Todd Klein's Blog, page 125

And Then I Read: THE DREAMING #8

Image © DC Comics.

I liked the first story arc of this book, but this second one is not working for me. I’ve thought for a long time that the series needed to have Daniel, the current Sandman, as an active character, and he is now, but even that’s not helping. Writer Simon Spurrier is telling a tale of our own world with several Dreaming characters in it, centering around Rose Walker from Gaiman’s run and her family. Rose is mostly a bystander and narrator, as she attends the last days of her mother and witnesses her daughter having an affair with Dream himself. Lucien is here, and a patient in the same hospital as Rose’s mother and daughter. Odd doings at the Fawney Rig mansion where the first series began are also involved.

The art by Abigail Larson does not appeal to me, it seems more like fan art than professional comics art with oddly distorted faces and figures. That makes the writing less convincing, but I have to say that none of the characters seem to act like the ones I knew from the first Sandman series, and the overall impression is of fan fiction in a gothic romance direction.

All I can say is, I will stick with this to see where it goes, but I didn’t enjoy this issue and can’t recommend it, though I do love the cover art by Tiffany Turrill. Wish the rest were that good.

Incoming: THE WRONG EARTH Volume 1

Image © Ahoy Comics

Nice of them to send me this first collection, all I did was the logo. I enjoyed reading the “first season” of WRONG EARTH, and I think it’s my favorite of the Ahoy first season titles. Tom Peyer’s writing on the lead stories is a fine mix of superhero homage, humor and character moments as the two versions of the main character end up on the wrong world and must find their way in them. One world is warm and retro, the other cold and gritty. A fun idea handled well. The art by Jamal Igle and Juan Castro is equally appealing, and the backups by Paul Constant, Gary Erskine, Frank Cammuso and others are fun too. This should be out soon if it isn’t already.

And Then I Read: THE GOATS by Brock Cole

Cover illustration by the author.

Laura and Howie are at a New England summer camp by a lake, a boy’s camp on one side and a girl’s camp on the other. They are both nerdy misfits who are teased and made fun of by the other campers, and one night each of them are stripped of their clothes and brought to a small island in the middle of the lake and left there by their fellow campers. Both are humiliated, cold, bug-bitten, angry and miserable, but the cruelty dealt to each gives them a bond, and they begin to become friends in that first horrible night as they escape together to the lake shore and break into an empty cabin. Gradually over the next few days, Howie and Laura figure out how to survive while still keeping their whereabouts hidden from the adults from both camps who are searching for them. When that becomes too tricky, they escape to a different camp altogether with a busload of kids they don’t know, but some of whom are willing to help them in their flight. Things continue to get more complicated, and parents get involved. The children develop a plan for rescue, but fall into much more dangerous trouble when picked up by a local policeman.

I picked this up at a book sale, and found it quite a good read. It’s the author’s first young adult book, and both the plot and the characters are appealing, even though the situations they find themselves in are kind of sad and depressing at times. This is an unusual coming-of-age story in which both the boy and the girl learn a lot about themselves and each other, and whose adventures and problems are believable and relatable.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: HEX WIVES #3

Image © Ben Blacker and DC Comics. Written by Ben Blacker, art by Mirka Andolfo,
colors by Marissa Louise, letters by Josh Reed, cover by Mingjue Helen Chen.

Isadora has found a secret room in her home that contains a naked imprisoned woman. That would be shocking enough in Izzys quiet suburban life, but the woman says, “I’m your mother.” Izzy’s husband soon shows up with a “gaslighting” story about how it’s all in her own head, and not real. She seems to be buying it. Meanwhile, we see a new section of the neighborhood, an underground control room where the husbands of the hex wives are monitoring their every move. The wall of fire surrounding the place seems a pretty good way to keep the women at home, too. Curiouser and curiouser. It’s only when the girlfriends get together to talk that the stories they all believe begin to unravel.

