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