Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Happily Ever After

I got this at a Little Free Library in Ludlow MA USA, and will be "releasing" it at another Little Free Library somewhere in New England.

Title: Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Happily Ever After
Date: 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Writer: Rachel Renee Russell
Artist: Rachel Renee Russell

This is (clearly intentionally) similar in format to Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which I've read quite a few of because my son enjoyed them. The narration is prose with frequent illustrations.

The main character, Nikki, is considerably more likeable than the Wimpy Kid protagonist, but is also a bit on the bland side. It feels like the author is trying so hard to make Nikki relatable that she's afraid to give Nikki much in the way of distinctive traits, quirks, and flaws.

This story was an homage/parody of The Wizard of Oz, with elements of other fairy tales sprinkled in, as Nikki gets knocked out playing dodgeball in the midst of a bad day at school, and dreams up (is transported to) a fairytale adventure.

She meets fairytale versions of people she knows in her own world, has some adventures (the supporting cast could use a bit more diversity), makes some friends and some enemies, gets in trouble, and gets rescued by her friends.

She also resolves a bit of conflict with her younger sister, in a scene that is genuinely tender.

There's nothing awful here, but nothing all that distinctive either.

Rating: 5/10

Rival Angels Season 2 Volume 1

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 1
Date: 2014
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans
Colorist: Aaron Daly

Rookie wrestler Sabrina "Ultragirl" Mancini travels to Japan to join Tokyo-based Millennium Wrestling Association. She makes new friends, faces new and old rivals, and deals with the sexism of an organization in which womens wrestling is not a priority in spite of the talent of the womens roster.

The parallels to pre-"Womens Evolution" WWE are pretty clear, right down to the Hulk Hogan stand-in who serves as one of the sexist authority figures.

Sabrina's romantic plotline with Lightweight Champion Yoshihiro Yamamoto has some sweet moments, and the backstage intrigue involving various factions was complex enough to keep things interesting.

One thing that worked well here compared to previous volumes was the use of more of a rapid-fire highlights style to tell a bunch of wrestling stories in a small number of panels. I found it really effective in advancing plot, while saving the blow-by-blow action for a few important matches. Sabrina's full match with Black Widow was given the space it needed as a major event.

While I missed Krystin, who was back in Rival Angels and didn't appear in this volume, Sun got in a pretty awesome feel-good moment, along with some good character interaction.

The soap-opera cliffhanger was a classic cliche, but I am interested in seeing where the story goes next.

Rating: 7/10

Sisters

The third book in a four-book boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Sisters
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2014
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Raina Telgemeier returns to autobiographical material with this story of her relationship with her younger sister. She embarks on a road trip with her mom and her younger brother and sister: a week of driving and camping from San Francisco to Colorado, then a week of family reunion with cousins, followed by another week of driving and camping on the way home.

All of this takes place during the timeframe around the end of the companion book, Smile (my review is here), but the two books stand alone nicely, and there is not much overlap aside from the characters themselves.

Interspersed with the road trip adventures and family drama are flashbacks that reveal the sometimes contentious relationship between the Raina and her sister Amara over the years. There is also a fair amount of other family drama, lots of terrible luck with pets, some 80s and 90s nostalgia, and plenty of humor.

The story encapsulates a lot of Raina's frustrations as a teenager, and does a nice job of showing how the road trip brings conflicts to a boil, but also brings a bit of understanding. I thought that Smile had a tighter narrative, but this book provided a lot of good backstory.

Rating: 7/10

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Free Comic Book Day 2014 All Ages

Title: Avatar: The Last Airbender: Free Comic Book Day 2014 All Ages
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Gene Luen Yang, Art Baltazar, Franco, David Lapham
Artist: Faith Erin Hicks, Art Baltazar, David Lapham
Colorist: Cris Peter, Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Michael Heisler, Nate Piekos of Blambot
Editor: Dave Marshall, Scott Allie, Jim Gibbons, Shantel LaRocque, Daniel Chabon

Three stories, featuring Avatar: The Last Airbender, Itty Bitty Hellboy, and Juice Squeezers respectively.

