Title: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Special Edition TPB (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Archie Goodwin (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: T. Lobascio (Review 1) and Nathan (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Don't buy this book! "
Review 1:

When Star Wars creator George Lucas decided reissue the first trilogy, as "new and improved", into the multiplex in '97, several tie-ins also got an update as well. Dark Horse Comics put out special editions of each film's comic book adaptation.

THE STORY: The special edition version isn't all that different from the original book. Adapted by Archie Goodwin, the stroy follows the film pretty well. My main problem with his work here is his overuse of description. Comic books based on films can get bogged down with too much prose and such is the case here. Another problem is that the new material in the film is not reflected in the story itelf. I know the material doesn't amount to much but it would have been cool nonetheless.

THE ART: The team of Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon, who also did the art chores on the adaptation for Jedi, is adequate at best. Their work is uneven. Sometimes its breathtaking, and at others it seems rushed. Many of the characters seem off from their on screen counterparts.

The 104 page book includes 2 pages of scenes from the special edition in sketch/storyboard form. Overall though, the book is disappointing. A great film classic like "Empire deserves better--special edition or not

Review 2:

I tend to rate books against other books of their type, so while I may give both a Star Wars book and Dune 5 stars, there is no comparison, Dune is better. By the same token, I won't judge a comic as harshly as a novel, because I have different and lower expectations of it.

Even so, this Graphic Novel is a complete waste of time, paper, and money. The interior art is pretty bad, and the character renderings uninspired, and 3PO has way too much freedom of movement. They put way too much effort into throwing in every last little detail added for the special edition of the film, and it was obvious.

This comic was EXTREMELY dependant on the reader having seen the movie. The dialogue and scenes jumped around so much that if I didn't know the movie virtually by heart, I'd be lost by only a couple of pages into the book. Though the lettering itself is good, it can't make up for the confusing, erratic clips of dialogue.

The Millenium Falcon looked messed up, and the TIE Fighters looked pitifully small and smashed. This is a horribly bad adaptation of a great film. The only good part of this book is getting to see Dormans' fabulous cover work at the end.

Don't buy this book!

More info:

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: Al Williamson & Carlos Garzon
Letterer: Rick Veitch
Colorist: James Sinclair & Frank Lopez
Editor: Lynn Adair
Designer: Scott Tice
Cover Artist: Greg Hildebrandt & Tim Hildebrandt
Genre: Star Wars, Science-Fiction

Publisher:

Title: El Cazador (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Chuck Dixon (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Dark Noldor (Review 1) and Erik (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This is a high recommended issue! "
Review 1:

Crossgen is one of the most important publishers for me. I´ve only discovered them last year (2010) and the first series I purchased was "Crux" and it was an instant blow. Steve Epting was magnificent, beyond words, I just loved what he done in Crux, his art evolved so much. And when he left Crux he boarded in this impressive pirate tale called "El Cazador". Chuck Dixon already worked with Epting in "Crux" so you can expect a dynamic and brilliant creative team and symbioses in this series! Dixon´s sharp and historical narrative about pirates of the 17th century are completely shaped into bright and vivid panels by the crafted hands of captain Epting. This is a book for those who sees comic books not only as a medium (that´s for my friend Silkcuts) about super heroes, powers etc., but who sees beyond of all that: comic books are a expression of art and History meeting comic book is fascinating! I always loved pirate stories, since I was a kid, and it´s very common seeing western comic books (Jonah Hex, Loveless, Lone Ranger), but about pirates that´s the first I laid eyes on. I´m a big fan of Steve Epting´s work and he didn´t let me down, even for a panel or frame: this is flawless art (his style from this book to Fantastic Four haven´t changed, but it was working in Crossgen that he began using more shadows and other techniques). Dixon´s narrative is very amusing, reminding me of a book, with interesting dialogues (and he did his homework, writing the lines of the pirates with the dialet it was usual those days, also de expressions, the clothes, the character´s concepts). This is a high recommended issue!

Review 2:

Although I’m not a huge fan of the much-tired Pirates of the Caribbean films – sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but the third got bogged down in (to me) uninteresting plotlines and character development – I am, however, a big fan of the sea-faring novels of Patrick O-Brien (the Aubrey/Maturin novels), Julian Stockwin (the Thomas Kydd series), and the grand-daddy of them all, C.S. Forester (the Horatio Hornblower books). And, by extension, I do love me a good pirate tale or two.

Luckily for Dixon and Epting, they created a believably original character in Lady Sin – nee Elena Maria Esperanza Diego-Luis Hidalgo – who, after being taken hostage by the cutthroat Blackjack Tom, escapes, takes control of the vessel Misericordia -- rechristened El Cazador (Spanish for The Hunter) – and sets in motion her revenge. Along the way, Lady Sin is tested first by a mutiny of long-disgruntled crewmen – who fail to oust her – and then comes face-to-face with an enemy-turned-possible ally (if not love interest) in the person of English pirate Redhand Harry.

Unluckily for me, CrossGen comics folded as a result of bankruptcy after the release of issue 6. And, as a result, this canceled series ends in the middle of a nail-biting plotline and cliffhanger that makes you want to scream “Finish this, Dixon and Epting!” But as both have moved onto bigger and more lucrative projects – like series artist Epting with Ed Brubaker on Captain America most recently – and as I’m pretty sure the legal status of El Cazador is in limbo as a result of CrossGen’s financial and legal collapse, I don’t think my wish will be realized anytime soon. Drat.

