Perry
Continues to be stunning and brutal. Even more brutal this time around. Oh my gods, it's gorgeous.
The art is pretty and adorable. Even the ugly demon is kinda cute. It looks like this is a continuation of an older series? Which I will now have to read, because I enjoyed this so much. Scrappy, adorable demon-wranglers that are themselves supernatural. This opens with the trio trying to exorcise a small boy. But when Althalia manages to isolate the demon inside herself, she learns that something awful is coming, and that the demons are afraid. So she cuts a deal with said demon, in order to save the little boy.
Enter an ADORABLE grandmother.
And then what appears to be a sinister, racist priest.
I was charmed and intrigued right away. Especially when Althalia doesn't just straight up annihilate the demon, or send it wherever she sends it. So, yeah, issue #1 was a win.
Charming, macabre, sweet. A throwback to days of yore when kids' media was a bit messed up.
I too want a skull friend.
Gods, this comic was so beautiful. The art perfectly captures everything you need to know without words. I love the art. I love how expressive it is. I can't wait for the next issue.
3.5 stars.
I am enjoying Q'ira's plan. It's been fun so far. And then Knights of Ren are far better served in THIS than they are in the sequel trilogy OR ‘The Rise of Kylo Ren,' which was, to say the least, lackluster after the first issue. Which is sad, because I like many of Soule's other Star Wars outings. So I'm going to go ahead and say TRoKR wasn't his fault; it was Disney's.
I am also going to go ahead and consider THIS more cannon, because the Knights of Ren are completely different people in this than in the sequel trilogy stuff. I was surprised, to say the least, that there was a small person and a foul-mouthed female–rather than the all-dude posse of the sequel trilogy stuff. I could accept the existence of Ren more in this one. And they were given way more to do.
This little series is elevating the more lackluster elements of the Star Wars movies. This fun is more what I was expecting from TRoKR.
Mild spoilers.
So this was fine. It needed some editing for continuity and tightening up. Sadly, it does not deserve the high ratings it has, because it is pretty sophomoric. Yes, it's a debut novel. But it told me more than showed me. For instance, Amy claims multiple times that Liz is basically the heart of their group, but we never really see that. We never really get to know Liz.
Also, there is no demon possession. It's a ghost given demonic attributes because apparently there's no difference.
I did like Jess. She was probably my favorite. But I'm not sure why Melissa was friends with any of them.
I think Kilmer has great potential, but the author's writing needs to mature, and she needs to learn the difference between ghosts and demons. That being said, I was never bored, I was entertained, and I think there's some good ideas here.
In all, a fun park–? BOOK, autocorrect!– that needed to fill out it's darker elements better; leave out bunny trauma, thank you very much; and understand its narrative better. I think the writer has potential with the cozy horror thing, since it's not a huge subgenre. I'll be interested to see what's next.
I'm really glad I am childless and NOT in the suburbs.
Oh what fun!
Not as good as the first book, but still a darn fine sequel. Quinn has lost it, but it's kinda cathartic, honestly. Hurray for Gen Z heroes fighting against the fake news brigade.
3.5 stars for fun.
Charming art, fun story. Nothing really original, definitely of the generations inspired by She Who Shall Not Be Named. But the characters were adorable, better rendered, diverse, and really quite darling. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would not be opposed to revisiting this world. 3.5 stars.
Ah, Alana is still a disasterpants, but I missed her. Still dealing frankly with sexual situations. And...there was one bit that was almost too much for me. ;_; One panel. When you read it, you'll know. sobs
Ahhh, the late 90s. Sketchy music, fashion, and hairstyles, and difficult time to be LGBTQIA. Especially trans. But this is an uplifting story of Jet, born female, and never fitting in. The art is indie sloppy, and works pretty well, although at times the action is hard to follow. The writing is choppy, but it still rings true to the period, to Jet. And, in the end, Jet and their friends Sasha and Ken, even Jet's parents, are super supportive. The end made me happy. Jet's tale has a good ending.
There are a couple loose ends though, especially in regards to Rene.
Thank to go the authors and publisher for a for of this work in exchange for a fair review.
3.5. Still enjoying the story, but the Halo female-bodied people are a bit too fetishized in some panels for my liking. Like, everyone is wearing tight bodysuits. But it's EXTRA on them. It kinda distracts from the rest of it.
Great art. And isolated winter horror is my catnip, so, of course, I was into this. Spurrier is good, real good.
I love you, Jade Daniels. I always shipped you with Leitha. Still want to give her a big hug, bundle her in a blanket, and watch scary movies she's not seen, with kitties and teddy bears.
Thank you to the publisher for providing a free DRC in return for an honest review.
Um. This was adorable. The art was adorable, and each mini comic, whilst reliant on current trends and lingo, was genuinely charming and funny. I actually find myself really wanting more misadventures of this really cute lot. Also–soooo relatable!
What can I say? I enjoy this absurdist, feminist title. The art is always fun. It's always amusing. The meta adverts are generally delightful. Even the witch magazine issue was amusing. Sometimes those get a bit tedious, but on the whole I enjoy them. So, yes, I shall continue to read the adventures of Maude and Co. Although, I do miss the unicorn.
Unexpected
Most of this really does follow standard thriller tropes, until it doesn't. It gets wack for a standard thriller, so that made it both more absurd and more entertaining. Casey is a pretty standard thriller heroine: drunk, unreliable, possibly crazy, etc. You know the thriller drill.
3.5 stars
Fast and fun read. Honestly, I wanted more stuff on Easton, the siblings, and the tarn. There were some incredible paragraphs with creepy hares. I wanted more hares, more weird, and more time with everything. But it was delightful.
It's amusing enough, and the art works well enough. But after Chew and Outer Darkness, Saffron's tale is merely fine. After Rob Guillory and his lovely Easter eggs and Afu Chan's delightful style, this just isn't quite as good.
Hm.
This short novel is almost a tragicomedy, except any humor is internal to the characters. It is a bleak little number about a crew of content mediators who work for a fictional social media company. If follows our protagonist Kayleigh in her brief employ and even briefer relationship with a co-worker named Sigrid.
I plowed through it, interested–this isn't really a novel to enjoy so much as to question humanity–until the abrupt end. It's all work and relationship trauma, and hood human cruelty affects is all, in sometimes incalculable ways.
2.5 stars rounded up. It's fine. But more of the same style. Gimmick? Thrillers are always gimmicky. But at least the “crazy” person murdered someone whom everyone actually feared. But it IS always the crazy person.
There's a lot going on, and some of it works, and some of it doesn't. Some characters are naturally more interesting than others. Some of the subplots needed a bit more story to them.
There is murder, adultery, abuse, Eyes Wide Shut, immigration issues, and more. And I appreciate the concern for that latter issue, but it's too important a topic. It becomes almost just plot enhancement, rather than an actual issue. Very thrillery.
That being said, I was fascinated by the sexual/romantic relationships everyone had with Ben. Very melodramatic, but also very fun. I can always use more of that. Probably my favorite aspect of the book. Theo and Jess, not so much. That was pretty forced.
As far as the twist, I called it pretty early on.
3.5 stars
Yes, Chef Davis in real life would actually be terrible to work for. Then again, restaurants are really weird places to work. Especially, from what I can tell, independent ones.
The art was definitely manga-influenced. It was cute and pretty and really well rendered. Food looked and sounded tasty. Characters were likeable. I really loved the main quartet of friends and would read a story just about them.
And Watson the pig. Believe in him. Pigs are smart. I particularly love the panel where he's squaring, much to the horror of Chef Davis, the piggy daddy.