A couple of quick reviews

Don't be fooled by the title, the pictures, or the size and shape of this book. It's not a book for young kids, unless they're seriously warped already.

It's just about the most brilliant thing I've ever beheld. The words are few, the illustrations are fantastic, and the story is insane. Insanely good.

I just finished watching the first series of Land Girls on Netflix instant streaming. And yes, it's brilliant as well. It's just the type of production that the BBC does so very freakin' well. It's got fully realized characters, damn good actors who bring them to life admirably, and the story is full of ups and downs that keep you entertained and absorbed.
The plot revolves around four young women sent to live and work on a farm during the early years of World War 2. And yes, there was an actual organization that was called The Women's Land Army, their task was to farm the farms of Britain so that they would not remain fallow while the men went off to war. The 'girls' get into all sorts of interpersonal dramas and they share tragedy and triumph along the way. They're not all angels with lilacs and roses for pubic hair, they all make mistakes, suffer for them, and keep on going. And yes, it's all terribly interesting and engrossing.

The four female leads are very good and very easy on the eyes. After all, they're all British babes who get down and dirty on the farm, in the fields, and behind each others backs. What's not to love? However, as good as the four leads are, the best performances of this series are turned in by the two villains Lady Hoxley and Sgt. Tucker, played by Sophie Ward and Danny Webb respectively. Lady Hoxley is as cold and distant as an iceberg is to a native of the tropics and Webb's unhinged uber patriotic sergeant in home guard is a thing of evil beauty.

I highly recommend this one.

Two reviews

The words that most describes this graphic novel are 'fragile' and 'delicate.'

It's about two French teenagers who are outsiders in most every way. The girl, Lucille, hates her body and is an anorexic as a result and the boy, Vladimir, holds himself responsible for his father's suicide. They finally meet about halfway through the book and they run off together and form a fragile delicate relationship that suffers a major shock.

This work is well written and well drawn. The illustrations are simple in style but they pack a big punch. Don't be daunted the size of the book if you ever pick one up, most of the pages are dialog free drawings.

I highly recommend this one.

This witty and urbane documentary will leave you with a smile on your face and a hunger for some Chinese food. Or perhaps Japanese food, depending on your preference.

The film tells the story behind fortune cookies in America. And yes, the ubiquitous Chinese fortune cookie that we know today was invented here in America. Unless it was invented in Japan that is. All sides of the story are shown and it's up to you to make up your mind as to which one is true, but really, does it matter?

This fun and winning documentary is highly recommended by this blog. The film is available on Netflix instant and it's also on the Snag Films channel on Roku.

Reviews you can use (and a plug)

While I found this novel by Ms. French to be enjoyable on one level, on another I found it deeply disappointing. The novel is about a police investigation into a murder of a young girl who was destined to scale the heights of the ballet world. And one of the Irish detectives who is investigating the case was, when young, one of three children who were part of an unsolved murder/kidnapping/missing child case. As a youth he was found clinging to a tree in the same forest where the young ballet dancer was found murdered many years later.

So what we have here is ostensibly two parallel stories about two separate cases that took place in the same section of woods in Ireland. But what we get is one very good story about the murder investigation and one very sub par and unfulfilled story about the detective who tries to make sense of and piece together what happened to him when he was a young teen in those same woods.

Ms. French succeeds in telling one story but leaves the other to twist and ultimately die in a not satisfying manner. She creates a claustrophobic atmosphere that works well when she's writing about the murder of Katy Devlin, the young ballet dancer, but not so well in the underdeveloped story about the crimes that happened to the detective. I therefore recommend this one with many reservations. Had Ms. French reached satisfying conclusions to both of the cases in her novel then I'd recommend this one highly. It's a decent read.

Have you had enough of superhero graphic novels and collections where the superhero always wins? Are you tired of stories about the superhero who wears his or her undies on the outside of their costume, no matter how quirky or deconstructed? If so, then the wildly innovative and offbeat Chew is for you.

