Perry

Ahhh, forgot how much I enjoyed this series.

Obviously, I read this in English, not Japanese. But I was too lazy to make a new record.

So, Richard III. If anyone knows me, they know why I had to have this. I had a bit of an obsession in college. I still get nostalgic reading anything about Richard III. Of course, I'm excited that his remains will have a proper burial.

But I digress.

This is an interesting take on Richard, and I'll be excited to see where Kanno-sensei takes her story. It's a little peculiar, and this first volume is a bit rushed and choppy, but it's still enjoyable. The art is sketchy, but quite lovely, even haunting at times. It looks way different from ‘Oto-men.'

I love manga-ka nerding out over historical figures (see ‘Cantarella'), so I'm excited about this manga.

I began this little volume at Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago, and decided to get it from the library, since this author is in ‘1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.' Not with this book, but another. And I'm frankly not sure why, after reading this. The narrator is not simply unreliable, he's a horrid excuse for a human being, and insane to boot. It's basically the tale of a man who molests and kills his daughter, murders his ex-wife years later, and tries to deny his own awfulness by half-living in a make-believe world called ‘winterwood.' It got rather tedious, and the end was lame. Not my favourite. We'll try something else then. Ah, yes, this was supposed to be a tale of changing Ireland through the past thirty years. But what little historicity there is becomes completely lost in the lame tale of the pervert.

Now, I love me a good slow, wordy book. I'm thoroughly enjoying Moby Dick, and I loved The Terror. And I had a hard time debating on a rating for this book. But I had to go with two stars, even though I didn't hate it. It was all right. But the creepy description is basically a one-trick pony. By which I mean that, at least in this novel, Campbell builds suspense by using the same descriptors for the same things numerous times, and he makes phrases and clauses needlessly awkward and difficult to interpret. It might be a writing quirk, but an editor should look out for it.

As for the characters, they're fine. I think Sam was almost the best-rendered of any of them.

I found some of the action dissatisfying, however. Almost anti-climactic in the end, which is a pity, because there was a lot of potential, and I love the scenes where Sam and Sylvia are going into the cavern of Selcouth. I just wish more of the book could have been like that.

More woodsy horror with less gore and pointless sex than some. I'm not a Puritan, but I seldom like gratuitous gore and sex, unless it's incredibly well done, which it seldom is.

This was a fairly quick read, and mildly entertaining. Family moves into big house in a small town and falls prey to strange creatures in the woods who won't let them leave. More straight-up supernatural elements here, so it makes more sense than other things I've read. But again, we have heavily inbred creatures wreaking havoc with people. I need a break, folks.

A quick, delightful, informative little read that Erika and I picked up at the awesome bookstore Women and Children First. It's all about our friend the clit. It takes probably twenty minutes to read if you actually pay attention to it, and it packs a ton of valuable information into a few short pages. Plus, I'm in Chicago now, and she's a Chicago writer, so we gotta support the hometown arts, hey?

Oh my gosh, you guys. This book.

I can't even begin to tell you why I bought this. It was vaguely horror and looked amusing. For some reason, it caught my eye. Once I got to the ridiculous chapter about a professor's tongue prowess, I was hooked. I will worn you all that it is not a great paragon of feminist literature. It's thoroughly guilty and a little trashy. There's absurd sexual situations, stereotypes, bitchy sorority girls, silly plot points, and FARTS. Seriously, the last sixty pages of the book almost are filled with fart humour. And added into this mix is some Arthurian nerdery.

So why read it? It's a ridiculous, utterly entertaining guilty pleasure, and I very seldom read actual guilty pleasures. I laughed aloud multiple times.

Meh. The art is serviceable but not great, and the plot manages serviceable. But if you want a little ecchi and supernatural semi-harem shenanigans, you should probably just stick to High School DXD or H.O.T.D.

I appreciate her attempts, but this was weak execution. There was some power behind ‘The Vagina Monologues,' but there is none in this play. I appreciate that she attempts diversity, but it doesn't come off very well, even with some of these pieces being based on real women. The dialogue itself is weak, and it all comes from a place of rich New Yorker privilege. This was only meh. But short. So there's that.

I got this probably around the end of March/beginning of April. I sat in B&N reading it, and by the time I got to duck genitals, I was hooked. Of COURSE, I want to read about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I myself am a bit of a hedonist.

Honestly, I sped through this book. It was such a good time, and, for the most part, the science is explained clearly. There are so many entertaining and ridiculous facts, I wish I'd kept a notebook with me to keep track of them all.

My only complaint was that, toward the end of each section, I feel as though the author were rushing a bit. The writing seemed to leave certain explanations unfinished. Or maybe that was me, because I wanted more. The prose gets a little lax here and there, especially toward the end of each section, as though Cormier is dying to get to the next juicy bit.

But on the whole, a thorough delight. Engaging, educational, and I wish my science classes had been half this fun in school.

Well, it wasn't my favourite thing I've ever read, mostly because of the sparse style, but it was still interesting and enjoyable and quite, quite peculiar. Absurdist. I didn't realize when I bought it that it's part of a trilogy. I would say that it's actually fine as a standalone novel, although I might have more context if I pick up the other two in the trilogy, which I will probably do at some point in the near future. I was certainly happy to have stumbled upon this in Lawrence, KS, a few weeks ago. I'll have to go back and snatch up the other two.

