Comics Roundup #71: Some Witches and a Greek God

We have two fantasy comics in this batch. One of them is all about witches in a small town, and the other all about a Greek goddess.

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Grimoire Noir by Vera Greentea, illus. by Yana Bogatch (illus.)

GENRE

YA Fantasy, Mystery

SERIES

n/a

PUBBED

2019

QUICK SUMMARY

Grimoire Noir is a YA fantasy graphic novel about a boy investigating his little sister’s disappearance. Bucky lives in Blackwell, a small town where all the girls are witches. His mother is a witch, and her constant weeping since her daughter’s disappearance causes the town to flood. Bucky’s little sister, Heidi, is a witch too, and one of her powers is invisibility, but Bucky and his dad, the sheriff, suspect that Heidi was kidnapped, and Bucky believes a group of cliquish young witches may be behind it.

So believing he’ll be able to snoop around places that his sheriff dad can’t legally, Bucky decides to investigate his sister’s disappearance himself. (Goodreads)

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Comics Roundup #70: MG & YA Comics

Recently, I read a mish-mash of graphic novels geared toward middle-grade and young-adult readers. Since I’m not in the mood to do a separate post for each, I’ll try to share my thoughts for all of them in this post.

These comics range from fantastical to contemporary and were all pretty good reads.

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Zeus: King of the Gods by George O’Connor (illus.)

GENRE

MG Fantasy

SERIES

Olympians, volume 1

PUBBED

2010

QUICK SUMMARY

Zeus: King of the Gods kicks off the first volume in O’Connor’s fantasy middle-grade comic-book retelling of the Greek myths. In this one, we begin learning about the progeny of the powerful earth goddess, Gaea, and the sky god, Ouranos, and the kids they created, including the Olympians. The story takes us from the beginning of everything to when Zeus and his kin defeat Kronos. (Goodreads)

Comics Roundup #69: “Isla to Island”

I’m so happy I gave this one a chance, since I downloaded it entirely at random from my library. I just liked the cover and the description, believing I’d find it relatable (which I did), and decided to give it a go.

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Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos (illus.)

GENRE

MG Historical

SERIES

n/a

PUBBED

2022

QUICK SUMMARY

Set in the 1960s, Isla to Island is a wordless middle-grade graphic novel about a girl named Marisol growing up in Cuba. When Fidel Castro began taking over the country, Marisol’s parents sent her away to live in the U.S., in New York City, to ensure her safety. Marisol has a hard time adjusting to the new environment, language, and culture, but eventually her new family are able to help Marisol make her new space feel like home. (Goodreads)

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My thoughts

This was a good read. I have a soft spot for wordless picture books and comics because readers have to rely on the art to understand the story, as well as the nonverbal ways in which we communicate and express ourselves. There are some words in Isla to Island, seen in written materials such as letters, but we do not get any verbal dialogue in the story.

Comics Roundup #68: DCeased, vols. 1-4

DCeased is a comic-book series I learned about from Lashaan and read for the first time last year. I’d only read the first volume, but I was immediately hooked. You see, it’s a zombie apocalypse comic-book series featuring superheroes — a story I was hoping for but never knew I’d get. I was sure to like it.

I enjoyed the story so much that I quickly bought the other available volumes but didn’t get around to reading them until earlier this year. Due to busyness and several blogging slumps, I’m just now getting around to chatting about them.

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Genre

Horror

Series

DCeased, vols. 1-4

Pubbed

2019

Quick summary

DCeased is a zombie apocalypse series set in the DC universe. How did the zombie apocalypse start? Well, the villain Darkseid wanted to create an anti-life equation that he could use to control all sentient races. To do so, he needed Cyborg and Death. But by adding a bit of Death, the equation became corrupted. Cyborg was then sent to earth with the equation inside him and once he touched down, his system automatically went online, causing the anti-virus equation to become a techno-organic virus that not only spreads via social media (as soon as they see the equation online, people first try to tear it from their mind before spreading it), but also the traditional way of an infected zombie biting another being.

Comics Roundup #67: A Love of Books and Food

Although I don’t want to jinx myself, I’m celebrating a little because it seems that my blogging slump is lifting. Here I am again with another batch of reviews! This time, I have two mangas and a graphic novel that are all light, humorous, sometimes silly reads.

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Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-San, Vol. 2 by Honda (illus.), transl. from the Japanese by Amanda Haley

Genre

Contemporary; Humor

Series

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-San

Pubbed

2016

From Goodreads

Whether it’s foreigners asking for “JAPANESE EROTIC MANGA,” navigating the tricky government definition of “morally harmful material,” or helping a customer who’s awfully “criminally organized,” there’s rarely a dull moment for Honda-san. The true stories of a Japanese bookstore employee can be stranger than fiction! (Goodreads)

My thoughts

I’ve decided to continue with the second volume of this humorous manga series. The series seems to be semi-autobiographical and is about the experiences of an employee at a Japanese bookstore. The bookstore’s name isn’t mentioned, and all the employees are drawn wearing a mask. The protagonist (the author, Honda) wears a skull-face mask. In addition to focusing on Honda’s experiences working in the bookstore and interacting with a variety of customers and professionals in the Japanese book publishing industry, this volume also touches a bit more on Honda’s job as a manga artist.