The Avatar story has Suki and Sokka dealing with the sexist owner of a collectible seashell shop, in an amusing commentary of the "fake geek girl" trope. The initial action is satisfying in a jobber-squash-for-a-good-cause kind of way, but the ending of the story is quite good and shows some real heart.

Itty Bitty Hellboy has some fun trying to teach a ghost how to do his job, and also plays on the old "cough syrup for the coffin" joke. Not much to it, but I give credit for bringing up a classic dad-joke I got told as a kid.

The Juice Squeezers story involved some kids braving a nest of giant ants to exact a bit of revenge on the local school bullies. I'm not clear on why there are giant ants, but the story did a decent job of representing the "kids on bikes" subgenre (ET, Goonies, Stranger Things, etc). I'd be interested in seeing what this series does when it has more to work with in the way of plot.

Rating: 6/10

Giant-Size Thrills #0

Another Free Comic Book Day flip book from Red Giant by way of the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Giant-Size Thrills
Issue: 0
Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Benny R. Powell, Mort Castle, Kevin Juaire
Artist: Ricardo Jaime, Vincenzo Cucca
Colorist: Marlon Ilagan, Mariacristina Federico
Letterer: Zach Metheny
Editor: Brian Augustyn, David Lawrence

Flip book. First up is Darchon, an urban fantasy story focusing on a man who can see monsters that are invisible to most people. He sees himself as a friend of Darchon, a wizard/detective character from a pulp adventure comic magazine. How much of this magical world is real and how much is delusion is left somewhat unclear.

Flip the book over to find Shadow Children, telling the story of a boy and a girl growing up in a magical dimension, and eventually making their way back to our world.

Neither of these stories managed to hook my interest much. Both were going for a dark fantasy vibe, with Darchon in a straight-up world filled with unseen demons, and Shadow Children putting a dark spin on a fairyland type of setting.

The stories had some appealing visuals, especially Shadow Children, which also appeared to have some complex and well thought out worldbuilding behind it. But none of the characters in either story were all that engaging, and neither story hooked me with its plot.

Rating: 4.5/10

Spongebob Freestyle Funnies 2014

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics by way of Free Comic Book Day 2014.

Title: Spongebob Freestyle Funnies 2014
Publisher: United Plankton Pictures
Date: February, 2014
Writer: Graham Annable, Sam Henderson, Maris Wicks, Gregg Schigiel, Corey Barba, James Kochalka
Artist: Jacob Chabot, Sam Henderson, Maris Wicks, Gregg Schigiel, Corey Barba, James Kochalka
Colorist: Rick Neilsen, Mike Lapinski
Letterer: Comicraft
Cover: Graham Annable, Jacob Chabot, Rick Neilsen

This is the Free Comic Book Day offering for Spongebob Squarepants from 2014. It includes three main stories, plus some one-page gag strips, and activity page, and even an educational feature about marine life.

The first full story involves Squidward activating the "Relocate" feature on his house in an attempt to get away from annoying neighbors Spongebob and Patrick. Unfortunately, their houses also come equipped with the same feature. This was funny, and definitely in the flavor of the show, and it never wore out its welcome.

The other two main stories are aimed more at the geeky crowd.

There is a cute parody of Silver-Age (and 1960s TV) Batman/Batgirl featuring Mermaid Man and his sidekick Barnacle Boy as they battle Octopus Doctor, with some help from the mysterious Mermaid Girl. This did a nice job of mirroring Batgirl's debut, and featured some amusing action bits.

Finally, Underswimming Comics was a parody of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, which was one of those things that I'm surprised no one thought to parody before this. It didn't completely hit the mark, but it was still good for a few laughs, and the overall flavor of it worked really well.

I liked all of the shorter features in this book as well, which is a pretty good achievement when so many elements have to come together to make a book like this. This was fun all around with plenty of appeal for younger readers as well as serious comic fans.

Rating: 7/10

The Tick: Free Comic Book Day 2014

With Free Comic Book Day coming this weekend, here's a book I bought during 2014's FCBD at New England Comics in Quincy MA, where I got it signed by the writer and artists.

