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| author | title | comments |
| michael alexander (translator) | the earliest english poems | def. an interesting collection; most are of excerpts. had a good balance of thetypical ragin' vikings fare and some surprisingly eloquent ballad-y type bits.also had great introductions to each selection. |
| stephen crane, joseph katz (editor) | the complete poems of stephen crane | this collection of crane's complete poetry is divided into four sections. the two most important sections are the two volumes of poetry crane published, which were -the black riders and other lines- and -war is kind-. the third section consists of "uncollected poems", i.e. poems that were published in magazines but did not appear in the two collections, and posthumously published poems. as the other reviewers have stated, crane was not and is not known for his poetry, but it is quite magnificent. in general his poetry is surprisingly modern. they tend to be more prose-oriented although he often uses literal or loosely repeated sections (i.e. refrains) to good effect. his poetry also tends to be didactic (often taking the form of a parable with such "characters" as mountains, angels, and philosophers), morbid, and direct. which is certainly not to say that they aren't also emotional, masterful, and engaging. -the black riders- as a whole is more straightforward than the poems in -war is kind-. in general the poems in -black riders- center around the metaphysical, with themes such as religion, ethics, and philosphy appearing often. although -war is kind- contains many of the same themes, it also includes more concrete themes, such as war, the many facets of a man's relationship with a woman, and specific occurrences and objects such as the printing of newspapers. the uncollected and posthumous poetry is varied, but just as excellent if not better than the poems in the two collections. this edition is quite attractive, a nice size with a mostly competent introductory essay that sheds light on the background of the publishing of crane's two collections. the print itself is generally clean and attractive, although occasionally there are some notable flaws in the printing where a line is too dark or too light. all in all, though, this collection is highly recommended as it is complete and crane's poetry is well worth reading and timelessly relevant. |
| emily dickinson | selected poems & letters of emily dickinson | although this is not the complete poems of emily dickinson, i found that i needed a more selective collection of her poetry. still, this would be a good book for dickinson fans. |
| t. s. eliot | the waste land and other poems | i found this collection to be irritating. for every 100 lines of eliot's prohibitively obtuse poetry, only about 5 lines gave me a worthwhile revelation. with that said, eliot definitely is skilled at creating an uneasy, dark ambience that others may enjoy, but i found i could only get halfway through this. |
| loren goodman | famous americans | something out of the ordinary: humorous poetry: this collection is quite good, although it should be noted that humorous doesn't necessarily mean light. goodman has a knack for unlikely juxtapositions and clearly loves playing with language in the form of non sequiturs and malapropisms. at their best, as in "yeast" which is a play on the poet yeats and in "touchdown to college!" which starts off as a badly spelled essay and which morphs unexpectedly into beautiful poetry, the poems' results are strangely moving. a little too often his poetry is simply gimmicky, as in the series of movie castlists which feature "max von sydow" in a slew of roles, or the life of benjamin franklin, both of which quickly become rather predictable. a quick read for some good laughs and chuckles, as well some moments of emotional reaction. |
| lady charlotte e. guest (translator) | the mabinogion (dover thrift editions) | the mabinogion (charlotte guest translation) is a collection of welsh mythological ballads. the stories are curious because it seems that character's actions rarely have any meaningful consequences, which andy hypothesizes is a more medieval trait, one shared by modern day japan. still, i read the first four which are the four stories of the mabinogion proper so i don't feel too guilty that i didn't finish it. |
| maureen morehead, pat carr | our brothers' war | well done but a little prosaic and a bit predictable: this collection features the poetry of maureen morehead and the short stories of pat carr. both are from kentucky, and both drew their inspiration from the diaries of women from kentucky during the american civil war. carr's writing occasionally slips into checkout aisle romance novel prose (as in the story of a white mistress and her affair with a black slave), but at its best she conjures up the period and the emotions well, as in "the return", a story about a girl's harsh disillusionment about waiting for and then marrying a soldier, and "bringing willis home", a story about a sister who goes to identify her brother among hundreds of dead bodies. morehead's poems have a limited scope and more concentration. although most of the time she dwells a little too long on the prosaic, at her best she also does a nice job of capturing poignant emotions, as in "my garden" in which a woman takes joy in working with the earth to provide for her family, and "phebe" in which a white girl helps make a wedding dress for one of the slaves and secretly watches the slaves' celebration. both writers shed light on the complex relationship between slaves and slave owners, which perhaps make the most lasting impression. |
| pablo neruda, william o'daly (translator) | the book of questions | attractively presented, although the content gets to be a bit dull. a coincidence is that i had picked up a book of rumi a few weeks earlier and the foreword in this book compared neruda's book of questions to rumi's poetry. i only read about 1/3 of the way through the rumi book, but i liked the neruda much better. |
| mevlana jelaluddin rumi, coleman barks (translator) | unseen rain: quatrains of rumi | only got about a third or a fourth of the way through this one. the directness of the poetry, instead of being focused and intense, is dull and unenlightening. |
