau
Editor: David Levithan

This is the third book in Jennifer and Matthew Holm's Sunny series about a girl growing up in the Pennsylvania suburbs in the late 1970s. Of course, the thing that attracted me to this book was the main character's introduction to Dungeons and Dragons, right out of the classic blue boxed set.

The nostalgia runs thick here, in all of the best ways. The D&D scenes are loads of fun, and really capture the feeling I remember as a sixth-grader trying to figure out this new kind of game.

The rest of the plot is pretty standard middle school slice-of-life fare, as Sunny tries to figure her way through peer pressure and the standards of "groovy" (complete with a handy "groovy-meter", which Sunny is distressed to find is usually in the red). As Sunny's friends begin to pursue teenage interests, Sunny has to make some choices about what path she wants to follow.

She is hoping that path won't end with her walking into a gelatinous cube.

Rating: 7/10

Roller Girl

From my school library. I think I've probably read almost all of their (very small) graphic novel selection at this point.

Title: Roller Girl
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2015
Writer: Victoria Jamieson
Artist: Victoria Jamieson

When her mom takes her on a surprise excursion to broaden her cultural horizons (in the best possible way!), twelve-year-old Astrid is introduced to roller derby. And it is the coolest thing ever. I mean, it is, but that is also what Astrid comes to realize. And we're off and rolling.

This is a middle school friendship story, and a sports story, and it follows most of the tropes, including the sticking-with-a-lie-for-way-too-long that pervades these stories. And none of that matters. Because roller derby. And some really great character interactions in a story that just has so much heart.

This was lovely and quirky and fun all the way through.

8.5/10

One, Volume 1

From my school library. This appears to be the library's one and only manga volume.

Title: One
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 1998
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Lee Vin
Artist: Lee Vin

This is the opening volume in a somewhat over-the-top KPop drama set in a "Celebrity High School" in Korea, a school attended by several teen pop stars.

This volume introduces quiet but brilliant title character Eumpa One, teen idol Jenny You, crossdressing rap star Jiwon Jin, boy-band leader Ha Rock, and seemingly quiet music fan Young Ju. There's also a whole supporting cast of music teachers, stage managers, and tiger-moms.

With so many characters to introduce, most of this volume is background, although a plotline involving a teacher stealing Eumpa One's compositions in the guise of assignments comes to the forefront by the end.

The characters have a lot of potential, although several of them are not initially likeable, particularly Jenny You, whose petty antics to sabotage Jiwon Jin's career set her up as possibly more of a villain than was intended. Still Jenny does have some sympathetic moments when the story shifts to her point of view.

Some of the language and discussion around gender identity feels dated, and the attempts to describe current pop music fall a bit flat. A discussion of classic punk rock that references real bands works better than most of the music-related sequences in the story.

This had some potential, and the quirkiness of the characters was intriguing enough to hold my interest.

Rating: 6/10

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: The Beginning

 Bought at Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: The Beginning
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2018
Writer: Brandon Montclare, Amy Reeder
Artist: Natacha Bustos, Marco Failla
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Cover: Amy Reeder
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Emily Shaw, Jennifer Grunwald

Reprints issues 1-12 of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

I loved the original run of Devil Dinosaur as a kid, so this brought back all of the nostalgic vibes, in spite of it bringing Devil Dinosaur out of prehistory and into the modern Marvel Universe continuity. Nine-year-old Lunella Lafayette is a brilliant mind stuck and bored in a New York public school. She is also a carrier of the inhuman gene, and terrified of the transformation that could happen if she is exposed to the terragen mists, which have been activating the powers of other inhumans around New York. Devil Dinosaur is, well, a dinosaur, but he pretty much plays the big slobbering dog role in this story.

Add in a timeshifted tribe of "Killer Folk", a kree boy with big ambitions and some daddy-issues, and guest appearances by Ms. Marvel and (Amadeus Cho) Hulk for a fast-moving story that brings the Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur pairing into the ranks of Marvel's New York based heroes.

That fast pace does hurt things a bit. Interactions between Lunella and her parents come as generic fare, as do a lot of the school scenes. Lunella herself is a nice blend of snarky and clever, but the story doesn't do enough to show how brilliant she is. Devil Dinosaur is wonderfully expressive, but there is not much potential for character development there.

And character development is what this story needs. "Captain Kree" gets a simple, but satisfying story arc, and the interactions with Amadeus Cho and Kamala Khan show good potential, but need more space to grow.

The Killer Folk are not very interesting villains, but are used sparingly, and are mostly absent from the second half of this volume. I can't say that I am particularly eager for their inevitable return.

What I would like to see is more of Lunella Lafayette. She has great potential here, but in twelve issues, we are still seeing only the beginnings of that potential.

