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Goodreads: Mouse Guard - Fall 1152

Mouse Guard Volume One: Fall 1152 by David Petersen

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
What's not to like? Beautifully drawn, well scripted adventure tale. It's a fantasy tale in that they're up against huge, foul beasties, but these are things we all know like snakes or crabs. No sign of "magic", which is fine - totally unnecessary here. If it were all humans, the plot might be a little flat, but they're mice! And that makes up for it. In a few years (when I'm sure they won't rip anything) I'll happily let my kids read it.


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Goodreads: another Hellboy and The Arrival

Hellboy Volume 7: The Troll Witch and Other Stories by Mike Mignola

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
As with most compilations, this one is hit-and-miss. I do enjoy the way Mignola will take an old folk tale from someplace like central Africa or Norway or Malaysia and then retell it through Hellboy. Probably my favorite in this collection is "Dr. Carp's Experiment", because of the electric harpoons. But Makoma would be a close second.


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The Arrival by Shaun Tan

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wordless and beautiful - The story of an immigrant man and his arrival in a new land, where everything is foreign. I think I'll be giving this one as a gift sometime soon; just need to figure out who needs it.


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Goodreads: Conan and Hellboy

Conan of Cimmeria: The Conquering Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
I had no idea going into this book that the original Conan stories were so incredibly rife with racism and misogyny, to the point where even though the plots are interesting and the setting excellent, I can't overcome my disgust every time (and it is EVERY TIME) that Conan has to save a near-naked white girl from the unspeakable horrors that "brown-skinned men" will inflict on her. Ugh. Have to quit this one 3/4 of the way in, I'm afraid.



Typical of pulp fiction for the time, I'm sure, but I'll just have to rely on later authors for my swords-and-sorcery fix.


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Hellboy Volume 6: Strange Places by Mike Mignola

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Great art, great stories, great one-liners. Not as epic or memorable as some of the earlier Hellboy tales, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.


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Here's a couple panels from that Hellboy comic that had me cracking up:

Goodreads review: Queen and Country Vol 8

So, I'm trying out Goodreads after realizing Librarything wasn't doing anything interesting for me. So far, it's been good - I've added several books to my 'to-read' lists based on seeing friends' reviews of them, and I always think its interesting to hear what friends think of the books they read. If you're on there, look for me. I also got a lot of books for my birthday and am technically in the process of reading at least 5 books, so I'm thinking I'll sometimes post my reviews here. This one is for Vol 8 of Queen and Country, a comic/graphic novel about the Special Section of MI6. I recommend watching The Sandbaggers first, which is dated (filmed 1979-ish) and has the low production values of the time, but is some of the best spy-drama I've ever seen; every bit as good as any of the Le Carre adaptations.

Queen & Country, Vol.8: Operation: Red Panda by Greg Rucka

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow. This one was near-perfect. I realized, after reading it all in one sitting, that I finally felt as though Queen and Country had surpassed The Sandbaggers, its own inspiration. Well done Greg Rucka.


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