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Read Last Week (And The One Before!)

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Lorraine Posted in Read Last Week .

Read in July 01

Jessica Jones: Alias, Volume 1 – Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos. I’ve been wanting to read this series for years, mostly because I love David Mack’s artwork and he was the cover artist. Going into it, I didn’t know much about Jessica Jones (I still haven’t watched the TV adaptation), but that didn’t matter because she’s awesome, and conflicted, and the maker of bad choices, and a good person who tries to do the right thing, and so, so brilliant. She reminded me a bit of Tara Chace from Queen & Country, which is excellent because it’s still rare that women are allowed to be messed up and kick-ass at the same time. To summarise – Jessica Jones: Alias is brilliant and you should read it.
Jessica Jones: Alias, Volume 2 – Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos. Not as strong as the first volume but still excellent.
Jessica Jones: Alias, Volume 3 – Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos. I would really like volume four now, please!
Two Brothers – Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba. The underlying story of this is probably quite good, and I’m tempted to read the original novel, but this was a messy, disjointed retelling that just didn’t do it for me.

Read in July 02

The Definitive Deadpool – Fabian Nicieza et. al. This filled in some gaps in Deadpool’s background for me but it was an uneven volume. Some brilliant stuff in here, some mediocre, but worth a read overall.
Deadpool, Volume 1: Millionaire With A Mouth – Gerry Duggan & Mike Hawthorne. I have absolutely no idea how we got to the status quo of this volume, with Deadpool bankrolling The Avengers and being popular with the public. And I’m not sure how I feel about it. Deadpool himself is good (though he’s married – what??), but Team Deadpool aka Heroes For Hire are not so good. Still, I’m willing to see where Duggan is going with this.
The Definitive Daredevil – Stan Lee et. al. Too many women die in this to provide Daredevil with some man pain, but generally a good overview of the character.
Paper Girls, Volume 1 – Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang & Matthew Wilson. A fun combination of 1980s girl power and sci-fi. I’m so interested to see where this story goes!

Read in July 03

Descender, Volume 1: Tin Stars – Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen. You guys, this is so good. Tim-21 was designed to be a companion to a human child in a far-flung human colony. When disaster strikes the colony, Tim-21 sleeps for a long time, waking up to a universe where robots are outlawed and he is being hunted. Loved it!
Deadpool, Volume 2: End of an Error – Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn & Scott Koblish. Still not digging Team Deadpool, but Deadpool 2099 has quite a lot of potential.
Wolf, Volume 1: Blood and Magic – Ales Kot & Lee Loughridge. There’s an underlying story in this that could be quite good. Sadly, for me it was drowned out by Ales Kot’s issues with women. There are three female characters in Wolf. One is a ghost with almost no lines, one is a child who also happens to be the anti-christ and who feels it necessary to tell us that she’s on her period, and the third is a vampire who only exists so that we can all suffer through an incredibly poor taste side-story that reveals that she was turned while on her period and so now she’s always on her period. Have I said period too much? Yep. Thanks, Ales Kot.
Harley Quinn and Power Girl – Amanda Conner & Stephane Roux. I have mixed feelings about this one. It’s not as funny as it thinks it is, but it does have fun moments. It addresses the ridiculousness of a boob window in a costume, but doesn’t change the costume design (there are probably continuity reasons for this, but given some of the stuff that happens in this, having Harley and Kara change costumes would hardly have raised an eyebrow). It attempts to parody sexist 70s sci-fi, but ends up being sexist itself. Yeah, mixed feelings.

Read in April 2015 (Catch Up Post!)

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Lorraine Posted in Read This Month .

Star Trek, Section 31: Disavowed – David Mack. Look, I’m still bitter that they broke Bashir and Ezri up in the continuation novels, so this was a difficult one for my broken shipper heart.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel – Ransom Riggs & Cassandra Jean. I thought that this was a completely unsuccessful adaptation. One of the problems was that the art just didn’t suit the magical-realism tone of the story.
John Constantine, Hellblazer: The Family Man – Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison et. al. A mish-mash of storylines, some of which are deliciously creepy.
Alice-Miranda in Paris – Jacqueline Harvey. I started reading the Alice-Miranda books because of the boarding school setting, but I enjoy the ones set elsewhere just as much, and it’s all because of the charming whirlwind that is Alice-Miranda herself. She’s so joyful and earnest, which is delightful to read.
Alice-Miranda Shows the Way – Jacqueline Harvey. See above.

All-New X-Men, Volume 6: The Ultimate Adventure – Brian Michael Bendis & Mahmud Asrar. So, I clearly need more Miles Morales in my life. Still less X-23 though.
The Uncanny X-Men: Legacy of the Lost – Chris Claremont et. al. The beginning of the relationship between Storm and Forge, plus random alien hijinks. I love these little reprint volumes.
My Real Children – Jo Walton. This was wonderful. The split timeline narrative mixed historical fiction, feminism, LGBT issues and brilliant characters into a book that was hard to put down. I really recommend this one!
Mr Mac and Me – Esther Freud. I work in Glasgow, so a novel about Charles Rennie Mackintosh was bound to draw my attention. Unfortunately, I struggled with this one. I found the writing a bit dry which made it hard to sympathise with the characters. The main character, a boy who befriends ‘Mac’, was the worst affected which didn’t work for me as the story is told from his point of view. Basically, I’d skip it if I were you.
Foxglove Summer – Ben Aaronovitch. These books continue to be great urban fantasy, and I recommend them unreservedly to anyone who’s a fan of that genre. Taking Peter out of his usual stomping grounds of London worked really well, and the new supporting characters were a joy.