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June 27
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Jace
gave
 
to:
She-Hulk Vol. 2: Superhuman Law (Paperback)
by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo, Paul Pelletier
bookshelves:
comics
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Jace said:
"She-Hulk has long been one of my favorite superheroes since she teamed up with the Fantastic Four in the mid-80's. Although she's relatively underutilized, I've always found her to be an iconic character for a number of reasons: She's smart. She's a ...more
She-Hulk has long been one of my favorite superheroes since she teamed up with the Fantastic Four in the mid-80's. Although she's relatively underutilized, I've always found her to be an iconic character for a number of reasons: She's smart. She's a lawyer. She's funny. She's got great hair. And she's always seemed to be supported by a number of talented writers who know how to have fun, namely John Byrne and the late Steve Gerber.
This SHE-HULK series was launched about 10 years after her last comic was cancelled, and it was good to see her again in all her glory. Much of her new-found success is due to Dan Slott's talent as a writer. Going back to her John Byrne roots, this She-Hulk incarnation features humorous stories and a jade green giantess who delivers some great quips. Slott uses She-Hulk's legal career to the fullest and assigns her to a law firm which handles superhuman legal cases. This focus on courtroom drama makes for a number of funny situations and allows Slott to tell a stories that wouldn't normally fit the standard "superhero action comic" mold. This volume features a number of separate storylines which stand on their own but also weave together nicely to create an evolving narrative of She-Hulk's life and development. These stories are highly accessible, which makes them a great read for anyone unfamiliar with comic books or the world of the Marvel Universe. However, for the seasoned reader, Slott manages to add plenty of in-jokes and familiar faces [I loved the scene where the Thing single-handedly helps She-Hulk move into her new apartment]. Another fun gimmick of this book is that in the court of law, past comic book issues are admissible as evidence, so the She-Hulk's firm keeps a comic collector on its payroll. It's humorous ideas like this that make SHE-HULK worth reading.
The illustrations in these issues are divided between two separate artists: Juan Bobillo and Paul Pelletier. Bobillo's depictions are fun, cartoony, and imaginative, but they also lack depth and detail. As a result, many characters end up with stumps instead of hands and background characters and objects are rendered as amorphous blobs. Another complaint is that he draws She-Hulk a bit on the short and chubby side while giving her a tiny, circular head that looks like a lollypop on her massive frame. Personally, I was not impressed by his artwork, but I do give him credit for being stylized and...unique. Pelletier's drawings are done in the classic superhero style and don't really stand out from the crowd, but they are extremely well-done and highly detailed. Personally, I think they suit She-Hulk a little better, but in the end it's really a personal thing.
SHE-HULK volumes 1 and 2 are both humorous and intriguing books and make for concise, self-contained reads. In a comic book world dominated by CIVIL WARs and SECRET INVASIONs and INFINITE and FINAL CRISES, the irreverent adventures in SHE-HULK are a very welcome breath of fresh air. ...less
"
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Jace
gave
to:
She-Hulk Vol. 1: Single Green Female (Paperback)
by Dan Slott, Juan Bobillo
bookshelves:
comics
|
my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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| |
read in May, 2008
Jace said:
"She-Hulk has long been one of my favorite superheroes since she teamed up with the Fantastic Four in the mid-80's. Although she's relatively underutilized, I've always found her to be an iconic character for a number of reasons: She's smart. She's a ...more
She-Hulk has long been one of my favorite superheroes since she teamed up with the Fantastic Four in the mid-80's. Although she's relatively underutilized, I've always found her to be an iconic character for a number of reasons: She's smart. She's a lawyer. She's funny. She's got great hair. And she's always seemed to be supported by a number of talented writers who know how to have fun, namely John Byrne and the late Steve Gerber.
This SHE-HULK series was launched about 10 years after her last comic was cancelled, and it was good to see her again in all her glory. Much of her new-found success is due to Dan Slott's talent as a writer. Going back to her John Byrne roots, this She-Hulk incarnation features humorous stories and a jade green giantess who delivers some great quips. Slott uses She-Hulk's legal career to the fullest and assigns her to a law firm which handles superhuman legal cases. This focus on courtroom drama makes for a number of funny situations and allows Slott to tell a stories that wouldn't normally fit the standard "superhero action comic" mold. This volume features a number of separate storylines which stand on their own but also weave together nicely to create an evolving narrative of She-Hulk's life and development. These stories are highly accessible, which makes them a great read for anyone unfamiliar with comic books or the world of the Marvel Universe. However, for the seasoned reader, Slott manages to add plenty of in-jokes and familiar faces [I loved the scene where the Thing single-handedly helps She-Hulk move into her new apartment]. Another fun gimmick of this book is that in the court of law, past comic book issues are admissible as evidence, so the She-Hulk's firm keeps a comic collector on its payroll. It's humorous ideas like this that make SHE-HULK worth reading.
