Graphic Novels Are Books Too!

Hola Readers.  There has been a debate raging through my firehouse book club on whether or not graphic novels count as books.  For the record I totally think they count...and since it's my blog I'm right.  I love graphic novels for several reasons.

1. They make me feel accomplished 'cause I can usually knock at least one out in a single sitting.

2.  The different format makes for some very cool world building and story telling in a completely different way then a traditional book.

3.  Most graphic novels tend to be a collaboration among various authors and artists which in a good graphic novel means a sum that is greater then its parts.

4.  I like the pretty pictures.

So yeah...definitely think graphic novels are legit books folks. Happy Reading Everybody!

The Complications of Blended Families

Hi all, sorry for the insanely spotty posting...but life...so it will probably continue for at least another couple of weeks.  Anyways how about a quick rambling?  The nicer weather has made me pull out some of my graphic novels and Saga Volume II by Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Fiona Staples was up to bat.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

When we last left our Romeo and Juliettesque little family they were hurtling through space on a wooden rocket ship (I want of of these SOOOOOO bad!) and had been visited/invaded by Marko's parents.  We learn a little bit about Marko's childhood on the moon Wreath and she his parents devotion to him and each other.  Upon arriving Marko's mother Klara banishes the ghost baby sitter Izabel to a local planetoid and Marko goes after her.  Marko's mother also decides to go after her son.  Alana and her newborn daughter are left with Barr, Marko's father.  After some hesitation on both sides, the two of them bond...mostly over little Hazel...but still start to warm to each other.  After some much needed sleep Alana discovers that Barr has used his considerable skills to make special cloths for the family.  He also reveals to Alana that he has only a very short amount of time to live and that he has told nobody else.  Back on the planetoid Marko and his mamma run into all kinds of fun trouble, but eventually recover Izabel...of course they also discover that the planetoid is actually a huge space egg with a deadly creature inside about to hatch.  Elsewhere in the universe many a folk are trying to hunt down our little family and especially their mixed daughter.  The Will (our intrepid freelancer) is still brooding over the death of his girlfriend The Stalk and his inability to rescue Slave Girl from her owners.  After several day dreams and refusal to continue his mission, Gwendolyn, a kick ass Wreath native...and Marko's infamous ex-fiancee...appears to motivate The Will.  She helps him find a way to rescue Slave Girl and convinces him to go after Marko and Alana.  This culminates in the wooden rocket ship being discovered and almost destroyed.  The ship is saved by Barr using the last of his strength to hold everything together, dying in the process of protecting his family. The Will and company are sent on their merry way...for the moment.  Also hot on the trail of our little mixed up family is the Prince Robot IV.  He is not allowed to go home until he has completed his mission of slaying Marko and Alana and bringing back the baby.  He has used his knowledge of the progression of the duo's relationship from prisoner and keeper to husband and wife and mother and father.  We as the lucky readers also get to watch this happen.  Essentially it is a book (so awesome) of disguised rhetoric of peace that brings them together.  Prince Robot IV discovers that the author of the book lives on the planet Quietus and surmises that the couple may end up there.  He go's and visits the author who though injured by the robot, covers the fact that the little family is already there.  This is where we end our story...for now.

Since the format of this is different from a "normal" book, I'm gonna use my original rambling format.  A lot of what I loved in the first volume of this story remains in this second volume.  I love watching the pair, and especially Alana deal with the realities of new parenthood while also trying to travel, survive and still have a "meet the parents" moment.  Learning more of the pairs history, especially Marko's really starts to give the family feel of this story some good strong roots.  Finding out some more of the details of Marko and Alana's relationship was also a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed the character of Gwendolyn and how she wasn't some bitch pining away for her man, but instead just wanted her stuff back so she could move on with life.   The Will continued to show both his brutal side and his soft side, sometimes in conflict with each other to make him our freelancer with a heart of gold.  The other thing I really liked about this installment of the series was how they showed the toll that this never ending war was taking on the rest of the galaxy.   Various species on multiple worlds are drafted into either side of the war through no choice of their own, but the whims of whatever army got there first.  Some species thrive and have become an interagal part to the Wreath and Landfall people.  Others are pressed into service or killed wholesale in the name of a people that they have never seen and have no real right to push this war and it's horrors on them.  We see a universe of wonder and variety and amazement that is becoming tired and weary and just about done.  I think this is great because a) this is a reality even now in our real lives and b) sets up so many options for future volumes.  I continue to enjoy this series and it's mix of fantasy, sci fi and domestic bliss...or what passes for it when you haven't slept in 96 hours.  I can't wait to continue this series and give it 7 out of 10 bad romance novels.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Fairy's and Moonies

