Wonder Woman

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 Ok, she is now only 23 years old, and wasn't originally made out of clay, but they have kept her essential essence in this series.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.

Why Gail Simone should write Batgirl

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.

I'm back

Hello everyone, I'm back. Apologies for the break in reviews, I was made redundant so did not feel like writing book reviews. So to start off again I've chosen a fun one.

This is the story of a young cowboy who is on a mission to bring his family to justice. Only problem is that being a boy, nobody really takes him seriously. It is a very charming book, the artwork is simple, slightly like Peanuts, but it works. It does make you smile. The interludes, mini western stories can be fun or full of pathos. I personally liked the gun slinging penguin.
This would be great for teenagers, and adults. I can see this being very popular in a high school. The violence means that I'd advise checking it before giving it to younger readers.

I look forward to reading more of this series, and I don't often say that.

A geek's story

A quirky graphic novel, which follows the life of Simon, an illustration student. He also happens to be a complete geek and has friends to match. Life does not go as he expects, and he ends up getting a job as an exhibit in an alien zoo.  

Tune:Vanishing Point is the first volume in a series. It does not really live up to it’s blurb because this book is more about Simons student life and his family, only briefly touching on the alien zoo. I suspect that the 2^nd volume will be more interesting because that looks like it will follow his life as an exhibit.
The characters in the book are likeable, maybe it is because I’m somewhat of a geek that I appreciate where they are coming from. The romance is rather sweet. The art work is similar to a manga style but not enough to alienate those who prefer more traditional graphic novels.

This will probably be appreciated by young adults, there is some swearing and sexual references, so not for children. An decent enough read that makes me want to find out what happens in Volume 2. (If only to find out why the series is called ‘Tune’)

What the Dickens.... Batman?

I thought I’d review something to tie-in with Charles Dickens Centenary. I didn’t want to go the obvious route of a straight adaptation, so I found ‘Batman Noel’. This is basically a retelling of ‘A Christmas carol’ but with characters from the Batman universe. The most interesting idea, and the one that really grabbed me is the Batman is Scrooge. It came as a shock reading it, because Batman’s nearly always pictured as the hero. The author cleverly plays with the readers expectations all the way through, and there are some unexpected moments. I tried to guess who the different ghosts and characters would be in Gotham, I didn’t always get it right. I like books that surprise me and this one did. The characters draw you in and there is an uneasiness throughout the book that Batman may have finally turned too dark.

The artwork is beautiful, breathtaking at times, a painted style that tells a lot of the story for you. Yes, I know graphic novels should do that anyway, but some artworks just do it better.

There’s a bit of bad language in the book, but I suspect some teenagers would love it. Reading groups who don’t do graphic novels would enjoy comparing it with the original ‘Christmas Carol’

A must read.

Baseball story for girls

‘Play Ball’ is all about baseball. Do not let that put you off; the reader does not need that much knowledge of the game to enjoy this graphic novel. It tells the story of 2 sisters who move to a new school, one is your typical boy mad girl, the other is a total tomboy who loves baseball. In America, girls play softball not baseball, I think it’s the same problem that girls’ football used to have. So the tomboy decides to play baseball, against all rules and conventions. In doing so, she makes everybody’s’ lives more difficult.

The artwork is very clear, and is in the form of line drawings. This book did remind me somewhat of the old Bunty style stories, and that is not a bad thing. The non-colour aspect could put some younger readers off the book.

This is an equality story that also touches upon the value of teams and what happens when parents split up. So if you want a girl power story for teenagers then this is the graphic novel to read. It could be aimed at younger readers but there is the odd mild bad language that could upset parents. I’m not sure whether boys would like it, but it could be a good reading group book to get young people talking about the issues it touches.