The illustrations in these issues are divided between two separate artists: Juan Bobillo and Paul Pelletier. Bobillo's depictions are fun, cartoony, and imaginative, but they also lack depth and detail. As a result, many characters end up with stumps instead of hands and background characters and objects are rendered as amorphous blobs. Another complaint is that he draws She-Hulk a bit on the short and chubby side while giving her a tiny, circular head that looks like a lollypop on her massive frame. Personally, I was not impressed by his artwork, but I do give him credit for being stylized and...unique. Pelletier's drawings are done in the classic superhero style and don't really stand out from the crowd, but they are extremely well-done and highly detailed. Personally, I think they suit She-Hulk a little better, but in the end it's really a personal thing.
SHE-HULK volumes 1 and 2 are both humorous and intriguing books and make for concise, self-contained reads. In a comic book world dominated by CIVIL WARs and SECRET INVASIONs and INFINITE and FINAL CRISES, the irreverent adventures in SHE-HULK are a very welcome breath of fresh air.
...less
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Jace
gave
to:
Top Ten (Book 1)
by Alan Moore
bookshelves:
comics
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended for: fans of comics, cops
read in March, 2008
Jace said:
"This isn't so much a review as it is a list of reasons why I loved this book in the event I ever get retrograde amnesia and forget. With Top Ten, Alan Moore once again reminds us why he is quite possibly the greatest comic book writer, living ...more
This isn't so much a review as it is a list of reasons why I loved this book in the event I ever get retrograde amnesia and forget. With Top Ten, Alan Moore once again reminds us why he is quite possibly the greatest comic book writer, living or dead.
The multiple plots are engrossing, entertaining, and masterfully woven together. The writing is funny, sincere, and dramatic but never labored or hokey. Moore does a great job lampooning the convenions of typical comic book stories, such as the rebirth/cloning/resurrection of a dead hero and the multi-issue secret/crisis/infinity/cosmic war which results in the resetting of an entire universe and/or timeline. Great stuff. Where the book really shined for me were the characters. There are a dozen or so main-ish characters whom we get to know well during the course of the novel. They all have rich personalities and powers, and Moore fleshes them out well, while at the same time leaving the reader wanting to know more about their backstories and sidestories. In the space of a few hundred pages Moore has created some of the most memorable comic book characters in recent memory. It's a shame this book only ran for 12 issues and that we'll (probably) never get to know them better.
The art is incredibly detailed and, like the streets of Neopolis, packed with coloful costumed heroes. It's filled with visual Easter Eggs for comic book fans, like Professor X in his yellow hoverchair at a rally for handicapped rights, the trapezoidal tombstones from "Days of Future Past", and a Black Bolt-ish mime street performer. I sometimes found myself scouring the panels like a "Where's Waldo?" book, looking for these hidden little gems.
I had originally given "Book 1" four stars, but after finishing "Book 2" I bumped them up to five. The final few issues really sealed Top Ten up with a bow and hammered home the point that Alan Moore had created an outstanding series in these dozen issues. In lesser hands Top Ten could have ended up a cheezy amalgam of "Law & Order" and "Superfriends", but Moore's work is greater than the sum of its parts.
Speaking of crappy superhero/cop hack jobs, for the life of me, I wish I could have back the 45 minutes I wasted reading Powers. Brian Michael Bendis and whoever he got to do his crappy cut-and-paste computer artwork have nothing on this book. ...less
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Jace
gave
to:
Wonder Woman: Love & Murder (Hardcover)
by Jodi Picoult
bookshelves:
comics
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Jace said:
"Poor Wonder Woman. She's my favorite DC hero, though it's been years since she's had decent writers, engaging storylines, or epic adventures. And this book does little to buck that unfortunate trend. In the wake of recent events, I was hoping for a...more
Poor Wonder Woman. She's my favorite DC hero, though it's been years since she's had decent writers, engaging storylines, or epic adventures. And this book does little to buck that unfortunate trend. In the wake of recent events, I was hoping for a good story dealing with the consequences of Wonder Woman's [justified] murder of Maxwell Lord and an exploration of her humanity, but this book failed to provide any real depth or clarity on those fronts.