It's the story of a detective, Tony Chu, later a federal agent, who gets psychic impressions from the food he eats. If he eats a burger he can 'see' the life and death that that particular cow had. Same thing with all meats and anything he eats, except beets. So you can see how his 'talent' comes in handy in a world where the federal government has banned the cooking and eating of chicken due to 'bird flu.'

While investigating a murder of a government food inspector Chu bumps up against his estranged brother who is a former TV chef, the mob, chicken smugglers, Russians near the Arctic circle, his boss, and his own partner, who also shares Chu's weird talent. Chu also finds himself in love with a food writer who's talent is that she writes about food so well that people can taste whatever she writes about, which is great for Chu because he can finally taste food without having to relive all that happened to it before it became food.

I fucking love this character and this graphic novel collection. It's got quirky interesting characters, plenty of action, plenty of interpersonal drama, a smidgen of science fiction, and a super interesting story that is a wild ride full of surprises. I love the writing, the art, everything. I can't wait to read the second volume in the this collection, and thank goodness my local library has it.

This one I super highly recommend.

This book tells in plain and simple language, that the non scientist, can understand about the causes and effects of the man made climate change that we're currently experiencing. It's written by one of the leading international authorities on coastal issues, Orrin Pilkey, and his son, my good friend and confidante Keith Pilkey.

Even if I didn't know Keith and and if I hadn't met Orrin a few years ago, I'd give this slender yet info packed book a big thumbs up. It's easily readable and it gives you the stark facts surrounding global climate change, and it even has a chapter on debunking the doubters. The authors aren't bought and paid for by Exxon or by FOX Noise, so you get the real unvarnished truth.

I highly recommend and am glad to plug this book by my friend and his dad.

She's a wiener

MNMom, a long time blog bud, won a CD copy of my graphic novel Hip Deep, Mountain High! She was the first to point out that the above illustration is an homage to the first B-52's album cover. MNMom gets the CD courtesy of another long time blog friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, who graciously purchased the CD and then donated it back to me so I could give it away in a contest.

Your CD will be going out in the mail on Wednesday MNMom. Thanks for playing!

And thanks once again to the anonymous blog friend who purchased the CD and then donated it back!

You can get your CD copy of my graphic novel by making a minimum $21 donation to my PayPal account. If you don't use PayPal, you can send me a check or money order.

Lucky 7

Part seven of my graphic novel is up on the members only blog.

Not a member of that blog you say? Want to read it you say? Well, donate $15 to may PayPal account and you can. Don't like PayPal you say? Then send me a personal check or money order for the suggested donation amount and you'll be in .

Graphic novel reviews

I'm lucky to live in a city that has such a kick ass library with such a kick ass head librarian who's a big comic book nerd like I am and who oddly enough has consented to be my friend. He's been instrumental in getting great graphic novels in the hands of library patrons.

I recently read, no, actually, I devoured this graphic novel that he got in:

It's another piece of dystopian/apocalyptic literature that I have such a fondness for. It's about a hybrid mutant boy with deer antlers who just wants to be left alone so he can go back to the only home he's known but can't because he's part of, or perhaps the cause of, a worldwide epidemic that killed millions of people. His story is a harrowing tale and it's told and artistically rendered brilliantly by Jeff Lemire. His story telling is tight and compelling and his art has a touch of art brut/clunkiness that really lends itself to the story he's telling. I can't wait for the next one in this series.


This is the second of the 'Parker' books that Darwyn Cooke has turned into a graphic novel. And for my money, both of them are super swell.

Richard Stark was the pen name Donald Westlake used when he wanted to write gritty hard boiled crime novels that featured Parker, an anti hero who was a criminal but who was an ethical even if he was an amoral guy. These novels gave Westlake an outlet and a break from writing the humorous crime novels most of us grew to know and love. I freely acknowledge that all the crime novels of Westlake have been a huge influence on me and you can see that influence in my graphic novel Hip Deep, Mountain High.

