Book Reviews

  • Minor Threats Vol. 1

    Minor Threats Vol. 1

    Author:
    Patton Oswalt
    Rating:
    4
    / 5
    Formats: ,

    Favorite Quote
    “…it’s not like this can get any weirder.”

    My Thoughts
    This was a solid book. I liked the art. I liked the characters. I liked the story, but it was very chaotic and hard to follow at points. At times there were inner monologues that were placed on the page with a lot of action, making me have to read the monologue separately, then double back and read the action text to follow what’s going on. It’s definitely not a perfect book, but it does have a lot going for it and I may check out the second volume if it comes out.

  • Man Goat & the Bunnyman: Green Eggs & Blam!

    Man Goat & the Bunnyman: Green Eggs & Blam!

    Author:
    Joe Brusha
    Rating:
    4
    / 5
    Formats: ,

    We actually get to see the origins of Bunnyman in this volume, where our adventurers are doing their normal cryptid hunting until visitors from a different dimension get involved. I didn’t enjoy this volume as much as I enjoyed the previous one, but I still really liked it overall. The artwork and the story were great. The jokes sometimes hit and sometimes didn’t, just like in the first volume, but this time you kinda understand the humor each character has by the time at this point, and I felt the big reveals were well timed but pretty predictable. Not sure how much I liked the Spring 2023 Special being tacked on at the end of the story, but I guess that’s one way to get your characters out to your audience. Overall, it was more the same, but with inter-dimensional characters this time around.

  • Houses of the Unholy

    Houses of the Unholy

    Author:
    Ed Brubaker
    Rating:
    4.5
    / 5
    Formats: ,

    It’s been so long since I’ve read an Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips team-up that I pretty much devoured this after I bought it. This was a great find by another Brubaker – Phillips fan in my local comic book shop, “Houses of the Unholy” tells the story about a cult that is gaining resurgence and a woman that is connected to the same cult from the “Santanic Panic” days of the 1980s. I felt like this story kept you on your toes while you were reading it. You didn’t know if something was true or not because you couldn’t tell if you could actually trust the characters in the story for the longest time. But I loved every part of this story – from the artwork to the action to the character lines – EXCEPT for the ending. I felt the ending dropped off without any real resolution and I was really disappointed by that. I have no idea if that was the actual intention of the team when they went into to make this together, but I felt let down at the end. But up until that point, it’s damn near perfect and reminds me so much of the “Reckless” series – another Brubaker – Phillips teamup that I very much enjoy and highly recommend.

  • You Must Take Part In Revolution

    You Must Take Part In Revolution

    Author:
    Badiucao
    Rating:
    4
    / 5
    Formats: ,

    My Thoughts
    I read this for my Graphic Novel Book Club at my local comic book store. It’s the first book by Badiuco – an artist and activist currently living in exile in Australia and Melissa Chan – a foreign correspondant. For the positives, I liked the artwork in the book. It felt very film noir with the black and white images with some yellow or red as accents. The yellow and red come into use to symbolize various things depending on the page, but I loved how it could go from being just a subtle accent color to expressing chaos, violence, loneliness, and the feeling of being watched. What I didn’t like was the pacing of the story. The time jumps were awkward, the changing of scenes between characters was disjointed, and there were times it read more like an article from a newspaper than a novel or comic book. I’m going to put this under “First Book Syndrome” where this team-up is working together for the first time and hasn’t figured out how to mesh quite well yet. But I have a feeling once they do, it will be a great story to enjoy.

  • Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

    Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

    Author:
    Grady Hendrix
    Rating:
    5
    / 5
    Formats:

    This book was incredible! It’s a look into maternity houses during post-WWII American and how people viewed unwed mothers during that time. Grady always puts his horror spin on things, but this one felt more serious than his other books. And after reading his Acknowledgments, it totally makes sense. I did feel like the book started off pretty slow, but once it picked up it was hard to put down. But I think the slowness of the book at the start was on purpose. He wanted us to know how the lead character felt in this new strange place filled with other pregnant girls that were complete strangers to her. But I really enjoyed how they ended up banding together and being there for each other. This is a definite read if you’ve read any of the author’s previous books. And it’s a read for those that want some history with their horror – especially since it feels a little too real at times.

  • Tomie

    Tomie

    Author:
    Junji Ito
    Rating:
    5
    / 5
    Formats: ,

    I’ve been waiting to read this one for a really long time! Tomie is a Junji Ito classic that I’ve heard nothing but good things about that definitely lived up to the hype. It’s a set of stories about a girl that gets killed but comes back to life completely healed and the reactions of those around her to these events. The art work as usual is fantastic and shows the gruesome deaths and the haggard faces of those affected in great detail. Definitely not a book for the squeamish, Tomie is a must read for fans of manga horror.

  • Thin Is The Skin

    Thin Is The Skin

    Author:
    PJ Burgy
    Rating:
    5
    / 5
    Formats:

    Favorite Quote
    “Don’t go into the deep dark woods…”

    My Thoughts
    So full disclosure, I’m friends with the author and have been friends with the author since we were in middle school. But PJ wanted me to give an honest review of this book, and I will keep my promise of that. Okay, so with that out of the way, I loved every minute of this book had the hardest time putting it down every night! This book is fantastic! The mystery surrounding the family was well paced and believable. The reveals were great and kept you on your toes. The mystery of certain characters was so well done! I’m really glad I had the chance to read this! And I’m so proud of PJ’s success with the popularity of this title! I can’t wait to read what you have coming up next.

  • The River Has Roots

    The River Has Roots

    Author:
    Amal El-Mohtar
    Rating:
    3
    / 5
    Formats:

    My Thoughts
    I had a hard time understanding what all was going on in this story. I get how the “magic” of the world can change things for the better or the worse. And I understand how access to the other world worked. But I had a hard time following what was going on. There was a lot of poetry happening in the text, so that may have been why I couldn’t keep up with things since I have the same problem with poems. But I liked the bond the sisters had, and I liked the ending, but the story itself it was really hard to follow. I think the only thing I really liked was how illustrated the book was. This definitely is what comes to mind for me when I think of an illustrated novel. Outside of that, I don’t think I’ll read this one again.