Rating: 6.5/10

Tintin: Little Book of Peril

The second item I purchased at the Herge and Tintin exhibition at the Shanghai Power Station of Art. More of an art book than an actual comic.

Title: Tintin: Little Book of Peril
Date: 2016
Publisher: Moulinsart. (Official Tintin site is here)
Writer:Herge
Artist: Herge

Cute collection of "perilous" Tintin panels taken from the various Tintin comics. Each scene includes a brief comment from Snowy.

Some of these work better than others, but all in all it does a nice job of capturing the sense of nostalgic fun that it's going for.

There really isn't much to this, but it's meant to be a pocket-sized curiosity, which it accomplishes well enough. A bit more text would have been nice, and, as always with these tiny art books, the art suffers a bit from the small size of the reproduction.

Rating: 6/10

The Adventures of Tintin: The Shooting Star

I recently went to the Herge and Tintin exhibition at the Shanghai Power Station of Art. I bought a couple of books at their gift shop. This is the first of those.

Title: The Adventures of Tintin: The Shooting Star
Date: 2009
Publisher: Egmont (Official Tintin site is here)
Writer:Herge
Artist: Herge

When a giant meteor approaches the Earth, Tintin thinks that the world may be doomed, and a crazy prophet is blaming him for the impending cataclysm. But when the doomsday turns out to be a false alarm, Tintin joins an expedition to seek out a fragment of the meteor that did strike the Earth, landing in the Arctic and carrying an newly-discovered element.

Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and a crew of eccentric scientists (and thankfully, one actually-competent seaplane pilot) find themselves in a race with a powerful corporation determined to make a profit off of the new element, and willing to resort to sabotage to achieve their goals.

This was a really fun adventure, loaded with Herge's normal array of twists and turns, on every page. I'm always impressed by how rapidly Herge can introduce new problems, perils, and twists.

With the limited cast, this story doesn't get into some of the issues with stereotypes that I've encountered in other Tintin volumes. The characters are quirky, sometimes to the extreme, and a few of the jokes around Captain Haddock's relationship with whiskey are a bit heavyhanded, but there are some good witty bits as well. The dieselpunk feel of the story provides some fun flavoring, and Herge's artwork makes great use of the small-panel layouts.

Rating: 8/10

American Tall Tales

From the staff book exchange shelf at my school.

Title: American Tall Tales
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 1991
Writer: Mary Pope Osborne
Artist: Michael McCurdy

Not a comic, but another interesting example of mixing story and illustration.

Collection of retellings of American folktales by Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne.

These are very definitely the author's own take on the legends of 19th Century America, but she includes extensive notes on the origins of each of the iconic characters, many of which were actually the inventions of specific 19th Century authors, that only later made their way into the realm of folklore.

The stories are presented in a flamboyant style that captures the flavor of tales told around a campfire, and the personalities of the heroes and heroines shine bright as their larger-than-life deeds are recounted.

There is plenty of humor, but the Author's best work is bringing out the more serious side of the stories, particularly in the tales of steel-driver John Henry and New York City firefighter Mose.

The incorporation of song lyrics (as performed by Pete Seeger, and later Bruce Springsteen) into the John Henry story felt a bit like the author was trying too hard, but I do have to admit that I was singing the song in my head as I read the story.

Michael McCurdy's wood-engraving illustrations are simply spectacular and a huge part of the charm of this book.

Rating: 7/10

Hawkeye: Rio Bravo

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Hawkeye: Rio Bravo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Chris Eliopoulos, David Aja, Francesco Francavilla
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire, Francesco Francavilla, Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos, David Aja
Editor:Sana Amanat, Stephen Wacker, Jennifer Grunwald

Collecting the end of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series, originally published in 2013-2015. There are a few gaps in the collection, due to the focus on Clint's storyline in this collection, so some issues focusing on Kate were skipped. The story as presented here is pretty coherent, although it does leave some loose ends.

Clint Barton deals with a bunch of personal problems, the biggest of which is the return of his brother Barney into his life, and the attempt by some mafia-types to force him out of the Brooklyn apartment building he owns.

Clint takes a beating as he rallies his neighbors against an onslaught of tracksuit-wearing goons reminiscent of WWE's Imperium faction. There are plenty of Marvel cameos in what is essentially a street-level story with a gritty look reminiscent of early Frank Miller Daredevil.

The story itself plays around with out-of-sequence plotting, and the opening dream/parody sequence involving a kids' holiday special lend a bit of surreal feel to the collection, but it picks up direction and momentum as it gets going. The relationship between the Barton brothers is at the heart of the story and it is well told with plenty of emotional impact, and something of a surprise ending.

While the villains' nefarious plot is a pretty generic one, the action and character interplay carried the story.

Rating: 7/10

Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero: The Newmatic Man Volume One

I bought this one at my school's book fair back in 2018.