Cooke boils down the stories and he tells them mainly through wordless panels. When he does write dialog, it's minimal and you only get enough to keep the story moving. If only more writers followed Mr. Cooke's lead (sigh). I love these graphic novels, they're like slinky jazz versions of graphic novels and when I read them I imagine a soundtrack of cool smoky jazz playing in the background as the characters go about their criminal business.

I can't recommend these graphic novels, and my local library, highly enough.

Review City

This film is by turns disturbing, disgusting, and overwrought. But don't let that scare you. It's not an enjoyable film because of the subject matter, but it's an important film that I'm glad I got to see.

The film tells a version of the life of Jessco White aka the Dancin' Outlaw. It follows his troubled youth up to his troubled life as a dancer, drug addict, alcoholic, and crazy as fuck WV hillbilly. Edward Hogg is mesmerizing as the grown up Jessco and Owen Campbell is outstanding as the young Jessco. Carrie Fisher shines as Jessco's love interest, it's actually the best performance by her in years.

I'm not going to deny the fact that there are some people in the south who are like the characters in this film because that wouldn't be true, there are and I not only know people like the ones in this film, I'm related to some and I've partied with others. But some people will see this film and they'll assume that all of us here in the south are like the folks depicted in this movie, which makes as much sense as saying that all people in New Jersey are like those in The Sopranos or all Africans wear grass skirts and have bones through their noses.

I recommend this film but I'm warning you, it's violent, repellent, not easy to watch.

Duck Season on the other hand is a fun frothy comedy that anyone who was ever an awkward teenager can take delight in.

This film depicts one Sunday in the lives of a couple of Spanish teens who want nothing more than to be left alone so they can eat pizza and play video games. However the girl next door and a persistent pizza delivery guy alter their plans considerably.

I highly recommend this sly comedy that touches on sex, divorce, baking, art, life and magical realism.

I'm not one for superhero graphic novels and I'm definitely not one for the DC variety of that genre, but I got CATWOMAN: When in Rome at my public library the other day and I am loving the hell out of it. I love the story, the writing, the characters, and the art. It's a rare win for DC for me, and I suspect it's due to the fact that the characters are anti heroes. Well done Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

My gift to you

Part 2 of my graphic novel Hip Deep, Mountain High is available for free during the month of December. Go and read both part 1 and 2 and then for a one time only $15 donation to my PayPal account you can read the rest of the installments. Click here for part 2.

Two out of three ain't bad, in fact two out of three are really great

I have a confession to make. I didn't used to be crazy about Sherlock Holmes. I grew up watching those Basil Rathbone Holmes movies when I was a kid and they bored me to death. I never read the books either. I never got into the Jeremy Brett incarnation of Holmes on PBS and I have yet to see the Guy Ritchie version of Holmes.

Keeping all that in mind, I decided to give the new PBS version of Sherlock a try and hot damn I'm ever so glad I did.
It's freakin' brilliant. This version brings Holmes and Watson into the 21st century with spectacular results. The story, at least this first one, A Study In Pink, was a whip smart blazing fast tale that introduced all the principals and set the stage for the next episodes. And it didn't hurt that it had two of my favorite British actors, Martin Freeman and Philip Davis, in it.


I read the first three Fables collections back to back to back and I got kind of burnt out on them as a result. But after a year of being off Fables, I read the fourth collection and damn, it blew my socks off. It's full of great story telling, great dialogue, and great art. In this collection we meet new characters and we find out a little more of the back story of the lives of some of the current and newish fable characters. This collection is brilliant. It made me want to read more of these collections and since my library has them, I'll do just that in the next few weeks.

The art in this adaption of Kidnapped is really good and I'm sure the adaption of the novel itself is good, my problem with it is that novel itself. I found the story to be meh, boring, hackneyed, done to death. I'm not a huge Robert Louis Stevenson fan and I gave this one a try but in the end, I didn't care for the story. I should have given this one a miss.