| anne sexton | transformations | poetic retellings and variations and mostly familiar grimm brothers fairy tales. i found the material most closely tied to the source material to be the least interesting, but the mini-poems that serve as a prelude to each story are usually good and worth reading. |
| marguerite yourcenar, dori katz (translator) | fires | really annoying. doesn't really add anything to the myths and the interludes are just very bad angsty high school poetry. could only get 1/3 of the way through this one. |
| author | title | comments |
| david cale | redthroats | i took a look at this book b/c it seemed to get have great quotes from reviews, but i was quite disappointed. the book contains two plays, both for one actor. the title play is marginally better, and concerns an english boy who loves judy garland and lives in a dysfunctional family. he takes up work as a male prostitute and eventually escapes to america. the story itself is unoriginal, and the style tries unsuccessfully to be deep. images such as birds flying away are incredibly trite. likewise the second play smooch music is supposedly an exploration of love and sex, but in reality is an incoherent mess of attempts at surrealism and depth. also, the majority of it was written as songs, and as lyrics they simply read like bad high school poetry. |
| caryl churchill, david lan | a mouthful of birds | inspired by the bacchae, this play supposedly deals with irrational passions in different forms. however, the end result is quite boring. comprised of disjoint vignettes, most of the vignettes lack focus and as a whole the series lacks cohesion. characters include a woman who acts as a medium, a man who falls in love with a pig, and a trite scene in which a woman murders her husband. even the use of modern theater techniques such as surrealism lacks grace and purpose. zzz. |
| fred ebb, bob fosse, and john kander | chicago | i don't think this book is in print, but the libretto shows how great this show is. the last scene falls flat, but the rest of the show is colorful and creative. |
| larry gelbart, cy coleman, david zippel | city of angels | the show is mildly entertaining, but pretty shallow and full of one-line jokes. |
| david ives | all in the timing: fourteen plays | ives comes up w/ some novel gimmicks, but most of the time he doesn't go very much further w/ them. the first plays are the most entertaining and insightful of the bunch, although the last is also worth noting. |
| james kirkwood, nicholas dante, marvin hamlish, edward kleban | a chorus line: the book of the musical | the libretto of the long-running musical, apparently published for the first time in 1999. although i haven't seen the show on stage, the book still doesn't make me quite understand why this show was sopopular. the score isn't particularly memorable and the text isn't all that unique. the foreward points out that one of the show's greatest strengths was its staging, so perhaps that's what i'm missing. |
| david mamet | the cryptogram | tedious and pointlessly obtuse. |
| patrick marber | closer | i'm pretty bored with and tired of (or sick of more like) ye old relationship plays (and movies). i mean, how many times can we see "someone's cheating on someone and s/he finds out" w/ all the requisite and utterly pedestrian shouting, crying, or both? i think if you have a superlative author w/ a superlative cast and director you can pull of something more interesting than average (e.g. who's afraid of virgina woolf), but at best it's still a topic that barely interests me. 99% of the time i'm thinking "why can't these people just GROW UP and stop acting like adolescents?" is it just me? |
| joe masteroff, john kander, fred ebb | cabaret: the illustrated book and lyrics | the libretto of the recent revival. really nicely put together, witheye-catching colour photos from the revival. unlike so many othershows, the book stands on its own, and the last scene is powerful even on the page. |
| terrence mcnally | love! valour! compassion! and a perfect ganesh: two plays | the characters tend to be of the sort that appear in made for tv movies (men dying from aids, women w/ breast cancer), mcnally uncomfortably wavers between being heartfelt and maudlin and oftentimes accomplishes both. much too straightforward and accessible for me, although i can see how it would appeal to others. |
| john cameron mitchell, stephen trask | hedwig and the angry inch | the libretto of the original stage version of hedwig. interesting to compare it to the movie. the original libretto makes the relationship between hedwig and yitzhak much more explicit which is interesting. the movie did a great job of translating the stage version to a different medium. the libretto is definitely an entertaining read, although reading it makes it clear that john cameron mitchell's performance makes the text really come alive and makes hedwig a real 3-dimensional character as opposed to just a bitchy drag queen. |
| luigi pirandello, eric bentley (translator) | six characters in search of an author | has some mildly interesting ideas, but lacks drama. mostly just philosophical discussion onstage. |
| william shakespeare (author), louis b. wright (editor), virginia a. lamar (editor) | as you like it (folger library) | like -the tempest- i wasn't that impressed w/ this play. it seemed overly simple and the stock shakespearean elements are not really superior here. the exceptions are the witty cross-dressing rosalind and the oftentimes funny clown/fool touchstone. all in all prob. not really worth rereading anytime soon, but i'm glad i can cross it off my list of shakespeare plays to read. |
| william shakespeare, george lyman kittredge (editor) | the tempest | short and mostly inconsequential. |
| naomi wallace | in the heart of america | a collection of plays. i first became aware of wallace when my university did one flea spare, which i was extremely impressed with for its depth, creativity, emotional focus, and brechtian wit. (since then i've found out that wallace is a fellow kentuckian, heh, heh.) i really enjoyed one flea spare on the printed page; i truly believe this is a play that deserves to be put in the same class as the other american greats, such death of a salesman, mourning becomes electra, and the crucible. in one flea spare the action involves four people impatiently waiting out a quarantine sentence at the time of the great plague in london and its themes include the loss of innocence and class and gender struggles. the final play, trestle at pope lick creek, is definitely the second best of the plays. set in a rural community, the play's unflinching look at a world of poverty and lack of opportunity is chilling and memorable. there were parts of the other 3 plays that were also well done, although in general they were not as tightly scripted. it is interesting to see wallace's general style becomes more apparent in reading these plays, in her language and her use of such devices as playing with time. in the heart of america is set during the gulf war and the the war boys concerns three men watching the mexican-american border for illegal immigrants. slaughter city is about workers in a slaughtering factory who are trying to preserve their union. all in all this is definitely an impressive collection of plays by a modern master. |
