Before I get to reviews, first, some housekeeping…
Seeing Him is now online! Go read it!
Seeing Him will update on Pink Dollar Comics every Tuesday and Thursday.
Second, while you’re at it, be sure to read Johnson & Sir’s newest update, too.
Ok, to the review vlog!
This time I review Copperhead (from Image Comics), Hawkeye #1 (from Marvel), and Empty Skull (a self-published book). Continue reading “Review Vlog: Copperhead, Hawkeye #1, and Empty Skull”
Today I want to try something new.
“What?”
I’ll tell you.
I’m reviewing THREE new comics in a new format: as a vlog!
Now you can click the video below and watch my new reviews:
The links to these comics I talk about are listed below:
Ranger Pugsly’s Camp for Adventurous Youth AND The Good, The Bad and the Pugsly by Jonathon Wallach.
Taken Literally by Joshua Chappell. (This one may not be online).
What did you think of the video? Want me to do more Review Day Tuesdays like this? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Thanks for watching!
You. Are. Awesome.
Here is Exhibit A: a Young Adult (YA) novel called Dragonswood.
There are a lot of things that are remarkable about this book. Let’s go into them right away!
This is not like other YA novels.
Here’s the typical YA formula, which I discovered the other day browsing through Tumblr:
White girl has magic powers and falls for a boy, but also falls for another boy and must choose between the two and save the world at the same time.
While Dragonswood does take place on an island by England in the 1000s, (thereby having lots of white people), and the main lead does have a special power, here’s what makes the book different.
It stars a domestic abuse survivor.
Tess, the main lead, has no romantic interest in men from the start. She distrusts men because of her experiences with her physically abusive father, and the book does a great job making you understand Tess and her father’s circumstances.
Yes, she has a magical power – seeing prophetic visions in flames, called Fire Sight – but the visions are not straightforward, and often they don’t even come to fruition the way you expect them to. Hell, her ability doesn’t change the world, and it’s not the catalyst for saving the world either. it’s just a thing that she can do.
Of course, her ability makes her stand out from the world she lives in. Most people consider her strange already, especially since…
She lives in a medieval world with a twist.
Tess’s journey begins when a witch hunter comes to town, and Tess is accused of witchcraft by her village: she was spotted running into Dragonswood (the forest next door) when she occasionally flees from her father’s fists.
Of course, Tess also feels a calling to the forest (though it’s not witchery. Witches don’t ever appear in this book). The forest itself is a refuge for fairies and dragons, and townsfolks are afraid of Dragonswood and its inhabitants. They want the forest torn down so they can have lumber and farms.
The world of this book is marvelously and surprisingly complex. As you read you see the world reveal itself even more. There are strong political undertones and Tess questions authority multiple times throughout this book.
However, be warned that in the first few chapters, Tess is brought into questioning by the witch hunter, and she is tortured. And it is a graphic scene. Don’t read it if you don’t want to read about thumbs being crushed.
After she is tortured, she flees with her friends into Dragonswood, where they are rescued by a woodsman.
Enter the Potential Love Interest. And the good news is…
The Love Interest is not a condescending smartass.
Remember the typical YA formula? With its two boys that forces the main character to choose one over the other? It’s all over the place, from The Hunger Games to the Mortal Instruments series. One love interest is a sweetheart, and the other is the bad boy that eventually warms up to the lead character. We’ve all read it before.
Dragonswood has none of that.
And at first, Tess doesn’t even have romantic feelings for the huntsman, Garth. It’s part distrust of the male sex, part fear that he’ll turn her in to the witch hunter for a reward. Tess is a survivalist, and she will cut any bitches that get in her way.
But Garth? Garth is actually kind of a sweetie.
Garth has incredible patience with Tess. When she is frightened and flees from him, he gives her space. When she snaps at him, he doesn’t argue. He even gives her paper and ink to draw with, something that no one in her village ever did.
In short…
Give this a read.
The things I mentioned are just a small part of this marvelous story. It’s not even half of the book.
If you’re tired of reading the same old Young Adult novel, read this book. It’s a breath of fresh, fantasy air with wonderfully developed characters and a complex world.
If you’ve read this book before, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below!
Have any suggestions of books for me to read? Leave those in comments too!
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.
Before I get to the review, I need to do some housekeeping.
First, I’ll be making an appearance at Interventioncon in Rockville, MD/ Washington DC area this weekend, August 22 through the 24. Christian Beranek and I will be there promoting Validation and meeting everybody, so if you’re in the neighborhood, we’d love to meet you!
Second, I’ve added some new work here on the site. Check out the Sketches section if you’re interested in some character designs and other works I’ve done recently.
And now, the review, or as I like to put it, “How to Suck at Being A Romantic Lover.”
“Between the Sheets” was a rare find, especially since I got the Tokyopop copy, and Tokyopop is no longer a company here in the United States. Special thanks goes to my local comic shop, Hobby’s Inc in Bridgeport, for carrying this and other Tokyopop titles.
