4.5 stars (both volumes) Rat Queens, volume 1: Sass and Sorcery Rat Queens, volume 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N’rygoth Meet the fierce and fearsome ladies of the Rat Queens, although calling them ladies is probably to exaggerate. There’s Hannah the Elven Mage, whose parents are both necromancers; Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, who shaved her beard off and left her family because she wanted to brawl; Dee the Atheist Human Cleric, whose family are Cultists of the giant Squid God of N’Rygoth and […]
Started from the bottom, now we’re here.
BOOM! Studios has a history of publishing books with amazing premises and sometimes disappointing execution. I have bought at least four of their titles, and three of them have been purchases that I regretted. Freelancers, however, is light-hearted fun from beginning to end. Val and Cassie, like a lot of twenty-somethings, are trying to grow their brand in L.A. Unlike the usual actors, writers, and bloggers, they’re freelance fixers/bodyguards/bounty hunters. It’s a different skillset, but one that they grew up developing. Chapter one lets you […]
How to tell meaningful stories
Out on the Wire is a must read for anyone who does creative work, even if it’s just as a hobby. I guess it’d be helpful if you listen at least occasionally to podcasts or NPR-type radio too, just so you have context. Abel basically spent a year interviewing and observing the creatives at 99% Invisible, The Moth, Planet Money, Radio Diaries, Radiolab, Snap Judgment, and This American Life. Somehow she took all that information about the process of telling stories via radio and distilled […]
She can shapeshift into a shark with boobs!
4.5 stars Because I have a lot of reviews to catch up on, thanks to my clumsiness which caused my brain to get rattled and shook up, I’m once again resorting to plot summary via Goodreads: Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: to prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies […]
When Superheroes Use Tinder for Good!
It’s a good time for comics, especially for comics with younger protagonists. Marvel’s Ms. Marvel is a fun book, Morning Glories is Image’s hellish but entertaining read set in a prep school (I can speak to the first volumes), Gotham Academy is DC’s take on Harry Potter meeting The OC, and the Waid/Staples Archie reboot is my favorite comic in print. Then, there’s the recent Batgirl update. The new Stewart/Fletcher/Tarr team places Batgirl in college and in Burnside, which I think is Gotham’s Brooklyn. (By the way, comics with younger sidekicks have traditionally […]
It just keeps being awesome, you guys
Saga is my favourite comic book of the last few years and I feel like I do nothing but spend my days waiting for a new trade paperback to come out. I managed to save volume five for an unprecedented nine days from buying it until I actually read it, because I know that it’ll probably be another six months at least until I get more. The writing is flawless, the art is breathtaking. The plot is never, even for a second, predictable. The six […]