Guts

Bought at the Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Guts
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2019
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: Jesse Post
Editor: Cassandra Pelham Fulton

This is the third of Raina Telgemeier autobiographical series. Raina starts a difficult year in the fifth grade with what at first seems like a bad stomach flu. But a series of recurring stomach problems and anxiety attacks make an already stressful school year terrifying. As the year goes on, Raina learns some ways to face her fears and discovers that she isn't as alone as she thought she was.

Raina Telgemeier's brilliance is her ability to surprise the reader without going to extremes. Her stories are grounded in real interactions but still loaded with plot twists and turns.

This story covers issues around mental health and chronic illness in ways that will resonate with readers, and it manages that with humor and heart.

Rating: 9/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball

Bought at the Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China.

Title: Diary fo a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball
Publisher: Amulet Books (a division of Abrams; series website at wimpykid.com)
Date: 2019
Writer: Jeff Kinney
Artist: Jeff Kinney

In some ways I felt like this was back on track for Jeff Kinney. The jokes were genuinely funny, as the Heffleys inherit some money and attempt to carry out a big home improvement project. From do-it-yourself to dealing with contractors, to thoughts of possibly moving and dealing with realtors and movers, Kinney applies Murphy's Law in some very creative and amusing ways.

I also liked the fact that Greg was not entirely intolerable in this one. He had some decent moments, including a really good scene with Rowley. I also liked the fact that the misery (and there was plenty to go around) was spread pretty evenly among the family members.

The ending was a bit of a disappointment, as the author chose the "reset button" approach, which was the least interesting of all possible endings. Still, I was able to enjoy this one all the way through, and there were some truly creatively hilarious moments.

Rating: 6.5/10

Rube Goldberg: Inventions

 From the faculty room book exchange shelf at my school.

Title: Rube Goldberg: Inventions
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: 2000
Writer: Maynard Frank Wolfe, Rube Goldberg
Artist: Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg is one of those artists that many people have an idea of their work without ever having actually seen any of it. At a D&D game recently, I elaborated on the "Dwarves are art deco and and elves are art nouveau" meme by adding, "and gnomes are Rube Goldberg". My crew of geeks got exactly what I meant, even though they'd probably never read an actual Rube Goldberg comic strip. Goldberg is iconic. The classic "Rube Goldberg Machine" is a device that does a simple task in the most complicated manner possible, and it has become a fixture of school competitions around the world.

Goldberg wrote and drew his The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts strip for an incredible fifty years from 1914 to 1964. He was a prolific artist with many other published comic strip, some of which rivaled his Inventions in longevity.

This book provides a nice biography of Goldberg, introduces his early and non-Inventions work, and the gives a wide selection of the Inventions cartoons grouped around general themes.

While the style gets a little repetitive, there are some brilliant details, featuring fantastical animals, pop culture and political satire, and just utter ridiculousness to be found throughout the drawings.

Goldberg's references to concepts like suicide and homelessness come of as a bit insensitive by current standards, but a lot of the political humor on topics like the stock market are still spot-on.

This was a nice overview and a good introduction to the works of a artist who is well known by reputation, but not actually read as often as when his work was a fixture of the newspapers.

Rating: 7/10

Dog Man: Fetch-22

The Kiddo bought this at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Dog Man: Fetch-22
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: September, 2019
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

Li'l Petey makes a discovery about the Supa Brain Dots that had turned Flippy the bionic fish evil, and it leads to Flippy's release from Fish Jail, as well as a recall of Supa Brain Dots. Unfortunately, with Dog Man in charge of the recall, things get rapidly out of control, and the city is soon being menaced by 22 psychokinetic tadpoles, a giant tree monster (Barky McTreeface!) and a very angry TV gameshow fairy who is out to make sure that everything is fair. By destroying everything.

There were plenty of good literary and pop culture references, and some good one-liners here. The plot felt a bit like a retread of the previous stories, though. Not much new ground was covered here, although Petey and Li'l Petey had some really good moments together.

Entertaining, but leaned a bit too heavily on previous plot beats.

Rating: 6/10

The Digital Pools #1

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Digital Pools
Issue: 1
Date: 2020
Publisher: DW Comics
Writer: Alex Robnett
Artist: Matt Stevens

Cyberpunk noir set in 2035 with Boston detectives investigating a crime that took place in virtual reality space. The mystery plays out in pieces, with a flashback sequence that starts things off. The opening is a bit hard to follow, but by the end of the issue I had a pretty good grasp on who the characters were, how the cyberpunk tech worked, and where things were going. There was some good foreshadowing of a larger conspiracy that may have the newly established and underbudgeted Boston virtual crimes unit in way over their heads.

An extended fight scene early on seemed unnecessary as there wasn't much reason given for it, and the way it played out didn't make a lot of sense, but it worked well in terms of the visuals of the action, which bodes well for action sequences as the series continues.

Of the characters, the one that really stood out was Rico Teller, a disabled veteran who works as a consultant on virtual crimes. We got a little bit of his backstory, and it will be interesting to see more.

I had to read this a couple of times to get pick up on everything that was going on, as the story doesn't immediately take the time to explain everything, but what it did give was interesting enough to make me to know more.

Good start to a story that has a lot of potential.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Crude Knight #4

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #4
Date: 2020
Publisher: Ryan Little / Plastic Sword Press (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

The zombie-like Avalon warriors of Merlin have control of the oil fields are besieging Jonathan's family home as they prepare for a final assault.