Put up or shut up

Here's a page from the second installment of my graphic novel Hip Deep, Mountain High:
I really really really like this page, the dialogue, the layout, the part of the story it's telling, everything. I think I really hit my stride with the look and layout of the project in this twenty five page installment.

If you liked the first installment, which I let you read for free, and if you like this and the other page I put up a week or so ago, then please, by all means I encourage you to read the second installment. One little thing though, if you're not in it, you'll have to make a minimum $15 donation to my PayPal account to do so. And if you don't like PayPal, I'll be glad to take your personal check or a money order for that same minimum donation amount.

"Hey," I'm sure some of you are saying, "what's up with that Dr. Monkey? Why you charging to read it? Why can't I read it for free?" The thing is I do a lot of stuff for free. This blog is free, as are most of my other blogs. I do Facebook for free. So, that's a shitload of content, political insight and rants, comedy, pop culture commentary, and other stuff for free.

I've incurred expenses doing this graphic novel, and truth be told I incur expenses for some of the stuff I give you for free on the blogs of Dr. Monkey, and the folks who have been kind enough to be in my graphic novel project incurred expenses in being in it, so I'm out to make those expenses back and to eventually pay the folks who are in my project for their time and willingness to help. So that's why I'm offering my graphic novel to you on a donation basis. And truth be told, it's that time of year again, city and county taxes are due on Monkey Central and the holidays are coming up, so I could use some extra cash and that's why I decided to charge for this project as well. If you're in it, then you get a free invite to the invitation only blog where it's residing now, if you're not in it, then you got to make that minimum donation to my Pal Pal account or send me a check or money order for $15. I'd also add if you're in it and you want to make the donation so one of your friends or family can read the graphic novel, because you're cool like that, then that's awesome.

If you think you're going to get an invitation to read it because we've been long time blog buds, then you're wrong. I love all my long time blog buds, but they've got to pony up that minimum donation like everybody else. If we know one another in real life and you are banking on me inviting you for free, don't. Don't bank on it. I'm standing firm on this. See, you think nothing about dropping $20 on movies, books, or CD's that were written by people you don't know and will never know, so why not drop $15 on my graphic novel? It's written by someone you do know, or at least feel like you know, and after PayPal takes their tiny cut, I and the cast get the rest.

The donation is a one time only thing, you don't have to keep making over and over again, unless you want to that is. And I promise you, if you make that donation and you jump aboard the ride that is Hip Deep, Mountain High, then you'll be getting one of the most surreal, funny, original crime genre graphic novels the world has ever seen.

And so it begins...

I put the first twenty five pages of my graphic novel Hip Deep, Mountain High up on the interwebs. If you click on the title to the project in the previous sentence then it will take you to the free sample blog where I posted it.

The first 25 pages are free, the rest of it will cost you a minimum donation of $15 to me directly or to my PayPal account. That's a one time donation and if you donate now you will not only get an invite to the invitation only blog where the rest will appear when it get it done, and that will probably be in late spring or early summer of next year if all goes well, you will get the chance to buy at a reduced rate the CD version of the project which will contains numerous extras.

As of right now I have no publisher so it will not be available in a 'book' format, so there will be no signed copies for anyone. I may, at a later date, go the self published route if no publisher is interested.

The story is a twisted criminal tale about a fictional county in the mountain south that's run by a crime lord and his henchmen. A young man finds himself unwillingly thrust into Jones County and along the way he crosses paths with a dirty sheriff, an unscrupulous televangelist, members of the Willis crime family, and some TV personalities who like to make his life even more crazy.

This project has been a huge collaborative effort between myself and my friends and their families who have served as models for the photos. So far photos from three countries and two states have been used in this project and there many more photos to be taken.

This project is stretching me creatively, which is what I wanted, and it's consuming a lot of my time. I hope you like what I've done as much as I like what I've come up with, and if you don't then that's fine too.

