Saturday, June 15, 2019

Mini Reviews [29]


Little Bird #1 by Darcy Van Poelgeest, 
Ian Bertram (Illustrator)
Synopsis (via Goodreads): Director/screenwriter DARCY VAN POELGEEST boasts a long list of awards and accolades for his storytelling prowess and brings the same writing finesse to IAN BERTRAM's breathtakingly detailed artwork in the gorgeous, hyper-detailed miniseries LITTLE BIRD.With the same limitless scope as a new EAST OF WEST or SAGA and the drama and surrealism of Akira, LITTLE BIRD follows a young resistance fighter who battles against an oppressive American Empire and searches for her own identity in a world on fire.

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I didn't hate this, but it wasn't really for me. It was weird and disturbing, but also incredibly gory and violent. I'm looking for more happiness in my comics these days, not torture and death. I think I saw more of what people looked like on the inside (literally, not figuratively), than on the outside. Bleck.


Transformers (#1-3) by Brian Ruckley, 
Angel Hernandez (Illustrator), Ron
Joseph (Illustrator)
Synopsis (via Goodreads): A NEW ERA DAWNS! In the infinite universe, there exists a planet like no other: Cybertron! Home to the Transformers, and a thriving hub for inter-stellar commerce, it is a world brimming with organic and constructed diversity. Immense structures line its landscape. Mechanical giants roam across its surface. Starship-sized titans orbit its skies, keeping a constant protective watch above and below. Ancient Transformers merge into its very fabric. Small, mysterious creatures skulk in its shadows. It is a truly amazing realm, long untouched by war, and exuberantly reaching for the stars. This is the Cybertron that Optimus Prime and Megatron vie for in this bold new origin—a world of seemingly endless peace! All that changes when Bumblebee and Windblade take a newly-forged Cybertronian on his first voyage through this world of wonders—they are confronted by the hard reality of the first murder to have occurred on Cybertron in living memory!

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My son and I are loving the new Transformers series! He watched Transformers: Rescue Bots on Netflix when he was younger, and now he likes Transformers: Robots in Disguise and Trasformers Prime. However, all of these shows are about their lives once they've landed on Earth. The comic offers more backstory and history. We get to see where they live, how they're created, and what their home planet (Cybertron) looks like. In the movies and television shows there are so few of them left, but in this comic we see how vast their world and population used to be.

Optimus isn't a Prime yet, he's Orion Pax. There hasn't been a war, so Megatron is just like everyone else, and there are no Decepticons. Orion Pax tries to keep the peace and balance what's already there, while Megatron encourages them to do more as a race. He wants them to be more. Bumblebee still has a voice, and there are a lot of other familiar characters as well. I think the story and the illustrations have been fantastic so far, and I cannot wait to see where the story goes from here. It's so nice to be starting from the very beginning!



Runaways #20 by Rainbow Rowell,
Kris Anka & Andres Genolet (Illustrators)
Synopsis (via Goodreads): The fallout from “That Was Yesterday” is still very much being felt. There’s rebuilding to do, both metaphorical and literal – Are the Runaways up for these repairs?
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This is going to be my last Runaways comic! I haven't been enjoying is as much the last few issues, and I feel like the characters are stuck on a loop. There is no growth, and nothing happens that really challenges them (physically or emotionally). 

I understand that they're a unit, a group that's always been together, but it would be nice to know them as individuals, too. They have their romances and conflicts, but it all feels very on the surface. It's rare to for Rowell to dig deeper into their personalities and give us something life-changing or relatable. 

Honestly, I feel like they all avoid their problems until everything blows up, and then they scrape by until they resemble what they were before. There's no forward movement, and nothing to indicate that they are going to be anything more than what they are now. Gert is unhappy, since she's literally in the wrong time and place, and her romantic interest is beyond complicated. However, all we see are shared looks and a glimmer of what she's really thinking and feeling. I wish the characters were more open about what they're feeling, but everything seems to stay bottled up.

Old Lace had the potential to be my favorite character, but felt more like a decoration than a member of the team.


Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Sirens (#1-2) by Sztybor Bartosz, Jakub Rebelka & Cory Godbey (Illustrators)

Synopsis (via Goodreads):  The critically acclaimed Jim Henson’s The Storyteller celebrates four mythic tales of sirens, inspired by folklore from around the world and told in the spirit of Jim Henson’s beloved television series. In this first issue, Polish writer Sztybor Bartosz teams with artist Jakub Rebelka (Judas) to reimagine the classic Polish folktale “The Fisherman and the Mermaid”. The fisherman is not happy with his life. He works all the time, struggling to make ends meet rather than spending time with his wife and their daughter. One day, while fishing, he hears a mermaid singing and the song overwhelms him with joy. He can’t stop thinking about this song so he captures the mermaid and imprisons her.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I thought the first two books in this series were wonderful! I'm a fan of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, and was thrilled when I saw Boom! Studios had created a new series (that I still need to read). There's also a Netflix show in the works. Anyhow, Jim Henson is a fantastic storyteller, and The Storyteller: Sirens was no exception. I thought the first issue was a great retelling of The Fisherman and the Mermaid (sad and thought-provoking), while the second issue was a spin on the mythology surrounding Nuwa (super interesting and creative). Both were beautiful and well-written!

8 comments:

  1. I was thinking about trying Runaways, but I like a lot of character backstory, so I think I'll pass. Thanks for sharing your reviews. ๐Ÿ‘✨

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    1. I really enjoyed it for about a year (started the series after a few issues had already been released), but then I stopped feeling invested in the story. I wanted to see the characters grow, and see who they were outside of their group dynamics. When Alex popped back up, I thought things would get interesting again, but he doesn't stay long. You should definitely try it, if you have a chance! Twenty issues is a lot! :)

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  2. The Storyteller sounds really good. I loved the Dark Crystal too and am excited to see the show. I love that you're reading transformers with your son! How neat. And its sad about Runaways, I think I'm just going to pass. Thin character is not for me. ❤️

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    1. The Storyteller series has been wonderful so far! The Dark Crystal show looks amazing!! I watched the movie with my son a few weeks ago, and he did okay with the darker aspects. I think he was more freaked out by how they looked than what actually happened! We're really enjoying reading Transformers together. I was bummed about Runaways, too, but I felt stuck in the same story.

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    1. Truth. It was too intense for me. I can't read comics/books that are that dark and disturbing. She was a child, and doing those things... ugh.

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  4. The "literally, not figuratively" cracked me up lol. Sorry the Runaways isn't working for you. It's such a bummer when you find a comic that you really enjoy in the beginning only to have that enjoyment peter out as the series goes on. The Storyteller ones look interesting!

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    1. It was literal! I saw what people looked like on the inside, which is super gross and disturbing, especially since she's supposed to be a child. It was too intense and dark for me. I think it's a 5 issue series, so if you wanted to check it out, it wouldn't take you long to catch up and read the series. I think it's on #3 or #4? I was bummed about Runways, but everything ends eventually. All good things come to an end? What's the saying?? Haha. ;)

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“Stuff and nonsense. Nonsense and stuff and much of a muchness and nonsense all over again. We are all mad here, don't you know?”
― Marissa Meyer, Heartless