| author | title | comments |
| mike allred | madman adventures collection | one of the earliest madman collections. not a whole lot happens in these issues, but the drawing is great. the main storyline consists of an alien from outer space. |
| mike allred | madman comics yearbook 95 | a better collection. the stories include a trip in a time machine, a series of serial murders on a cruise ship, a visit from aliens, and some renegade robots. |
| you asagiri, ikoi hiroe (translator) | golden cain (yaoi) | this had about an average plot for a yaoi, which i'm fairly bored with by now. pretty cheesy story, and has some domination-type characterization which is novel, but o/w pretty generic. the ending had kind of entertaining, although somewhat bizarre, twist though. |
| chuck austen, ron garney (illustrator), sean phillips, mark morales | uncanny x-men: hope (vol. 1) | #410-415. the first three (and also the fourth) form a story arc involving juggernaut soliciting the help of the x-men and a nurse named annie caring for the catatonic havok and joining the staff at the institute to care for him. the fifth issue focuses on northstar, who joins the the institute also. the issue w/ northstar is extremely well-done and makes the whole book worth reading, in my opinion. the last issue focuses on iceman and northstar. |
| chuck austen, larocca | uncanny x-men: the draco (vol. 4) | #428-434. austen continues his soap opera run of the x-men. at the center of this arc is a muddled history of nightcrawler. turns out he's the child of mystique and ... satan? huh? two mostly disposable subplots explore juggernaut's relationship w/ sammy and the reason lorna was being crazy. the art is okay, except for the last issue which is cartoony and frankly pretty terrible. |
| chuck austen, salvador larroca | uncanny x-men: she lies with angels (vol. 5) | tedious retelling of romeo and juliet ... with mutants. zz. |
| clamp | clover (clover vol. 1) | interesting but not indispensible. much moodier than the average manga. a futuristic action-type story with pretty good art. also has some yaoi elements. |
| chris claremont et al | the essential x-men vol. 1 | good look at the rehaul of the xmen that happened in the 70's. storm is totally kickass. includes the death of thunderbird and the phoenix saga. |
| chris claremont et al | the essential x-men vol. 2 | pretty entertaining, although some of the more soap opera drama gets a little tiresome. includes the dark phoenix saga and a surprisingly short days of future past and features the first appearances of kitty pryde, mystique, emma frost and the hellfire club, and avalanche et al. |
| chris claremont et al | the essential x-men volume 3 | story arc about deathbird, first appearance of rogue, includes belasco/illyana for the first time. |
| chris claremont et al | from the ashes | covers some of the same issues as essential x-men vol. 4 (see below). still, nice to see these in color. |
| chris claremont et al | the essential x-men volume 4 | this book included the brood war saga (in which the x-men get eggs implanted inside them) which introduces binary and which was quite good, and the first real storyline w/ the morlocks, inc. storm's duel with callisto. the book includes the the issues in the tpb "from the ashes" which involve "the return of the dark phoenix". also, rogue joins the xmen (whoo!), madelyne pryor and the new mutants make their debut, and the xmen go to japan for wolvie's aborted wedding. all in all, pretty essential reading. |
| chris claremont, et al | the x-men: the asgardian wars | the xmen/alpha flight story (2 issues) wasn't so great, but the new mutants/xmen story (2 issues) was fun riffing on norse mythology. |
| chris claremont, terry austin (illustrator), jon bogdanove (illustrator) | fantastic four vs. the x-men | claremont does a pretty good job of coming up w/ a plausible reason for the FF to be battling the x-men (unlike the x-men vs the avengers series that came out around the same time). the story is a little on the cheesy side, esp. w/ regard to franklin, but there are some nice moments. the impression the series contains an impt revelation for the FF, and a fairly impt event for the x-men in that kitty gets "cured" although the details surrounding it are not so impt. still, it's fun to see dazzler, longshot, and psylocke, newer members of the team, in action. |
| chris claremont, louise simonson | x men: the fall of the mutants | collects Uncanny X-Men #224-226, X-Factor #24-26, New Mutants #59-61. the three series are mostly separate in this crossover. the new mutants arc is centered around bird-boy and is annoying. the x-factor arc is better and features apocalypse and his four horsemen, which includes angel in his new guise as archangel. the uncanny story is about the x-men vs "the adversary" and demons. all in all not the greatest crossover, but both the UXM and the XF stories were impt in the x-men history and walter simonson's artwork is great as always. (blevins artwork on new mutants, in contrast, is terrible.) |
| chris claremont, salvador larroca | x-treme x-men: destiny (vol. 1) | #1-9. the first of the xtreme xmen tpbs. not bad, although not terribly original. |
| chris claremont, salvador larroca (illustrator) | x-treme x-men: invasion (vol. 2) | #10-18. like the first collection, seems overly familiar. still, the artwork is good, and the story is entertaining. |