Another sample page from my upcoming graphic novel

Click to enlarge the sample page and then click it once more to really enlarge it.

The gal playing Candy Helbert is as nice as she is beautiful.

Four reviews with a view

Erin Boheme is a very good jazz vocalist and this CD of hers is very good. She's got a jazzy/smoky voice that is at home covering jazz and pop standards as well as her own original compositions. If you like the sultry blondes who sing the jazz, then you'll like this CD. Me, I really like it.
Let me say upfront that before I read this novel by TC Boyle I liked the previous novel of his that I read and I have liked all the short stories of his that I read as well. And I like the first two thirds of this novel, Talk Talk. But the last third, boy what the hell happened? It stank. It was like Mr. Boyle ran out of steam but he kept going anyway. By the time he had set up the final showdowns I wanted to strangle all his characters and then do the same to Mr. Boyle for ruining his novel. I'm glad I bought this book off the remainders table for a buck, at least I didn't waste much money on it. Not recommended.
One of the best things about the Vertigo series of comics from DC is that they take minor characters from DC's past and give them new life in grown up stories in the graphic novel format. This second graphic novel with the heretofore minor DC character Madam Xanadu, Exodus Noir, really rocks. It's two stories in one book, it tells a tale of Madam Xanadu's past along with a tale of her investigation into a series of murders in 1940's era NYC. The writing is crisp, the art is great, and the colors are eye popping. I devoured this graphic novel in two nights. I highly recommend it. (I'm reading the first one now and I like it a lot less than this one.)

This little noir thriller is claustrophobic and just when you think you have all the angles figured out, they zig when you think they're going to zag. I quite liked the whole thing, except for Forest Whitaker's horrendous accent and the fact that it takes place in some hellish looking high plains/prairie location, all that flatness gave me the willies. I liked all the machinations between Julia Stiles and Jeremy Renner's characters, I liked how they showed the big insurance company to be just as despicable as the people who are trying to con it, and I like all the close ups of Ms. Stiles, but for my money, there's never enough close ups of Julia Stiles. I highly recommend this one, especially if you like noir and con men films.

Quick Reviews

This graphic novel transports some of the Greek myths and legends to modern day London. On many levels this book is a success, the art is incredible, the lettering and the inks are divine, but...in the end the writing fails to live up to the promise and the premise. I was all in for about two thirds of the work then in the last third they lost me when the story telling ran out of steam. I wish the last third was as good as the first two thirds. This one gets a tepid recommendation.

I don't usually read supernatural/horror based graphic novels but I picked this one up at my local library the other day and boy is it ever good. It's bloody and scary but the story is well told, the art is good, and it all works well together. I devoured the first one and I'm already on the second one. Highly recommended.

Both Sparky and I missed this series when it first aired in the late 1970's on PBS, I can't say what she was up to but I was too busy smoking pot like it was going out of style and drinking Boone's Farm because it was there. So with all that going down, it's no wonder I missed a series about a woman in Edwardian England who becomes a cook and who ends up owning a hotel that caters to the rich and snobby. This series has it problems, poor sound quality (which is guess is endemic to all BBC made shows of this era), cheesy accents, hard to understand accents (especially the one put forth by the Welsh maid character), but overall it's very entertaining. The Edwardian period of history is not at all my favorite, in fact I find the rampant sexism, the imperialism, the naked greed and outlaw capitalism of that era to be repellent, but I can stomach all that for the sake of watching this series. I quite like young Gemma Jones and many of the others in this show and I always love spotting actors who went on to do other things. We're about halfway through series one and have series 2 to see after that. I recommend this one to fans of BBC costume dramas and those who like period pieces in general.