Title: Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero: The Newmatic Man
Issue: Volume One
Date: 2016
Publisher: Super Genius
Writer: Neil Gaiman, James Vance
Penciler: Ted Slampyak, Bryan Talbot, Marc Sasso
Inker: Bob McLeod, Mike Witherby, Art Nichols, John Coulthart, Dave Hunt, Terry Beatty, Angus McKie, Bryan Talbot, Marc Sasso
Colorist: Kell-O-Graphics, Zachary Lynch, Angus McKie, Tony Kelly, Marc Sasso, Alan Craddock
Letterer: John Workman

Reprinting the first 9 issues of the 1995 series from Tekno Comix, which was a venture by Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy; because things are cooler when spelled with y's, I guess) that brought in authors and media stars as creators and worldbuilders and then handed those projects over to the Tekno Comix writing and art teams for the production of the actual comics stories.

In this case, the "name" writer was Gaiman, who actually created five interconnected titles for Tekno Comix.

Mr. Hero tells the story of a Victorian-era steam-powered automaton, an intelligent robot used in magic shows in the 19th century, but whose real origin is a much more sinister one, linked to the demonic Teknophage, who has been manipulating events on Earth and other planets for centuries.

The Mr. Hero robot is discovered by aspiring magician and mime Jenny Hale in the basement of a museum of stage magic. The Teknophage at first wants the robot back, but later embarks on a more elaborate scheme of corrupting Jenny with wealth while using experimental brainwashing on her best friend.

Mr. Hero the robotic pugilist with a noble heart and 19th Century mannerisms does his best to protect Jenny, along with his alternate head, the Ratiocinator, who considers himself the brains of the operation.

There is a whole cast of oddball henchpersons and mysterious figures, and a fair amount of scheming, plotting, and infighting, while the friendship between Jenny and Mr. Hero shines through all of the mayhem.

The villains are the weakness of this story. They are SO incompetent. And a lot of that is intentional, part of the humor that makes the story entertaining. But it gets to be a bit eyeroll-inducing as they  just make dumb move after dumb move.

That being said, Jenny is a great character, and her chemistry with her robot friend is charming. Both versions of Mr. Hero are fun, and they are distinctive enough to add some variety to the dialogue.

The plot is more convoluted than it needed to be, but I really enjoyed this for the main characters.

Rating: 7.5/10

Star Wars: Jedi Academy: The Force Oversleeps

Bought at Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Jedi Academy: The Force Oversleeps
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2017
Writer: Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Artist: Jarrett J. Krosoczka

This is the second book in the second series of Jedi Academy (the first three books in the series are reviewed here, here, and here). This series features Jarrett J. Krosoczka taking over for Jeffrey Brown, and doing a good job of maintaining the style and feel of the first three books. I skipped the first book in this second trilogy, but it was easy to jump in here.

Victor Starspeeder is the transferred into Jedi Academy halfway through the previous year, and now he's a second-year student starting his first full year of studies. He's got a new rival, a new admirer, and a bunch of rumors that Sith forces have been lurking around the school.

But when those rumors begin to focus in on his sister during her graduation year, Victor begins to worry that she may be under the influence of the Dark Side.

The Force Oversleeps keeps up the clever humor and rapid-fire movie references (I particularly liked the student musical production of Little Sarlacc of Horror) and in-jokes that make this series fun.

Ms. Catara, the Gungan guidance counselor and school newspaper advice columnist was an amusing addition to the series, and she had some of the best humorous moments.

There is more high-stakes action here, although the major plot points feel crammed into the end. There are also some potentially emotional events that felt rushed or glossed over.

In general, this book did a better job with the small jokes than with the serious plot elements and character development. There are some good insights, especially about family, but they are thrown in so quickly that it is easy to miss them.

Rating: 5/10

Avengers Endgame Prelude

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside Mall, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Avengers Endgame Prelude
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2019
Writer: Will Corona Pilgrim, Jim Starlin, Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Paco Diaz, George Perez, Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher, Valerio Schiti, Phil Noto, Andrea Sorrentino, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Arthur Adams, Kevin Maguire, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessey, Sara Pichelli, Filipe Andrade
Colorist: Dono-Sanchez-Almara, Max Scheele, Ian Laughlin, Richard Isanove
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham, Jack Morelli, VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso, Jennifer Grunwald

This trade paperback was released in anticipation of the Avengers Endgame film. It contains three parts: A complete adaptation of the film Avengers: Infinity War, a reprint of the first issue of the original Marvel series The Infinity Gauntlet from 1991, and a reprint of Guardians of the Galaxy #19 from 2015.

Much like DC's Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey (reviewed here), this collection has something of a thrown-together feel to it, like Marvel was fishing for relevant material in anticipation of the movie release.