| chris claremont, kevin sharpe (illustrator) | x-treme x-men: savage land | it's not surprising that so many people are looking to sell their copy of this tpb, which collects the entire x-treme x-men savage land limited series. claremont's tired plot concerns the x-treme x-men's group adventure in the savage land in which they help an ancient dinosaur-like race called the saurids enter the savage land and then fight against an old savage land enemy brainchild to preserve the peace there. yawn. the saurids look way too much like the shi'ar race and the writing jumps around so much that it takes an effort to follow what's supposed to be going on. no character development, storm gets transformed into a primal state and then back (zzz), and threads that get brought up never get pursued (e.g. rogue's mental turmoil). kevin sharpe's artwork is competent, even though it pretty much just looks like slightly less slick versions of larocca's. this was one of the few tpbs i've read that i really had to make an effort to finish. this storyline is def. weaker than the first x-treme books, but i'm not much of a fan of either of those either for the same reasons: claremont just seems to be rehashing the same old plot devices with none of the emotional depth he used to reach. the story is a standalone, so you can avoid this one unless, like me, you just want to see sage in action, although she doesn't get to do much here. |
| chris claremont, salvador larrocca | x-treme x-men: schism (vol. 3) | #19-23 and x-treme x-pose #1-2. slightly better than the first two x-treme x-men tpbs, but still subpar. focuses on sage and bishop and storm to some extent, though, which is cool, although they don't develop as characters at all. emma acts as an adversary. the x-treme x-pose two issue LS is rather pointless and tries to be philosophically deep, but it's just the same old stuff and is way too wordy. |
| chris claremont, bobillo, sosa | x-treme x-men: mekanix (vol. 4) | collects mekanix #1-6 limited series + the kitty story in x-men unlimited 36. i had been really disappointed in claremont's x-treme books thus far (including the terrible savage land limited series), but this book has redeemed the whole series. in general it has all the action and adventure of claremont's best x-men stories, although it may be a little too old-fashioned for some and the artwork isn't particularly distinctive (larroca does the short story but the rest is bobillo/sosa). the first short story shows kitty at college studying nuclear engineering while working as a bartender at night. having turned her back on the superhero life, kitty tries to find meaning in her father's death (he died on genosha). the story is nicely continued in the mekanix series which has kitty seeing a psychiatrist and standing up against an anti-mutant group on campus. the series begins with a huge explosion in her lab, while the rest of the series concentrates on the return of cassandra nova's modern day sentinel robots from south america who, as a nice twist, are machines who can evolve and thus are pretty much unbeatable. xian (aka karma) makes her reappearance early on and it's great to see the two of them kicking ass, along with a new mutant w/ TK. a bit too much of the same anti-mutant stuff, but lots of good old-fashioned claremont action. |
| chris claremont, kordey | x-treme x-men: god loves, man kills ii (vol. 5) | #25-30 and marvel graphic novel #5. mostly incoherent. the plot is slow and jumbled, the characters and conflict uninteresting, and kordey's art is quite subpar. big snore. |
| chris claremont, kordey | x-treme x-men: intifada (vol. 6) | #24 and #31-35. kordey's art is subpar and claremont's story is as jumbled and uncontrolled and ultimately pointless as the majority of the x-treme series. |
| daniel clowes | david boring | not mind-blowing or that different in tone from -ghost world- or most other "lost" indie graphic novels, but i enjoyed this. |
| daniel clowes | ghost world | reality bites-esque. starts off a little slow, but just when the two main characters start to get tiresome the focus of the story shifts and ends up being resonant and honest. |
| nunzio defilippis, christina weir, brian hurtt, arthur dela cruz | skinwalker | i was especially interested in this GN b/c the authors have most recently worked on the new new mutants (x-men) series. this book was pretty straightforward, but a decent read. the characters and plot are engaging (this book is most often compared to a cross between tony hillerman and the x-files), although it felt to me like this was an intro to the two main characters and that there should be more. the ending sort of fizzled out. the art is decent, although the lettering is a bit small. the extras, including some info about native americans, are mostly worthwhile. all in all, not a top recommendation, but better than a lot of others. |
| nunzio defilippis, christina weir, michael ryan, paco medina | new x-men: academy x vol. 2: haunting | continues to be decent writing, but doesn't delve much beneath the surface. |
| evan dorkin | fun with milk & cheese | i have no idea why people would like this comic. it's infantile, but not in the somewhat clever way south park is or beavis and butthead sometimes is. thoroughly annoying. |
| warren ellis, trevor hairsine (illustrator) | ultimate galactus vol. 1: nightmare | this book just reminds you how much better brian michael bendis' writing is. the series is so slow it could have been a one-shot instead of a 5-part series. although we do get the addition of the falcon to the ultimates' ranks (at least temporarily) and the debut of the ultimate vision, there is little else that's worthwhile. bendis' and millar's previously subtle characterization is shot to pieces here: the three x-men here are bratty and incredibly immature; the falcon is a pompous know-it-all; and captain america and fury are mere caricatures. skip this one. |
| aoi futaba, kurenai mitsuba | level-c | pretty plotless and cliche, even as yaoi go. mostly just boring sex scenes. wasn't a fan of the art. |
| neil gaiman | the sandman: endless nights | mostly boring and pointless. the delirium story, w/ artwork by illustrating titan sienkiewicz, was the only one that engaged me. |
| neil gaiman, andy kubert, andy kubert (illustrator), richard isanove (illustrator) | marvel 1602 | illustrated by andy kubert, whose art i don't know really well, but from what i've seen i def. prefer adam kubert's art (i'm basing this opinion on adam's work on ult. x-men). better than i thought it would be, but not really deep, and overall kind of lethargic. has a nice homo bit in it that was done in a really superb way. |