More info:

Artist: Steve E Pting
Author: Chuck Dixon
Cover Artist: Steve E Pting

Publisher:

Title: Star Wars - Clone Wars 3 (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Haden Blackman and John Ostrander (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Ryan Phoenix (Review 1) and Andy (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This action-packed series is still better than the movies anyway."
Review 1:

The third volume of comics from the Star Wars: Clone Wars series takes a dive into the darker themes and elements in the Clone Wars, namely in Anakin's conflict within. Last Stand on Jabiim vividly depicts many of the horrible truths the Jedi face every day in their battles.

Dark Horse comics has done a fantastic job in bringing the Clone Wars to life. Their line of comic books has become one of the most revered and marvelous gateways into the immense Star Wars universe.

Without giving too much away, in Clone Wars Volume 3 you'll find a lot of Dark-themed events and happenings centering around Anakin Skywalker. His path to the Dark Side is paved by events such as those found within this collection, and any fan of the Star Wars Universe simply must dive into the Dark Horse line of Star Wars comic books.

As a huge Star Wars fan myself, I would highly recommend this comic to anyone who has followed this Clone Wars collection. I strongly recommend you begin from, well, the beginning, Clone Wars Volume 1 (The Defense of Kamino) and follow the set chronologically. It really is the best way to read about and essentially know the Clone Wars. If nothing else, these books make great collector's items.

Go out and grab the first two , so you can read Last Stand on Jabiim!!

Review 2:

If the previous book in this series seemed to be doing little to take the story on, it’s not a criticism you can level at Last Stand on Jabiim. This third volume continues to explore the Star Wars mythology’s Clone Wars, during which the Jedi of the Republic try to stop their enemies taking over the galaxy, effectively bridging the gap between the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith movies.

Star Wars: Clone Wars - Tusken RaiderUnlike previous volumes, the entirety of this book is concerned with Anakin Skywalker, the young Jedi who will go on to become Darth Vader. However, we get some significant insights into his character, binding elements of his future self with occurrences in his past to help make sense of what triggers his conversion to the dark side.

Ben Kenobi, Anakin’s master, is removed from the equation and, although we know he’s ultimately going to survive, Ostrander and Blackman still manage to create a meaningful cliff-hanger to sit at the end of the book.

This volume is a fascinating insight, offering rich background into the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader that no fan of the recent films will want to miss. And if you weren’t a fan of the latest films, we maintain that this action-packed series is still better than the movies anyway.

More info:

Writer: Haden Blackman & John Ostrander
Penciller: Brian Ching & Jan Duursema
Inker: Victor Llamas & Dan Parsons
Letterer: Sno Cone Studios & Michael David Thomas
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Editor: Randy Stradley
Designer: Darin Fabrick
Cover Artist: Tomås Giorello
Genre: Star Wars, Science-Fiction

Publisher:

Title: Beyond The Wall (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Matt Venne (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Jason Sacks (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" A modern comic that places morality at its center. "
Review:

Wow, look, it’s a comic about Roman Centurions. Who says there's nothing new in comics these days? I've been reading comics for many years and can't remember ever reading one about a Roman Centurion. It's awfully cool of IDW to take a chance with a comic that's so far off the beaten path. Even if this comic veers in later issues into being a fairly standard barbarian comic, it's still exciting to see a publisher take a chance with a comic that doesn't feature capes – at least in the way that we're used to seeing capes featured.

I also really enjoyed the work that artist Gordon Purcell puts into creating the setting for this comic. Much of it takes place on and around Hadrian's Wall, a great Roman fortification used to prevent the Roman Empire from being overridden by hordes of barbarians.

The scene on page five that establishes Hadrian's Wall is very nice – we get a sense of where the wall sits on its landscape, and tells readers at a glance why it was considered such an important part of the defenses of the Romans. Above and beyond that, Purcell should be praised for delivering such a traditional piece of comics storytelling as an establishing shot.

Purcell also does nice work with his storytelling. Throughout the issue, he delivers quietly interesting storytelling moments – tricks with overlapping panels on pages 9 and 18 for instance, and the use of small, silent storytelling moments on page 15. He does an effective job of elevating the story he's presenting by using clever and thoughtful storytelling tricks rather than using a standard panel grid. While his figure drawing is unobtrusive and solid, Purcell's storytelling and scene-setting are nicely interesting.

Unfortunately I thought that Matt Venne's story didn't reach the levels of quality that Purcell delivered. For one thing, we never find out the name of the main character in this story. That's a simple request – we want a name to give to the many whose story we'll be following. But unless I completely missed it as I read and reread this story, we never learn this man's name.


Which is a shame because Venne works pretty hard to make readers relate to the character. The main character is a bit like the copy you often see in buddy movies, the man close to retirement who ends up facing a threat to his completing his retirement. I found myself pretty interested in the man's story, and found it intriging how the Centurion takes young soldier Gaius Catulus under his wing.

When Catulus forces our protagonist into a moral dilemma, everything changes in a flash. The soldier's morality comes to the fore and forces him into making a difficult decision.

That difficult decision is the biggest frustration I had with this issue, as it essentially places a level of modern morality upon a character who was supposed to live some two millennia ago. I had real trouble believing the man would make the decision that he did, as it felt really out of sync with the way that the character was portrayed earlier in the story. It's hard to believe a career soldier would endanger his precious retirement and take the action that our protagonist takes.

