Valentines From the Cat

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest.

Title: Valentines From the Cat
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: May, 2017
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer
 

Another Anne Thalheimer that delivers exactly what it promises. A few of the sketches with accompanying greetings could have been feline conversation heats. As you might imagine, this is less about romantic love and more about the love for petting and catfood. Anne's cats are always super-cute!

Rating: 6.5/10

Brave

From my school's library.

Title: Brave
Date: 2017
Publisher: Yen Press
Writer: Svetlana Chmakova
Artist: Svetlana Chmakova
Colorist: Svetlana Chmakova, Melissa McCommon
Letterer: JuYoun Lee

Constant Daydreamer (and future astronaut hero) Jensen struggles to navigate middle school, figuring out his place as he finds his chance to help the school newspaper and begins to drift apart from his art club friends. 

This is a sequel to Awkward (reviewed here), with a new focus character, and an examination of bullying, particularly the idea that the victim of bullying may not always understand that that is what is happening to them. The addressing of the topic is realistic without anything being taken too extreme. There is some justice in the end, but it is realistically incomplete, and the author does a good job of showing that there are not easy solutions to complex problems.

The characters are diverse and nuanced (even the most of the teachers who get screen time), and it was fun to see the same setting from Awkward from a completely different set of eyes.

Rating: 7/10

The Witch Boy: Halloween ComicFest

I got this at Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA last Free Comic Book Day. It's a Halloween freebie from several years back, that the store had on their table of free books.

Title: The Witch Boy: Halloween ComicFest
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2017
Writer: Molly Knox Ostertag
Artist: Molly Knox Ostertag

Full color preview mini containing an excerpt from Molly Knox Ostertag's graphic novel, The Witch Boy. The scene here is a fairly standard bit with the main character getting bullied and finally getting pushed to the point where he responds with his magical powers. It does a nice job of introducing the basic rules of the world: On the "magical side of town", boys are shapeshifters and girls are witches. Aster is a boy who hasn't been able to figure out the shapeshifting bit, but has some skill at witchery.

The artwork is lovely, and the overall trans theme of the story is appreciated. This preview doesn't reveal much, but there are enough hints at the overall storyline to hook the reader, which makes it a reasonably effective marketing piece.

Rating: 6/10

All's Faire In Middle School

Borrowed from my school library.

Title: All's Faire In Middle School
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin/Random House)
Date: 2017
Writer: Victoria Jamieson
Artist: Victoria Jamieson

Imogene is about to embark on her most dangerous quest on her path to becoming a knight: Surviving middle school. And even her fellow performers at the Florida Renaissance Faire, where her parents work, seem to agree that middle school is the worst. After being homeschooled through her elementary school years, Imogene navigates friendships, bullying, schoolwork, and teen fashion, all while starting her first faire season as a full cast member.

This is full of cleverness, Shakespearian insults, ren faire culture, wholesome family interaction, and yet more cleverness. The extended "fairemily" steal the show somewhat as Imogene's school drama takes on mostly expected twists and turns, and fun characters like aunt-figure Cussy provide entertainment even as they gently guide Imogene's recovery from a succession of bad decisions.

The ending was heartfelt, and the family and found-family elements were fun and wholesome.

Rating: 8/10

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

Rival Angels: Season 3 Volume 1

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 3 Volume 1
Date: 2017
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans, Dave Reynolds
Colorist: Aaron Daly

The action here focuses primarily on Ultradragon (Sabrina and Sun) and their quest for the tag team championship, as Sabrina deals with her doubts about not being able to "win the big one". Meanwhile the Upstarts continue on their slow path toward forgiving past issues and restoring their friendships. And there's a new threat on the horizon as Olympic medalist Camile Cote debuts, and proceeds to destroy everyone in her path.

This was a really focused story, which has not always been the case with Rival Angels. It's nice to see the pacing balance between in-ring action and out-of-ring soap opera continue to improve.

Ultradragon's quest for tag team gold was a great storyline, but Brooke had some excellent moments as well as she had taken on a more serious role in the story. Def Tech's plot was on more of a slow burn during this volume, but there was enough there to keep things interesting.

A new segment at the start of each chapter featuring a page of internet fan commentary was a nice addition, and a decent representation/parody of online wrestling fans.

A Christmas-themed story drawn by Dave Reynolds gave some background insights into Sabrina's relationship with her family.

Rating: 8/10

Star Wars: Han Solo

This was a Christmas present I bought for the Kiddo at Boocup, Kerry Place, Jingan, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Han Solo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2017
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Penciler: Mark Brooks
Inker: Mark Brooks, Dexter Vines
Colorist: Sonia Oback, Matt Milla
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

This exceeded all expectations, in spite of the story being a tiny bit contrived.