| david hine, david yardin | mr. m (district x, vol. 1) | this book had a lot of things going for it: good characterization, interesting emotional situations, and a nice cops setup in the world of the x-men. it never gels though, mostly b/c the inclusion of bishop seems completely arbitrary and superfluous, not to mention his completely uninteresting personality, which pretty much ignores any previous personality he ever had. |
| satoru kannagi, hotaru odagiri | only the ring finger knows (yaoi) | my first yaoi. enjoyable, and great art. the development of the relationship and the two main characters' scenes are believable. even though the "misunderstanding" that leads to the climax is predictable, it didn't detract from enjoying the happy ending. |
| maki kazumi, yukine honami | desire (yaoi) | enjoyable. generally conventional plot, but has some nice touches that def. make this better than average. the artwork is quite good, and the characters are believable and sympathetic. |
| kazuma kodaka | kizuna: bonds of love (vol. 1) | pretty dull yaoi. mostly random plot. |
| naduki koujima | selfish love: book 1 (yaoi) | wasn't really a fan of the art or the story. the one-offs included at the end are pretty much plotless, but much more explicit. |
| naduki koujima, ikoi hiroe (translator) | selfish love: book 2 (yaoi) | the characters continue to be annoying, and the ending is pretty silly. the supporting girl character is cool though. |
| scott lobdell, clayton henry | alpha flight (vol. 1): you gotta be kiddin' me | well, you probably know by now that the entire cast is different than the alpha flight you probably knew and loved (with the exception of sasquatch and nemesis). this book mostly concerns the beginning of the new team and as a consequence is fairly slow, and unfortunately it isn't likely to satisfy new fans or old fans. but if you have an open mind you'll enjoy the humor which, while not particularly sophisticated or unique, is pleasantly light-hearted. the artwork and some of the new characters (including the new (and female!) puck) is probably the biggest draw to this book, but if you're like me you'll buy it just b/c either are or want to be canadian and you love alpha flight no matter what. |
| scott lobdell, dave ross (illustrator), clayton henry (illustrator) | alpha flight volume 2: waxing poetic tpb (paperback) | this book collects issues #7-12. like the first book, this TPB has somepretty middling humor, but still has somewhat interesting newcharacters. the first arc, w/ ho-hum work by dave ross, has the teamfighting some animated waxworks, and isn't that memorable. however, thesecond arc is more amusing and has better art (by clayton henry). thearc riffs on the famous "days of future past" x-men storyline. despiteits twisty time-travelling setup, the story has more action than theother storylines. and although the ending is very abrupt due to the factthe series got cancelled, all in all it's not a bad ending to adoomed-from-the-start series. apparently the resolution shows thateverything occurred in an alternate timeline. |
| scott lobdell, fabian nicieza | x-men: origin of generation x | not for newbies. this book includes the 3 storylines that were made up x-men crossover called "the phalanx covenant". the first storyline (reprinting uncanny x-men #316-317 and x-men #36-37) features the characters that would eventually become the x-men group known as generation x, and is def. the best of the 3. highlights include banshee rejoining the x-men family and the surprise cooperation of the white queen and sabretooth. the second story (x-factor #106, x-force #38, and excalibur #82) is less focused and features so many characters and situations that were set up before these books that newbies will prob. be very confused. the story works best when it concentrates on rahne (aka wolfsbane), cannonball, and the cypher-warlock entity called "douglock". the last is a two-parter (wolverine #85, cable #16) featuring wolverine, cable, jean grey, and cyclops, and is pretty decent although not particularly original. although again newbies will be wondering details like who hodge and lang are, which will detract from their enjoyment. as a bonus the book reprints generation x #1 which introduces chamber and penance. the artwork and writing are all representative of marvel's 90's roster (inc. andy and adam kubert, scott lobdell, fabian nicieza, etc.), and although the 90's isn't really thought of as being a golden age of marvel comics there's some good stuff here. also includes some concept art by bachalo. |
| mike marts, bob harras | x-men: beginnings | this book contains three comics that were released as "prequels" to the movie. the wolverine story is about average and features the silver samurai. the rogue one is slightly better, and the magneto/xavier one is pretty tedious and dull. the artwork is likewise overall second-rate. in general this is mostly stuff longtime fans have already seen before, but newbies might enjoy it. |
| mark millar, adam kubert | ultimate x-men: the tomorrow people (vol. 1) | collects issues #1-6. a lot of adventure in the premier of the updated x-men. not as amazing a reworking of the x-men as some have raved, but it's pretty solid. at times a bit too underdeveloped and dots not quite connected, but overall a good start. |
| sean mckeever, takeshi miyazawa | mary jane (vol. 1): circle of friends | mckeever is def. not my fav. author. fairly ho-hum petty WB-type teen drama w/ very little to do w/ spider-man. |
| mark millar, adam kubert | ultimate x men: return to weapon x (vol. 2) | collects issues #7-12. better than the first volume and introduces more "ultimate universe" versions of beloved x-men characters. |
| mark millar, adam kubert, danny miki, kaare andrews | ultimate x-men: hellfire & brimstone (vol. 4) | kaare's artwork is very refreshing, although it feels a little out of place. the story, a preview of future phoenix storylines, is decent. |
| mark millar, bryan hitch | the ultimates: homeland security (vol. 2) | #6-13. i'm not big on alien stories, and this one wasn't anything particularly unique. still, it was entertaining to see the crew in action and there's enough human drama to keep me somewhat interested. definitely not the best millar has written. |
| peter milligan | enigma (dc comics vertigo) | reminded me of the sandman series, but i found this to be more intellectually stimulating. although the beginning was a bit slow, milligan's story has enough twists and originality to keep me reading to the end, even though i wasn't a fan of the art. not mind-blowingly great, but satisfying. |
