Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal

Bought at the Eslite main store, Taipei, Taiwan, June 2019.

Title: Ms. Marvel
Issue: Volume 1: No Normal
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2018
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Sana Amanat, Devin Lewis

Jersey City teenager Kamala Khan gains a set of shapeshifting powers and begins figuring out the whole superhero thing.

This is, in many ways, a fairly straightforward superhero origin story, with Kamala Khan as an updated Peter Parker, trying to do good in the world while she deals with the consequences of her new abilities and her sudden status as the mysterious neighborhood hero.

It's the details that make this work. The multifaceted supporting cast is terrific, and the main character is relatable. There are plenty of interesting bits of dialogue and interactions taking place between the super-heroics, and the book has a sly sense of humor and self-awareness. Having worked in Jersey City for four years, I also appreciated the use of the setting.

The only area I felt could have been a bit stronger in this volume was the villain, but he will hopefully get some more development as the story continues.

Rating: 8.5/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

On our trip this past summer, we ended up buying two Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. This one was purchased at the Eslite main store (open 24 hours!) in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
Publisher: Puffin Books (a division of Penguin; series website at wimpykid.com)
Date: 2016
Writer: Jeff Kinney
Artist: Jeff Kinney

This is the British edition, featuring terms like "petrol" in the otherwise American setting.

Family road trip! Greg Heffley's mom, inspired by a family activities magazine, packs up the whole family in the minivan, with the (barely held together by duct tape) boat in tow, and they are off to seek out adventures, complete with packed "Mom Meals" so they can

There are some cute touches: funny parodies of Captain Underpants and Choose-Your-Own adventure books, and an appearance by Flat Stanley, and author/artist puts together some genuinely funny sequences of cascading chains of small events that lead to complete disasters.

That being said, an awful lot of the humor is just based on members of the family being jerks to each other, and occasionally to strangers. The story also really does a thorough job of sucking the joy out of travel, which was disappointing to someone like me, who always enjoys a good road trip.
avoid having any, um fun really, but Mom is actually trying to avoid fast food.

I get it. It's easier to make up misfortune to laugh at, but the continuous bad attitudes and bad decisions, in spite of the funny moments made this a chore to get through.

The Kiddo (age 11, and grade 5) liked this a lot better than I did, but fortunately, the Kiddo also enjoys family travel a lot more than Greg Heffley does.

Rating: 4/10

Ghosts

The last graphic novel from the four-book boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Ghosts
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: Jenny Staley
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Of the four Raina Telgemeier graphic novels in the boxed set we got, this was the only one that involved supernatural elements. Catrina's family has moved from southern California to the foggy northern coastal town of Bahia de la Luna, where they hope the air quality will be better for Catrina's sister Maya, who has cystic fibrosis.

They soon meet a boy who runs the local ghost tour, followed by an encounter with real ghosts. Fearing for her sister's safety, Catrina tries to shut the supernatural nature of the town out of her life any way she can, but as Dia de los Muertos approaches, Catrina must find understanding with both the visiting spirits and her sister.

There are some moments of atmospheric creepiness to this story, but the ghosts are portrayed primarily as joyful beings, and their joy permeates the story, bringing light to the worries that Catrina has about her sister's future and her own place in their new home.

This had the strongest  plot of the four Telgemeier books, and her interpretation of the ghosts themselves was clever and fun. There were great touches of humor, beautiful landscapes, and some powerful emotional scenes.

Rating: 9/10

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

Drama

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

Title: Drama
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2012
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Gurihiru
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

The story follows the planning and staging of a middle school's musical production through the eyes of Callie, who is in charge of set design on the stage crew. Callie finds herself in the midst of a bunch of romantic issues and relationship dramas even as she works to overcome the obstacles that the production is encountering along the way.

She also makes new friends, learns a lot about the friends she has, and shares her love for musical theater with everyone.

And this book shares the author's love for musical theater with the audience beautifully. There is also plenty of detail on how things work backstage at a school theater production. Much as I learned a lot about dentistry reading Smile (see the previous review), I felt like I learned quite a bit about the workings of the stage crew reading this.

The characters were entertaining, and the representation of gay characters in the story was great. The romantic elements felt realistic, and there was plenty of humor.

Rating: 8/10

Smile

We bought a boxed set of Raina Telgemeier's graphic novels at the Eslite main store, Taipei's famous 24-hour bookstore. This book was required summer reading for the Kiddo, and I read it with him.

Title: Smile
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2010
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Stephanie Yue
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Sixth grader Raina is worried about getting braces, but the situation gets a lot worse when she breaks two teeth in an accident. The story, a memoir of the author's childhood in late 80s/early 90s San Francisco, takes place over the following four years of dental procedures interspersed with middle and high school social drama.

This was a charming story with a very sympathetic main character, tons of insightful details, and a sprinkling of history and nostalgia. Raina is easy to cheer for, and her experiences felt very real.

I also learned quite a bit about dentistry through this, and it resonated with my own orthodontic adventures as a teenager, which like Raina's were of above-average complexity (hers were certainly more extreme than mine, though!).

This is a story that leaves a good feeling but has enough depth to get you thinking a bit.

Rating: 8.5/10