Trade paperback collection of a limited series. Taking place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, this has Han recruited by Leia to infiltrate a high-stakes spacecraft race while smuggling several rebel spies, at least one of whom may be a traitor.

What made this great were the original characters introduced for this series, something that can often be a weak spot in these adaptations. In this case the supporting cast was excellent, especially the mysterious space-racing veteran Loo Re Anno, who absolutely steals the show. Several other rival racers are fun characters, and there's also some good interactions with the various rebel spies and operatives that Han encounters.

There's good consistent character development for Han, as well. Nothing shocking, but a lot of little insights in his internal monologue that runs through much of the story.

Chewie and Leia get good moments as well, and the artwork is excellent, with some clever page layouts especially in some of the racing sequences.

This is a fun adventure perfectly suited to Han's character.

Rating: 8.5/10

Bitch Planet: Triple Feature #1

From the stack of comics I bought at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester NH last year.

Title: Bitch Planet: Triple Feature
Issue: 1
Date: June 2017
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Andrew Aydin, Conley Lyons
Artist: Maria Frohlich, Joanna Estep, Craig Yeung
Colorist: Marco D'alfonso
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor:  Lauren Sankovitch
Cover: Valentine De Landro

This is an anthology series set in the world of Bitch Planet, a patriarchal future in which "troublesome and offensive" women are imprisoned on an off-world penitentiary.

In the three stories in this collection, the only part that actually takes place in the Bitch Planet prison is a flashback sequence. Instead, the focus here is life under oppressive patriarchy, and acts of resistance and defiance.

All three stories were powerful, but all of them felt like they could have used a bit more breathing room. I haven't read the Bitch Planet main series (Yet! It's on my list!), so I don't know if there is any crossover of characters, but the lead characters in each of these stories had the potential for her own major plotline.

This is clearly a great companion piece for fans of the main series, but not as good a jumping-in point for new readers. That being said, I did jump in here as a new reader, and it did leave me intrigued enough to want to read more.

Rating: 7.5/10

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

Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora's Galactic Showdown

The Kiddo bought this at our school's recent book fair.

Title: Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora's Galactic Showdown
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2017
Writer: Brandon T. Snider
Artist: Pascale Qualano, Chris Sotomayor

Not a comic. This is a novel for young readers, part of the Mighty Marvel Chapter Books series. While it's a prose story, it is full of color illustrations from the team of Qualano and Sotomayor.

The story involves a mysterious box that belonged to Thanos, but which appears to be keyed so that only Gamora can open it. Gamora wants to find the box in the hopes of furthering her quest to make peace with her past. But her sister, Nebula, is also interested in the box, lured by the possibility of it containing an item of power, and possibly also just out of spite to keep it from her sister.

Gamora's quest brings her into contact with a whole array of Marvel's cosmic characters, from her friends in the Guardians of the Galaxy, to Pip the Troll, the Collector, Captain Marvel, and Adam Warlock. Unfortunately, the effort to cram the book full of cameos detracts a bit from the story. It would have worked perfectly well with just Gamora, Nebula, Warlock (who does have an important role here) and maybe one or two others thrown in as sidekicks.

The bloated cast takes the focus off of Gamora too much, which is unfortunate, because Gamora's inner struggle is actually really interesting. Her search to resolve the conflicting loyalties of her abusive family situation with Thanos and Nebula and her loving (if dysfunctional at times) chosen families of the Guardians and the Infinity Watch is the true conflict in the story. And when it is the focus, the story works really well.

The violence is kept to a toned-down PG level, and some of the emotional issues are a bit overexplained, but the central quest is handled well, and Gamora shines in the parts of the story where she's in the spotlight.

Rating: 7/10

Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman

The Kiddo picked this one out when we visited Barnes & Noble in Middletown RI during our visit to the USA on Christmas break.

Title: Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2017
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey

This is the full-color edition.

When George and Harold's pranks against a mean-spirited retiring teacher escalate to the point where they are both about to flunk the fourth grade, the boys turn to their hypnosis ring. Because that worked so well the first time. Unfortunately, a succession of mishaps results in Miss Ribble turning into exactly the supervillain George and Harold has imagined her as.

Earth's only hope is for Captain Underpants to overcome his one weakness: Spray starch.

This had some funny bits, but was somewhat uneven. I'm also not that big a fan of the hypnosis gimmick, even when totally played for laughs. The plot was about what one would expect, although the new Captain Underpants origin story in comic form that George and Harold create stood out as a pretty amusing bit.