| peter milligan, mike allred | x-force: new beginnings (vol. 1) | #116-120. completely rehauls x-force without advance notice. wonderful satire, completely modern and relevant, with references to reality tv and boy bands. also a great adventure with emotions and some great plot twists. highly recommended. |
| peter milligan, mike allred | x-force: the final chapter (vol. 2) | #121-129, the last issues of x-force (they change their name to x-statix b/c of copyright issues). as much fun as the first TPB with similar, relevant satire about 21st century commercialization, PC tiptoing, and pop culture but also with a surprising amount of really great characterization and emotion. introduces the spike (who causes tension with the anarchist b/c they're both black), and lacuna, a possible new recruit. dead girl joins, and there's a climatic event in space involving convicts who have been mutated. #123 is a mini-masterpiece, as doop has a surreal mini-adventure in its head in the span of one second. |
| peter milligan, mike allred | x-statix: good omens (vol. 1) | collects x-statix #1-5. story arc focuses on mysterious fan boy, a mutant obsessed with u-go girl and upset over her death. the group has personal tensions (of course) and a rival group called the "o-men". highlights include a "steamy" scene in x-statix's community shower, venus dee milo joins, and a mutant named corkscrew makes his appearance and quickly meets his demise ... at the hands of doop?! |
| peter milligan, mike allred | x-statix: good guys & bad guys (vol. 2) | collects x-statix #6-10, wolverine and doop #1-2, and the x-statix story from x-men unlimited #41. a great collection. the main story arc focuses on venus dee milo and orphan who has left the team and who seems to be on a violent rampage. but the rest of the collection is even better. has a superb issue featuring the diaries of edie sawyer with the revelation of how she chose her name, and really great artwork from philip bond, the first x-statix guest artwork i've really liked. the wolvie/doop storyline is fun and frivolous, while the x-unlimited story is also good, a nice spoof on a hard day's night with some focus on myles (pant pant). |
| peter milligan, salvador larroca | x-men: golgotha | milligan's first arc. some off dialogue and not incredibly original, but decent. hopefully a harbinger of things to come. |
| grant morrison, quitley | we3 | entertaining and conjures up some interesting emotions. not incredible, though, and outside of the fairly original premise the whole thing is fairly predictable overall. |
| grant morrison, frank quitely | new x-men: e is for extinction (vol. 1) | #114-117. the first of the new xmen series. another rehaul, although this one looks pretty good. emma frost is more interesting, although time will tell about the development of the others. the second illustrator, van sciver's, artwork is not that great, but the story in general is engaging, although noticeably more violent than it has been in the past. |
| grant morrison, frank quitely, et al | new x-men: imperial (vol. 2) | #118-126. more violent than other xmen comics, but quitley's artwork is good. vansciver's, unfortunately, it only about average, though, and kordey's is quite horrible. morrison's work seems to be rather overrated to me, but it's enjoyable. |
| grant morrison, igor kordey, et al | new x-men: new worlds (vol. 3) | #127-133. more disjoint than the previous two tpbs. a story on xorn, a story arc involving the x-corporation introduces weapon xiii, the return of the phoenix, and an affair between emma frost and cyclops. the first of the last two issues is set in the ruins of genosha and the last issue introduces dust. |
| grant morrison, frank quitely (illustrator), keron grant | new x-men: riot at xavier's (vol. 4) | new x-men #134-138. what is so great about this series and grant morrison? i found this whole story arc to be incrediby tiresome, about students at the institute who take it upon themselves to "lead a revolution". snore. |
| grant morrison, chris bachalo, phil jimenez | new x-men: assault on weapon plus (vol. 5) | #139-145. this book was overall quite disappointing, despite some plot points that on the surface sound interesting. the first half is slightly better, where jean takes on emma who's been having an affair with her husband cyclops and sage and bishop drop by to help unravel a murder at the mansion. the second half, though, which consists of four issues, was pretty bad. wolverine recruits cyclops to investigate the weapon plus program with fantomex. good characters, but entirely predictable and subpar art. |
| wendy pini | elfquest: the grand quest - volume one | tried to be open-minded, but i wasn't a fan of the art or the story, the latter of which i found strongly reminded me of the plots of saturday morning cartoons. i thought about trying the 2nd book, but i'm just not interested enough in it, esp. since i have loads of other books to read. |
| robert rodi, cliff richards | going rogue (rogue, vol. 1) | this was a nice quick read, although most fans seem to agree that thisstory about rogue's birth, etc. is pretty disappointing. i love rogue,but this was much like the back story to nightcrawler (in austen'sissues of UXM), where it's heavily based on the supernatural and it justisn't that interesting (or believable) to me, esp. since there's solittle characterization of the protagonist. still, it has vital infoabout rogue's past, and i've heard about the impt thing that happens torogue in the second arc, so either way if you're a rogue fan you'llprob. want to read this. |
| greg rucka, salvador larrocca, david mack, joe quesada | ultimate daredevil & elektra volume 1 tpb | unmemorable. not a huge fan of larrocca's art. |