More than that, I have to wonder if the man would even have a sense that the events in question would have any layer of morality upon it. He would have been so habituated to the rituals and traditions of his job that it seemed wrong for the Centurion to even have much of a reaction to the decision. This feels to me like a case of a modern writer applying modern morality to a traditional character. We want the soldier to make the decision he does because we'd like to believe that we would make the right decision as well. However, that's forcing our view of the world upon a man whose whole life has been all about making moral decisions in his own context.

It’s nice to read a modern comic that places morality at its center, and especially nice to read a comic with such interesting storytelling. But I had too much trouble with the writing of this comic to be able to give it a high rating.

More info:

Artist: Gordon Purcell
Author: Matt Venne
Cover Artist: Gordon Purcell

Publisher:

Title: Discworld Graphic Novel: The Last Hero (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Terry Pratchett (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Marc Ruby (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This is absolutely the perfect present for a Pratchett fan."
Review:

Terry Pratchett has been writing books about Discworld since at least the mid-1980's. From that time on I have loyally followed it's eccentric denizens as they scooted about on the only turtle-powered world in the universe. Pratchett normally leaves us wondering exactly what it all looked like. Not that he doesn't write good descriptive prose, mind you. But all those places and characters are enough to severely stretch the imaginations of forgetful folks like me. While there seem to have been some recently illustrated work, most of it has refused to appear in my local bookstores. Well, thanks to illustrator Paul Kidby and "The Last Hero," all that's been fixed.

The work in question is a Discworld novella, totaling 160 pages of large print with a lot of illustrations. Even in this short space, Pratchett manages to put together his usual twisted, acerbically written plot. Genghiz Cohen the (nonagenarian) Barbarian and his equally Silver Horde have set out for their last quest - to return fire to the gods. After countless efforts at dying heroically they have decided to force the issue, and intend to use the Discworld equivalent of a hydrogen bomb to do it. They are aided in this hero-brained scheme by Evil Harry Dread the Dark Lord, the now gray-haired Vena the Raven-Haired (AKA Mrs. McGarry), and bring along a desperately unwilling minstrel to take notes.


Earnestly trying to prevent Cohen's immolation of Cori Celesti, the Mountain of the Gods, is an equally motley crew. The wizards of the Unseen College have appealed to Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, for support in preventing an act which will destroy all magic and shut down Discworld permanently. Vetinari enlists Leonard of Quirm (best known for dangerous inventions and pictures whose eyes follow you around) to figure out how to get to Cori Celesti in time to stop the Heroes. Leonard invents the first spacecraft, powered by swamp dragons, and crewed by Leonard, Captain Carrot of the Watchmen, and Ridcully the Inept, one of Pratchett's oldest characters. Oh, stowaway duties are done by the Librarian, an orangutan wizard.

Pratchett is at his tongue in cheek best. I counted about 10 dire quips on each page, so expect to do a lot of smirking and giggling. Pratchett has no qualms about parodying himself, and he does so with relish. The plot, which is great fun, often gives away to the sheer exuberance of being able to say sarcastic and witty things at will. And fans will spend hours picking out various Pratchett characters and figuring out in which book they first appeared. Of course, DEATH makes his obligatory appearance.

And did I mention the illustrations? Paul Kidby is the perfect illustrator for Pratchett. He has a good sense of both the dramatic and the humorous and a detailed colorful style that harkens back to the illustrations on the old witch books. I never once felt that he had gotten a figure wrong. This is absolutely the perfect present for a Pratchett fan. It has a bit of a sticker shock to it. But for us addicts, it's worth it. The rest of you should run off to a bookstore where you can snort and smirk for free, and peek at it first. Then come back and buy it here at a discount.

More info:

Terry Pratchett story, write
Paul Kidby art, cover

Publisher:

Title: Fray (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joss Whedon (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: : Eilonvi (Review 1) and grovel. (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Smart, funny, surprising."
Review 1:

The first thing I’d like to say about Fray is simply that I loved this comic book so much, I actually started reading it all over again right after finishing it. I really wished the story of Fray would have continued into an ongoing series — but for now it's just this first volume. Secondly, this comic book reaches out to Buffy’s (the TV show) fans, and if you have watched and liked Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, then you will fully enjoy Fray. I’m guessing newcomers who like the concept of vampires in the future -- and a tough young girl (needless to say, beautiful) slaying them — will enjoy this comic just as well, only not as fanatically as I did. But let’s get down to the review already.

Couple of hundreds years in the future, Melaka Fray is the latest slayer in the broken and forgotten line of slayers. The vampires are now known as "lurks" (cause they just lurk in the city sewers, I guess), and for the people of the future city of Haddyn, they are nothing but another kind of mutated freak. Oblivious to her own slayerish nature, Melaka works for a fish-like, mutated human gangsta boss whom she grabs for (that's "stealing" in future lingo).

Instead of a traditional watcher to guide her (the watchers have all taken the fanatically insane road), Melaka gets the mighty demon Urkonn as a mentor and friend. Obviously, Urkonn has his own disturbing agenda, hidden reasons and hideous looks, and he's not at all sweets and hugs. Melaka also has one more friend, the girl Loo. Loo is a mutated chatty little girl that Melaka occasionally looks after and protects.

The story begins as Melaka is thrown off a building roof top in the middle of a grab-job, by other grabbers of another boss, and so are the readers thrown as well into the fast and witty action story. This comic encompasses all that you would expect from Joss Whedon — smart, funny, surprising.