This film came out in 1985 and I'm not sure why or how I managed to miss seeing it until this past weekend. I had always heard good things about it and I'm a huge Albert Brooks fan, and I'm fond of Julie Hagerty too, so it's mystery to me how I had escaped seeing it for so many years. I'm glad I finally did catch it because it's hilarious. After not getting his big promotion and quitting his job because he failed to get it, Brooks convinces Hagerty to quit her job and sell off everything they own so that they can buy a motor home and travel across America. His plan works fine until she loses all their money in one night of gambling in Vegas. It's painfully funny how they try to pick up the pieces of their dream and go on. Albert Brooks is the master of uncomfortable comedy, Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, and Steve Coogan all owe a debt of gratitude to him for blazing the trail of uncomfortable comedy in TV and film. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

This is the second modern day 'white person trek across Africa' book I've read in the past few years. It's an eye opening account of travel and life in Africa. Ms. Jones is a good, sometimes terribly witty writer, but as was the case in Dark Star by Paul Theroux, I found her tone and some of her observations about Africa and Africans to be paternalistic and a tad condescending. I suppose westerners can't help but sound self righteous when writing about Africa, we either feel guilt for how we've fucked them over or we feel like what we've done to them was justified because it brought them into the ranks of modern day civilization. I recommend this one in spite of my observations because anything that will teach people about the harsh reality of Africa is a good thing.

A trio of reviews

Wow. I can't believe it took me this long to see The Prestige. In my defense there are a shitload of movies out there to be seen and I'm not the biggest Hugh Jackman fan in the world, although after seeing another great film directed by Christopher Nolan, I'm now a huge Christopher Nolan fan.

This film is spectacular. It's a got a great story that keeps you guessing, although I nearly had it figured out by the time they got to the pay off, it's got great performances, and it's well made all the way around. It can be a little slow and ponderous at times, but trust me, you'll be glad you stuck it out if you stay with it.

Michael Caine, Christian Bale, and Scarlett Johansson are all really good. Hugh Jackman, I'm still not sold on but he was adequate.

I highly recommend this one.

I have never read the book this movie was based on so I wasn't burdened by any expectations of what I thought the film was going to be like before I saw it. I went into it knowing nothing about this project, well nothing aside from the fact that it had Michael Cera in it and that I really like Michael Cera. And you know what? I fucking loved this film. It's funny, it's inventive, and it's a story I could relate to.

Cera, as usual, stands out, as does the beautiful Ms. Portia Doubleday. I also loved Jean Smart, Mary Kay Place, Emmet Walsh, and Zach Galifianakis.

I recommend this one too.
This is one of the most heartfelt graphic novels I have ever read. I have no idea what it's like to be a smart ass young girl who is into things like D&D, giants, and who has to deal with the loss of a parent at a young age. But because I was one, I have a pretty good idea what it's like to be a young smart ass boy who was into geeky things like comic books, obscure baseball facts, and who had to deal with loss of a parent at a young age. I know exactly where this little girl was coming from and I knew exactly what she was dealing with. Our circumstances were very different but they were the same, and that's why I loved this graphic novel.

So long Harvey

Harvey Pekar has passed away. With his passing we lost one of the most miraculous people ever. But if he heard me say that he'd laugh in my face. And maybe punch me as well. But it's true and here's why:

• In a time when comic books were not held in high esteem, when only a few companies published comic books and they tightly controlled who could write, draw, and colorize them Harvey managed to get a comic book about his seemingly mundane life not only published but distributed as well.
• The stories he told in his comics were not the type of stories that would ever have been put out by Marvel or DC.
  
• After managing to get his comic books published, he parlayed that into many TV appearances on the old David Letterman show on NBC, that was waaaay back when Dave was edgy, super funny, and cutting edge.
• Then finally pop culture caught up with Harvey and showed him the love and attention he deserved. There was the great film about his life American Splendor and more of his work was published both in serial and graphic novel form.

His was a long shot life. I'm not about to get into his personal neuroses or his illnesses, be they real or imaginary, it's his professional and pop culture legacy that interests me. For a working class stiff of a guy who toiled in obscurity but who kept plugging away at his dream to have finally 'made it' to where he did in his life is amazing to me. His life shows that if you keep trying, sometimes you can succeed.