This was entertaining, and my son (age 10) enjoyed it, but neither of us found as laugh-out-loud funny as the Dog Man books (or the earlier Captain Underpants books) have been, and I didn't think it had the heart of the Dog Man stories either.

Entertaining enough, but I have read better by Pilkey.

Rating: 6/10

Star Wars Adventures #1

From last summer's purchases.

Title: Star Wars Adventures
Issue: 1
Date: September 2017
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Derek Charm, Jon Sommariva, Sean Parsons
Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow, Denton J. Tipton, Peter Adrian Behravesh
Cover: Jon Sommariva

The copy I got is the "RI-B" cover variant.

The opening chapters of two stories here, set in the Star Wars universe with an all-ages style.

First up is "Better the Devil You Know" featuring a pre-Force-Awakens Rey, living as a scavenger on Jakku and forced into a situation where she must save her Junkboss, Unkar Plutt from enemies or risk having him replaced by an even worse local mobster. I really loved the art style on this story, especially the cute and fierce interpretation of Rey, who is portrayed as confident and capable even while stuck in the bad situation has was in on Jakku,

The second story featured Emil Graf an explorer traveling through "Wild Space" with a small crew of odball companions. Emil doesn't get much to do in this story, as the bulk of it is a flashback to prequels-era Coruscant and an adventure involving a pickpocket who tries to steal from Obi Wan Kenobi.The flashback story was fun, and the framing sequences did a good job of introducing Emil and his crew with a nice sprinkling of humor.

In the end, I was more interested in reading more of Rey's story, but I did enjoy both.

Rating: 7.5/10

Laird MacGuffin's Treasury

Got this from the artist this past summer.

Title: Laird MacGuffin's Treasury
Date: 2017
Publisher: Drowned Town Press
Writer: E.J. BarnesArtist: E.J. Barnes

Wordless furry fable about a rumor of a treasure in a ruined castle. As the rumor spreads a band of would-be adventurers is gradually assembled and they begin to make their way to the castle, each of them engaging in their own scheming as they go. What they find there is not what any of them expected.

This was cute. The dialogue is all pictures and there is an amusing cast of anthropomorphic animal characters, each with their own personality and motivations. The ending was quite amusing.

Rating: 8/10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #6

Another summer purchase by the Kiddo.

Title: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Issue: 6
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: November 2017
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Emilio Laiso
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Heather Antos
Cover: Phil Noto

We somehow missed getting #5. Here are links to reviews of the rest of this series: Issue #1, Issue #2, Issue #3, Issue #4.

Rogue One concludes at a frantic pace with a desperate running battle to get the Death Star plans off of the planet Scarif and into the hands of the Rebel Alliance. The pacing of the comic captures the frenetic feel of the action in the film while managing to downplay a couple of the plot contrivances that weaken the story.

As with some other Star Wars comics I've read, the medium does not do a very good job with space battles, especially when small panels become necessary to cover all of the plot and dialogue. Lack of page space also hurts some of the ending scenes.

Rogue One has a few really big moments at the very end, and this issue could really have used 3-5 more pages to give them the treatment that they really deserved. Instead, much of the finish (I felt like one scene worked and two failed badly) does not live up to what we saw on the big screen.

Rogue One is a good story that packs its strongest emotional punch in the scenes covered in this issue, and it's an important moment in the overall Star Wars saga. This comic delivers on some of that emotion, but could have done better.

Rating: 5.5/10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #4

Kiddo was buying all Star Wars all the time this past summer!

Title: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Issue: 4
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September 2017
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Emilio Laiso
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Heather Antos
Cover: Phil Noto

The fourth issue of Marvel's adaptation of Rogue One covers some of the film's most iconic lines, including "Rebellions are built on hope!", and the naming of the Rogue One callsign.

Mon Mothma gets a nice scene in this issue, which is cool since she is a character who seems to get overlooked quite a bit. This issue also features Vader, plus a lot of setup for the action that will comprise the last two issues.

The pacing was good, and the art was solid, especially on Jyn's expressions and emotions.

Rating: 6/10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #3

Another of the Kiddo's purchases over the summer.

Title: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Issue: 3
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August 2017
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Pablo Villanelli
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Heather Antos

I reviewed issue #1 here, and issue #2 here.

The third installment of Marvel's adaptation of Rogue One covers the escape from Jedha and ends cliffhanger-style on Eadu.

A lot of the focus in this issue was on the tensions between the characters as hidden agendas come to the forefront and conflicting interests threaten to shatter the tenuous trust that has built up between the group of rebels Jyn Erso has found herself in the company of.

The key scenes here worked better on film because the actors were able to give more subtle emotional cues than it's possible to get in the comic medium, in spite of a valiant effort by artist Pablo Villanelli.