The adaptation of Avengers: Infinity War has issues with pacing, and scenes that needed to be cut for space considerations. It fails to make the kind of visual impact that the film does, and the humor in the dialogue also falls flat when translated into the comic medium. The serious dialogue does work reasonably well, so that the emotional beats of the story still pack a punch. As a recap for people about to watch Endgame, it accomplishes the purpose of refreshing the major details of the story, but it doesn't do so in a way that is particularly memorable.

I read the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline when it was released and was not impressed with it at the time. That may have been partly due to having a bit of crossover fatigue after several years of collecting and reading major titles from the "Big Two", but upon rereading it, The Infinity Gauntlet still strikes me as a pretty dumb story. It's the story of how a person gets godlike power that go above and beyond the already godlike power of other established beings in a universe full of beings with godlike power. And then he proceeds to squander it all in a series of bad decisions, because there is no way for the heroes to ever win this scenario. It's Thanos' scenario to lose. And lose he does. Of course much of that nonsense happens later in the series. The first issue is mostly Thanos trying to decide what to do with his power and trying to impress his Lady Death, while Mephisto looks on with amusement and Silver Surfer tries to warn Doctor Strange of what is coming. The first issue ends with the Snap, and its immediate aftermath, mostly as felt on Earth.

While I was never a fan of this series, one thing that I failed to give it credit for was the art. George Perez knocks it out of the park, and rereading this now was worth it just to get another look at the visuals of this first issue. There is some spectacular and inventive "Marvel-cosmic" imagery, but also tremendous detail work on characters and their emotional reactions and body language.

The final part of this collection is a fairly goofy Guardians of the Galaxy story with Thanos leading a coalition of alien forces in an attack on Earth that is thwarted handily by the Guardians and multiple allies. It makes Thanos look like a chump, and he comes off the best of his villain allies. The story is very feel-good, but with this being released with Endgame on the Horizon, it felt a bit out of place to be jobbing out the MCU's #1 BBEG in what felt like an afterthought.

The story had some good laughs, nice visuals (with a big crew of guest artists brought in for Brian Michael Bendis' finale on the series), and even a tender moment or two between Kitty Pryde and Peter Quill, who I did not realize were a thing, but who apparently are.

So, a movie adaptation, a very pretty bit of history/nostalgia, and a goofy throwaway story with Thanos getting beat more easily than he probably should. Probably not necessary to get anyone in the mood for a movie that was already the one of the most anticipated of all time.

Rating: 4/10

Introducing Alien Romance Webcomic by GS Silva

Alien Romance is a new webcomic by my awesome wife, GS Silva, and it is now online on Patreon!

Cathy dreams of meeting an exotic American rock star. Maurice wishes for a girl as weird as the characters in his sci-fi novel. When they find each other, they quickly learn that alien romances are HARD. Follow their misadventures as this graphic novel unfolds here on Patreon.

You can read the free content for the story, and consider becoming a patron to get exclusive content at:

https://www.patreon.com/alienromance

This is the first new comics work from either of us in a while and we're both incredibly excited for this new story!

Feast of Fields

Bought at my school's Spring book fair.

Title: Feast of Fields
Date: 2018
Publisher: Conundrum Press
Writer: Sean Karemaker
Artist: Sean Karemaker

Autobiographical comic telling the story of the author's mother and her time living in an orphanage in Denmark. This story does follows the natural jumping-around pattern of memories, with bits of different parts of the author's life and the stories that his mother told him about her own. The result is a flow that feels comfortable in spite of all the jumping around.

All of this is reinforced by the surreal quality of the artwork, in which dream elements are mixed with the realities of life.

This is a simple story of family connections and memories, and a very real one, but the art makes the mundane turn magical.

Rating: 8.5/10

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside Mall, Pudong, Shanghai, China

Title: Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey
Date: 2019
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Beatty, Scott Young, Greg Rucka, Anderson Gabrych
Artist: Yvel Guichet, Aaron Sowd, Phil Winslade, Rick Burchett, Pablo Raimondi, Walden Wong, Brian Stelfreeze, Al Barrionuevo, Bit
Colorist: Tom McCraw, Hi-Fi, Brad Anderson
Editor:Alewx Galer

This is a collection of reprints, featuring characters associated with the Birds of Prey (and in particular, characters featured in the movie version of Birds of Prey) in solo action.

Harley (from Detective Comics #831, published in 2007) takes on the new version of the Ventriloquist and Scarface, and more importantly takes on the Arkham Asylum parole board (with Bruce Wayne as one of the members deciding her fate).

Black Canary, guided by Oracle, teams up with Lois Lane to break up an illegal sweatshop and it's psionic-powered foreman (From Showcase '96 #3, published in 1996).

Huntress teams up with Nightwing to investigate the mafia murder of an undercover cop (from Nightwing/Huntress #2, published in 1998).