And his life and example have also inspired me to try my hand at producing a graphic novel. The project I'm working on now owes a huge debt to Harvey because in the back of my mind for a few years now I've thought that if someone like Harvey can get his stories out there in comic book form, then a guy with a fertile imagination like me should be able to as well. It's taken me a bit longer to get off my monkey ass to get started but now that I have I look at Harvey as a pioneer and as a hero in the field of comic books and graphic novels.

One of my comic book aficionado blog buds posted that Harvey was 'gone.' I disagreed with him because with the pop culture legacy he left behind, Harvey will never ever be gone from our collective consciousness.

The reviews are in

We saw this film the other night:
It's a very sweet movie about how a shy man breaks out of his shell and finds love. It really is a perfectly sweet film with good performances all around, especially Gosling's. I really related to the lead character and his shyness. I wasn't as bad off as he is in this film but I used to be pretty darn shy around women, so I know where he was coming from. Even though you can see things coming a mile away in the movie, they telegraph stuff like crazy, it's still a good film. I recommend it.

My friend Keith got me a signed copy of this graphic novel:
It's called Afrodisiac and it's a send of blaxploitation films from the early '70's, except it's in comic book form. And it not only parodies blaxploitation films, it also parodies comic books and comic book styles of art and writing as well. Having grown up with comic books and blaxploitation films, this graphic novel is a hoot. It's laugh out loud funny and it's right on the money with it's send ups of and inside jokes and references to pop culture. This one is highly recommended.

I read most of this recently:
It's a series written by an Italian writer about a private detective who specializes in cases dealing with the paranormal. The stories are very intricate and well plotted but for me the best thing about this series and character is the art. It's all in black and white and it's highly reminiscent of some of the best art that used to grace the pages of Heavy Metal magazine in the late '70's, which makes sense because most of the art in those old issues of Heavy Metal was done by European artists. The art is spare at times, but it always furthers the story and all the stories are chock full of stellar wordless panels that say so much without any dialogue.

I recommend this one as well. And it's available at my local library.

Graphic novel round up

I read this recently:
Wow. Great well written, well drawn, action packed graphic novel. It's a Viking tale that's believable and very atmospheric. The battle sequences are graphic and bloody but not gratuitously so, same goes for the sex scenes. I've really hated the way Vikings were portrayed in most comics, and films and TV shows for that matter, so I was very happy to see that someone in an entertainment medium finally did them justice.

My only quibble with this graphic novel is the language. They use modern words that would never have come from the lips of Vikings. I could forgive them the use of the word 'fuck' because it's one of those words that just fits but for one of the characters to say that another is a 'dictator' was just too much to believe. Seeing it used in this graphic novel was like seeing a jet plane in a western, it just didn't fit.

I just finished this graphic novel:

I'm someone who absolutely hates superhero comic books and graphic novels. I didn't used to be that way, after reading them for years and then not reading them for years it's just hard for me to go back to enjoying them when on the odd occasion when I do pick up a superhero title. They've been done to death and all the established superhero characters are dull as dust to me. But, having said that, I really liked this superhero graphic novel.

The superheros are a group of kids who were born mysteriously to women who didn't know they were pregnant. The kids who were lucky enough to survive these miraculous births are gathered together by an eccentric mad scientist and his chimpanzee sidekick who is actually a highly intelligent physician who just happens to be a chimp and they are melded into an unlikely superhero squadron. They all have wildly diverse personalities and powers and they don't always mesh and get along with one another and that's what makes the story so good.

The story telling is superb and the funky chunky art is swell as well. It reminded me of the comic book art of Bill Sienkiewicz. Evidently the guy who wrote this series is in the band My Chemical Romance. But I had no idea who he was since I'm not an angst ridden emo teen who wears pounds of black eyeliner and who feels things waaaaaaay too deeply. However don't let the fact that the writer is in some crappy band that the kids love so much stop you from reading this series, he's actually a pretty good comic book writer.