Title: The Tick: Free Comic Book Day 2014
Publisher: New England Comics
Date: 2014
Writer: Jeff McClelland
Artist: Duane Redhead, Ian Chase Nichols
Editor: George Suarez, Bob Polio

Arthur and the Tick have to solve the mystery of the disappearance of their entire city. Fortunately, an alien that they find standing by the edge of the massive hole in the ground is able to provide a clue, which leads them to a showdown with a deranged alien collector known as the Hoarder.

This was an amusing and fast-paced story with some good visual gags and some nods to silver-age city-in-a-bottle tropes.

The backup story was also amusing, with the Tick taking on a new bearded identity as the Lone Santa. It was mostly setup for one visual joke, but the payoff was pretty amusing.

Good, silly fun all round.

Rating: 7.5/10

Giant-Size Fantasy #0

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics by way of Free Comic Book Day 2014.

Title: Giant-Size Fantasy
Issue: 0
Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Elaine Lee, David Lawrence, David Campiti
Artist: Francis Nuguit, Jinky Coronado, Larry Tuazon
Colorist: Marlon Ilagan, Katrina Maehao
Letterer: Zach Metheny
Editor: Brian Augustyn, David Lawrence

Flip book.

The companion volumes, Giant-Size Action #0 and Giant-Size Adventure #0 are reviewed here and here.

Pandora's Blogs was an odd story, part medical thriller, part teenage soap opera, and packed with references to Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The title character, Pandora is the daughter of a doctor specializing in very unusual cases, and when her mom performs a seeming miraculous cure on her latest case, Pandora and the patient end up having a magical night at a popular dance club. But things soon go terribly wrong. All of the teenaged characters are gorgeous, and the school drama felt a bit mundane. The medical science in this is fantastical nonsense in spite of a liberal sprinkling of jargon, but the creepy, Twilight-Zone ending was fun and unexpected, and it was enough to get me interested in reading more stories of this world.

Flip over the book, and you get Duel Identity, the story of a woman whose extraordinary abilities make her a popular superhero by day, but she has another occupation as a deadly assassin by night. This was a fun take on the secret-identity trope. The main character makes an important decision here, to set up major plotlines, and it felt like it was a little bit rushed and lacking the full necessary motivation, but I still enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game as the assassin dealt with a two friends who happened to show up while she tried to stalk her quarry at a crowded business event. In spite of her powers, there is a lot of bad luck and bad timing that can interfere with the job, and I felt like the creative team did a good job of showing that. This story felt like it had a lot of potential, and felt fresh even employing relatively familiar tropes of superheroes and assassins.

Rating: 7.5/10

Spectra #6

This spent a fair amount of time in the Random Stack of Unread Comics, but this is the sixth issue in this educational series that I picked up at the National Conference on Science Education.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 6
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2014
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

This issue begins with a nice bit of continuity, as laser-powered hero Lucinda Hene finds herself attending a new school, with her group of friends scattered as her previous school is repaired following the damage from the previous issue's mayhem (review is here) at the state swim meet.

Lucinda has a busy morning that involves going to the garage with her mom to drop off the family minivan for service. Enter the Quantum Mechanic. She's not really so much a villain. More like a person confused by their own superpowers. However, a quantum mishap results in a minivan that is appearing in random locations by way of quantum teleportation, and it's up to Spectra and her friends to trap the minivan in a "potential well". At this point, Spectra pretty much admits that we've gotten to the point where it is less about the science and more about the science puns.

The storyline here didn't have that much going on, but this was a good issue for character development, as we got to see more of Lucinda's home life and the consequences of the previous issue's events. The Quantum Mechanic was a fun character, and the suggestion that there could be a future team-up in the works had, well, potential.

Rating: 7/10

Rival Angels: Damsels of Destruction: Wrestling Maneuvers And Techniques Issue: Volume 2

Bought as part of a package from the creator's Kickstarter.

Title: Rival Angels: Damsels of Destruction: Wrestling Maneuvers And Techniques
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2014
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans

I reviewed the first volume of this supplementary minicomic series here, and this is basically more of the same. This is an all-artwork collection to accompany the Rival Angels webcomic and graphic novel series about four rookie women pro wrestlers.

This volume skips the commentary aside from a quick introduction, and lets the action speak for itself. There are some classic wrestling moves here, along with some less commonly seen ones, and a few of the more over-the-top gimmicky moves that fans will know from WWE.

