Tag Archives: Vault Comics

Book Reviews: Spring Graphic Novel Binge

Very like at the end of last year, school is keeping me very busy. And honestly, more than being busy, it’s turning my brain to mush. It’s not in the sense that I can’t process information or think critically about a story, but rather in the sense that I have a hard time committing myself to anything overly long. So, graphic novels are a great middle ground. They let me still get a little bit of a fiction kick without feeling overwhelmed (in general and with guilt for not doing something school-related).

As such, I accepted a few graphic novels for review from Vault Comics (through Rockstar Book Tours). So, I’m putting together a little collection of graphic novel reviews that I will contribute to over the next week or so. (I’ve also still got a few left over from the TBR I created during my last graphic novel binge.)

This is volume 3 of Shadow Service (it was also over on Sadie’s Spotlight). You can find my review of volumes 1 and 2 here.

Blurb:

All over the world, secret agents are being murdered by monstrous folk horrors, and not even MI666 is safe. Gina Meyer faces tragedy as a teammate turns enemy. But what of the quest to find out the truth about her past and powers?

My review:

This was a fun continuation of the series. Like with the first two volumes, you have to be comfortable with quite a lot of shock-level gore. But there’s some humor mixed in with the horror and a much more solid plot developing. I’ll be happy to continue the series.

This is book 1 of West of Sundown. It was also over on Sadie’s Spotlight.

Blurb:

A beautiful vampire must flee monster slayers in New York City and reclaim the ancestral soil that restores her undead flesh. But the world has changed since she was reborn in the New Mexico desert, and now, Constance Der Abend and her loyal assistant Dooley , must adapt to life in the rough frontier town of Sangre De Moro, where all sorts of monsters have settled.

My Review:

I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. It started out strong. I very much enjoyed Constance and Dooley’s interactions. I even appreciate some of the humor present in the rest of the story. But I was just so often confused by the sudden appearance of characters with histories I was apparently supposed to glean from context but didn’t. All in all, I’ll call it a middle-of-the-road read. I did like the art, though.

This is volume 1 of Quest Aside. It was also over on Sadie’s Spotlight.

Blurb:

Known to all, both far and wide!

A skeleton, an apprentice mage, and an exiled princess walk into a bar… for another shift at Quests Aside, the local watering hole run by once legendary, now retired, adventurer Barrow.

When the King privately explains that he plans to shut the place down, Barrow must find a way to hold onto his business, the friendships, and the family he’s built around it.

It’s always sunny in the realms!

My Review:

I thought this was fun. It plays with the Dungeons and Dragons type of quest-tales in interesting ways. I liked the characters, the art, and the diversity. I’d be more than happy to read more. But I also thought everything remained surface-level. I don’t feel that I particularly got to know the characters, and there wasn’t any exciting or deep plot. It’s substanceless fun. And while there isn’t anything wrong with that, it’s not particularly memorable either.

Book Review: Fearscape #1 & 2, by Ryan O’Sullivan

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I accepted copies of Ryan O’Sullivan (author), Andrea Mutti and Piotr Kowalski‘s (Illustrators) Fearscape and A Dark Interlude for review through Rockstar Booktours. The latter was also featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there for a sample page, author and illustrator details, and a chance to win a copy of your own.

THE WORLD IS TRAPPED AND DOOMED

Trapped in a cycle of infinite sequels, the world is doomed to repeat tired tropes and clichéd conflicts without end. Unless, that is, unreliable narrator, notorious plagiarist, and sequel denier Henry Henry can unleash something so awful it deserves no repetition.

After the stunning success of Fearscape, comes A Dark Interlude, the story of “—No! The only offence to literature greater than the loathsome synopsis is the sequel. I will not stand idle while some poor excuse for an editor mangles and confuses my story, which is intact, perfect, and concluded, with this derivative drivel. Mark my words, this nonsense has nothing to do with my tale. I am not in it. I do not condone it. And you, dear reader, should not buy it.” –HH

But don’t listen to Henry Henry – the only way to escape is to buy this book! Collects the complete five-issue series.

These graphic novels were fine, cleverly done even. The author is obviously a deft hand at believably untrustworthy narrators, which is precisely what Henry Henry is. And I found it interesting watching events unfold and then seeing him re-remember them. His delusion is almost a character of its own in the story, book one especially. (Though there was a moment or two, early on, before it became quite so clear just how far from reality Henry Henry had strayed, that I thought, “Yep, I’ve met men this convinced of their own genius before.”) I also liked the art.

I did see book one’s reveal coming from the first hint. Both books, but especially book two, have some large blocks of print that feel out of place in a graphic novel, and frankly, I started skimming all the literati-babel by the end. I understood what the author was going for, but I got bored with it.

All in all, these were middle-of-the-road reads for me. I am, after all, Henry Henry’s most despised class of people, the casual reader (especially of graphic novels). But I’m sure will find their audience.