| marjane satrapi | persepolis : the story of a childhood | i found this to be disappointing in much the same way that the way-overrated maus (which it is most often compared to) was. maus, for those who don't know, is a graphic novel that recounts the horrors of WWII from the perspective of a cartoonist (ostensibly the author) and his father, and aside from the use of mice as the protagonists and cats as the baddies there was very little about it that no one hasn't heard or seen a thousand times before. similarly, although this novel is an entertaining account of a girl growing up under an oppressive regime, there are simply not enough idiosyncracies to make it a must read. i agree w/ most of this review on amazon:"I don't want to trivialize Satrapi's experiences, but this is your basic run-of-the-mill childhood-memoir-as-graphic-novel. Change a few details, and it could be any of a dozen other books. Yes, it's timely, but the story is nothing special. The artwork is completely plain and unimpressive." [i wouldn't go so far as to say the art is completely plain, but it wasn't stellar.]w/ all that criticism, i have to say there was a lot i liked about the first 1/2 of the novel, when marjane is a child. catfoo may have picked up on the shift in tone here also, b/c it's the same tone that gets carried through the 2nd book (which i skimmed). the first 1/2 of the book has many moments of clever, bratty-lucy-from-peanuts-like humor that work extremely well juxtaposed w/ the unfolding story of national unrest, and the use of god as a "dream" character isinteresting. however, all this quickly fizzles out once marji starts getting older, and from then on the book simply becomes episode after episode of oppression w/out any real insight into the events or the people. |
| charles m. schulz | the complete peanuts: 1950-1952 | great collection. i've always preferred the earlier peanuts comics, so i devoured this. great. has a similarly mischievous humor as the great calvin and hobbes. |
| jim shooter, john beatty (illustrator), mike zeck (illustrator) | marvel super heroes: secret wars | collects the limited series (12 issues) from 1984-1985. fun to see this first major crossover, although the characterization of the x-men was a little lacking and the ending fizzled out. |
| yoshino somei, row takakura | skyscrapers of oz | pretty humdrum. the art is average, and the story subpar. the two humorous characters are memorable, but the other pair is completely yaoi cliche. not a keeper. |
| art spiegelman | maus: a survivor's tale | a famous graphic novel about the treatment of jews during world war ii. didn't really add anything new to the already huge body of works about the subject. |
| rumiko takahashi | ranma 1/2, vol. 1 | my first real experience w/ manga. a good, light, quick, and oftentimes funny read. will read the rest of the series eventually. |
| craig thompson | blankets | read it all in one go (staying up past my bedtime in the process). i seem to be on a catching-up-on-famous-indie-graphic-novels kick, esp. b/c the boston public library is well-stocked w/ them, and it's true it seems like a lot of them are about childhood and adolescence. in general it seems to me that way too much literature is devoted to what amounts to less than 1/4 of our lives, and since i've recently read two such books i was a bit distanced from the first part of the book; but i was soon won over. the artwork is well done and often blooms (esp. as the book progresses), and you'll find yourself falling in love w/ the main female protagonist as much as the main male protag does (who btw is a hottie). the book centers around a first, high school love (which i seem to have missed out on; not surprising since i grew up in hicksville). the denouement was a bit sudden, but the final chapter was just gorgeous. not an earth-shattering book, but very enjoyable and, like ghost world, a great intro to the graphic novel genre for people who think they wouldn't like them. and don't be surprised if you find yourself feeling particularly amorous to your sig other after reading it. |
| frank tieri, georges jeanty | weapon x: the draft (vol. 1) | this book was more violent than average, but as a result it had a stronger sense of atmosphere. dark and tense. for those who don't know, the basic premise is that the weapon x program (which was behind wolverine's transformation) is being reinstated (although the goals aren't exactly clear from this book). this setup allows for some of the more obscure characters (sauron, mesmero, aurora, marrow, wild child, etc.) to get some attention. the first five issues are written and drawn by diff people. they're one shots setting up the series, but this tpb includes the first story arc written by frank tieri. i'm not too sure what i think about the series having only read this book, but even just from these early issues i can tell that it's def. better than the mediocrity of the core titles (morrison's new x-men and claremont's x-treme x-men). i plan on reading the next book in the series. |
| j. torres, makoto nakatsuka | marvel mangaverse (vol. 4): x-men ronin | a manga re-working of the x-men. has some nice bits here and there, but mostly fairly cliche. forge was hot, though. haha. |
| brian k. vaughan, jorge lucas | mystique (vol. 1): dead drop gorgeous | of the past ten or so story arcs i've read among grant morrison's run on new x-men, chuck austen's on uncanny, and chris claremont's on x-treme x-men, not one of them even comes close to the first arc of the solo title mystique, centered on everyone's favorite x-men universe villainess. the core titles' writing has been consistently ridiculously farfetched, slow, or untrue to the characters, and oftentimes all of the above. but vaughan's take on mystique is of the quality of ultimate x-men: loads of great action with surprisingly fresh twists in plot and in characters' powers and personalities. the title has mystique working for xavier as his private 007, and in this first arc she is sent to cuba to avert an international mutant vs human crisis. vaughan's interpretation of mystique's personality is occasionally a bit off and his plot is a bit manipulative at times. he gets mystique's sarcasm and cockiness but doesn't quite successfully figure out how to deal with her sometimes conflicting emotions and motivations. but despite the wobbles on the emotional side (which hopefully will be smoothed out in future story arcs) this one is a definite winner, especially when coupled with some great artwork from jorge lucas. a must read, esp. if you've liked ultimate x-men. |