I bought this book expecting a great lesbian love story. Did it live up to what I had in mind?
No.
The book can be described pretty well as “watch two awful young ladies in Japan make terrible life decisions about relationships and pull shit to try and make each other jealous.”
The two characters, Saki (who I only know because the main character’s narration never stops talking about her) and Minako, are best friends. But Minako develops romantic feelings for Saki, who unfortunately is straight and keeps hooking up with absolutely terrible men who cheat on her with other women.
It eventually gets to a point where Minako sleeps with one of Saki’s boyfriends in order to prove that he is a grade-A douche and that she’s the only one that cares about Saki by protecting her from these men.
In case you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of this story.
The characters are flat and one-dimensional. You never see them do anything else other than talk to each other about boys. They go out shoe shopping at one point, but only because one of Saki’s lovers works at the shoe store. Saki is the driving force of the story, but she is the only driving force. She’s the reason the other characters act out, which is problematic, because they’re usually acting out to get her attention and love.
The romances (if you can call them romances) are actually quite poisonous. Saki herself has a double standard – where she can have affairs but her sexual partners aren’t allowed to have them (or at least, let her find out about them, as she tries to justify later). A relationship should be built on trust, and Saki is more than willing to break those bonds of trust for her own gratification.
Sadly, Minako is still in love with Saki, thinking that if only Saki could recognize her love, she would recognize she was a fool and just run away with Minako.
Except, no. That’s not how people work.
And then Minako sleeps with Saki’s partners in an effort to 1) get as close to her as possible, and 2) make Saki realize that the men in her life are terrible and therefore run to Minako, who is safe and wonderful and the “only one who really loves her.”
That is exceptionally problematic. Jealousy and bitterness are not sound foundations for a relationship of any kind. Sleeping with your best friend’s partners is an even bigger no-no, because it breaches trust with not just the partners, but with your friends.
Minako finds out about that at the end of the story (I’ll spoil it for you) when she tells Saki she slept with her boyfriends. Saki slaps her in the face (no surprise there) and screams at her to leave and never come back.
The story ends with Minako making love to one of Saki’s ex-lovers, and you can tell by the dialogue that they are both still very hung-up about Saki.
To me, Saki is not interesting enough to be a driving force in the story. As I said, she’s one-dimensional and that dimension is a terrible human being.
The art is very sparse throughout the whole thing, which sort of makes sense because the author probably wanted the focus to be more on the main characters’ emotions. Still, couldn’t Sakurazawa fill in more panels? Because the story is already empty enough without the unfinished panels and empty pages.
I am not kidding, there are some pages that are just word balloons and one or two faces. There’s no detail in the characters’ costumes or environments, either. The art is simple to the point of being boring and flat, not to mention that the tones are sloppy. A lot of people give Yoshihiro Togashi crap for some of the later volumes of Hunter x Hunter being “rushed,” but at least he made an effort and finished the artwork that he started drawing. Sakurazawa was in such a rush to make this story that sometimes whole pages are left empty and white and the tones are all over the place, like she didn’t have the time to clean up. Were her deadlines just brutal for this project? I don’t know.
In conclusion, “Between the Sheets” is a book you can definitely skip. There are, I’m sure, other lesbian love stories out there that are better crafted and care more about the characters than what can be seen in this work. Want a good place to start? Try Ai Yazawa’s work. She has far more enjoyable characters, facial expressions, and romances.
Know any good comics or manga I should review? Suggest them in the comments!
Also, I’m looking forward to meeting you all in DC for Interventioncon!
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.
PrideLands #1 is written and lettered by Dallas Wilson, drawn by Salathiel Anacleto, and published by Rocket Blast Comic Books, one of the newest indie comic publishers to emerge on the scene. This is one of the most unique comics I’ve read and reviewed thus far.
The story follows two different families: a pride of lions in Africa and a streak of tigers in India. We open the story with the tigers hunting a crocodile until they’re driven out by a wildfire. Meanwhile, one of the lionesses is preparing to give birth, but a family of hyenas have plans of vengeance in mind, with the lioness as the target.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this comic, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s well-paced drama and action throughout, with dark and gritty art to match.
I have only two complaints. First, the lettering is confusing at points. The writer and I discussed this already, though, and I have the feeling that he’ll improve as issues move forward.
The second complaint is about the art. It’s satisfactorily gritty, given the dark tone of the comic. But why incorporate the oddball black and white photographs? There were only two I spotted, and they were both in the scenes with the tigers. Having the photographs in for background was too jarring while reading this, because they don’t match the style of art the artist is using.
It’s my hope that, over time, the art and writing in this series will get better and better. I have the hunch that it will.
If you’re a fan of animal comics, this is a must-read. The genre is not what I usually read, but I enjoyed this book. You can get a copy here.