I have a number of issues with this book, not the least of them being that this is not a book at all, but rather a collection of issues 6-10 of the current Wonder Woman monthly comic series. The reader is dropped into the middle of an ongoing plot with little introduction or frame of reference. This book ends abruptly, but the conflicts introduced in this story continue on in the monthly series, so readers are left without any resolution to the story. This wasn't a problem for me [I don't read her monthly series, but I know enough to follow along], but I have a problem with the way the book is being sold. There is little indication that it's not a complete story, and seems to be marketed toward Jodi Picoult fans even more so than comic book readers.
Which brings me to my next issue: Jodi Picoult. I have nothing against her. In fact, I know very little about her, but she strikes me as one of those writers of "Mom" novels--like Mary Higgins Clark or Janet Evanovich--the kind who write semi-trashy murder mysteries for beach reading. Surprisingly, Picoult is the first woman to take the helm as the regular series writer in Wonder Woman's nearly 70 year history. In accordance with this momentous occasion, I was hoping she might have some unique female insights into the character. Nope. The plot is new, but a lot of the dialogue and themes are rehashed drama about WW's difficulty and confusion trying to fit in among humans. There are a few good lines (usually involving the Golden Lasso of Truth), but those are few and far between.
My biggest gripe has to be with the jumpy and inconsistent plot. She's a best selling author, so I have no doubt the Picoult can write a coherent novel. I'm not sure how she approached writing a comic book, but I can only imagine it went something like this: She sat down, wrote out the complete story, then threw out every fifth paragraph. That's the only explanation I can come up with for why this story is so full of holes. Settings change at the blink of the eye, characters appear and alter the story with no explanation, and entire plot lines are abandoned and never addressed again. Some of them are small enough to be excused, but for the most part they make for a shaky a confusion read.
In all honestly, this book deserves only 1 star, but I added another in honor of the real star: Wonder Woman. Regardless of how poorly she's written, there's something endearing and heroic about her that always seems to shine through.
...less
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Jace
gave
to:
Rex Libris Volume One: I, Librarian (Rex Libris)
by James Turner
bookshelves:
comics
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in June, 2008
Jace said:
"I had read a smattering a good things about REX LIBRIS on the comic book websites I frequent, so when I saw the first volume of his adventures for $.50 (plus shipping) on eBay, I jumped at the offer.
REX LIBRIS tells an entertaining story filled...more
I had read a smattering a good things about REX LIBRIS on the comic book websites I frequent, so when I saw the first volume of his adventures for $.50 (plus shipping) on eBay, I jumped at the offer.
REX LIBRIS tells an entertaining story filled with sesquipedalian words, librarian jokes, and a bevy of fun mythological characters (some of Rex's co-workers include Circe the sorceress and the Egyptian god Thoth). The plot is so simple and instantly classic that it's amazing no one thought of it before now: Rex is a 4,000 year old librarian whose job it is to track down and collect overdue books. It sounds like an easy gig, except for the fact that the libraries patrons include a demon samuri, an intergalactic crystalline warlord, and even the Red Baron.
The writing in the series is very strong. I was pleased to see that the pages were full of dialog and exposition, especially in an age where comic book authors rely on wordless splash pages and double-page spreads as filler. The stories flow well, with an occasional aside or flashback thrown in for fun. Additionally, Rex is aware that his adventures are being chronicled in comic book form and regularly meets with his editor to discuss the progression of the story. This style of breaking through the fourth wall evoked fond memories of John Byrne's run on SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK, and it's always a pleasure to find a writer who is not afraid to have a little fun with his characters along the way.
The only aspect of this book I really disliked was the computer generated art, which took a bit of getting used to. I never became a fan of it, but by the time I finished the book, I had at least learned to accept it. The computer generated art looks too clunky, and the lack of detail and flourish makes the characters appear stolid. The illustrations are not impressive, but they're tolerable, especially considering the strength of the writing and storyline. Some other minor complaints include the unusually small typefont and the myriad of grammatical errors (most commonly confusing "it's" with "its". Nothing a simple once-over by an editor shouldn't have been able to fix.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the collection and was reassured to see that there are still some strong independent comics being published in the age of Marvel-DC dominance. I would eagerly recommend this to anyone looking for a humorous, slightly erudite comic with just enough action to keep things moving at a brisk pace.
...less
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Jace
gave
to:
Bluebeard (Delta Fiction)
by Kurt Vonnegut
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in June, 2008
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June 02
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Jace
marked as to-read:
The Sensational She-Hulk (Paperback)
by John Byrne
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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May 16
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Jace
gave
to:
Slapstick (Paperback)
by Kurt Vonnegut
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in November, 2004
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Jace
gave
to:
Curious George Takes a Job (Paperback)
by Margret Rey
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended to Jace by:
Grandma
read in January, 1987
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Jace
liked a trivia question:
How many people does Raskolnikov kill in "Crime and Punishment"?
see if you know the answer »
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