Renee Montoya deals with harassment from a previous case where the perpetrator walked (from Gotham Central #6, published in 2003).

Cassandra Cain faces off against her father, assassin David Cain, during the epic No Man's Land event (from  Batman #567, published in 1999).

Last up, Catwoman takes on Black Mask and Sylvia Sinclair, who have taken Selina's friend Holly and Selina's sister Maggie hostage (From Catwoman #16, published in 2003.

The opening Harley Quinn story and the Lance/Lane team-up were both good, especially the interaction between Lois and Dinah, which was loads of fun in spite of a pretty generic plot.

From there, the book seemed to run out of one-shot stories and just gave us pieces of longer storylines that felt unsatisfying, and in some cases, didn't even focus enough on the featured character. There was a lot more Nightwing than Huntress in the segment from their team-up, and the Gotham Central storyline had a lot of subplots going on, and not much in the way of develop or resolution for Renee Montoya.

In spite me not being a big fan of Cassandta Cain, her origin story from No Man's Land had visually powerful moments. But again, it's a piece of a massive long-term storyline.

The Catwoman story with Black Mask felt more complete than it really had the right to thanks to a lot of recapping in the narration.

Overall, the result of this collection of fragments is a collection that has some great individual moments and some beautiful artwork, but feels thrown together, and is not as effective as it could be at introducing readers to the lineup of characters for the Birds of Prey film.

Rating: 5/10

The Dialogues

Borrowed from a friend here in Shanghai.

Title: The Dialogues
Date: 2017
Publisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press
Writer: Clifford V. Johnson
Artist: Clifford V. Johnson

This is an overview of important current ideas in physics, with emphasis on cosmology, as well as a lot of material on the nature and practice of science, and some of the philosophy behind science.

All of it is presented in a series of conversations between a variety of characters, some professional scientists and some not. The conversations have the occasional awkward moment for the sake of moving the discussion along, but in general I was impressed with how naturally the conversations went, especially considering the subject matter. These were enjoyable intellectual discussions, always respectful, and full of insights and ideas. Some of the information presented gets technical, but it always quickly circles back to plain language.

There is a lot of emphasis on the idea of the multiverse, but the conversations touch on many aspects of relativity, theories-of-everything, spacetime, the relationship between science and mathematics, and even a chapter on the traditional scientific method.

The book has a diverse cast of characters, with many of them appearing in more than one dialogue. I was left wanting to learn more about several of them, past the brief glimpses we get of their lives.

Also included is a foreword by physicist Frank Wilczek, as well as extensive notes after each dialogue with recommended reading on the topics discussed.

This is a great look at science and a fascinating use of the graphic novel format.

Rating: 7.5/10

Cat Kid Comic Club

The Kiddo bought this at the Spring book fair at our school in Shanghai, China.

Title: Cat Kid Comic Club
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2020
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Letterer: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi, Aaron Polk
Editor: Ken Geist

Lil' Petey (AKA Cat Kid) and Molly the telekinetic tadpole (see Dog Man: Fetch 22 for her origin story; my review is here) hold the first meeting of their new comic club. But the other tadpoles are not making things easy. There's the issue of bickering to deal with, but an even bigger problem is that no one has the confidence to get started on making a comic.

The plot here is simple, but the point of this book is more inspiration than story. The message is that there is no wrong way to make a comic, and the Comic Club drama is interspersed with samples and previews of comics in all kinds of styles: Stick figures, b/w, color, collages, photo comics, haiku comics (photo haiku comics, actually!), and comics made with clay, cardboard, and recycled toys.

The examples are lots of fun, and the message is a great one for young comic creators who might not be ready for something like Understanding Comics (my review of that one is here).

There are some funny moments, but it's the creator's obvious love for comic creation that really shines through in this book.

Rating: 7.5/10

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Another entry that doesn't fit the really strict definition of a comic, but a beautifully illustrated work. From my school library.

Title: Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You
Date: 2005
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Writer: Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black
Artist: Tony DiTerlizzi

This is a companion book to the Spiderwick Chronicles novel series by DiTerlizzi and Black, with a few references to the stories, including an addendum by one of the main characters.

But primarily, this stands on its own as a gorgeous interpretation of the natural history of faerie and mythical creatures from elves to sea serpents to sprites and boggarts. DiTerlizzi's illustrations are lovely, and there are some very clever details. His merfolk were among my favorites, with their "hair" serving as gill filaments. There is a good mix of original ideas and traditional folklore in the descriptions, and some nice hints of stories to be discovered.

This would serve as an excellent roleplaying supplement for a GM who enjoys homebrewing creature stats, and it is an entertaining and inspiring read on its own.

Rating: 9/10

Supergirl: Being Super

Bought at my school's Spring book fair.