I recommend both these graphic novels highly.

Graphic novel round up

I like the main Fables series of graphic novels but I freakin' love this series featuring Jack:
In the main series characters tend to get lost or obscured due to having to have so many in the story. In this series that mainly features Jack, the stories are sooooo much more fleshed out and the writers are able to delve into the characters more without having to worry about whether one or another is getting enough page time or not. These are clever tales told well. The art and inking in them is also top notch. I'm devouring them like a fat kid devours chocolate dipped eclairs. Mmmmmmmmmm, chocolate dipped eclairs.

All too often you hear a ton of hype about a comic book series and more often than not the series never lives up to the hype. I'm happy to report this is not the case with Y: The Last Man. It's well written, well drawn, well inked, and well, I love it. This series tells the story of what happens when all the males of earth, human and other animal, get wiped off the planet. All except for one man and his monkey. It's chilling and thought provoking. It's got great compelling characters and lots of action and intrigue. I read the first in the series in one night and I practically ran back to my local library to check all the rest out so I could read them as quickly as possible. I'm almost through the second one and I'm looking forward to finishing the next three I've got checked out as soon as I can. I highly recommend this series.

Unlike the previous two graphic novels in this post Stitches is not part of a series, it's a stand alone true life tale of a young boy who grew up in Detroit with a cold distant money hungry mother, an aloof father, and a brother who left as soon as he could. Young David is shunted aside and he's ignored for reasons that are made clear only late in the book. He develops a tumor on his neck at a very young age and his folks decide not to tell him that it's cancer because they think he might not survive the operation, and when he does his life becomes even more bizarre than it already was.

This book touched me deeply. I identified it with it greatly, having grown up in a house with a cold money hungry dominant female figure, my crazy aunt, who used affection like a weapon. Even though our situations were very different, I felt like I knew just what Mr. Small went through in this book, having to deal with such powerfully crazy family members at such a young age, his maternal grandmother, a committed Christian, was a nut bag who should have been committed to a mental hospital early in life but somehow managed to avoid one until the day in her old age when she locked her husband in her house and tried to burn it down.

The art and choice of colors in this book are stunning. It's a muted palette Mr. Small uses and his story is also almost mute, for reasons you'll see if you read this book, so most of the book is a series of wordless panels that say more than words ever could. It's a story that is by turns sad, provocative, thought provoking, and mind blowing. I highly recommend it. I haven't read anything that touched me as deeply as this book did since I read Toast.

And once again I must give a shout out to my local library for stocking these and many other great graphic novels on it's shelves. Yay Johnson City Public Library!

A Two Fisted Monkey Book Report

The 'Criminal' graphic novel series remains one of the best on the market. And this edition is as good as the other two I've read. This one is about a heist that goes wrong (Is there any other kind of heist?) and it's aftermath. There's no goody two shoes cops or hookers with hearts of gold or any other cloying stereotypes in this book. All the characters are dirty, some more than others. If you like gritty, violent, ultra realistic crime stories then this graphic novel and this whole series of graphic novels is for you.
If someone ever derisively says to me, "Aren't graphic novels just comic books?" and I have this graphic novel close by I'll use it to smack them upside their head in an effort to rid them of some of their cultural snobbery. A work like this is a comic book about like Guernica is just some shapes painted on a canvass.

Two, sometimes three or more, stories are being told in this bizarre graphic novel. The novel starts out being about the life of Asterios Polyp after his apartment burns down, then it also tells the story of his marriage, and his twin brother who was born dead. It also delves into philosophy, art theory, architecture, astrology, myths, legends, and a shit load more. Personally, I think it could have used some editing, there is such a thing as throwing too much at a reader.

The art is simple, spare, and stunning at times. And as usual, I appreciated that the author told so much of the story in wordless panels. If you're into the esoteric academic thing, then this graphic novel is up your alley. I liked parts of it but some of it left me cold.