Tag: graphic novel

Book Review | Guts by Raina Telgemeier

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Something that should be fairly evident if you look at my reading history is that I love graphic novels. I’ve loved comics ever since I was in elementary school reading first the comic strips in the newspaper, then Barbie and Sonic the Hedgehog comics. The explosion of graphic novels for middle readers, is, in my opinion, absolutely awesome and I wish there had been even half of today’s selection when I was a kid. Raina Telgemeier has been such a visible part of that explosion.

Guts is one of her autobiographical volumes, like Smile and Sisters, that deals with the events of Raina’s childhood. This time the main subject addressed is her struggle with anxiety, which took the form of panic attacks and stomach upsets (thus the title of the book).

I really like how mental health is treated in this book. As someone who dealt with anxiety as a kid (still deals with, tbh), it’s nice to see it addressed, especially in a way that’s in no way belittling. It points out the ways that our society’s tendency to hide such things has a negative impact, while still showing that, ultimately, mental health shouldn’t be any different than physical health. The protagonist eventually starts seeing a therapist, something she hides from her friends because she fears their reactions. When she does eventually reveal this fact she’s instead met with small chorus of ‘oh, that’s not so weird’.

The art, as usual in a Telgemeier book, is colorful with animated emotional expressions. The backgrounds are simple, which fits well with the overall art style while also allowing the readers full attention to focus on the characters. What is interesting in this one, however, is the way she incorporated a bunch of green in certain segments of the book- specifically, what you could call puke-green- to show first Raina’s anxiety-induced stomach issues, and then subsequently an anxiety-attack in general.

The thing that does frustrate me a little is the fact that the bad behavior of one character only slightly gets addressed. It’s not jarring, really, but I hate when a bully-character seems to have no repercussions at all. It’s never addressed by the adults, other than a teacher essentially telling the protagonist to be nice to them in hopes that they’ll be nice to the protagonist. Of course, the teacher sees what is happening behind the scenes with this character, but still… I wish there had been some acknowledgement of the problem beyond the admonishment to be kind.

Book Review | Vox Machina Origins Vol 1 by Colville, Mercer, Samson, & Northrop

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For anyone who knows me, it’s not surprising that books rank pretty high on my list of potential Christmas gifts. I think that goes for just about any bookworm out there, normally, however, those tend to be novels or cookbooks. Well, this Christmas was the year of the graphic novel, including the second volume of Vox Machina Origins. Of course, then, I had to reread the first volume to get myself back into the flow of the story. And, since I’d never written a review on the first volume, having been purchased in the time when my blog was on pause, I decided I might as well do so now. 

Vox Machina, for those of you who aren’t aware, is the first campaign of the real play D & D series Critical Role. The Origins series takes place prior to where the episodes begin, recounting the events that occurred when it was still the cast’s home game. The first volume introduces all the characters as they have to solve the mystery of a poisoned water supply, slowly realizing that things are less mundane than they initially seem. 

I find this volume to be a pretty good introduction to the world of Exandria and Vox Machina. It’s completely accessible for those who have no knowledge of the world or characters. The comics don’t venture too much into the Exandria-specific elements of the world, keeping the setting fairly standard D & D. Additionally, despite having six main characters, they’re introduced slowly enough and their personalities stand out enough that one shouldn’t have much issue with keeping track of who is who.

One thing that I very much appreciate about this graphic novel is that they’ve kept an important element of Critical Role’s brand of storytelling- it’s ability to thoroughly mix action, comedy, and drama. The battle sequences are well done, the action being smooth and easy to follow. Boy though, they really don’t step away from the violence. Chokings, decapitations, heck people being cleaved in half… it happens. Lots of daggers and arrows. It’s nothing too gory though. It’s just a thing. Not sure you could really avoid it in this sort of story anyway. Additionally, there’s a steady stream of humor through the story (thank you Scanlan Shorthalt, you wonderful bard you) to temper all the death, torture, kidnapping, and sibling-fueled angst. 

I will admit to having a bit of difficulty following a few of the strands in the first readthrough, however. As the party is just coming together, the disparate pieces flow in through different characters and it was, at times, a little tricky to pull together those separate bits of information. Also, occasionally the artist liberally reuses panel angles. That’s ordinarily not a thing I’d notice, but it happened a few different times and one of those segments was a three-page thing. 

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the first volume. I like to think, even if I hadn’t been familiar with the world already, it’s a story I would enjoy. Being a fan, though, I loved being able to see everything on the page, rather than leaving it to my imagination.