Title: Supergirl: Being Super
Date: May, 2018
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Joelle Jones, Sandu Florea
Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Cover: Joelle Jones, Kelly Fitzpatrick
Editor: Paul Kaminski, Andrew Marino, Robin Wildman

Trade paperback collection of Supergirl: Being Super issues #1-4 from 2016-2017.

It feels like rebooted origin stories are getting to the point where they are separated by months, rather than years these days. So I had a bit of trepidation approaching yet another origin reboot (putting aside the question of whether this was main-canon continuity or not; that's also something that's become more and more fuzzy these days).

But this was really good. Not for the plot, necessarily, although the plot did its job adequately. It was the dialogue and supporting cast that really made this work. Kara Danvers of (Smallville stand-in) Midvale, Kansas, turns sixteen years old, having hid the powers that make her different from her peers since childhood, only to have those powers fail her when she needs them most.

In the face of tragedy, Kara begins to question everything about her life, and she uncovers the secrets that will set her on the path to, well, to being super.

Kara's interactions with her friends were interesting enough that I was to some extent disappointed that this is essentially the story of her leaving home to start her hero's journey. I would happily read further adventures of Kara's best friend Dolly, without needing a bit more superhero stuff. And her relationship with her parents was intriguing, and definitely worth further exploration.

The villains introduced here (two new ones and one very familiar one) are likely to be seen again and all of them have plenty of story potential.

Joelle Jones does great work with the art all through the series, ending with an awesome visual on the last page.

This was a great fresh start for a classic character, and I would be happy to have this be the definitive Supergirl origin story moving forward.

Rating: 8/10

Dog Man: Mothering Heights

Bought at Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Dog Man: Mothering Heights
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

So, as it turned out, Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (reviewed here) was not the end of the series. This new installment includes a romantic subplot between Chief and Nurse Lady, a bit more about Petey's mother (hence the title), giant evil animated sippy cups, lots of malic acid, and some references to the first law of thermodynamics. Oh, and poop jokes. Lots of poop jokes, because apparently the series had not actually moved beyond poop humor so much as to take a brief scenic detour away from it.

As with most of the more recent Dog Man books, the serious stuff here was quite well done, and never felt like it slowed things down or weighed things down. The bathroom humor has never been a favorite of mine, but my son (13 now) still finds it hilarious. The main source of much of this was Molly the psychokinetic tadpole, who is Lil' Petey's best friend, which seemed a bit weird because this wasn't an aspect of her character in previous appearances.

I did feel like this relied a bit too much on tropes and gimmicks from previous installments, while not adding too much to the longer-term plotlines. That being said, it was still cute fun, with several really great jokes.

Rating: 7/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kind: The Deep End

Bought at the Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End
Publisher: Amulet Books (a division of Abrams; series website at wimpykid.com)
Date: 2020
Writer: Jeff Kinney
Artist: Jeff Kinney

Following the mayhem that resulted from their home improvement efforts (As seen in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball, reviewed here), the Heffley family is stuck living in Greg's grandmother's basement. As stir-craziness sets in, the sudden acquisition of a camper provides a possible escape for the rest of the summer, so it's road-trip time!

First of all, after complaining that the ending of the previous book felt like too much of a no-consequences reset, it was nice to see that there were, in fact, some consequences and continuity from the events of Wrecking Ball. This series works better with a bit of continuity.

This installment starts slow. We've already seen the family trip adventures a couple of times now, and in the beginning, it's the usual stuff, with Greg's mom set of ruining everyone's fun for the sake of, well, having fun. This interaction has never been very entertaining, and it's not any better here.

What is a lot better is a subplot that begins when the family arrives at the Campers' Eden campground. Greg actually has a pretty fun adventure with a crew of kids who are regulars at the camp. They end up in a battle with a gang of teenagers who have been using a giant slingshot to lob watermelons at the campers in the lake. Greg's new friends have a lot of personality, which is a nice change from some of the throwaway characters encountered in previous books, and it really helps improve this story in terms of plot and humor.

The jokes build up nicely toward the end, and there is even a bit of a happy ending.

Between this book, Wrecking Ball, and Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (reviewed here), Jeff Kinney's most recent works have been a lot more appealing to me than his earlier stuff.

Rating: 7/10

The Baby-Sitters Club Volume 4: Claudia and Mean Janine

Bought at my school's spring book fair.

Title: The Baby-Sitters Club
Issue: Volume 4: Claudia and Mean Janine
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Raina Telgemeier, Ann M. Martin
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham Fulton, David Levithan, Sheila Keenan

This is Raina Telgemeier's adaptation of one of the original Baby-Sitters Club novels by Ann M. Martin. I haven't red any of the original prose series, but this was a good solid bit of family drama with humor and heart. It doesn't quite hit at the personal level that Telgemeier's autobiographical works do, but it was still quite engaging. Although this is the fourth volume in the series, it stands alone quite well and tells a complete story.