Still interesting, recommended

Incoming: BATMAN WHITE KNIGHT Hardcover

Image © DC Comics.

It’s unusual for DC to release a hardcover after a trade paperback, but that’s what’s happening with this miniseries I lettered. I enjoyed both the writing and the art by Sean Murphy, and Matt Hollingsworth’s colors are amazing, as always. “The Joker Goes Sane!” is the back cover blurb, which sums it up well. Should be out in May.

And Then I Read: HEX WIVES #2

Image © Ben Blacker and DC Comics. Written by Ben Blacker, art by Mirka Andolfo, colors by Marissa Louise, letters by Josh Reed, cover by Emanuela Lupacchino.

Like issue 1, issue 2 is set-up, but more interesting set-up. Isadora, our viewpoint character, seems to be living a pleasant life in a southwestern U.S. suburb with like-minded housewives and friends all around her. Her husband Aaron seems to dote on her, but he has his quirks: rejecting the lunch she made for him, as an example. Isadora seems very much in love with Aaron, and makes excuses for his shortcomings and his treatment of her as less important and less intelligent than himself. There’s one thing bothering Isa…a scratching sound coming from the walls. Aaron tells her not to worry about it, but she does…until she finds the source.

As we know from issue 1, Isa and her friends are witches, but in this setting have been made to forget their powers by their husbands, who are working together in that effort. I liked the uneasy suburban dream of this issue with its undertones of menace, and the revelation at the end is bound to open up some memories. Recommended.

And Then I Read: RAISING STEAM by Terry Pratchett

While there are many Discworld novels I haven’t yet read, this completes the three featuring con-man turned bureaucrat Moist von Lipwig, the others being “Going Postal” and “Making Money,” and I’ve enjoyed all three. Terry Pratchett knew how to make trickster characters appealing and his clever plots are always a treat. After reinventing the Discworld postal service and central bank, this time the focus is on the invention of Dick Simnel, this world’s first steam engine. Brilliant but unsavvy Simnel is taken under the wing of canny businessman Harry King, who soon sees that steam trains are going to revolutionize travel as well as make lots of money. Lipwig has a somewhat secondary role as the front man for the construction of rail lines to the far reaches of Discworld through areas that are barely known and often full of dangerous residents like anti-progress dwarfs who try to sabotage the project at every turn, and landowners who must be bargained with to allow the trains to roll through their property. Bargaining is what Lipwig is best at, but at times he is barely ahead of his boss Lord Vetinari’s intense desire to get the entire world included. The end of the book is a thrilling ride through many perils with Simnel’s first and best locomotive to avert a war in the kingdom of the dwarves.

This was the last Discworld book published during Pratchett’s lifetime, the 40th, and the story is not as well-crafted as some earlier ones I’ve read. Too many plot threads and characters vying for attention, for one thing. It’s a fun read all the same and recommended.

The 2019 Easter Eggstravaganza

Every year for many years Ellen and I have colored Easter eggs at Ellen’s sister Ann’s house. These are the eggs we made this year. The egg artists were Ann, her husband Dave, our friend Tim, Ellen and I. Each year a judge is chosen to award winners in a number of categories. Ann’s daughter Ina was the judge this year since she wasn’t able to join us for the coloring. At the end of this article I will link to some previous years’ articles which have some how-to examples, but over a lifetime of doing this, we’ve figured out some techniques and tricks. For instance, the geometric shapes are done with tape, either Scotch magic tape or masking tape. This year Tim also tried black electrical tape, and on one egg above it’s still on the eggs, making for a cool black and green pattern. We decided he had to remove the tape for the judging, though. Thin lines of various kinds are made with the wax crayons that come with the Paas egg coloring kits. Thicker lines are done with rubber bands. Dark colors are the result of multiple color dipping, and to get more intense colors we double the color tablets and vinegar. Here are the award winners chosen by Ina.

Tim’s black tape egg minus the tape won Most Abstract.

This egg also by Tim won Most Beautiful. The long triangles were also made with the electrical tape.