Book Review | The Adventure Zone- Petals to the Metal by Pietsch & McElroy

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Ah, another Adventure Zone graphic novel. These hadn’t let me down in previous installments so I had my hopes set pretty high for this one, and I’m happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

There’s a lot that happens here, but a quick sum-up would be that Merle, Taako, and Magnus (have they gotten the moniker tres horny boys yet?) are sent to retrieve The Gaia Sash, an artifact that has the power to control nature. In attempting to do so, however, they run into The Raven, a thief who now controls the Gaia Sash. In order to take the sash back they team up with Hurley, a member of the Goldcliff militia and The Raven’s former battlewagon racing partner, racing (literally) to take back the Gaia Sash and rescue Hurley’s partner, and lost love, from its power.

Okay, so there’s a lot to like about this story, but first and foremost I’ll say that it’s well-paced. There’s a lot that happens in this book, from a foreboding and mysterious presence looming large over the moon base, to a bank-heist, to an undercover mission, to the race itself, and none of it feels as if it takes up too much space in the narrative. If anything, there’s a small portion that I would have liked to see more of (the undercover section was much-shrunk in this version compared to the podcast), as the brevity created one of those short little ‘did-I-miss-something’ moments that I found in the first volume. However, given the space allowed in which to tell the story I understand the decision. What’s important is that the story never drags, with the normal amount of humor throughout, and the important parts of the narrative are given the emphasis they deserve.

Notably this is the case with Sloane (The Raven) and Hurley. One of the things The Adventure Zone does well is its secondary characters and that’s no exception here. It’s not always easy, inserting a new character in and balancing them with the established cast, but Hurley’s interactions with the normal group are fun. She’s got just enough chaos to fit in with the crew while still maintaining herself as the sane one. We see less of Sloane, but the comic does a pretty good job of showing some pre-gaia-sash moments and I found myself genuinely really loving those two characters and rooting, throughout the story, for them to find their way back to each other.

Okay, so spoilers here for those familiar with the podcast but not the comic, but I fail to see how I can accurately review this book without mentioning this. If you want to avoid that, skip this paragraph. There was a problem that the McElroy’s ran into, when originally creating the podcast. A problematic (I hate the word but it is what it is) decision in the way the story was resolved, that was not done to be hurtful but ultimately still was. It was a relief to find that they, in adapting the story to graphic novel, managed to simultaneously stay true to the original story that they created while fixing the problem. My favorite part about this comic, actually. Yay for opposing toxic tropes!

Ultimately, I think this is my favorite Adventure Zone Graphic Novel so far. The story and humor are there, with a splash of drama and mystery to go along. Plus, WLW romance!

Aggretsuko – Metal to the Max by Barnes, Williams, and Hickey

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Okay, first off, thank you to netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For those of you unfamiliar with Aggretsuko it is an animated series, both online and on netflix, focusing in on Retsuko, the day-to-day aggravations of her job, and her heavy metal habit- the way she deals with said job. On paper that sounds…. well, kind of weird, but the results are a great blend of cute and satire that is really unique. Recently Oni press has created a comic book series based off of the story and this graphic novel collects the first three issues.

What I love about this comic is how well it manages to translate the animated series into graphic novel format. The same brand of humor is there, with inconsiderate coworkers and bosses slowly building Retsuko’s stress levels. The strange mixture of true-to-life and exaggeration is ever-present, with both a head-cold-zombie chase through the office as well as social-media-fame shallowness being the fuel for Retsuko’s ire.

Interestingly, each comic was created by a different author/illustrator. The stories all fit well together, forming a cohesive tone, if not an overarching story. My favorite of the three is probably the first, “Down with the Sickness”. It’s by far the lowest regarding amount of dialogue, but the mad race through the office, mop-wielding and avoiding their fallen co-workers, is a thoroughly pre-covid take on infectious disease- which I really think I needed in all this craziness. Second favorite would probably be “The Visitor”, in which an overly enthusiastic worker from Canada is sent on an exchange in order to grow worker morale. Cultures clash, obviously. The addition of a new character is always fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed this Karen (yes that’s her name).

I do, however, feel they may have almost played it too safe in regards to the art style at times. As previously stated, there’s a cohesion present among the different stories, and while that works, one of the advantages of having multiple creators work on a series is the open-possibilities, seeing the different ways the world can be interpreted artistically. While there was some variation in styles, notably a softer, rounder look in “Down with the Sickness” (the first comic), they mostly remain a match for the netflix series. All of the art is great, but I would have appreciated a wider variety.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Aggretsuko, you wouldn’t be remiss in picking up the graphic novel. The stories, additionally will make sense if you’re not familiar with the Netflix series, and may be a good way to get a taste of the characters and story, if you don’t mind a few minor spoilers.

Book Review | The Adventure Zone- Here There be Gerblins by Carey Pietsch & the McElroys

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So, normally it’s fairly standard to start with the first book of a series and then make your way forward. For those of you who’ve seen my previous review on The Adventure Zone you’ll know that definitely didn’t happen, starting out on the second volume instead. Not that big a deal, since I’ve already listened to the podcast, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t thrilled to finally get the first volume for Christmas this year.