Much of this issue is setup for that upcoming final battle, but there is some good character development and a bit of extra backstory revealed by Jonathan and his father.

There is also a huge plot twist, with some excellent visuals and what is sure to be a gigantic impact on the conclusion of the story.

The story continues to be relatively contained and straightforward, and the pacing never lets up. This definitely had me excited to see how things will go down in the conclusion.

Rating: 8/10

The Crude Knight #3

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #3
Date: 2019
Publisher: Ryan Little / Plastic Sword Press (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

Merlin's rapidly-growing force has taken control of the Avalon Oil Fields while Jonathan, Maria, and their forces try to find a an effective way to attack. A contest of champions sees Maria take on the newly-reborn Sir Kay, but that only leads to further mayhem, and Merlin continues to hold the upper hand.

First of all, the action and fight scenes in this continue to be great, especially in Maria's fight with Sir Kay.

There is a thematic element here of persistence, the need to keep attacking and keep fighting in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and the theme gets pushed hard, especially in dialogue directed at Jonathan, who seem less sure, but may also be a bit more flexible in his thinking.

This does come somewhat at the expense of explanation of what Jonathan's father's actual strategy is here. The contest of champions is never really explained. What does either side gain if they win? It's not clear. It it just a setup to give Jonathan another chance at pulling the sword from the stone?

Likewise Merlin's dialogue shows a lot of righteous rage, but doesn't give much idea of exactly what his end-goal in all of this is.

This is where the very fast pacing of the story becomes, well, a double-edged sword. This was an enjoyable read with lots of fun action, but could have used a step back to make everyone's motivations a bit more clear.

Rating: 7/10

The Crude Knight #1

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #1 (also includes #2)
Date: 2018
Publisher: Ryan Little (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

The Arthurian saga plays out in modern times on the Avalon Oil field, where every thirty years the sword Excalibur appears and must be melted down and thrown back into the oil to prevent the forces of Avalon from being unleashed on the world.

The heir to the Avalon oil empire is Jonathan Moore, capable, but a bit of a slacker. He's been kept in the dark about the family secrets, but things escalate quickly once the sword reappears and the first worker who approaches the weapon becomes possessed by the spirit of Merlin Ambrosius.

The concept here is clever, and the pacing of the story is great. Artist Yusuf Idris does a nice job with the action scenes, which quickly take on a zombie-apocalypse vibe as the Avalon oil turns anyone who touches it into a warrior of Avalon.

Jonathan's family has an army of hired mercenaries, but they are being quickly overrun, and Jonathan's friend Maria seems to be the only person capable of holding things together. Jonathan's oil-baron father provides some backstory but little guidance except for wanting Jonathan to pull the sword from the stone.

I would have liked to see more Arthurian lore incorporated into this, but the story still has time for that. This issue, which is really the first two issues of the story as a result of the Kickstarter stretch goal meeting its mark, does an excellent job of getting the story off to a fast start and never letting up on the action.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans, Keith Malkowski
Colorist: Aaron Daly

The Upstarts reunite as "Ultragirl" Sabrina Mancini returns to Rival Angels after her time in Japan. She returns just a Brooke gets booted out of Hell's Belles and saves the rest of the Upstarts from a beatdown. But even with the possibility of Brooke and Sabrina mending the rift between them, the Upstarts' show of unity with prove to be fleeting.

While the backstage soap opera was still a big part of this volume, the wrestling was the focus, particularly the build to the Bad Blood PPV event. This volume gave the best overview of the Rival Angels federation that we've seen so far, and the continuity and flow of many different subplots and storylines came together very nicely.

The ending was less directly focused on the Upstarts than it could have been, but it still marked a big moment for Rival Angels, and there was plenty of intriguing setup for the continuing story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Batman: White Knight

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Place Mall, Shanghai, China in March of 2020.

Title: Batman: White Knight
Date: October, 2018
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Sean Murphy
Artist: Sean Murphy
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Nybakken, Maggie Howell
Cover: Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth

The basic idea here is that the Joker is "cured", and, as Jack Napier, embarks on a political and public opinion campaign to turn Gotham City against the Batman. Lots of complications happen, and Gotham's most deadly enemies end up having to work together to save the city.

I found the opening bit problematic to a certain extent, although some of that was the context in which I'm reading it, as opposed to when it was written. Jack Napier is portrayed as "white knighting" to exploit real problems of police brutality against minorities for his cause, but some of the dialogue, particularly Joker's use of "I can't breathe" felt uncomfortably like appropriation on the part of the story itself.

As the story moves away from those themes with the further development of the plot, it becomes a bit more of a traditional (if still alternate-universe) Batman story. The plot twists are great, involving two Harley Quinns, the disappearance of Jason Todd, the Wayne family's connections to Baron Von Fries, and just about every villain in the Batman's rogues gallery. The story also provides a lot of closure and resolution for this universe's version of Gotham City.

In some sense, the examination of the Batman's relationship with the Joker was the weakest part of this, covering little in the way of new ground, and with some of Joker's dialogue coming off as closer to the version of the Joker from The Lego Batman Movie than the author probably intended.

That being said, the handling of Harley Quinn was awesome, as was the relationship between Bruce, Barbara, Dick, and Alfred. Commissioner Gordon also had a great role, conflicted by the compromises he has made allowing the Batman to operate outside the law, but with unofficial police sanction.

The author's focus on the various Batmobiles was a nice bit of fanservice, and a light touch in a book that did a good job of being serious, but not to the point of excess.

After the shaky start, this won me over in the end with good storytelling.

Rating: 7.5/10