The artwork is lovely, and it's fun seeing familiar characters from the series in action. This isn't really necessary as a part of the series, but it makes for a fun bonus item.

Rating: 6/10

Star Wars: Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan

This was my best find at the PTA used book table at my school's Back to School Bash in September.

Title: Star Wars: Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2014
Writer: Jeffrey Brown
Artist: Jeffrey Brown

Jedi Padawan Roan Novachez is back for his second year at Coruscant's Jedi Academy. He's excited to get back together with friends, and he's eager to start his star pilot flight training, confident that this in one class he's sure to ace.

But as the year goes on, his friendships start to sour over a series of mishaps and misunderstandings, and he finds new friends in the two biggest bullies in the Academy. Roan doesn't mean to cause harm, but once he's in with the wrong crowd, he finds it's hard to make things right again.

This book did a nice job of taking the very likeable main character from the first book, and showing, well, his dark side. I read this with the Kiddo, and he was clearly getting fed up with Roan's behavior as the climax neared.

Some of the situations are fairly typical school-drama scenarios that could be solved easily enough if people would just talk to each other, but a lot of Roan's choices through the story, even his bad choices, made a lot of sense.

This was not as much fun as the first book, but it did add a decent amount of depth to the story and to the character of Roan.

Rating: 7/10

Rival Angels: Damsels of Destruction: Wrestling Maneuvers And Techniques Volume 1

My friend received this as a bonus when she bought Rival Angels: Rookie Year Volume 4 (reviewed here) for me from the creative team at a convention in the Midwest in 2017.

Title: Rival Angels: Damsels of Destruction: Wrestling Maneuvers And Techniques
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2014
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans

Full-color minicomic featuring full-page artwork depicting classic pro wrestling holds applied by (and to) characters from the Rival Angels wrestling webcomic series.

Many of these are quite nice. A few suffer from the challenge of trying to capture fast-moving action in a still drawing. But overall, the holds look great.

Commentary is supplied by (who else?) Rival Angels commentary team Dawn Ellison and Jeff Krew, who are admittedly not my favorite part of Rival Angels, but at least their obnoxiousness is mostly reigned in here.

There is no plot, but this is still a nice supplement to the Rival Angels series, especially for pro wrestling who like to see their favorite moves.

Rating: 5.5/10

Xenoglyphs Volume 1

Writer Omar Spahi contacted me on twitter and asked me to give his Xenoglyphs graphic novel a look. There is currently a Kickstarter to fund the complete series running here.

Title: Xenoglyphs
Issue: Volume 1
Date: October, 2014
Publisher: OSSM Comics
Writer: Omar Spahi
Artist: PJ Catacutan
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Barbara Randall Kesel, Alex Wilson, Siike Donnelly

Trade paperback (I read the ebook version) collecting the first six issues of the Xenoglyphs comic series. The publisher is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the complete series.

This was an interesting take on the idea of the heroes traveling the world to bring together some set of magical artifacts. In this story, the magical artifacts (the Xenoglyphs of the title) are scattered around the world, and the heroes are dedicated to keeping them scattered. It's the villain who's trying to bring them together.

Staff-wielding adventurer Steven James and his techie friend Dom Jenkins are Seperators, part of a legacy of protectors who have helped keep the Xenoglyphs hidden for centuries. The Xenoglyphs give their wielders elemental powers (with nine elements in this system), and could grand godlike abilities if brought together.

A villain calling himself Anubis is out to track down the Xenoglyphs, starting in the midst of the Arab Spring demonstrations in Egypt. Steven and Dom have arrived there to try to protect the Xenoglyph, and soon encounter Jennifer, another Seperator, who goes against Seperator tradition to make an alliance with them.

This story had excellent pacing, with an overall entertaining Indiana Jones kind of vibe. The worldbuilding was accomplished smoothly, and the action never slowed down. Fight scenes were fun and plentiful with all the characters getting their moments to shine. The villain had a great look and came off as suitably menacing.

I could have done with a few less cliches. At this point I cringe at phrases like "chosen one" and "master of evil". I would be happy to never again see a scene where the male hero warns a female character who has already proved herself to be a capable fighter to stay out of a fight out of concern for her safety (and by "concern for her stafety" here, we mean a combination of stupidity and sexism).