| brian k. vaughan | mystique (vol. 2): tinker, tailor, mutant spy | collects #7-13. another winner. as i said in my review of mystique tpb #1, this series easily beats the anything the core writers are doing these days; and i'm happy to say that tpb #2 is even better. the first arc has mystique trying to avert a potential worldwide epidemic and introduces a new villain that for lack of better words is "totally cool"; definitely way more original than what most other writers are coming up with. then there's a short two-parter w/ forge as the two track down a kidnapped mutant, and then a one shot where mystique is sent to brazil. vaughan's writing continues to be fresh, and his characterization of mystique is a bit more well rounded here. it'll be interesting to see if he can keep this up into the next arc. michael ryan's artwork is great, and although manuel garcia's artwork for two issues pales in comparison it's still good. i'm seriously going to have to get another copy of this to lend to my friends. |
| brian k. vaughan, andy kubert | ultimate x-men vol. 10: cry wolf | for the most part i agree with the other reviewer. some more thoughts: i hated the "ultimate" design for gambit. he really looked like a slob, and not at all like the charmer we know and love. also, i found myself not really caring much about her b/c this is pretty much the first ultimate story where she's the center of attention and we don't really know her at all. rogue was an extremely underdeveloped character here and definitely not a prime choice for the focus of a story arc so soon. w/ that said, i found most of the other characterization to be decent. i like how dazzler (much much diff. from the other marvel character) is developing and hope to see more of her. also, there are some small emotional details like storm's lash-out at rogue and the last page that were handled well and proved to be highlights. all in all not the best in the series and no vaughan's best work, but if you're reading this review you're prob. going to get it anyway. |
| brian k. vaughan, stuart immonen | ultimate x-men vol. 11: the most dangerous game | i keep waiting for vaughan to settle in and pick up the pace on his run of ult. x-men, but he seems content to just coast most of the time, or at the worst, phone it in. this is really a shame b/c his other work is usually consistently worthwhile and he could've done so much great work in the ult universe. this book is completely what you'd expect w/ zero surprises except for a little twist at the end. the story and the characterization are completely forgettable (although longshot's powers are still cool), w/ the main exception of dazzler who is great as a sarcastic wisecracking smart alec. i hate to say it but i'm def. going to skip his next arc unless i hear rave reviews. |
| brian k. vaughan, tony harris (illustrator) | ex machina vol. 1: the first hundred days | vaughan's writing is always enjoyable, although i wasn't bowled over here. the powers and interactions of the characters are good, although the plot feels a bit loose at times. i'll def. be picking up vol. 2 though to see how this develops. |
| brian k. vaughan, pia guerra, jr., jose marzan | y: the last man vol. 1: unmanned | sets up the premise of the series. the artwork is average which is disappointing, but the story is pretty solid. doesn't bowl me over, but intrigues me enough to keep reading. |
| brian k. vaughan, pia guerra, jose marzan, | y: the last man vol. 2: cycles | the story picks up in this arc, but still isn't indispensable reading. |
| brian k. vaughan, pia guerra, jose marzan | y: the last man vol. 3: one small step | this is probably my favorite arc so far, although the climaxes have gotten more than a little formulaic (as they mostly involve a hostage and several additions to the steadily growing body count). the art in the main arc has gotten better, and although the last two-parter seems like unnecessary filler, it provides a needed change of pace. |
| brian k. vaughan | y: the last man vol. 4: safeword | the first arc is quite good in its psychological explorations. the second, which ends in yet another shoot-out, is definitely less compelling. vaughan seems to be a little inconsistent, but hopefully he hasn't started to run out of ideas. |
| brian k. vaughan | y: the last man vol. 5: ring of truth | a decent read, but the series isn't really developing, and neither are the characters. all in all this series, though enjoyable at the beginning, feels like it's getting a little long. |
| brian k. vaughan, adrian alphona (contributor) | runaways (vol. 1): pride and joy | great intro. instantly likable characters and great plot. |
| brian k. vaughan, adrian alphona | runaways (vol. 2): teenage wasteland | the series keeps up the interest here. the 4 issue arc revolving around a teen vampire is so-so, but the character interactions are fantastic. the two-parter involving cloak and dagger is great, and more notewrorthy, has more than a few laugh-out-loud moments. |
| brian k vaughan, adrian alphona, jo chen | runaways (vol. 3): the good die young | the back story about the parents goes into the realm of the surreal, but otherwise the plot is good and the characters continue to be great. a great ending to the first series of runaways. thank goodness there's more! |
| mark waid, alex ross | kingdom come (graphic novel) | i find alex ross's art to be incredibly overrated. i def. didn't get as much out of this book as people who are familiar w/ the DC universe, but even still i was pretty bored by this. |
| chris ware | jimmy corrigan: the smartest kid on earth | man, winnie was right about this. suicidally lethargic. skipped the middle third or so, and even then i barely had the patience for it. kind of interesting though what a similar tone this, ghost world, and craig thompson's stuff has. makes me wish the "next" thing will come along sooner than later. |
| bill willingham | legends in exile (fables, vol. 1) | the premise worked better than i thought it would (characters from fairy tales living in NYC), but the art and story were mostly average. still, interesting enough to make me want to pick up the next book. |
| judd winick, mike mckone (illustrator), mark mckenna (illustrator) | exiles (exiles, book 1) | collects issues #1-4. not mind-blowing, but pretty decent. liked the way it plays with well-established events and characters, but time will tell as to whether or not it gets old fast. reread before selling. this book was decent, but the series got intolerably repetitive and the writing quickly went downhill. |
| linc yaco, karen haber | science of the x-men | not a graphic novel. this uses the x-men as a starting point to talk about basic science, such as genetics and gravity. the writing is generally subpar in terms of both content and editing, but this would be a good way to get kids who like the x-men to be more interested in science. |