Review 2:

One of the interesting recent developments in the world of comics is the influx of writers from other media. Think about the likes of Kevin Smith or the Wachowski brothers, both better known for their film work, and you get an idea of what we're talking about. Now it looks like TV folk are also getting in on the act, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer's creator Joss Whedon leaping aboard.

Fray is a further extrapolation of the chaotic world of vampires and demons Whedon whipped up for Buffy. However, instead of occurring in the present day, Melaka Fray is a vampire slayer from the future, destined to save the world from a demonic insurgence - she just doesn't realise it when we first meet her.

The differences between Buffy and Fray are minimal. Dye Buffy's hair a different colour, scar her lip and stick in a nose stud, and you won't be far from Fray. Fray may start on the wrong side of the law and have a demon as a mentor, but she's still as sassy, cocky and independent as her predecessor.

Where the main changes occur are in the scale of the piece. Whedon has moved into the magic of comics well, and made the most of his artists' abilities to create future worlds with flying cars and armies of vampires, without having to worry about televisual budget constraints. While on the subject, the art is dynamic and emotive, with great looking characters and backdrops. Fray lives in a slum area, which all looks suitably brown and crappy, though she seems to maintain a brightly coloured wardrobe of crop tops and low-slung combat trousers when all around her wear grey or brown. Oh well, if you're born to follow in Buffy's footsteps.

The plot is above average, with a few surprises and twists as we travel through. The dialogue felt forced in places, though it might have been partly to do with the use of slang, which travels down that horrendous sci-fi cliché of replacing swearing with similar if less offensive alternatives, but just ends up sounding about as inoffensive as 'drat' or 'darn'.

But then realism isn't what all this is about. This is the story of how a kick-ass, attitude laden, petty criminal from the future becomes a kick-ass, attitude laden, vampire killer from the future. Read it if you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ignore it if you don't.


More info:

Words by Joss Whedon
Art by Karl Moline, Andy Owens

Publisher:

Title: Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 4 (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): John Ostrander (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: goodreads (Review 1) and grovel (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" May well be more attractive to the casual fan than the latest batch of movies."
Review 1:

The Jedi are taught to use the Force for good; to avail themselves only to the light side. But the dark side can be a dangerous temptation to even the strongest Jedi. Set against the backdrop of the Clone Wars, this novel-length adventure is filled with espionage, betrayal, and amazing lightsaber battles. It all begins with a dangerous undercover assignment that leads to... well, we dare not reveal the shocking ending A story that is sure to have Star Wars fans talking - and wondering whether the fate of the Jedi lies in the light, or the dark.

Review 2:

While we mentioned that the last volume in this Clone Wars series ended on a cliff hanger, it isn’t addressed in this book. The series is following an interweaving pattern of concurrent stories through the various volumes and, as a result, we don’t see anything of Anakin and Obi-Wan here. Instead we get a good dose of two of the Jedi’s agents: Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura.

Star Wars: Clone Wars - Aayla SecuraBoth working under cover, it’s Vos’s story that is most interesting, as he comes into contact with Count Dooku – the character played by Christopher Lee in the films.

The plot is consistently thickening in this series, with questions thrown open about whether Vos is too deep under cover and liable to beat Anakin to a conversion to the dark side; while Secura, originally Vos’s apprentice, is busy making a name for herself but also falling into her undercover personas a little easily at times.

On the art side, Duursema maintains position as our favourite artist on this series, particularly when it comes to recreating familiar characters from the films. The colouring doesn’t approach the gorgeous painted effect we saw in the first volume, which is something of a shame, but it’s perfectly adequate and at its best during the blistering lightsaber battles.

The plot is heavily burdened with what we know is coming in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, as you’d expect from a series that’s attempting to do little more than flesh out some back story. But it’s an entertaining journey that will certainly appeal to Star Wars fans and, as with the other volumes in this series, may well be more attractive to the casual fan than the latest batch of movies.

More info:

Writer: John Ostrander
Penciller: Jan Duursema
Inker: Dan Parsons
Editor: Randy Stradley
Cover Artist: Thomås Giorello
Genre: Star Wars, Science-Fiction

Publisher:

Title: Burma Chronicles (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Guy Delisle (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Brian Heater (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Another fantastic testament to the medium’s incredible power to simultaneously inform and entertain."
Review:

If there’s a major complaint to be levied against Guy Delisle’s new book, it’s a simple matter of unfortunate timing. When the Myanmar’s government was reluctantly thrust into the world’s spotlight by outrightly refusing aid following the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis, many US residents were sadly left to our own devices, cobbling together what small scraps of information about the region that had been gleaned from latter day episodes of Seinfeld and strangely-named Boston post-punk bands.

It would have, perhaps, given a few of our more comics-savvy residents a bit of relief in the face of their own geographical ignorance to know that, in a matter of months, Drawn & Quarterly would deliver a book by Delisle that does for the region what Pyongyang and Shenzhen had done for their respective cities.

Burma Chronicles is, in many ways, the logical successor to those volumes, detailing Delisle’s life under yet another politically oppressive regime. Things are, however, a touch different from the outset. Where both Pyongyang and Shenzhen found the artist traveling alone as part of his life as a supervisor of animation, this time out it’s his wife, an employee of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), whose career prompted the move with their infant son Louise in tow.