But that being said, there was a lot to really like here. Good dialogue, generally appealing characters, and even a couple of surprise plot twists and hints of future plot twists, especially toward the end of this collection. I think there is the potential for this to go in some really interesting directions as it continues, and in spite of a couple of bits that felt tired, this was generally a fun ride.

Rating: 7.5/10

Fisso's World in Cambodia: Living in a Kingdom of Wonders

First review of 2017!

We ended 2016 with a trip to Cambodia (and began 2017 with another trip, this one to Bangkok, Thailand). While in Phnom Penh, I happened upon Monument Books in  the Aeon Mall, and picked up a couple of items of interest, including this collection of cartoons.

Title: Fisso's World in Cambodia: Living in a Kingdom of Wonders
Date: 2014
Publisher: Blue Reamker
Writer: Sophie Lizeray
Artist: Sophie Lizeray

This is a collection of cartoons about life in Cambodia, from a primarily expat point of view, that originally appeared in the Phnom Penh Post.

The cartoons cover topics ranging from traffic and driving to unreliable water and electrical power to early morning wedding music (something we definitely got to experience on our recent trip to Cambodia!). There bits about food, wildlife, markets, and the weather.

A lot of the scenes and situations were very familiar from my three years in Southeast Asia, and there were some good laughs at various points in this. A few of the cartoons fell flat for me, but as always, tastes in humor are going to vary. The artist's art style is fun, especially on animals.

This was a nice slice of Cambodian life and a good souvenir from our travels.

Rating: 6/10

Lost Nova: Altar Stone

Second review of the night. This is the second of two consecutive Lost Nova issues that I bought from the artist last summer at ConnectiCon. I reviewed the first of these here.


Title: Lost Nova: Altar Stone
Publisher: Lost Nova
Date: 2014
Writer: Stephanie B.
Artist: Stephanie B.

Fourth issue of this series, reprinting the webcomic. As mentioned in the previous review, the main webcomic site was down, but the comic is available at a mirror site.

The plot gets thickened quite a bit in this issue, as Vera's ship arrives in port, carrying Pyrena, the young runaway. Vera wants to get a look at a newly installed altar stone at the elvish city's church, but a racist priest is having none of letting any of the crew near the altar.

Vera resolves to get the look she wants the hard way: by breaking into the temple.

Pyrena has some great moments in this issue, including a hilarious reaction to the proposed act of breaking-and-entering, and a highly amusing argument on the merits of a salmon-roe crepe (I'm with Pyrena on this; salmon-roe crepe sounds awesome!).

Good worldbuilding in this issue, and a nice picking up of pace as far as the plot goes.
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Rating: 7.5/10

Lost Nova: Euryale

It's crunch time. We head back to the US for five weeks, leaving in eleven days. If I'm going to get through this stack of unread comics, I'll need to pick up the pace, so I'll be having some multiple-review days coming up.

This book and the one that follows were purchases I made at ConnectiCon last summer. I reviewed the previous installment of this series here.

Title: Lost Nova: Euryale
Publisher: Lost Nova
Date: 2014
Writer: Stephanie B.
Artist: Stephanie B.

This is the third volume, collecting the webcomic of the same title. As of this writing, the main webcomic site was down, but the comic is available at a mirror site.

Pyrena continues to adjust to shipboard life, helping with the cooking and attempting to help with the ship's magical navigation, while Vera and her crew plan their next move.

Pyrena's awkwardness is on full display as she tries to find her footing among the rough company she's fallen in with, and has to deal with their possibly-unrealistic expectations of her.

This was definitely a transitional story, but the character development continues to shine.

I also absolutely loved the cover art. Just gorgeous.

Rating: 7/10

Society's Ills #2

I bought this comic last summer from artist Lisa Cavalear at MASSive Comic Con in Worcester MA. I also picked up the first issue, which I reviewed here.

Title: Society's Ills
Issue: 2
Date: 2014
Publisher: Happy Kitty Studio (Projectpoppet.com)
Writer: Lisa Cavalear
Artist: Lisa Cavalear

Continuing the adventures of Lisa Cavalear's cast of antisocial anthropomorphic nerds, this issue has Hippy and her friends set up in Artists Alley at Web Sheeple Con.