The art is by Carey Pietsch, and is so fitting for the series mixture of comedy and at-times-drama, lively and very much animated, especially regarding expressions. It’s colored in a palette that veers from cool to warm in turn. The color contrast works though, the chosen colors still complementing each other interestingly.

The comic does a fantastic job of transferring the story from the podcast to a visual media, especially in this earliest arc which was, understandably, a little shaky in its original format. I mean, they hadn’t expected The Adventure Zone to turn into what it became- originally just being a sort of one-off break in MBMBAM (the McElroy’s original podcast). The comic takes what the original iteration of the story and strengthens it, arguably benefiting from having the story and the characters already established. The characters that the McElroy’s had finally fully discovered by the end of the series sit there on the page.

And, just like in the podcast, where the story really shines is in the banter between the characters. The Adventure Zone comic is a meta-tastic fourth-wall-breaking piece of comedy, taking the joking ‘are we really doing this?’ nature of the earliest portions of the series and running with it, transferring it onto the page in the form of characters who, although are very grounded in the world they come from, don’t really take a lot seriously…. until they do. Because interspersed between those moments of silliness and Kenny Chesney references are real moments, horror and awe and connections-formed and being formed, that make these characters more than a bunch of jokes.

The meta-ness of course, might not be for everyone. The McElroy’s have a certain brand of humor that’s a little manic, a little off-the wall, that (like any brand of humor or storytelling) isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather have your fantasy story uninterrupted by jokes, or if the idea of the DM being an actual character who occasionally pops up in the corner of a panel, like some sort of polo-shirt wearing guiding voice, is off-putting, then this may not be the story for you.

For me, however, it was just what I needed, on this strange cut-off Christmas.

Book Review | The Adventure Zone- Murder on the Rockport Limited! by McElroy and Pietsch

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Title: The Adventure Zone- Muder on the Rockport LImited!
Author: Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Carey Pietsch
Illustrator: Carey Pietsch
Publication Date: 2019
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Fantasy, humor, Graphic novel, mystery, adventure
TW: violence, death, murder, decapitation, dismemberment, corpse, blood, serious injury, near death experience, weapons, does killing a monster count as animal death?, minor in peril (kinda), alcohol

Okay, so normally I don’t hop straight into the second book of a series (despite my best friend’s insistence this is a good practice) but since I’ve listened to the whole of the TAZ balance arc at this point, I figured it would be fine. 

For those of you not so familiar with The Adventure Zone, here’s a quick run-down. The Adventure Zone (from which this book is adapted) is a real play D & D podcast created by the McElroy brothers and their dad. The campaign this story is based upon follows the (mid)adventures of the dwarf cleric (kinda) Merle Highchurch, Human fighter Magnus Burnsides, and Elf Wizard Taako as they join a mysterious organization called the Bureau of Balance and are sent around to collect ultra-powerful magical artifacts. This particular arc takes place on a train, as they try to solve a mystery, collect the artifact they’ve been sent after, and keep the people in charge from finding out none of them are named Leeman Kessler. 

I was hopeful, going into this book. After all, the story had become a favorite of mine this summer. I binged the second half of the Balance arc within the span of a few weeks. However, I know things can go awry during the adaptation process. I’ve been burned before. 

Thankfully, the book didn’t let me down. It kept the humor of the original, while managing to add in some of the elements relevant to the overarching plot. Heck, it even kept in the occasional commentary from Griffin, the DM, which was unexpected, in that you don’t normally have the ‘voice of god’ popping into the narrative. There’s certainly a breaking of the fourth wall here, in a fun way. 

I’ll be honest that ‘The Murder on the Rockport Limited’ was never my favorite arc of The Adventure Zone while listening to the podcast. It certainly had its good moments, but it didn’t really catch my interest as well as some of the other parts of the story, like the Crystal Kingdom and Eleventh Hour, but I genuinely got sucked in this time around.  The story is tighter in graphic novel form, and it overall definitely improved the story, allowing all the gems to show through- it’s actually a pretty good mystery, and who wouldn’t love the boy detective Angus McDonald.

One of the things I have to complement the book on the most, I think, though, is the art. It’s perfectly complementary to the story, the drawings lively and animated (not literally of course) enough to match the characters and the comedy, without feeling overly goofy.

There were times, however, that the pacing felt a little off, the shifts between scenes or panels a little abrupt. Those times were few, thankfully, but when the hit I found myself flipping back through to see if I’d missed a page somehow. 

All in all, I’ll definitely be getting the first and third volume of the series, and waiting anxiously for the rest of the story to be published.