Ann was the winner of Most Colorful.

Ann also won Most Creative with this one combining tape triangles and crayon circles.

My egg with very subtle pastel colors that don’t show up very well here won E for Effort.

My egg using tape, wax crayon and black crayon won Funniest.

This egg by me won Technical Achievement.

This egg by Dave won Most Traditional.

Dave’s Super-Rabbit won Most Unusual.

Finally, the Judge’s Choice award went to this one by Ellen

Here is LAST YEAR’S egg article, and THIS ARTICLE FROM 2017 has links to many previous years in it if you’re interested. We will be eating these eggs today and over the next week or two. The traditional method of cracking them is for each person to choose an egg and pair off and try to crack the other’s egg by tapping the ends together. Taps are done on each end until both ends are cracked, then you peal and eat it. The winner ends up with an unbroken egg that gets broken and eaten too, eventually. The German tradition that I like is to eat it with vinegar, some people prefer salt, and at my brother’s house they make them into deviled eggs.

That’s the egg report for this year!

And Then I Read: THE FINAL SOLUTION by Michael Chabon

I’ve liked all that I’ve read by Michael Chabon in the past, and this short novel or novella seemed like one I’d enjoy. It’s a mystery story featuring an unnamed but obvious Sherlock Holmes near the end of his life, living in a rural area as a beekeeper, as Holmes’ creator A. Conan Doyle suggested as his retirement. It takes place in 1944, and Holmes is presented with two intertwined mysteries, or perhaps three.

First, he meets and befriends a young refugee boy living with a family nearby. The boy cannot speak, and cannot understand English, but responds to German. The other unusual thing about him is his pet and constant companion, an African parrot who is a frequent talker in several languages. His most common offering is a list of apparently random numbers.

In the rooming house run by a minister and his wife where the boy lives, we meet a man who has an intense interest in the parrot, Bruno, This man, Mr. Shane, is apparently murdered outside the rooming house while attempting to steal the parrot, which cannot be found afterward. The boy is devastated at the loss of his friend. Holmes is called in to help solve the murder by local police, but his true motive is to find the parrot. He suspects one goal will lead to the resolution of the other.

I enjoyed reading this, but as a Sherlock Holmes homage or pastiche it doesn’t work for me, and here’s why. Doyle was always careful to keep us out of the inner thoughts and emotions of Holmes, except by inference and the insights of his companion, Dr. Watson. Here, Chabon tells much of the story from inside Holmes’ head, and we learn all about his sadness at the handicaps of age, his feelings and emotions about being less than he once was. It feels like a betrayal to me, and so antithetical to the Doyle stories, all of which I reread a few years ago, that I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked. That may be just my own reaction, yours may differ, of course. The story itself is well crafted and satisfying in other ways, but I can only mildly recommend it.

And Then I Read: PLANET OF THE NERDS #1

Image © Paul Constant, Alan Robinson & Ahoy Comics

There are two stories written by Paul Constant in this fun premiere issue. The main story, with art by Alan Robinson, takes place in a 1988 high school where a testy jock named Chad is beating up a nerdy kid for no apparent reason. Chad’s friends (the three of them are on the cover) are trying to stop him. The reason for the attack is at least partly explained in the backup story with art by Randy Elliott, told from the nerd Alvin’s point of view. Alvin’s take is, in its own way, just as off-balance as Chad’s, but Alvin has a secret science project that’s going to change the lives of those three jocks when they follow him to his hidden lab in an abandoned house.

My one quibble is a technical one with the otherwise fine lettering by Rob Steen. If, in the 1988 sections, the idea is to make the pages look like they are printed on newsprint with a paper-tone background, the balloons should also have a paper-tone background. Making them pure white ruins the idea for me.

Well-written and well-drawn, this rang true to me as a bonafide nerd in high school myself. Oh, and what a great cover by David Nakayama. I like to think my logo works well on it. Recommended.