That story focuses on the sibling rivalry between younger sister Claudia, who is into art, fashion, and Nancy Drew novels, and older sister Janine, who excels at school and loves coding and web design. Their lives are thrown into disarray when their grandmother suffers a near-fatal stroke, and the events that follow bring them apart, and then eventually together. Meanwhile, the Baby-Sitters club launches into summer with a new playgroup project that gives the other club members a chance to shine, and provides some comic relief.

Telgemeier's artwork is always wonderfully expressive, and it really shines in a lovely scene with Dawn and Kristy playing in the barn on Kristy's family's property, as well as in some nice quiet moments between Claudia, Janine, and their grandmother, Mimi.

Rating: 7.5/10

Small Town Type #1

 Finally back to the Random Stack of Unread Comics!

Title: Small Town Type
Issue: #1
Date: 2008
Publisher: Fat Cat Funnies
Writer: Ian Nichols
Artist: Ian Nichols

So, apparently I reviewer issue #3 of this series (here), but never got around to reviewing the first two. Fixing that now.

Small Town Type is Ian Nichols' reinvention of the Superman story. I love the visual style of the big moments in this opening chapter, but the dialogue in the small moments are equally captivating. The voice of the (so far, unnamed) main character is deep and real, and the little interactions of small town life give the story heart.


There isn't a ton of plot in this issue, but that actually works well, keeping the focus on the big event that initiates the classic hero's journey while developing the lead character through dialogue, internal monologue, and day-do-day interactions.

This is a great start to a story that feels comfortably familiar but still intriguing.

Rating: 9/10

A Monster Calls

Another not-quite-a-comic-in-the-traditional-sense entry. This is an illustrated novel, where the illustrations are an integral part of the experience of the story. From my school library.

Title: A Monster Calls
Date: 2011
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Writer: Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd
Artist: Jim Kay

Thirteen-year-old Connor O'Malley bears the burdens of his mother's serious illness, the bullies that have targeted him at school, and a recurring nightmare that he will do anything to avoid facing. When he is visited by a monster. the ancient Green Man of Celtic mythology, Connor assures the monster that he's seen worse. But the monster is determined to make Connor face the truth that he hides.

There are some mythical elements to this book, and a sprinkling of snark, but mostly it is the raw emotion of trying to hold together in the face of death at its most unfair. This was intensely powerful, and the writing it beautifully enhanced by Jim Kay's haunting illustrations.

Rating: 9.5/10

The Way (of Yahweh)

Webcomic that I was invited to review via Instagram.

Title: The Way (of Yahweh): Ty's Story 01 & Liv's Story 01
Publisher: The Way Saga (Group Lore)
Writer: Jason S. Tucker, Andie Rugg, Robert Ramos
Artist: Jason S. Tucker
Editor: Shana Murph

This is an interactive webcomic, featuring essentially two different pathways through the story from each from the point of view of a different lead character. The preview that I got a look at included the opening part for each character, and while the two character's don't meet in these initial segments, that is clearly the direction that the story is heading in.

The navigation on the site took a bit of getting used to, but was fine once I had the basics down. There are some interesting uses of the technology, including links to background information on objects, and planned interactive decision-making as the story progresses.

The setting is post-apocalyptic, with the surviving human population occupying the floating city of Halcyon, hovering over the Atlantic Ocean after a century of devastating earthquakes. The city is held aloft by magnetic levitation technology, called Ferrotech in the story. The secrets of Ferrotech have been lost following a destructive event known as the Anomaly, which shattered portions of Halcyon into floating islands called the Hanging Ruins.

Now, Ty, a prisoner, works scavenging lost tech in the Hanging Ruins, forced to do the Halcyon's most hazardous work.

Meanwhile, high school student Liv leads a double lift as a conspiracy journalist, sneaking into restricted areas and capturing video of ongoing magnetic anomalies that could threaten Halcyon's very existence.

This is a story loaded with potential. I liked both characters, and the story succeeded at making the setting interesting and building anticipation for how the plot threads will bring Ty and Liv together.

The technological elements felt like they needed a bit more development, especially the issue of the magnetic anomalies. They are presented as a threat, and one that is covered-up by the government, but it's not made clear what the full implications are. Is is simply that the Ferrotech could fail completely, destroying Halcyon, and the government is trying to avoid a panic? The anomalies are treated as very mysterious, but these opening chapters don't give much in the way of clues as to what direction those mysteries will develop in.

I liked the supporting casts for both storylines, with Liv's mother standing out as particularly intriguing. I also enjoyed the dialogue between Liv and her A.I. companion. The flow of Ty's dialogue with his scavenger crew was a bit hindered by the need to infodump, but a flashback sequence involving Ty was excellent, and gave the best real picture of what the original Anomaly was all about. Because of this scene, I'd recommend reading Ty's Part 01 first, although both really do stand alone.