The shift in motivation affects Delisle’s storytelling in a couple of key ways. The work feels a bit more fragmented, particularly when contrasted with Pyongyang. The artist’s motivation feels decidedly less linear, this time out. Rather than maintaining a focus on his own livelihood, his day-to-day interactions largely revolve around the care of Louise, a cyclical existence that results in a more episodic breakdown of the author’s narrative. By the same token, his wife’s career affords him the opportunity to explore key subjects that generally play a minimal role in the existence of a studio animator, occasionally following the group around as they make calls to Myanmar’s most rural and impoverished regions.


As always, Delisle is unafraid to tackle the most grave aspects of the region he’s exploring, producing a book as unflinchingly informative as that associated with Satrapi or Sacco, but like the artist’s other work, Burma is steeped in a far more comic tradition, always seeking humorous moments in even the most unfortunate surroundings, a manner reflective in the artist’s characteristically cartoony shaky-handed line-style, which, rendered in black and white, might fit comfortably on the pages of a New Yorker issue.

Delisle’s humor, however, is seemingly careful not to make light of the issues themselves, but rather the business-as-usual routines of those who have ably survived in them (and his own occasionally thwarted attempts to do so). It’s these snapshots of everyday existence—a supermarket playing the same Karen Carpenter song on repeat or Delisle running around feverishly, apparently the only one concerned by his seemingly inevitable death by avian flu—that add up to a complete picture of what it’s like to be a stranger in such a strange land.

The artist’s focus on humor also makes Burma, like its predecessors, an incredibly readable book. Due in part to Delisle’s own situation at the writing of the travelogue, Burma sometimes falls short of the powerful moments induced by the work-a-day life of Pyongyang and Shenzhen, but it’s still another fantastic testament to the medium’s incredible power to simultaneously inform and entertain.

More info:

Guy Delisle story art cover
Helge Dascher translation
Published by Drawn & Quaterly, Jonathan Cape, 2011.

Publisher:

Title: Discworld: Guards! Guards! (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Terry Pratchett (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Daniel Jolley (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" If ever a Discworld novel were required reading, it would have to be Guards! Guards!"
Review:

Discworld really doesn't get any better or funnier than this. For the first time in the series, we get an extended up-close view of life in the remarkable city of Anhk-Morpork. We are introduced to such wonderful characters as Captain Vimes of the City Watch and his singular subordinates Nobby, Colon, and the giant dwarf (adopted) Carrot; the formidable Lady Ramkin; and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler. The remarkable fashion in which the Patrician Lord Vetinari runs the city is explained in some detail, we begin to really get to know the Librarian of Unseen University (who was of course turned into an orangutan some type back as a result of a magical accident), and Pratchett gives us a basic rundown on the theory of L-Space under which all libraries work and are magically connected.

Everyone knows that dragons do not exist, not the type of giant mythical creatures who fly around breathing fire all over the place. Thus, it comes as something of a surprise to people when Anhk-Morpork begins experiencing incidents of the body-melting variety; such a perpetrator can only be dismissed for so long as a giant wading bird, however. It seems that a group of unimportant have-nots has been wooed into a secret society bent on teaching the haves a lesson or two by magically summoning a dragon to carry out their wishes. Naturally, things get out of hand, and the dragon finds a way to establish permanent residence in reality. Declaring himself king of the city, preparations are made to turn over treasure and begin sacrificing maidens.


The City Watch has long been nothing but a joke in town, especially after the establishment of proper guilds virtually eliminated illegal illegality, and Captain Vimes and his men have no desire to enforce the law anyway, unless enforcing the law somehow involves drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Young Carrot (who has just found out he is a human and not a dwarf after all, all six and a half feet of him) amazingly volunteers for the Watch and actually tries to enforce the law, thereby causing a bit of controversy at first. Then the dragon business comes along, and the City Watchmen take it upon themselves to try and overcome the wossname since no one else, aside from the noble swamp-dragon enthusiast Lady Ramkin, seems to offer much resistance at all (even when extolled by Sergeant Colon's rally cry "The people united can never be ignited!"). Of course, the odds of solving such a crisis as this are a million-to-one; odds of a million-to-one guarantees success, as everyone knows, and the problem comes in making sure your plan's chance of success does not miss the mark; it can't be a thousand-to-one or even 999,999-to-one odds because you've never heard of anyone succeeding with those odds against them, now have you?

There is so much that goes to the very heart of the Discworld in this novel that one cannot begin to list it all here. Captain Vimes and the City Watch members are some of the most human characters in the series, and they also happen to be very funny. Virtually everything about this book is terribly funny. The only question I have about this novel is how in the world the inept wizard Rincewind managed to be completely absent from such a dangerous situation as the one represented by the dragon to the city. It's really best that he does not appear in these pages, though, as it would take something away from the incredible appeal of the City Watch characters. If ever a Discworld novel were required reading, it would have to be Guards! Guards! If you can't enjoy this book, then Pratchett's Discworld series is not for you.

More info:

Terry Pratchett story
Graham Higgins illustrated
Stephen Briggs adapted

Publisher:

Title: Beyond the Clouds (Au-delà Des Nuages) (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Régis Hautière (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Stephen Citynskyj (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" If you are a fan of great graphic art, or aero art, then there is plenty to enjoy in this book."
Review: Au-delà des nuages, Tome 2 : Combats

This is another in a collection of French graphic novels illustrated by Romain Hugault. Hugault is famous for having hauled the old wartime graphic comic into the 21st century, and raised the quality of the artwork from scribbly ink to beautifully rendered pieces of artwork. So as always with these books Hugault's artwork is the main attraction. Yet the stories he tells are gritty and compelling, and the combination of his artwork and storytelling ability makes his work great entertainment.

