Yay, another Wonder Woman book. I will admit that out of all of the New 52 this series is my favourite. Ok, she is now only 23 years old, and wasn't originally made out of clay, but they have kept her essential essence in this series.
In the first volume she found out that she was a daughter of Zeus and now has an interesting family of gods. In 'Wonder Woman: Guts' she has to save a friend who has been kidnapped by Hades. Cue a roadtrip with many gods and lots of action scenes.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I like te Greek mythology and this story delievers it in spades. There's political intrigue and lots of great character stuff. It makes Wonder Woman into a really cool herorine, someone people can look up to again. Not the Wonder Woman portrayed in the Justice League, here she is in control all the time.
This would be ok for high schools, especially having a strong female character as the lead. Reading groups would enjoy talking about the Greek mytholog and how it has been changed to fit the comic. Finally, I would really recommend this book, and as you can see from this blog, it's rare that I do that.
'Billy Fog and the Gift of Trouble Sight' is a strange book, hard to classify. It tells the story of a little boy who wants to resurrect his dead cat. To do this he talks to ghosts who have gory pasts. There are also poems in this book about murderers and other things. The illustrations are all very Tim Burton, if he didn't have to worry about age rating. There's information sections too, all illustrated, in the style of a vintage magazine about the ghosts and gory happenenings.
This is a very dark, beautiful book. I can't say graphic novel because there is more to it than that. The content is quite disturbing, and that did surprise me. Maybe, I don't read enough gothic books to truely appreciate it. The illustrations are stunning, even if the subject matter might not be my first choice.
This would be a good reading group book because of the different methods of storytelling. It may be suitable for older teenagers, who would probably love it. I would suggest checking the book for content before putting it in a school library or the teenage section of a public library.
I was shocked with everybody else when Gail Simone was temporarily taken off Batgirl. She is one of the few comics writers that I will read anything that she writes.This book alone proves why she should continue to keep the job.
In the New 52, Barbara Gordon can walk again and is no longer Oracle. This is not as bad as it sounds, according to the new 52 only 3 years has passed since she lost her ability to walk. I, personally, look at it as an alternative time line story to make sense of it all. Anyway, on to the review.
The 2nd volume in this run Batgirl: Knightfall Descends starts with a flashback that tells you all you need to know to read this particular story. Don't worry if you haven't read Vol. 1, you don't need to. Barbara has to face her past and start to cope with the fact that she can walk again. There are some truely great character moments, and you really feel for Barbara. There's a couple of interesting bad guys, both old and new. The artwork is decent, and helps tell the story. This is one of those books that is hard to review without giving spoilers. However, if you always wondered what happened after 'The Killing Joke' read this book.
I think teenagers and above would like this, especially girls. It's great to have a strong female role model written by a woman, and that is rare in comics these days. A very good read, but warning, it does end on a cliffhanger.