The adaptation remains faithful to the film, but the pacing of this issue and the abrupt cliffhanger made it feel very fragmentary.

Rating: 5/10

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #2

The Kiddo picked up several Star Wars comics at various shops around New England this past summer, including most of the individual issues of Marvel's Rogue One adaptation.

Title: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Issue: 2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2017
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Emilio Laiso, Oscar Bazaldua
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Heather Antos

The second issue of Rogue One covers the action that takes place on Jedha. The main focus of this part of the story is to introduce Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, and Saw Gerrera, and to expose Jyn Erso to the secret message left for her by her father, Galen Erso.

There are some street-level skirmishes, but most of this issue is setup for what is to come.

Jyn looks great throughout this issue, and the art team does good work with Baze and Chirrut as well. The story pacing is handled well, and it felt like it moved along at a comparable rhythm to the film.

This was a well-made adaptation, and it did an effective job with a good story, even if it did not add much for those who had seen the movie.

Rating: 6.5/10

Marvel Legacy #1

I bought this sometime this past summer. I think it was a special discount deal at a comic shop somewhere.

Title: Marvel Legacy
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: November 2017
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Esad Ribic, Steve McNiven, Chris Samnee, Russell Dauterman, Alex Maleev, Ed McGuiness, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Peppe Larraz, Jim Cheung, Daniel Acuna, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Mike Deodato Jr., David Marquez
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Cover: Joe Quesada
Editor:Tom Brevoort, Alanna Smith

This is the introductory special for Marvel's Legacy crossover event/soft reboot. The direction that it's heading in seems to be aimed at bringing some classic Marvel heroes who have been in the background (or "dead in the Marvel Universe") back into the major storylines.

The story opens one million years in Earth's past, and features a kind of Pleistocene superhero crossover between some of the Marvel Universe's best known immortal beings. It was cute, but perhaps played a bit too much for laughs as they tried to get a bunch of personalities across quickly.

Shifting to modern times, the book then goes into prologue mode for a whole bunch of different Legacy plotlines. There isn't much in the way of a common thread. There is a big cosmic threat inbound, and another one awakening on Earth. And several different villains are on quests to seek out sources of power and other mysterious McGuffins.

It was nice to get a quick look at Ironheart and Jane Foster Thor. I hadn't had a chance to read their books and they both seem like a lot of fun.

But the whole thing was terribly disjointed, failing to give more than a few characters any real chance to capture the reader's attention. By the time I was done, I had no idea what this  crossover was about or why it was happening (other than to sell books with lenticular covers), and I can't name a single title in Marvel Legacy that I am interested in reading as a result of having read this.

Rating: 4/10

Errand of Mercy: The Irish Potato Blight And The Good Ship Jamestown

One of the comics I got this summer.

Title: Errand of Mercy: The Irish Potato Blight And The Good Ship Jamestown
Date: April, 2017
Publisher: Massachusetts Historical Society
Writer: J. L. Bell
Artist: Olivia Li
Editor: E. J. Barnes

Eight page b/w minicomic with a color cover. This begins with a general overview of the history of potatoes in Ireland and the potato blight and famine in the mid-1800s. It then goes on to document the response of Irish immigrants in Boston, who organized a relief effort, securing approval for the sending of the USS Jamestown, a navy ship, with a cargo of 800 tons of food and clothing to Cork, Ireland in 1847.

Considering the space limitations of the minicomic format, this book does a nice job of exploring the political complexities involved in mounting the mission of mercy.

This was a good snapshot of a moment in this history of Ireland and of Boston.

Rating: 8/10

Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties

The Kiddo picked this one out at Barnes & Noble in Hyannis MA.

Title: Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: September, 2017
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

The opening origin/recap for this installment of the Dog Man series is a highly amusing parody of Dickens' "Its was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." opening.

From there, the story focuses on the origin of Lil' Petey, the result of Petey's clone machine. Because the clone machine doesn't magically age the clone to adulthood, Petey suddenly finds himself thrust into the role of single parent.

Meanwhile, Dog Man is assigned to guard the dead (and cyber-enhanced) body of Flippy the psychokinetic fish at the Supa Awesome Science Center Over There. Because what could possibly go wrong?

Mayhem and the occasional tender moment follow. Plus some occasional Dickens references.

The Kiddo and I are reading this series in somewhat random order. All of the Dog Man books, this one included, are packed with laughs, and the Kiddo had a blast reading this, even if he knew where things were heading. I though Dog Man & Cat Kid was slightly better on the literary reference front, but this was definitely a solid entry in a series that is really finding its stride.

Rating: 8/10