The story follows an aerobatic pilot who has taken one too many risks, and almost killed himself in a crash. From this low point he eventually finds his way into the RAF, where his skills take on a whole new life. It's a lot more complicated than that, though, and in page after page of fabulous artwork, the story works its way through many conflicts and difficulties.
The title translates to "Beyond the Clouds", which brings me to the matter of it being written entirely in French. However, the plot is generally apparent from the artwork. I don't speak particularly good French, but it's no problem to run a mysterious bit of text through Google Translate.

If you are a fan of great graphic art, or aero art, then there is plenty to enjoy in this book. It does contain some nudity (a feature of many of Hugault's books), so it's not really suitable for children to read.

More info:

Written by Régis Hautière
Art by Romain Hugault

Publisher:

Title: Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 5 (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Haden Blackman, John Ostrander and Jeremy Barlow (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Kid (Review 1) and Brian J. Willis (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" If you only get a few Clone Wars tie-ins, I would recommend this as one of them."
Review 1:

I am a major Star Wars fan. I intially learned about Obi-Wan's "death" and his escape from Asajj Ventress with Alpha in a Extended Universe Databank entry for him on the Star Wars website. Afterwards, I practiclly tore through everything Clone Wars looking for this incident. When I finally got this comic in my hands (I rented it at the library) I was beyond excited.

Here's what I can tell you:

The first story in the comic is about Senator Bail Organa, and his struggles in the Senate. It is well-illustrated, and shows how far some of the corruption from the war has gone. I give it a 5-star rating (it's not every day that you get to see Senatoral action!)

The second comic is about a friend of the Chancellor's who had died fighting...the friend was a Jedi. This story deals with how the two met, and shows a bit of background info on the chancellor. The art is good, and I also give it a 5-star rating.

The next two comics are about Obi-Wan and Alpha's escape from captivity. The first comic deals more with Obi-Wan and Alpha getting off the planet, whereas the second is more about Anakin and how he finally finds his "dead" master. The art in the first one is so-so...some pictures look weird, and Alpha looks funny in about 95% of them. The art in the second comic isn't that great...the pictures of Alpha get REALLY weird, and the other characters aren't looking that great either. I give it 4.5 stars...I'd give it less, but the first part gives some very vital info about the notorious Asajj Ventress (and the plot is pretty darned good).

The final part of the comic is a story about another battle in the Clone Wars, this one with Yoda. The art, suprisingly, is done Japense-animae style (minus the sweat drops, swirly eyes, and other things that make Magna and such so funny). Despite this, the art is still appealing (though some pictures look weird), and the storyplot is very good. I give it 5 stars.

All in all, this is a pretty good comic book. If you want more info on the Clone Wars, then you should get this out at the library, or, if you want to spend around 15 bucks, buy it. I give this comic book 4.5 stars overall.

Review 2:

I've been pretty majorly disappointed with the entire line of Clone Wars tie-ins. For such a major event in the Star Wars chronology, one would think that it would yield a great storyline. Instead, we've been feasted to yawn-inducing new characters and a majority of storylines only marginally featuring the main characters. This volume of the graphic novels is the exception to that rule.

Instead of the usual cliches about war, this graphic novel gets into essential events and scheming. Without spoiling anything, it features Bail Organa, the emerging Rebellion(!), a great Palpatine story, the origin of Asajj Ventriss (!!) - the only good character to come out of the fiction, and developments with the main characters as well as the peculiarly dodged central figure of Yoda. In other words, character development that has been missing from the novels. If you only get a few Clone Wars tie-ins, I would recommend this as one of them. Pretty good stuff. And this comes from a sceptic.

More info:

Writer: John Ostrander & Haden Blackman & Jeremy Barlow
Artist: Tomás Giorello & Brandon Badeaux & Hoon
Letterer: Michael David Thomas & Sno Cone Studios
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Editor: Randy Stradley
Cover Artist: Tomås Giorello
Genre: Star Wars, Science-Fiction

Publisher:

Title: Kite Runner (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Khaled Hosseini (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: The Book Zone (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This is a visually stunning retelling of Hosseini's story."
Review:

1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives...Since its publication in 2003, The Kite Runner has sold twenty one million copies worldwide. Through Khaled Hosseini's brilliant writing, a previously unknown part of the world was brought to life. Now in this beautifully illustrated, four-colour graphic novel adaptation, The Kite Runner is given a vibrant new life which is sure to compel a new generation of readers.

I loved Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner when I read it some time ago, it is one of the books from the past ten years that still stands out in my mind years after reading it. I have only read it once, for fear that it would lose its impact on a second reading. I have also never watched the film adaptation as Hosseini's writing was so vivid in its descriptions of its characters and setting that I did not want my own mental images altered. So when this graphic novelisation of The Kite Runner arrived in the post from the good people at Bloomsbury was really was in two minds as to whether I would read it or not. Obviously in the end I did, or this review would not exist.

I was persuaded into reading this book by other reading memories I have: discovering for the first time Art Spiegelman's Maus, Joe Sacco's Palestine and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and to a slightly lesser extent Will Eisner's To The Heart Of The Storm, all graphic novels that deal with some pretty massive issues in a way that really touched me. I also have first-hand experience of seeing a disaffected male student at school, with no interest in politics or events outside of his immediate environment, let alone in another country, become much more engaged in Citizenship lessons and posing some pretty searching questions, after I had encouraged him to read Maus and then Palestine. The Kite Runner is another such story that when read and understood could help open the minds of students like this to important issues in a country that they hear a great deal about in the news, but I know for a fact that most would struggle with the original novel format. And so I decided to dive in and go for it, and I am really glad I did.