It's a strange little post-apocalyptic dystopian tale mostly focusing on the Balls family and what happens to them once they are shifted to new places. I would say their endings, with the exception of Mildred's are opened-ended, but many nonsensical, dreadful, weird things happen to Mildred and her two grandchildren throughout the book. The setting was vague to me, since I haven't read the other two (although, reading them might make no difference), but it all seemed to be run by this totalitarian religious wacko named Reverend Hooker. And I would say there is definitely social commentary. But I'm usually a little confused after reading a novel like this, until I've processed it. Anyway.

It picked up a bit in this volume. Obviously, I'm enjoying enough to read it at the store. But it's heading toward the finale, and Piers, Merah, and milquetoast Chris Redfield have finally made it to the school and met up with Ricky. The usual tragic tropes apply here.

As for the art. Yes, the people are drawn in awkward positions that often make no sense, especially the women (no surprise there). But the art really is quite impressive when it comes to the zombies and the gore. No complaints there whatsoever. In this volume especially, there were some gorgeously graphic gore panels.

I figured I would finish this off before I watched the game being played. Honestly, this prequel to RE6 is meh. The art is mostly good, although the rendering of the human body is a bit awkward. And there is a BS death at the end. But it wasn't a total waste of time, and there is some great zombie gore. But I think the stand-out volume might have been 4. There was some fantastic monster art in that one. The monster art in this one wasn't quite as good, more's the pity. But it was okay.

Apparently, there isn't an English-language listing yet, and I don't feel like mucking about trying to make one.

The tale is still a bit choppy, but it's evening out. The art is continuing to be wonderful. The queen is brutal but fantastic. And I love pretty much anything with Richard III, so I continue to be excited about this.

Ah, it's taken probably over a decade for me to collect the complete series. I had four volumes until last week, and then I finished it. Praise be to Half Price Books! And it was delightful, sexy, lovely, and adorable, just as much as I'd hoped. Now, I can't wait to reread it from the beginning!

So. I love ‘Blade of the Immortal.' It is a thing of beauty, and it is one of my all-time favorite graphic novel series. It is, to my mind, Samura-sensei's best work. I have the other things released in America, but none of them compare to BotI.

And neither does this. There are things that I like. But there are things that are awkward and offensive. And I really just want to finish reading the series, so I know how to contextualize everything. There is some weird violence against women that made me uncomfortable. And the plot is super yakuza-heavy, not my favorite element in manga (I might make an exception for ‘Black Lagoon'). The characters aren't as strong as in BotI, nor is the story. But there is some weird sci-fi stuff going on that I kinda like, and the lady characters have more compelling personalities than any of the men. So I'm not sure what I think, or even what I want to think. But it's Samura-sensei, so I will continue reading it to figure out what I think.

I really wish there were a spinoff focusing on Shenhua, Sawyer, and Lotton.

Ah, now I know roughly what my partner and friends are doing. I mean the campaign.

This was an amusing trifle. I would read more, since it lets me in on what they're doing. The characters are fairly stock, but they're entertaining. The art is fair and has its quite good moments.

I know the writer. He's a peculiar, talented fellow, but oscure. This work is obscure as well, but no less enjoyable. I would say this is all about how things sound and fit together, the image or emotional intent they convey, not necessarily logical sense. That's a bit hard for me, but it's still fun to try.

It's starting to heat up. Man, there were some delightful yaoi moments in this volume, but my hopes are most likely dashed. Sigh.

Oh no! Richard and Henry are beginning to realize each other's identity! King Edward is starting to go full Robb Stark! Warwick is starting to go Tywin Lannister!

Yes, what good fun.

Honestly, many of these stories I didn't care for at all. But there were a few, like Neil's, that I liked. And some of the art was quite good. But if the library has no more, I probably won't bother hunting this series down. I'll just stick to the original Barker.

Absurd. The script isn't that good, and Dan Parent has never been my favorite Archie artist, but this was a sufficiently amusing trifle.

Add a Fagin-type with kids to your original characters. No is injured, Jack the cannibal has joined the team. We learn that Billy was No's lover, which was a pleasant surprise. And we get some background on the crazy preacher, although I thought he died, so what's the point now? I enjoyed the Professor and his scraggly band of kids. And, typical of me, I rather like Jack the incorrigible cannibal. But the narration does feel like a bit of a Saga rip-off.

The art is gorgeous. Absolutely and utterly beautiful. Liu did a phenomenal job with every panel.

The story, eh, not so much.

Everyone is pretty much awful in this, which is fine; but that only works when the writing is good. The writing here is clunky and dense and so very, very purple. Purple prose becomes purple dialogue here. And lots of ucky things happen–assumed incest between a father and daughter (who aren't actually related, but they don't know that), and that gets creepy. The absurd men's romance angle is like bad fantasy on steroids. No, no, I realize Jodorowsky is supposed to be all that, and maybe his movies are. But this graphic novel was just ridiculous. I don't know how many times I rolled my eyes reading the corny dialogue.