Chad’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2019)

Chad’s comments from the Edelweiss & Netgalley Reviewers group.

Feel free to discuss your December reads here.

Mafiosa ★★
The story of a woman growing up in a mob family in 1920's New York. She wants more than to be a mafioso's wife. So she tries to force her way into the family business.

The Recount ★★★★
That was intense. It's about a massive conspiracy to not only kill the President, not only everyone in his administration, but everyone who voted for him.

False Guard ★★
A European version of a sports Manga about MMA set in an ancient Middle Eastern city

Time Before Time, Vol. 1 ★★★★
A time travel book where organized crime owns all of the time machines.

Everyday Hero Machine Boy ★★★
A fun all-ages story about a Machine Boy who falls to Mega 416 and chooses to make amends for all the damage he did upon his crash landing.

Sea Serpent's Heir, Book 1 ★★★★
A girl with a sea demon inside of her is hunted by religious zealots while her pirate mother and her crew try to keep her safe.

Clementine, Book One ★★★
Tillie Walden steps into The Walking Dead universe with Clementine. I did think it was an odd choice to extend the story of the character from the Telltale video games. Her story was complete, so why send her on the road again?

The EC Archives: Frontline Combat Volume 3 ★★★★
This was great. Even better than the horror comics EC was known for. Each issue featured a main story taking place during the Korean War as these were published while the was was going on.

Dark Avengers: The Patriot List: A Marvel: Untold Novel ★★★★
This era of the Avengers was so much fun. The villains are masquerading as the Avengers in this prose novel with Norman Osborn leading them.

Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land ★★★
A bit simplistic and by the numbers for a Hellboy book. I'm not sure if this was intended for children or what but It's certainly one of the lesser Hellboy stories.

Between Snow and Wolf ★★
A story about a little girl who goes searching for her father when he doesn't come home one night. Based on Japanese mythology.

Ninjak Book 1 ★
I typically enjoy anything Jeff Parker writes. Unfortunately Javier Pulido's awful art sucked any enjoyment out of this story.

The House ★★
The House needs to be condemned. It's not so much scared as just confusing.

The Evil Dead ★★★★
A really solid adaptation of the film. I like how Verheiden expanded the story a bit and fixed the ending to fit in with Evil Dead 2.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Jester Lavorre ★★★
A light and fun origin for Jester Lavorre.

Cult Classic: Return to Whisper ★★★
Starts off very strong as a story about if the Goonies more or less grew up and went back for One Eyed Willie's treasure. Fails to stick the landing though.

Maxwell's Demons ★★★
Imagine interludes with Lex Luthor throughout his history, told by a Grant Morrison type.

After the Fall ★★
Your standard mankind 100 years after most of humanity was killed off plot mixed with old school barbarians and boobies.

Vampire: The Masquerade Vol. 2: The Mortician's Army ★★★★
What I liked about this is that I didn't need to know anything about the RPG to enjoy this. It's for anyone that likes vampire stories.

Ashes, Ashes ★★
A poor story about a luddite in a dystopian future, the Patriarch, who is forcing people to remain in the Stone Age without machines. Then most of the story is a flashback of what happened to society.

Queen of Bad Dreams Vol. 1 ★★★★
What if a character from a dream became aware and then busted through into reality to become a real person?

Trese Vol 3: Mass Murders ★★★★★
Trese is basically a Filipino Constantine and that's really all that's needed to make the concept work. I'm looking really forward to checking out the Netflix anime after reading these.

Balbuzar ★★★
An OK illustrated pirate story with fabulous, off-kilter illustrations.

Gideon Falls Deluxe Edition Book 1: The Legend of the Black Barn ★★★★
Two stories told in parallel. One of a man combing through a city's garbage for specific pieces of debris. The other, a priest, newly arrived at the small town of Gideon Falls where mysterious and horrific murders have occurred over its history. Both are connected by a black barn seen in their visions and dreams.

Friendo ★★★
This starts off as a anti-corporation / advertising story in near-future Los Angeles before going off the rails in the second half.

Test: Vol. 1 ★
A story about a human guinea pig addicted to upgrading himself. Sebela seems to be more interested in writing prose rather than comics.

The Devil's Red Bride ★★★
A darker, bloodier version of Mulan that also brings in Japanese demons to the story.

Rockstars ★★
This has a ton of wasted potential. It's about all the death and myths surrounding rockstars, particularly from the 70's. Unfortunately, the story is so vague and full of flowery but meaningless narration that the plot is mainly lost.

Edelweiss does have some publishers that aren't on NetGalley. I think after you get over the initial hump of how to use it, EW is pretty easy to use. I also use it as a second chance when I get denied on NG.

Hollow Heart ★
A poorly done Frankenstein for modern times.

Swashbucklers ★★★★
Imagine if the kids from Stranger Things grew up while something made them forget about all their adventures. Then 30 years later all those monsters they fought came back now that they are in their forties with the added responsibilities of being a parent.

Faith: Greater Heights ★★★★
Faith is an overweight teenager with the ability to fly. She's one of Valiant's best characters and shines in her 2nd YA novel.

Nocturnals Omnibus Volume 1 ★★★★★
Dan Brereton's art and character designs knock my socks off every time I read a Nocturnals comic. They fight Lovecraftian mobsters and bat witches. It's all kinds of crazy, demented Halloweenish fun.

Bankshot ★
There's a reason why this was cancelled back in 2018 before the 5th and final issue even came out. The plot is incomprehensible.

Dracula: Son of the Dragon ★★★
This is well researched, mixing what we know of Vlad Dracula and his family with some more mystical elements to show his descent to becoming a vampire. Still, there's a lot to follow and it's not always easy to tell the characters apart.