The Way (of Yahweh) is presented as Christian-themed, but these opening segments were certainly never preachy or judgmental. God is namedropped once in Liv's story, but otherwise the Christian elements do not come to the forefront in these opening chapters. That will change as the story moves on, but what I read here felt true to the creators' goals of presenting an engaging science fiction story.

Rating: 8/10

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

First comic purchase and first review of 202!
Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
Date: October, 2010
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Andy Kubert, Scott Williams, Simon Bisley, Mark Buckingham, Mike Hoffman, Kevin Nowlan, Bernie Mireault, Matt Wagner, Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Sinclair, Nansi Hoolahan, Tim McCraw, Joe Matt
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher, John Costanza, Augustin Mas, Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Nybakken, Maggie Howell

The title feature of this trade paperback is the two-part story that spanned Batman #686 and Detective Comics #853, which were the last issues of those series before they were renumbered as part of the New 52. The title is a tribute to the classic Alan Moore two-parter, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, which was published at a similar moment, marking the division between the Pre-Crisis (On Infinite Earths) and Post-Crisis DC Universe.

The story has the Batman attending his own funeral, held in the back room of a Crime Alley bar, where Joe Chill serves as bartender, and all of the Batman's rogues gallery is in attendance as mourners, along with some more respectable members of the supporting cast. All of them are telling stories of the Batman's death while the Batman himself looks on unseen, with a mysterious woman as his guide.

And the stories are all contradictory.

This was an interesting examination of the symbolism of the Batman, and something of a reversal of the typical tale of transition into an afterlife. The fully-realized stories told by Selina Kyle and Alfred Pennyworth read like reasonably decent "What If?" tales, and artist Andy Kubert does a great job of evoking the styles of classic Batman artists. There are also some interesting stories that are just told as fragments from characters like Detective Bullock and Clayface.

The ending is a strange and surreal variant on (of all things), Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon, that should never have worked, but which Gaiman somehow manages to just about pull off.

Backup stories in this volume include a miscellany of Gaiman's Batman writing from Batman: Black and White and Secret Origins. The Black and White piece is an amusing bit of fourth-wall breaking. Of the Secret Origins stories, the Riddler story was the best of the bunch, a loving tribute to the Silver Age, and a lament against the turn toward darker fare that followed.

None of this is anywhere Gaiman's best work in terms of writing, but it's a nice look at his relationship with comics in general and the Batman in particular, and it has a decent number of stand-out moments.

Rating: 7/10

Updated All-Time Top Rated Comics

Here is my updated list of all of the comics I've rated a 9 or above. Four new books (all rated 9) were added to this list in 2020.


9/10

All In The Family Part Two: Angel
Amulet Book Two: The Stonekeeper's Curse
Amulet Book Seven: Firelight
Boxers
Dog Man And Cat Kid
Dog Man: Grime and Punishment
The Flutter Collection
Ghosts
Guts
Life With Archie #16
Lumberjanes Volume 3: A Terrible Plan
Lumberjanes Volume 4: Out of Time
Lumberjanes Volume 5: Band Together
Machiavelli
Rival Angels Season 3 Volume 2
Understanding Comics
Warriors: Graystripe's Adventure
We Won't Be Erased
With the Light Volume 2

9.5/10

Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present
The Arrival
Castle Waiting Volume 1
I Kill Giants
The Prince and the Dressmaker
Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey

10/10

Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic In One Volume

Looking forward to reading more great books in 2021!

2020 Comic Review Recap

We never left Shanghai in 2020, aside from a brief trip to Nanjing right as the lockdowns were starting. As with lots of folks, adapting to things like distance-teaching and the general stress of living in a pandemic, even in a place that has not been badly hit, resulted in a lack of creative focus. In terms of reading, a lot of my focus shifted to prose reading, as well as some graphic novels. So in spite of all the home time, I didn't make much progress on the traditional comics in the Random Stack of Unread Comics in 2020. The bright side of that is that in spite of not having the chance to visit the US to restock, I still have a decent-sized stack left to read in 2021, as well as still having access to some graphic novels in bookstores here.

I did pretty well on prose writing, and you can check out a list of my 5 favorite prose books read in 2020 here.

I read and reviewed a total of 32 comics in 2020, which is way down from previous years. Hoping to do better in 2021.

Highest Rated Comics Read In 2020

Amulet Book Eight: Supernova (8.5)
Chainbreaker #1 (8.5)
Saints (8.5)
Sandman Special #1: Orpheus (8.5)
Spill Zone Book 1 (8.5)
Star Wars: Han Solo (8.5)

Boxers (9)
Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (9)
Guts (9)
Rival Angels Season 3 Volume 2 (9)

Lowest Rated Comics Read In 2020

Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid (2)