Comics Roundup #66: Three Dark Comics

I’ve been battling a blogging slump since the beginning of this year and it recently became worse, so my posting hasn’t been consistent lately, and I’m behind on many reviews. Actually, the comics I’m discussing in this post were read way earlier this year, in March and April. So, due to those factors, my thoughts on them might not be as detailed as usual.

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Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy: The Fair Lady, the Frost, and the Fiend by Mirka Andolfo (illus.), transl. from the Italian by Arancia Studio

Genre

Horror

Series

n/a

Pubbed

2020

From Goodreads

The story is set in a small town in Washington state during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19^th century. The Swanson family controls the town and seems to run everything, even the brothels. In the prologue, the Swansons seem to have found a portal in one of the gold mines through which monsters can enter. These monsters can take on human form, and some of them are already in the world — a group of Native Americans hunt them.

Comics Roundup #65: Romance Comics — Moonstruck, Virtually Yours, Bingo Love

My catching up on reviews continues with these three comics I read that all focus on romance. All three are diverse, inclusive reads that focus on characters of different age groups.

Moonstruck is fantasy but focuses on characters in college and seems geared toward a YA audience. However, I’d argue that it could be recommended to older middle grade readers as well. Virtually Yours is contemporary and focuses on characters who’ve recently graduated from college and are beginning adult life; it seems geared toward older YA and new adult audiences. And Bingo Love is also contemporary but focuses on older adults and is geared toward audiences that are YA and older. All were pretty good reads.

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Moonstruck, Vol. 3: Troubled Waters by Grace Ellis, illus. by Shae Beagle and Claudia Aguirre

Genre

YA Fantasy; YA Romance

Series

Moonstruck

Pubbed

2020

Quick summary

Moonstruck is a fantasy graphic novel series that takes place in the supernatural college town of Blitheton and focuses on Julie, a girl struggling to accept that she’s a werewolf. In this volume, spring has arrived, which means it’s time for the annual mermaid festival, the Unfreezing Festival. Julie usually attends the festival with her best friend Chet (a centaur), but this year Chet and their partner Manuel are attending a NewPals (like Neopets) internship, so Julie will instead attend the festival with her girlfriend, Selena, and Selena’s best friend, Skyla, a mermaid.

As usual, Julie feels awkward and anxious, which is increased when she receives an ominous warning from her prophetic friend Cassie saying she must break up with Selena and when she realizes she has attracted the attention of a strange Finstagram influencer called Kit. So again, lots of shenanigans happen, Julie and Selena argue, and nothing goes according to plan — including the NewPals internship. (Goodreads)

Last Couple Books Read in 2021

It’s been a while since I’ve done a review, and whenever this happens, I feel as if I’ve forgotten how to write them. That’s how I feel now. It’s partly due to not having written one in a while and also having forgotten some details about the books I read. But, since my plan with this blog is to chat about every book I read, I’d like to post something about the books I read during the last months of 2021.

Those last months were a very busy, very stressful time for me, which is why I’ve delayed chatting about the books until now. Things got so overwhelming that I didn’t blog as much as I usually did and had a bout of reading slumpiness that lasted until… a few weeks ago. It was probably my longest reading slump. But now that I really feel back to my old self, I’d like to catch up on the MANY blogging and reading things I wanted to do since the slump hit — starting with these reviews.

I read all of these back in September last year, so I’ve forgotten much.

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Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Genre

MG Fantasy

Series

Keeper of the Lost Cities, book 1

Pubbed

2012

Quick summary

In this middle grade fantasy, we meet Sophie Foster, a 12-year-old, telepathic girl who is often treated as an outcast — even by her own family. However, one day she sees a boy with very interesting blue eyes at the museum and he helps her to realize that she does not belong in the human world. He tells her that she’s an elf and must leave her family to protect them.

Comics Roundup #64: “Assassin Nation, Vol. 1”

I’m still catching up on discussing books I read in the late summer/early fall months, especially for the Magical Readathon. So, here’s another comic book I read way back then.

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Assassin Nation, Vol. 1: Number One With a Bullet by Kyle Starks, illus. by Erica Henderson

Genre

Thriller; Humor

Series

Assassin Nation

Pubbed

2019

From Goodreads

The World’s Former Greatest Hitman hires the 20 best assassins in the world to be his bodyguards. These mean-as-hell hired guns and murderers must work together to keep the new crime boss safe, survive, and also attempt to solve the mystery of who’s trying to off him! (Goodreads)

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My thoughts

Assassin Nation is an action comic book about a dude who was once one of the best hitmen in the world hiring the 20 best assassins to serve as his bodyguard because someone’s targeting him.

I read the first issue last year and thought it was okay. I wasn’t really intending to continue with it, but my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see how the first volume would pan out, so I borrowed it from the library when I saw it available.

Comics Roundup #63: “Park Bench”

When I started reading this, I was pretty sure I’d read it before or had seen parts of it on the internet. My memory felt foggy, but I had such a strong feeling that a friend had sent a link to the full thing on the internet years ago and I’d seen most of it.

Whether or not I did, I’m glad that I now own a copy of the book and enjoyed my time with it when I read it for the Magical Readathon.

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Park Bench by Christophe Chabouté (illus.), transl. from the French by Jonathan Cape

Genre

Contemporary

Series

n/a

Pubbed

2012

From Goodreads

With his masterful illustration style, bestselling French creator-storyteller Chabouté (Alone, Moby-Dick) explores community through a common, often ignored object: the park bench.