Delver ★★★
A rural farm community's lives are changed when an entrance to Dungeon appears in a neighbor's root cellar. Now people are coming from all over the world to try and gain their fortunes in this dangerous, magical place where the treasure is real and the walls shift.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! ★★★★★
There's a lot to enjoy about this middle school book. If you're one of those people who thought the monsters were misunderstood, then this book is for you.

Jekyll & Hyde Inc. ★★★
Daniel Carter was a London police officer who found out the hard way that monsters are real. They've just moved underground, forming criminal cartels. He's now a broken man, given an elixir, the same elixir developed by Dr. Jekyll, and one last opportunity to smash the monster clans plaguing London.

Nexus Newspaper Strips Volume 1: The Coming of Gourmando ★★★★
If you've never read Nexus, this is both a good and bad place to start. It does have Nexus's origin story. These newspaper style one page installments though are quite dense. You're better off taking many breaks reading them instead of straight through.

Fear Case ★★
Matt Kindt and the Jenkins adapt the idea of the chain letter to comics.

Cult Classic: Creature Feature ★★★★
Your classic monster movie of the week. It really takes on that 50's B-movie feel.

Knights of the Golden Sun Vol. 2: Father's Armor ★★
It's a neat idea, that this is what happened in the time between the Old and New Testaments.

Resistance: A Graphic Novel ★★★
The author certainly picked the correct time to release this. A comic about a pandemic in the middle of a pandemic.

Cyberpunk 2077: Where's Johnny ★★
Oof, this was a dud. Poor art. Hard to follow story. Boring as hell. All of the above.

Dragon Age: Dark Fortress ★★★
A solid finish to the Dragon Age comics Dark Horse started several years ago.

Black Hammer: Visions, Volume 1 ★★★
A bunch of guest creators come in and write Black Hammer stories to mixed results.

Garbage Man ★★★
This had a real 70's comic feel to it. It pulls a lot from Swamp Thing, Man-Thing and Sludge.

Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory ★★★★★
The perfect Halloween story for kids and adults. For those of you not familiar with Beasts of Burden, you should be. It's about a group of dogs who protect humanity from the supernatural. Dorkin and Dyer take a serious approach to the stories with just enough humor to put a smile on your face.

Dead Dog's Bite ★★★
Tyler Boss is trying real hard to channel David Lynch in this Twin Peaks like town where a teenage girl has disappeared and her best friend can't accept she's gone.

Primordial ★★★
A merman is chased through a prehistoric underwater world where he has mutated to breath air and being pursued as an outcast.

Kid Beowulf – The Tarpeian Rock ★★
A clunky kids' comic taking place in early Rome.

Artie and the Wolf Moon ★★★
A middle grade graphic novel about a girl in 8th grade who discovers she's a werewolf.

Underground ★★★
Two park rangers come across some criminals and must flee through a dangerous cave system to escape their pursuers.

The Orphan King ★★★★
This was a very good start to a new fantasy series. A young prince returns home after three years away to find his kingdom overrun and his parents missing.

Maria Llovet's Eros/Psyche ★★
A very slow burning sapphic romance. Everything about this comic is slow burning. The story is almost non-existent. Maria Llovet's art is quite lovely.

Black Stars Above: Volume 1 ★★
A slow burn to the point of boredom.

Grit ★★
Pretty basic story about a monster hunter who screws up and lets a blood demon escape. Most of the book was just mindless butchery.

North Bend Vol. 1 ★★
A slow and confusing story about some CIA agents testing out a new drug on the street that makes one incredibly receptive to suggestion.

Swine ★★★★
This is the kind of story that only works in comics, it's so over the top. It extrapolates on the story of Legion from the bible. Jesus cast a group of demons named Legion from a person into a sounder of swine. Finch extrapolates that the swine have lived on forever causing havoc and disaster throughout time. They are responsible for the sinking of the Titanic and the Hindenburg disaster.

Girrion: The Chrysalis and the Stone ★★
This is very much influenced by old school, sci-fi anime.

Scarenthood ★★★
Four bored parents gets sucked into a ghost story when their goofing off at their kids' school inadvertently destroys a ward that was places there 40 years ago.

Stabbity Bunny ★★★
Has potential as a girl with magic and her stuffed animal protector, Stabbity Bunny, but falls into the Lost trap of raising too many questions without dishing out any answers.

Heist: Or How To Steal A Planet ★★★
It's about a planet's most hated criminal and how he plans to steal the planet back from the corporation who took it over.

Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula ★★★★
The tragic (mostly self-inflicted) story of Bela Lugosi's rise and fall.

JP Roth's Ancient Dreams ★
A very poor attempt to turn a prose novel into a comic.

Monolith ★★
The world's dumbest mom takes the world's safest car on a roadtrip with her 2 year old son getting into a horrible situation.

Cocaine Coast ★★★
An adaptation of the book the new Netflix docu-series is based on about drug smuggling in Spain.

The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories Volume 1 ★★★★
I liked how these stories had more variety than most of the EC collections. Shock SuspenStories each had 4 stories, a crime, science fiction, horror, and "shock" story that was typically a social commentary on things like racism.

BRZRKR, Volume 1 ★★
Keanu Reeves wrote a comic book, an incredibly graphic and violent comic.

Triptych: A Marvel: Xavier's Institute Novel ★★★★
Fantomex of the X-Men gets his own prose novel.

Geoff wrote: "During the filming of the Princess Bride, Cary Elwes broke his toe riding ATVs with Andre the Giant and had to film the amazing sword fight scene while still injured! (https://www.yahoo.com/news/ca..."

Have you read Cary Elwes book about The Princess Bride, As You Wish? It's definitely worth checking out.