After dealing with sexism and harassment from the convention staff the previous year, Hippy has arrived with a plan to sow mayhem among the con staff, cosplayers, and attendees. But once the chaos begins, it threatens to escalate out of control.

Unlike the first issue, this was a single plot. There were fewer individual laughs, but a bit more in terms of story. The theme of sexual bullying/harassment at conventions is an important one, and even in this sarcastic approach, there is some solid raising of awareness going on.

There is also plenty of silliness and even a bit of a romantic subplot. I did find some of the story elements a bit difficult to keep straight, but there were still enough jokes to keep things amusing.

Rating: 6.5/10

Tales from the Jatakas 3-in-1

A graphic novel from India that I bought at Mumbai Airport.

Title: Tales from the Jatakas 3-in-1
Publisher: Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd
Date: 2014
Writer: Lakshmi Lal, Meena Talim
Artist: Ashok Dongre, Jeffrey Fowler
Editor: Anant Pai
Cover: C.M. Vitankar

This is an English-language graphic novel that I picked up during a layover at the airport in Mumbai, India. It is a collection of animal stories from the Jatakas, traditional Indian tales dating to the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD.

The collection is divided into three sections: Elephant Stories, Monkey Stories, and Deer Stories. The stories themselves are reminiscent of Aesop's Fables, often containing a simple moral lesson, favoring mercy or against greed, for instance.

The stories range from very silly humor pieces to tragedies involving animals sacrificing their own lives to save their herd or troop. There is also one particularly gruesome revenge story (the details of the revenge is horrific, but the art is not excessively gory).

The artwork has a cartoony look to it reminding me a bit of early Looney Tunes, with the deer tending to be anthropomorphized.

While the stories were fairly simplistic, this was an interesting bit of insight into India's traditional folklore, as well as its current comics.

Rating: 6/10

Machiavelli

I was a crowdfunding backer on this graphic novel based on the life of Niccolo Machiavelli. This is a print collection of the webcomic of the same title.

Title: Machiavelli
Date: 2014
Publisher: Don MacDonald
Writer: Don MacDonald
Artist: Don MacDonald

Beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched, Don MacDonald's graphic novel brings Niccolo Machiavelli's life in renaissance Florence to life. Told in a series of vignettes, the story spans Machiavelli's political career, through all the turmoil and rises and falls in fortune that occurred among the warring Italian city-states of that period.

Machiavelli is presented sympathetically, with the dialogue presented in modern English (which works for the story better than an attempt to make the characters sound somehow archaic would), and the political threads are balanced out with the romantic storyline of Machiavelli's complex relationship with his wife, from whom he was often separated by the call of his duties.

The artwork is in greytones, with watercolors used for the shading, and MacDonald does a particularly good job with the architecture and the battle scenes.

The section of notes shows of the depth of MacDonald's research, providing some great starting points for anyone wishing for more reading on Machiavelli and the Italian renaissance.

Rating: 9/10

Society's Ills #1

Had to take a bit of a hiatus as school got started up. I've spent the last few weeks pretty buried in day-job work. This is from the unread comic stack I accumulated over the summer. I got this book from artist Lisa Cavalear at MASSive Comic Con in Worcester MA, this past June.

Title: Society's Ills
Issue: 1
Date: 2014
Publisher: Happy Kitty Studio (Projectpoppet.com)
Writer: Lisa Cavalear
Artist: Lisa Cavalear

This book chronicles the lives of a group of (anthropomorphic) misfits with geeky tendencies who work at Swillbane Library at Scuzz Community College in the town of New Scuzzden.

While mostly introducing the cast through short vignettes, the book does a nice job of hitting some topical areas (online dating, unhealthy food, and video gaming) as well as some that are endearingly quirky. I particularly liked the bit with the guy serenading the object of his, well, love is probably too strong a word here, with Prince's Purple Rain, played on a large boombox.

Nerdy jokes are always fun for me, and this one got some giggles out of me, as well as nailing some of the frustrations of the internet dating scene.

Rating: 7/10