This is a visually stunning retelling of Hosseini's story and is already on the list as a definite purchase for the school library come the new academic year. Fabio Celoni and Mirka Andolfo have done a masterful job with the artwork, the illustrations perfectly capturing the settings and characters that I have held in my mind for the last few years. Andolfo's colouring brings Celoni's drawings, and with them the story, to life in a way that had me lingering over every panel as I slowly made my way through the story. The text has been adapted by Hosseini himself, and as such sticks very faithfully to the original novel's story. This does include some of the elements of The Kite Runner that caused controversy on its release and the subsequent attempts to have it banned in some libraries in the US. However, although present, the scenes in question are not as explicit in this adaptation and I would have no qualms in recommending it to 14+ teens who are mature enough to understand the background of intolerance and bigotry that lead Assef into behaving the way he does towards Amir and Hassan.

The press release from Bloomsbury states that "In this new stunning form, The Kite Runner is sure to compel a new generation of readers to discover a story of a boy and his country in a journey of love, loyalty, secrets and vengeance." and I am very much inclined to agree with them. I find that in the school where I teach, which is in a very white middle-class area, even the more able students have a scarily poor understanding of the issues affecting the people of Afghanistan, the Palestinian people and problems in other parts of the world, and at times this lack of understanding can make their opinions sound somewhat intolerant, especially where Moslems are concerned. Books like The Kite Runner are perfect for sparking off discussion and helping them develop a greater understanding of other faiths and cultures, and this graphic novelisation will hopefully encourage the less able readers or more disaffected students to do the same.

More info:

Khaled Hosseini story, write
Fabio Celoni, Mirka Adolfo art cover ink

Publisher:

Title: Finder: Voice (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Carla Speed McNeil (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Sigrid (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" There is nothing in comics like this."
Review:

The blurb on Voice’s back cover says that “Finder is, bar none, the best SF comics being published today.” I completely agree.

Carla Speed McNeil has been writing Finder for a number of years now. There are now nine volumes collected in print, but you can read the current story, “Torch,” on the Lightspeed Press website. You can start, if you like, by going to the Dark Horse Comics webpage for Finder. It will give you a tour of the places, people, and stories of the city of Anvard. You can go read the wiki, if you like. But that won’t explain the power of Finder’s stories. My favorite without question is Talisman, the story of Marcie Grosvenor as she tells it. It’s the story of growing up liminal in a society that values firm definition above all things. But it is also the story of the power of storytelling — a liminal act in and of itself.

This is the kind of thing that makes Finder nearly impossible to describe or explain. I am reminded of all the people who tried to get me to watch Firefly when it was on the air. “It’s a western, in space,” they would say and I would wrinkle my nose in disgust. If someone had said Firefly is the redemption arc of a failed soldier and his found family, in a world where developed communities are marginalizing honor, I would have watched it in a heartbeat. But nobody did.

So here I am, trying to find the right thing to say to get you, dear reader, to read Finder: Voice.


Voice is about finding your place. Your place in the world, your place in a family. It’s about that first major act of a young adult, the frightening act where, after this, you won’t be your parents’ responsibility anymore. You’ll be your own. That act varies from person to person. College, graduate school, joining the military, getting an important job, getting married. In Voice Rachel Grosvenor-Lockhart is attempting to be accepted by her mother’s clan. If she makes it she will have the power and money and prestige to provide for her siblings — power enough to mitigate the selfish mistake their parents made by marrying across clan lines. If you want a story about burgeoning adulthood, this is a story for you.

In the early moments of the story Rachel loses something of value to her quest for clan acceptance. Recovering it leads her on a search for Jaeger, the outcast man who has been drifting in and out of her family’s life for forever. This takes Rachel through parts of the city of Anvard which are not hers, takes to to places and people she never knew existed. If you like fish out of water stories, or unsettling quest stories in which the protagonist is confronted with strange tribes and oracles, then this is a story for you.

Throughout Rachel’s quest she moves through and in the rich, mad, complex city and peoples of Anvard. If you like your sf worlds complicated, fully realized, and explained through context and immersion, this is a story for you.

Over and over Rachel must confront the Llaverac clan leaders. Her half-breed origin is an obvious handicap, but it may also prove to be a hidden strength. if you like stories about class differences, about Jane-Austen-esque conversations about money and place and affiliation, this is a story for you.


Voice is about so many things. That is McNeil’s constant, amazing strength. If you read the end notes — and, oh my goodness, you really should read the end notes — you will see that there is even more happening on every page than you realized. There are throw-aways on every page which have entire stories about them, somewhere, still inside McNeil’s head. Stories which will come out someday, maybe. It all rather fills me with the urge to bring a digital recorder and a supply of tea, booze, and chocolate (I don’t know which, if any, she likes) to some convention and sit down at her table and beg/bribe/pay her to start talking. To tell me the stories, dangitall. Please.