I have a confession...I cheated.  I was supposed to finish at least one of the books I have been reading this weekend so I could get some sort of rambling up, but then a new book appeared in the mail and...well...I read that one instead :-) The book is actually a graphic novel called Saga volume 1 by Brain K. Vaughan and drawn by Fiona Staples.  I had seen this one pop up on all kinds of nomination lists for all kinds of awards and I like graphic novels and fairies so I decided to give it a go.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD

This little synopsis may be a bit different as it is a graphic novel instead of a traditional words only novel but I will give it a go.  In this world (which is a great fantasy/sci fi hybrid) a planet called Landfall and an inhabited moon called Wreath are at war with each other (not sure why).  After a couple of cities got destroyed they decided to outsource their war to designated zones on other planets and hire their inhabitants to help fight the war for them.  The people of Landfall resemble fairies a bit, though that is not what they really are, but they are characterized by having some form of wings and tend to be more technological.  The people of Wreath or moonies all have some form of horns and seem to be the more nature/magic oriented.  This story is

narrated from the future by Hazel a child born from a Landfall mother and a Wreath father with traits of both species.  Alanna and Marko met and fell in love while he was her prisoner, got married and had a kid.  Most of the book deals with Hazel's birth and her parents attempt to escape the higher ups on either side of the war.  Various forces are sent against them as they search for the fabled Rocketship Forest and they continually escape by the skin of their teeth.  They meet up with a ghostly teenager named Izabel (who owing to stepping on a landmine is only the top half of a girl) who helps them escape in exchange for being allowed to bond to Hazel.  Alanna, Marko and Hazel dodge army forces from both sides, and a creature called The Stalk who apart from being a bizarre (and kind of cool) cross of armless human and albino spider is also what is known as a Freelancer, a feared hired sword who is sent to kill Alanna and Marko and bring back the baby.  Other hunters include a very human looking Freelancer called The Will (who is a cold blooded murderer but risks his neck to save a child Slave Girl), the Prince of the Royal Robots (who are human bodies with screens for heads...very weird) and various contingents of military personnel from both sides.  At the end they make it to the Rocketship Forest in one piece and Izabel helps them activate on of the remaining Rockets (so so so cool) and they zip into space...just as Marko's parents arrive on the ship!
The story it self is pretty simplistic, very straight forward and to the point most of the characters that we met were pretty moralistic and wanted to do the right thing.  The bad guys were immoral and corrupt and the in between characters where torn between duty and the right thing to do.  All that being said the premise is pretty awesome and well executed.  The reason I picked it up was because it was about a family.  A mom, a dad, and a baby and you just don't see a lot of adventure stories with that dynamic.  The creators did a fantastic job in having the parents have to deal the reality of having an infant, the constant feeding, burping, changing, jiggling, comforting, waking up constantly reality of life, regardless on weather you are on the run or not.  I liked how the author allowed the parents to be traditional parents who very much loved each other
and their tiny daughter.  The other characters were hit or miss.  The Stalk looked pretty cool, but you don't get to know her all that well.  The Will seems like your stock "I'm a big, bad, mean guy, but underneath I really have a soft heart", but we will see in later volumes if this holds true.  The Robot Royals...I'm not really sure what part they play yet.  It is kind of a weirdly cool dichotomy to see this technological head on a body that dresses in 18th century clothing, along with all the royal quirks that go along with it.  Izabel cracks me up, on her world when you die you hang out as a ghost helping to defend your people, but she doesn't really want to do that.  She is very teenage like in her interactions, but with a mature streak that is plausibly explained as her being the oldest of 7 children.  Overall the story was fairly simple, predictable and very graphic novely (that is a real term I swear), but with an original, well executed premise.  I will definitely be picking up the next volume soon.  I give it 7 out of ten horns and wings.

Do you read graphic novels?  Do you consider them books?  Have you ever tried to shoot a ray gun while nursing a baby?

Pride (POW!) and Prejudice (BAM)

The other night I spent absolutely exhausted, stumbling through the stacks at one of my bookstores.  I am sure the people working there either thought I was drunk, or the zombie apocalypse had finally happened.  I had a gift card just begging to be used, and I was going to use it come hell or high water or zombies.  Did I mention I was really really tired.  So here I was stumbling through the stacks and just running my fingers along the books, hoping to suck a little energy from then when all of a sudden I just had to sit down and rest (seriously tired folks).  As I was sitting there I looked to the shelf across from me and lo and behold I was in the Jane Austen section.  With all the places I could randomly collapse in, this was a pretty good one.  I started scanning the shelves to see what other things I could add to my already extensive Austen collection, when I saw a thin book covered in plastic.  Hmmm, I picked it up and lo and behold it was Pride and Prejudice in comic book/graphic novel form!  Yep somebody had taken my beloved book and turned it into a series of five comic books, the collection of which I held in my hand.  Of course I had to buy it (along with a Zombie Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for the Hubbin) and so I did.

Last night me, my bubble bath and my glass of wine decided to have a go at this little concoction that was essentially a 50 page Pride and Prejudice.  Are you ready?  If you haven't read the orginial (shame on you) then beware 'cause SPOILERS AHEAD!

The book itself kept the story line of the original book.  Bingley arrives. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett tease/annoy each other. the ball where Bingley falls in love with Jane and Darcy scorns Elizabeth.  Jane gets sick, Elizabeth staying to comfort her...while Darcy unscorns her. Elizabeth meets Wickham and hears his tale of woe. Darcy dances with Elizabeth at the Netherfield Ball, rest of Bennet family makes fools of themselves (except Jane). Mr. Collins proposes and is refused by Elizabeth. Mr. Collins proposes and is accepted by Charlotte Lucas.  Bingley and co move back to London. Jane goes to London, Elizabeth visits Charlotte in Kent. Elizabeth meets the formidable Lady de Bourgh. Darcy and cousin visit Lady de Bourgh and spend time with Elizabeth. Darcy proposes against his very character and Elizabeth obviously refuses and throws his meanness back in his face. Darcy writes letter explaining everything. Elizabeth is confused. Jane is rejected by Caroline and decides that Bingley is never coming back (aw sad). Elizabeth goes with her aunt and uncle to where Darcy lives, she runs in to him at Pemberley (think life styles of the rich and famous times 100) his family estate. Elizabeth is introduced to his sister and they all seem to be having a grand old time. Elizabeth gets a letter informing her that her youngest sister Lydia has run away with Wickham (back when this was the worst thing EVER!). Elizabeth tells Darcy everything, Darcy says goodbye.  Elizabeth goes home while her father and uncle search London for the naughty lovers.  Lovers found and married.
Lydia and Wickham come to the Bennets house and flaunt there stupidity.  Lydia lets slip that Darcy arranged everything.  Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield.  Darcy, Bingley, Jane and Elizabeth take many walks.  Bingley proposes to Jane and of course Jane says yes.  Lady de Bourgh comes to forbid Elizabeth to marry Darcy (which is hard considering Elizabeth said no in the first place) to which Elizabeth says she will do whatever she wants.  Darcy proposes again, Elizabeth of course says yes.  Elizabeth moves and becomes the Real Housewife of Pemberley, with favorite sis Jane near by.  Everybody lives mostly happily ever after. The End.
Yep that is pretty much how the comic book went, technicaly all of the story line was in there, but in a very abrupt on to the next thing sort of way. It was strange because for each of the points mentioned above, there is specific
quotes that fans of the original book will identify and remember and that was pretty much all the dialog consisted of, if you had never read the book you would probably be a little lost.  The art work was pretty good, with only a couple things that did not appeal to me.  For some reason all the smiles looked like deranged clown which was a bit disturbing.  The sisters were all drawn gorgeous super model style, and Darcy...well lets just say I might have a crush on another cartoon man now (don't judge me :-) ).  All of the other characters are drawn in a fairly stereotypical buffoonish way, even characters like Charlotte (who looks like a shrew-witch) or FitzWilliam (who looks like a fat bank owner) get treated badly by the artist.  This is not to say he is not talented, the art work is very well done, I just don't like the portrayal of most of the characters.  There were several characters and side story lines left out (which makes sense considering how short it was) so overall it felt like I was watching Keira Knightly's movie version of the book compared to the Collin Firth mini-series version of the book.  The first one again gets the basic idea across, but loses most of the richness and depth of the full blown six hour mini series.  Overall I am glad I own it, it is one more unique piece to the collection, and it is fun to read the whole thing in like an hour.  I give it 6 out of 10 accomplished ladies.

What do you think of adapting classics to other mediums?  How do different peoples interpretations of classics change there specific adaptions? Should I probably stay away from Etsy with my Austen obsession?

Walking, Sleeping, Biting Dead

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all of you ghosties, ghouglies, witches, mummies and zombies out there.  Hope everyone survived the storm ok, and if you are in one of the hard hit areas, my thoughts and prayers are with you.  I have to say all of this disaster just reminds me that one must be prepared for the ultimate disaster THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (hence forth known as ZA).
In preparation for this event I have been watching every zombie movie I can get my hands on, reading my Zombie Survival Guide and keeping my Zombie Kit stocked. I have also been watching The Walking Dead tv show (which may or may not have gotten me on this whole zombie kick to start with). Of course this series is based on a book, which of course means I now have to read it.  This story is a bit different from my norm as it is in graphic novel form.  I have to admit I love graphic novels, ever since my friend used to sneak in whole backpacks full of them into our World Cultures class in high school, and we used to spend the whole class time reading them under our desks I have been in love with this form of story telling.  I like how in a graphic novel you can sum up a story with way less words then in a conventional book.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE words, but sometimes, especially if action is a big part of the story, words can gum up the pacing a bit.  In a graphic novel you don't have to describe the eerily serene, yet empty gated community using a whole paragraph, you can just show it in a panel.  You rarely have to reiterate things 'cause they are constantly shown, and lets face it SEEING a zombie get it's head bashed in is so much more satisfying then reading about it.

This brings me to The Walking Dead graphic novels I have been reading, I am just finishing Compendium One which is the first 48 issues of this series.  I usually like to wait until most of the series has been written, because I am very impatient and rip through the little issues way to fast.  I also like having a lot of issues collected in one book for connivance purposes.  I am loving the pacing of this series, after watching the hit and miss pacing of the show (season 1 AWESOME, season 2 SUCKS ((until the end then it got AWESOME)), season 3 OH MY GOSH IT IS SO COOL I CAN"T WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK SERIOUSLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS THE WHOLE TIME!) the graphic novel definitely has a more quick, even frantic pace.  I love that the TV show does not feel the need to follow the graphic novel to closely so no matter which one you read/watch first your not going to spoil it for yourself. I give a little
more leniency in tv shows that are adapted from books then I do to movies, because I feel tv shows are more "inspired" by source material than they are trying to translate the book into a single movie which I expect to at least attempt to follow the original story line.  The graphic novel is in black and white, which lends a more...not sure how to put it...surreal, fuzzy line, psycho feel to it.  Anyways I'm starting to ramble (possibly because I stayed up to late reading zombie novels) and I will end this here, if you like blood, guts, gore, and zombies then go read this graphic novel. Be warned it is for the 16 and over crowd only, it is all about every adult situation you can possibly imagine so keep that in mind.  Also pay attention to the good and bad survival skills that are presented, it may save your life one day when the ZA comes upon us!

What is your strategy for surviving the ZA?  What do you think about TV shows straying from the source material?  Who is your favorite character on the show/book?  Does it change from show to book?  Do you also want to see Lori fed to the zombies?

My Favorite Big Girl Fairytale

I love a good old fashioned fairytale, I also love new stories and Stardust by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by the wonderful Charles Vess is the perfect combination of both of these. 

The story is a well rounded plunge into a world on the other side of the Wall into the land of Faire and Stormhold.  There are evil witches who pursue a young beautiful fallen star to obtain a live beating heart to retain their youth.  A set of brothers intent on gaining the throne through any means necessary even to the extent of fratricide. Lightning harvesting pirates who sail through the skies on a flying ship.  And in the middle of it all a young man who is born of both worlds who is thrust into the midst of it all, with no higher intent then winning the heart of his school boy crush.  The interaction between the characters is entirely believable which sometimes belies the wondrously unbelievable world in which most of the story is placed.

The story reads very much like a classic fairytale with the young handsome man, protecting the lovely damsel in distress, only the damsel is a star that was knocked out of the sky by a flying pendant and the young man is only protecting her to take her back as a present to his supposed true love.  There are multiple villains, giving you plenty of people to root against, which is great until they fight each other and then your not quit sure who's side your on!  I think my favorite part though is the flying pirates who give our intrepid pair a place to rest, learn and heal.  This is but a bare surface scraping of the wonderful depth that this little tale hides.  And of course like all good fairy tales they all mostly live happily ever after.
Neil Gaiman does an excellent job in keeping a surrealistic, eccentric, slightly out of control feel, while still maintaining the idea of traditional story telling.  Charles Vess takes an already wonderful story and turns it into something amazing with his illustrations highlighting the story without overwhelming it.  If you are looking for a good book to help you escape for a little while this is the one you are looking for.

 
There is also a movie that is excellent, they stray from the book for sure, but all in all I love it.  The acting is great, and the story is mostly altered to fit a movie format as the book is not entirely filmable.  Watching the movie still gives you the essence of the book, which to me is the best part. I would highly recommend the movie as well as the book
What do you think, are fairy picture books only for little kids, or is a grown up version just the thing sometimes.  Do you love the originalness as much as I do?  Who do you like to read to escape for a little while?