The collected graphic novel of Voice was at my local comics retailer yesterday, so I picked it up. You can order the Finder books from Lightspeed Press, from Dark Horse, from Amazon, from a lot of places. You can read them in order, I suppose. I didn’t. It didn’t seem to matter. Each book is its own story in the world McNeil has created. Events happen, and sometimes they are more explained in one book than in another. But each story is an act of voyeurism onto another world — you will have to work a bit to keep up, no matter which volume is your first. Try Sin-Eater if you like battered roguish anti-heroes. Or Talisman if books saved your life. Or pick up The Rescuers if you like police procedurals. There is something in Finder for any reader willing to accept a science fictional universe.

There is nothing in comics like this. Nothing as imaginatively and fully realized, nothing as complex and layered. As a cartoonist Carla Speed McNeil is one of the best; as a storyteller she is one of the very best.

More info:

Creator: Carla Speed McNeil

Publisher:

Title: The Discworld Graphic Novels: The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Terry Pratchett (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: William Gatevackes (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This graphic novel is good enough to make readers want to pick up the original books to find out more. "
Review:

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series has been around for over 25 years, spawned 36 novels and has been adapted into movies, plays and, yes, even comics. And in celebration of Discworld’s 25th anniversary, Harper Collins reprinted these comics in a special hardcover edition.

For those of you unfamiliar with Discworld, the series is a mixture of science-fiction, fantasy, and comedy. It takes place in a shared universe where the hero of one novel might be a supporting character in the next and the villain in the one after. The Discworld that all the characters live on is a disc is supported by four elephants who stand on the back of a giant turtle that swims through space.

If that last description sounds a little weird or wacky to you, well, welcome to Pratchett’s Discworld. If Monty Python wrote The Lord of the Rings, you might get similar results. Pratchett’s writing is laugh-out-loud funny and he uses these novels to poke fun not only at sci-fi/fantasy conventions but also the world in general. He aims his satiric eye at bureaucracies, politics and society as a whole as well as wizards, warlocks, and barbarians.

As you can imagine, the Discworld novels are tricky ones to adapt into any form, yet beg—almost scream—to make the jump to comic books. Part of the magic of the novels is Pratchett’s witty turns of phrase and the deft way he develops his characters, two aspects often lost when novels are adapted into comic book form, yet the themes and concepts feel right at home in the four-color medium.

This collection reprints the contents of two four-issue miniseries that were published in 1992 and 1993, adapting Pratchett’s first two Discworld novels, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. They stand as good, albeit flawed, adaptations.


Both series star Rincewind, a bumbling wizard with a sacred spell accidentally trapped inside his mind. Thrown out of Wizard School, he wants nothing more than to waste his days away at a pub. Unfortunately for him, fate intercedes when Rincewind is forced to become the guide of Twoflower, a tourist from a strategically important island. This results in an epic adventure which eventually leads to Rincewind having to act to save all of Discworld.

The graphic novels capture the wit and humor of the novels quite nicely. Granted, it loses something in the translation, but provides an excellent introduction to Pratchett’s writing. Fans of the novels will enjoy seeing their favorite characters come to life and newcomers should be thoroughly entertained.

This isn’t to say this is a perfect adaptation. It is a bit choppy at times. There are several transitions that are a little too abrupt, there are characters that are not named, and scenes that are truncated a bit too much. And the main character’s robe changes color from one page to the next. These faults result in the comic being more confusing than it needed to be, something which could have been avoided with better editing.

Hiccups aside, all in all these comics capture the spirit and tone of Pratchett’s epic stories quite well, although, as is the case with most adaptations, the novels are better. However, this graphic novel is good enough to make readers want to pick up the original books to find out more.

More info:

Terry Pratchett story, write
Scott Rockwell adaptation
Steven Ross art cover ink
Vickie Williams letter
David Campiti editor

Publisher:

Title: Star Wars: Clone Wars 6 (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): John Ostrander (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Z. Stern (Review 1) and Andy (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Another great graphic novel in the Clone Wars series."
Review 1:

Another great graphic novel in the Clone Wars series. This picks up from where volume 4 left off, once again going to the story of Quinlan Vos. This book didn't have any real good battles but was filled with more lightsaber fights than in the first 5 volumes combined. Great art (as usual), and the storyline gets even more interesting when no one knows whose side Vos really is. It would have been nice to see more of Yoda since the last story from volume 5 wasn't the best. A great ending to this, though.

Review 2:

The Clone Wars series has been working its way towards this moment for some time and it’s in this volume that the two threads we’ve been following finally come together. As a result, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos have something of a reunion, though the question remains whether Vos’s deep undercover work has sent him plummeting into the dark side in a spooky precursor to the happenings of Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Clone WarsMeanwhile, Mace Windu and a bunch of Jedi chums face a group of bounty hunters who’ve accepted a job to swap Jedi scalps for cash; Anakin gets frustrated at being left on the sidelines (but gets a long-awaited light-sabre battle at the end to make up for it); and Aayla Secura shakes her blue fleshy bits (no, the ones on her head) in a stealth mission of her own.

Ostrander, Duursema and Parsons get nearly all the work in this and it’s no bad thing. Unlike the last book’s relatively slow pace, this title is crammed with explosions, starship battles and flashing lightsabers. Having said this, the short aside from Stradley and Badeaux is no slouch either.

So it’s back on form for the Clone Wars saga with plenty of action and a handful of cracking stories, chronicling the further adventures of the movies’ Jedi. What more could a Star Wars fan ask for?

More info:

Writer: John Ostrander
Penciller: Jan Duursema
Inker: Dan Parsons
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Editor: Randy Stradley
Cover Artist: Tomas Giorello
Genre: Star Wars, Science-Fiction

Publisher: