three great graphic novels

Daisy Kutter 1: The Last Train
by Kazu Kibuishi
Bolt City Productions, 2012
153 pages

So, I hadn't realized this was re-released. I first started following Kazu Kibuishi online years ago, before Amulet was a thing, by reading his Copper comics. (I've got those in printed form too, now, so that will be reviewed here at some point.) But by the time I realized I was in love with his style and his sensibilities, his first graphic novel, Daisy Kutter, was no longer in print and unavailable anywhere. I was always sad about that because it looked fantastic.

Well, it is. One of my local comic stores supported Kibuishi's Kickstarter to reprint Daisy and I got their last signed copy, which you can imagine made me feel like queen for a day.

It's a steampunk western. Daisy is an ex-con who owns and runs a general store. It's pretty clear she's bored out of her skull by it, but it's a legit living. Her excitement comes from playing poker. So when she loses the store in a high-stakes poker match, she has no choice but to take up the winner's offer to give her the store back - if she participates in one last heist.

There are a few plot holes and the ending wraps up incredibly quickly, but this is the first in (I hope!) a series, and it was extremely enjoyable. Daisy's got depth, as does Tom McKay, the local sherrif who also happens to be Daisy's ex-partner in crime, and ex-partner, period. There are lots of questions to be answered, lots of fleshing out to happen with both characters. The world, while somewhat sketched-in for this first instalment, has a huge amount of promise. Very much looking forward to the next book.



Friends With Boys
by Faith Erin Hicks
First Second, 2012
220 pages

I find it hard to write about this one because all I want to say is LURRRRVE. This is a sweet, funny, quirky, sensitive, wonderfully-drawn coming-of-age graphic novel about a girl who is starting high school after being homeschooled her whole life. She has three older brothers whom she adores, and hasn't really ever felt the need for any friends outside of them. But they've all got their own lives and challenges at school, so she's kind of on her own. Lucky for her, she's not the only one in need of a friend.

What's nice about this is that it's not really deep or difficult, but it's still a portrait of a kid trying to find her place and fit in, while dealing with stuff - some mundane stuff, like dealing her mother's decision to leave the family or her first year at school, and some not at all mundane stuff, like the strange ghost who keeps following her around. Maggie's got challenges but she's competent, and her family (with the notable absence of her mother) is loving and supportive. This makes the book feel safe and a bit gentle, which is sometimes a nice thing in a coming-of-age book about outsiders.

This book is also really funny. The art supports the characters' development in the best way possible. Hicks can express a huge amount about a character just with facial expression and small gestures, and she uses that to full effect. It's an easy-to-follow style, too, meaning this is a great entree into the world of graphic novels. Excellent amounts of geek humour and an affirming message that being "weird" - however one defines it - is okay.



Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal
by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona
Marvel, 2014
120 pages

I'm not sure I really need to introduce this book. It's gotten a lot of attention because Ms. Marvel is Kamala, an American-born Muslim teenager of Pakistani decent, who in addition to having to deal with the sudden onset of superpowers and the appearance of a supervillain, has to deal with obnoxious, racist classmates, a fairly traditional family, a diet that forbids bacon, and a curfew. It could have smacked of diversity lip-service, but it was so well-written it didn't.

The book lives up to the hype. There are a lot of things to like here, from the fast-paced plot and the bright, stylized art, to the way it handles what shouldn't be a sensitive issue (Kamala's race and religion) but really is. But what I really appreciated was how realistic the whole thing feels from an emotional perspective, which is not something one can always say when reading superhero comics (or fantasy novels, for that matter.) While the title of the volume is "No Normal" what is refreshing is just how normal Kamala is, right down to the fights she has with her parents when she breaks curfew and is then punished for it. She's got superpowers and she handles their onset in a believable way. She's a teenager and she feels like a teenager.

Also, on a very frivolous note, I dare you to read this one and not fall a little in love with Boris.

Will definitely be following this series.

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

Zita the Spacegirl (Zita the Spacegirl 1)
by Ben Hatke
First Second, 2011
192 pages

I am always on the lookout for good graphic novels to read with my kids' book clubs. Because they are parent-child groups, I like to expose everyone - in this case, the adults - to something they may not have tried before. Most often the kids have at least tried a graphic novel, and most of the parents are always a little skeptical at first. In at least two or three cases I've had full converts, to the point of the adults searching out and reading new and interesting adult graphics themselves; and the only complaints I've had (there are always a few) have to do with the fact that reading graphic novels - or comics - can be difficult if you're not comfortable with the conventions, or with the very visual mode of storytelling. Sometimes kids have the same problems. But overall, reading a graphic novel every once in a while with my book clubs has been a success.

Zita the Spacegirl will be our next attempt at one. It's actually fairly difficult for me to find quality graphic novels that I feel have enough meat to carry a book club discussion with a group of seven- to eleven-year-olds and their adults, especially if I am trying to find something that most of the group hasn't already read. School librarians are very adept at finding the great graphic novels and making sure the receptive kids get a chance to read them. I find it hard to grudge them this.

Summary: when Zita's friend Joseph is snagged by a terrifying tentacled creature from a portal to an unknown world, Zita follows to try and save him. (This whole part is done so well, and so believably, character-wise, that I was hooked immediately.) She finds herself transported to the surface of a planet doomed to be destroyed in days by an incoming asteroid. She appears to be the only human around, she's penniless and friendless, and Joseph is whizzed off in some sort of flying car before she even has a chance to rescue him. Zita is going to need a little bit of help to save the day.

Zita fits my criteria for a good book club graphic novel. The art is easy to follow and evocative. The plot is very fast-paced, and there's lots of humour. Characters are interesting, though many are a bit mysterious; I think we'll learn more about some of the secondary characters as we move into the second book. Zita is a complex, totally believable kid. The story is not entirely straightforward and the subtext isn't always outright explained - always excellent features in a book club book. If it is a bit predictable at points, that's because I know the conventions of the adventure and science fiction genres. At other points, it managed to surprise me even within the conventions, so it gets points for that too. Finally, it isn't perfect. While I thought the book started incredibly strong, I was a little confused by the timelines for some of the later plot and the end of the book felt rushed. It's possible I might read the book again in order to see if that was just because I was distracted and/or reading too quickly at the end. Flaws in an otherwise well-done book make for good discussions, too, if they're not so deep as to wreck the book, and these are nothing like that.

Recommended for fans of middle-grade graphic novels; I'll be reading the rest of the trilogy.

Level Up by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham

Level Up
by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Thien Pham
First Second, 2011
160 pages

I was so charmed by this graphic novel, though it occurs to me that "charming" is maybe not a word that fits, exactly. "Satisfied" is maybe closer, but doesn't quite fit, either, because it doesn't convey the warmth of the way I feel about this story. Perhaps we should just stick with "I'm very glad I read it."

My experience of this book was interesting, too. Usually I blow through graphic novels; really, there are few that have taken me more than a day to read, and those are usually long (the Cardcaptor Sakura omnibus editions, for example.) This one, due to various things (including, ahem, video games) I took several days to get through. But I think this was maybe a good thing. It allowed me to think about what I was reading, rather than just inhaling it.

Dennis loves video games. Perhaps a bit too much. He's just been kicked out of college (the gaming's not the only reason) and he's got no idea how to tell his widowed mother; he knows his father, who passed away just after Dennis finished high school, would be extremely disappointed. In fact, he keeps thinking he's seeing his father's disapproving face on every statue he passes... and then the angels show up. It turns out they've arrived, straight out of a greeting card and with his father's blessing, to help Dennis achieve his destiny: go to med school, and become a gastroenterologist.

It's a little hard to describe, but when you're actually reading the book, it's pretty straightforward. It's also not all that much about video games or about the angels. It's about Dennis wrestling with his internal demons, coming to terms with his father's death, trying to figure out what he wants to do, and what duty to family, friends, and self has to do with any of it. He's an incredibly smart kid, he knows how to work hard, and he loves video games. What's more, he's actually pretty good at them. (His gamer friend, Takeem, suggests that Dennis' brain was made by Nintendo.) But his father always viewed them as a total waste of time and money, and Dennis still feels the weight of his disapproval, and his hopes and expectations for Dennis, too.

If I had any complaints, it's that things do seem to come across as a bit too easy. Dennis is a stellar gamer, able to win tournaments regularly. When he's at school, he's got four angels hanging out and doing his laundry, his dishes, feeding him, and so on, so all he has to do is concentrate on his studies. That said, it is a graphic novel and he's got four angels doing his housework... so, no expectations of gritty realism here? And he does work hard, at whatever he chooses to do. There is also a bit of an either/or dichotomy happening with gaming/living a real life, but let's just say that someone like me probably has no place criticizing that. I know some people seem to be able to cultivate a healthy balance, but lord knows I'm not one of them. Perhaps that's why I liked this book as much as I did.

Overall, the tale is told with simple but lovely artwork, gentle (often very funny) humour, nostalgia for the great games (Bubble Bobble makes a brief appearance; Pac Man figures heavily) and huge sympathy and respect for Dennis' character and his challenges. Well worth a read, particularly for those interested in contemporary coming-of-age stories for teens and young adults.

The Zabime Sisters by Aristophane

The Zabime Sisters
by Aristophane
First Second, 2010
96 pages

One of the reasons I write this blog is to examine my own reactions to what I read. So, in the interests of examination, I'm going to write some stuff down about The Zabime Sisters, even though it's hard to come by anything that's not "well, it was there, and I read it." I'm sure everyone has experiences like this while reading; something doesn't catch, despite the feeling that it should have and clearly has for others, and one is not quite sure why.

This is one of those graphic novels that I really feel like I should like. I wanted badly to like it and I feel a little inadequate that I don't. It's serious art, it's different, it is a slice-of-life piece. It's a piece of work that is critically acclaimed and has lots to recommend it. And it's not that I thought I didn't "get" it... I got it. I am pretty sure. I just didn't fall in love with it, I didn't have raptures over it. I understand it, I ... just ... am not even ambivalent. I have no visceral reaction. I wasn't even bored by it. It just landed on my consciousness, stuck there for a bit, and then quietly moved on.

The Zabime Sisters follows three girls on the cusp of growing up through the course of one summer day. The inkwork is very heavy, the perspectives changeable and interesting, though the artwork didn't really do much for me. I am extremely aware of my own limitations here; I don't know enough about graphic novels, comics, art history, etc. to have any critical opinion on the panels in a graphic novel. I know what I tend to prefer, but I think I also have a fairly wide range of taste. There was something about the artwork that I found a bit alienating, and maybe that was part of the issue. It was deliberately distancing and disorienting, I think, in some places so full of movement as to be almost alarming.

(Okay, this is working! I am actually recognizing what went "wrong" for me with this book! And in thinking closely about the artwork, I'm developing the sort of reaction to it that I didn't have while actually reading the thing. Despite it's alienating feel, I actually rather like it better, in hindsight.)

The story itself is unsentimental to the extreme, in that again, there is a distance, and it picks up and leaves off very abruptly -- perhaps the best example of slice-of-life storytelling I've ever encountered. Except that there was a lot of writing that felt like it was trying to create some sort of connection with the reader, but failing miserably. The text reports a lot on the inner workings of the characters, but in a way that doesn't really feel authentic but seems like it is trying to be authentic. It felt awkward, unmoored in anything, and the turn of phrase was often strange enough to draw attention to itself. Which makes me wonder if it was a problem of translation, versus the original French text. Or maybe it was trying to do something that didn't work for me.

Which is what it comes down to, I think. I think for the right people, this is probably a wonderful reading experience. It's just not right for me, and instead of being something I disliked, it just fell flat. Disappointing, in that I wanted very much to like this book. Have any of you read it? What did you think? What am I missing? Or did I get it, and it just fell flat anyway?

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 2 by CLAMP

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 2
by CLAMP
Dark Horse, 2011
576 pages

It feels a little odd to review this as my first real review since my hiatus, because I'm not sure how much I have to say. Most of what I wanted to say about Cardcaptor Sakura I said in my review of the first book in this omnibus release. That all still stands, and if you haven't read it, probably best to go there first if you're interested in this series.

This volume wraps up the first main storyline, though there are plenty of loose ends, particularly in the relationships, to tie up at some point down the road. And the relationships do get more tangled, with misunderstandings, breakups, secrets, and surprises.

There is the typical silliness, but also some poignant moments, too. There are also a few storylines that barely make sense. There is one story in particular that just seems crazy to me, involving Sakura's great-grandfather... who never tells her he's her great-grandfather... why would you do that? Why would he deny himself the pleasure of knowing his great-grandkids better? It can't be her father's doing, since he's not insane. Also that story was way rushed, and one gets the feeling we never, ever come back to it, either. Very odd in a manga series that generally deals with relationships and complexity fairly well. Highly unsatisfying, and a low point in a volume that is mostly quite good.

It's an interesting experience reading the books, too, when I'm so familiar with the anime. There was another storyline that again seemed fairly rushed, this one involving a play Sakura's class is putting on for the school talent show, that was drawn out into a full episode in the anime series. It was a really well-done episode, and I'm afraid the manga counterpart rather suffers by comparison. Not as nuanced. This is actually true of the ending of this particular main storyline arc, too. While the ending of the manga made more sense to me, was definitely more clear, it was also WAY faster. Things happen without any pause for reflection, and then it's done. I wonder whether it would feel so anticlimactic if I had never seen the anime, where the events are drawn out over several episodes. Sure, I'm sure the producers were milking the manga to draw out what had clearly become a very successful series, but it actually worked; things felt more tense, like there was more at stake.

But perhaps I wouldn't have noticed that if I hadn't seen the anime at all. Hard to know.

The third volume is well out, and I've asked for it for Christmas. And now it's down in writing, so...

I continue to recommend this series, but definitely read them in order. I'm looking forward to seeing the next volume, as I'm sure there are several things that confused the hell out of me in the anime that will make quite a bit more sense in the manga. Or here's hoping, anyway.

Wimbledon Green by Seth

Wimbledon Green: the greatest comic book collector in the world
by Seth
Drawn & Quarterly, 2005
125 pages 

When I said I went a completely different direction after The Bell at Sealey Head, I meant it. I went to a graphic novel about a fictionalized group of Canadian comic book collectors, and about one of those collectors in particular, a mysterious man by the name of Wimbledon Green.

I recently recommended this book to my friend Faith, and fishy promptly suggested that I should recommend something else by Seth, not this. Wimbledon Green is not his best work, I am told, not his most polished, not his most beautiful, not his most coherent. In fact, Seth himself tells us this; it's clear, from the foreword that should probably be an afterword, that Seth sets exceedingly high standards for himself. It's a story taken from his sketchbook, an experiment. Because of this, I add to this review the caveat that this may indeed not be Seth's best work. But it is an excellent little book, a really interesting work, and a really lovely piece of art. It stands on its own, all disclaimers aside.

I think I first have to mention the artwork. Seth has a pretty distinctive style. You may have seen it before; he designed the Peanuts anthologies, for example, and the Doug Wright anthology. It's got a sepia-toned nostalgic flavour, and an economy of line that belies how intricate and beautiful a finished panel is. The world created by his pen is consistent, complete and wide, much larger than the scope of the story he tells in it. His character work is unique and distinctive, and he knows how much he needs to show in a panel background in order for the reader to build a setting.

So, what is Wimbledon Green? Well, it's a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of comics collecting, often affectionate but also somewhat cynical. There are few entirely likeable characters -- even the titular fellow is not as charming or likeable as one might think. It's a story told in vignettes, a brief "biography" of Wimbledon Green as told by many people who knew him or knew of him, with some live action from Green's life plus a few other items of note relating to Green tossed in. It's put together in such a way that there's never a true narrative, but the larger picture emerges gradually. The added complication is that the multiple narrators are completely unreliable; it's difficult if not impossible to separate out truth from fiction. The unreliable narrator is a storytelling convention I normally dislike, but here it works for me incredibly well.

The multiple unreliable narrators here add a very active component to reading. The reader analyzes things carefully: does this person have a vested interest in being honest or dishonest? Does this person strike the reader as trustworthy? Is the character who seemed trustworthy previously now starting to seem less so? Even when we finally get to Wimbledon's own telling of his story, one feels there's a lot of omissions; whether those omissions are conscious on his part is another question for the reader to puzzle over. In the end, we never feel like we have a good handle on Wimbledon Green, much the same as all the other narrators, despite the fact that we do have more information than any of them. This may sound unsatisfying, and in some ways it is, but it's fitting: Wimbledon Green is a man of mystery, and he remains that way.

I can't quite finish the review without mentioning Jonah. This character is a dead ringer for Seth in appearance and certain foibles (exaggerated nostalgia for past eras, for example.) Though, I would hate to suggest that Seth is as thoroughly unpleasant as Jonah is. I don't know the author, but Jonah's a sneak, a cheat, an opportunist who has a deluded view of himself and the rest of the world. The rest of the characters have very little nice to say about him. It's an interesting choice for the author to put himself in there in such a way, but not without its humour. Put together with his foreword/afterword, and one begins to hypothesize a case of imposter syndrome, in the same way one has spent the rest of the book reading between the lines. I am sure this is all quite deliberate.

I'd like to recommend this book as an entree into Seth's work, though the author himself surely wouldn't thank me for it. I'll read more of his stuff, though from the snippets I've seen of his other work I suspect the melancholy that is merely hinted at in Wimbledon Green is out in full force in some of his other stuff. I am not always a fan of that sort of deep sadness without some sort of levity, and I thought that this book had a nice balance.

fishy's been re-reading this book, and published a much better, more in-depth blog entry on it than I have here. His point about Wimbledon Green being a superhero himself is well-made and I feel a little ... abashed, let's say, that I missed it myself the first time around.

White Rapids by Pascal Blanchet

White Rapids

by Pascal Blanchet (translated by Helge Dascher)

Drawn & Quarterly, 2007

156 pages

This was a somewhat random read for me. fishy has been bringing home various graphic novels from the library, and I knew nothing of this book before it appeared on the bedside table. Apparently, however, Pascal Blanchet is a rather famous graphic novelist in Quebec; this is, I believe, the first of his work to be translated into English. Because fishy and I read it so close together, and are reviewing it at nearly the same time, we're going to respond to the others' review, too -- fishy has his own blog over at Nominally Robotic, if you're curious to see what he thought (beyond what he's said below). We also tried not to contaminate the other's impressions prior to writing our own reviews, though we were only marginally successful. Since we're both home and spending a lot of time and brain energy looking after smallfry, one of the adult, intelligent conversations we tend to have is about whatever we're reading at the time.

I quite liked this book, overall. It's a very quick and easy read, and doesn't have much of a plot, exactly. It is more of a window on the real town of Rapide-Blanc, a town that was built by the Shawinigan Water and Power Company in the 1930s to house the workers needed to run an extremely remote hydroelectric dam, and their families. In the 1970s, when the dam was taken over by the Quebec public hydro utility and the dam automated, the town was shut down and the families forced to leave. White Rapids reflects on the construction of the town, life in it over the fifty years it was in existence, and the end.

What sticks out for me is the atmosphere of the book, and the depiction of the setting. The graphic work is very polished, deliberate, and absolutely gorgeous. It feels perfect for the era it is describing, right down to the faux-wood-panelled endpapers. The colouration is perfect, shades of orange plus white and black. The drawings of the buildings, particularly the dam, are absolutely stunning. I would describe a lot of the architectural drawings as elegant and very evocative. Blanchet is by far at his strongest when drawing the bold, static lines of man-made structures. His work with people is slightly less successful, but I think perhaps that's only because the setting is so very successful.

And unfortunately, I have to mention the font work. Which I hated. Every page has a different font, and I honestly can't imagine why. In some cases, the text is integrated right into the images, and while sometimes that made sense and worked well, at other times it didn't. Some of the fonts were nigh on impossible to read without squinting. I am sure there were reasons for the choice to do the fonts that way, but it was the only thing that really detracted from the enjoyment of the story for me.

White Rapids was charming and interesting, and I love the idea of it -- a peek into a time and place that no longer exists, without being overbearingly melancholy. Plus, I learned about a rather obscure piece of Canadian history, which is always a bonus. Font fiasco aside, this is a book well worth finding.

***

And now... husband-and-wife discussion time! fishy and I had a bit of a conversation via email regarding our reviews (his can be found here):

kiirstin: I like your thought of just having the book be about the views, as opposed to trying to stick in a plot and characters. I think maybe the views could have told the story, although to be fair I'm not sure the views alone would have done it -- the people are necessary to breathe narrative life into the tale. None of those buildings or structures existed in a vaccuum. The town was built to house the workers; you can't really have a book about the town of White Rapids without the workers.

fishy: Well, certainly you can have a book about the buildings of White Rapids, though. They have their own sort of narrative of place and style. The most human point in the whole piece for me was the moment with the empty bedroom which you can tell had been a child's room. It had atmosphere and history and narrative all in a single image.

There is no question if you took out the characters then you wouldn't know much about their lives and histories and personal stories, but... did you get any of that here? If you had just shown views of the hunting lodge and the porches and so on, then I think the reader would have substituted a more interesting reality than his explicit one. To be fair, there were a number of places where his depictions of humans was nice - the cocktail party would have been hard to do any other way, I think. Though there, as most places, the text could have gone.

kiirstin: I did love that image of the empty room; it was, for me, more memorable than pretty much any other image in the book. You're right, it had a perfect quality and told a whole story in just that panel.

The thing about taking the people away is that I'm not sure I would have bought the town as "lived-in" at that point. The empty room would have meant nothing if we didn't have a sense that there were humans behind it, that there had been someone who lived and loved in that room. I'm not sure that the previous scenery work had established enough to sell the sweet melancholy that the image otherwise provided.

The text is a different thing. Font aside, the text itself often didn't add much that couldn't have been done, and done more elegantly, with the images. I do wonder if something was lost in translation.

...

Drawn and Quarterly has published a book called The Native Trees of Canada which is just page after page of lovely painting of a single leaf. So perhaps plot is not necessary.

fishy: I don't think you need to discard the plot along with the humans. Chris Ware has frequently dedicated sections of story to just depicting place over time, or views of place in a narrative way, Seth has combined narration with objects to tell stories, I am sure many others have too. I think it would be hard in non-graphic fiction to tell a story with no human or anthropomorphized characters, but in graphic fiction you can tell fairly complex stories with images that don't contain the human form.

kiirstin: I can buy that, though not for this particular piece. I think that's why it felt imperfect: the place component was beautiful, but lacked (generally, not always) soul, and the people component was not quite up to the challenge of providing that soul.

...

Incidentally and a minor thing: I liked The General. Maybe because it was a cliched trope and I'm nothing if not forgiving of those, but I thought the fish added just the right touch where the human "characters" failed.

fishy: I could definitely enjoy a good story of man's struggle to catch the big one, right from Moby Dick on down. It was the ham-fisted symbolism of the fish that took me out of the story.

kiirstin: All right, I can concede that it was a bit heavy-handed. I still liked him. He probably wasn't necessary, and as you say in some cases may have detracted from the true story, but to me he added the soul that I felt was lacking elsewhere.

...

I wonder if we were trying to infuse this story with a gravitas Blanchet was never going for? I mean, the suspense at the beginning set a tone, but I wonder if the whole thing was meant to be more light-hearted than we took from it. Which may be a failing in the writing, but might also just be us.

fishy: It is possible, he did have a bunch of cartoony moments, right down to a couple of explicit Chuck Jones references. There is something very nice about a light comic romp with a nice sombre moment in the third act, and in some ways this does achieve that.

kiirstin: I think it might have achieved it better without the manufactured suspense at the beginning, but otherwise I think it succeeded in just that sort of lighthearted/bittersweet dichotomy.

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

 Hark! A Vagrant

by Kate Beaton

Drawn & Quarterly, 2011

166 pages

Whee! Kate Beaton! I preordered this when I knew it was coming out, and I loved pretty much every bit of it.

If you're not familiar with cartoonist Kate Beaton, get thee over to her website posthaste and remedy that. Her comics poke fun at literature (both the literature itself and the people who write it), history, and occasionally contemporary things. I can almost always get a laugh out of a Kate Beaton strip. In fact, I think some of her work -- enough of it to note -- is absolutely brilliant. Which is excellent, although it does mean that if she posts a rather mediocre strip it's even more devastating. Generally, the work in the book is the best, although there are one or two middling bits. I wouldn't worry about these, I only sigh because I know she can be so good.

The nice thing about the book, too, is that it compiles related strips in one place. So all of the French Revolution stuff is in one place, and all of the superhero bits, and all of the Teen Detectives bits, and (some of my favourites) the Goreys, where Beaton has taken a whole bunch of book covers drawn by Edward Gorey and then riffed on them -- judging books by their cover, to excellent effect. Often at the beginning of a set, there will be some commentary included, and what makes me happy about this is that it's not exactly that Beaton is explaining her jokes, so much as adding to them -- so what could be unfunny or too much information actually adds to the overall experience. Sometimes the strips are even better having read the commentary. Beaton is one funny lady.

Okay, so not a deep read by any means. But smarter than your average comic strip, and in some cases I even learned things. Those of you who like books, or history, or both, and have a sense of humour about things like the guillotine, should definitely check this collection out.

I leave you with this.

Seriously, go look at the website. Buy her stuff. Buy her book. Please make sure she keeps publishing stuff because a world without Kate Beaton's comics is a sad, sad world.

3 short reviews for a short attention span

Hello blog. This is kind of embarrassing, but... the truth is, I've been neglecting you. Some stuff has come up. I've been really busy, and when not really busy, in a really weird brainspace. All will become clear in time, but suffice to say that not only have I not been writing reviews, I've only barely been reading. Thus, the longest break in our history together: almost a full month without an entry.

That said, I do have three books to talk about. I know I won't be able to squeeze full entries for each out of my poor brain, so we're going to do something new and do short reviews! Scattered and short attention span -- that's me right now.

The City of Words

by Alberto Manguel

CBC Audio, 2007

5 discs

This is actually a recording of the five 2007 Massey Lectures. If you don't know about the Massey Lectures, I do advise checking them out at some point -- they've been given lately by such luminaries as Margaret Atwood (about money, and debt) and Douglas Copeland (the first Lectures to be entirely a work of fiction) and Wade Davis (anthropology). This particular set was about the power of story and words in society, going back as far as Gilgamesh (my favourite lecture of the series) and bringing us into the future with HAL. I don't remember a lot of it at this point, I'll be honest, and as I was in the car listening to this I wasn't (much to the advantage of other drivers on the road, I am sure) taking notes as I listened. I think probably a better experience would have involved taking notes. It was tremendously fascinating, but extremely dense; and I do remember feeling that the final lecture stretches a bit too far and tries to do too much in fifty minutes. While the whole thing was interesting to listen to, I don't think it has quite the same coherence that some of the other series I've heard do. Or it's possible that my brain is out of shape from not being in classes where I've had to do a lot of critical thinking and/or literary analysis. Either way, I'm glad I listened and I think I will have to listen to them again to appreciate them fully. Recommended for people interested in stories, society, and culture, and not afraid to take on something intellectually challenging.

Not Love but Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!

by Fumi Yoshinaga

Yen Press, 2010

159 pages

Of the three I'm reporting on here today, this is the book I loved. It's tremendously quirky in exactly the way I like it. With relationships and the manga artist's life as a (mostly very thinly sketched) background, this is a book about food. In fact, it's a love letter to 15 different Tokyo eating places, and to the food they serve. If I ever go to Tokyo, I will use this book as a guide to what I eat. It looks so. unbelievably. delicious. There's Japanese food, of course, but also Chinese food, baked goods, French cuisine -- it's wide-ranging, involving a lot of entrails (as Yoshinaga herself jokes) and beautifully drawn and described. Somehow, in between the food, we manage to get to know and enjoy Y-naga, the main character, foodie, and charmingly quirky lady, and a cast of characters around her, some just in for one story, others in for the long haul. It's very well done. The art is lovely and easy to follow, the characters very clearly differentiated, the sense of humour is sustained and light without being stupid, and did I mention the food? Loved this book, highly recommended to fans of food and/or manga.

Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang

by Mordecai Richler

Tundra Books, 2003 (original release in 1975)

87 pages

Another parent-child bookclub read, and quite a lot of fun. Jacob Two-Two is two plus two plus two years old, and has to say everything twice because he's so small that no one hears him the first time. In this, the first of his adventures, he is sent to prison for the worst crime of all -- insulting a grownup. I wasn't surprised to see that Richler is reported to have modeled the child characters in the book after his own children, or that the father character is modeled after himself. It reads like a bedtime story, the sort that a father might come up with on the spur of the moment with the kids themselves as the stars. This is not a bad thing, by any stretch -- it's a wonderful, imaginative, charming, and entertaining story that somehow manages not to be dated. It has things to say about children, adults, friendship, kindness, and creative thinking. Recommended as a great adventure for a bedtime story, or a very quick (an hour or two) read for an adult.

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 1 by CLAMP

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 1
by CLAMP
Dark Horse, 2010
576 pages


Dark Horse Comics has my undying love. Just like Cardcaptor Sakura the anime, and now Cardcaptor Sakura the manga, a classic of the shojo "magical girl" genre, and one that anyone seeking to round out their manga experience should probably read.

Some background:

I have been keeping my eye out for this one for a while. Not an omnibus volume, per se, but the entire Cardcaptor Sakura manga from the beginning. When I somehow stumbled upon the fact that Dark Horse was going to do an omnibus edition, I just about fangirl squee'd myself hoarse. And then I was informed that Volume 1 had been preordered for me for my birthday, and you can well imagine the heights of excitement I reached.

I can't recall when my love affair with this story started, or how it came to be exactly. I had been watching Inuyasha (the neverending story, but awesome) for some time, and we watched the entire series of Last Exile (interesting premise, never reached its potential). But then somehow this one came into the mix, and it took one episode only for me to be hooked. This is my favourite television show ever. It beats out Mythbusters, and that is saying something, considering that my desktop background is currently a walrus photoshopped to look like Jamie Hyneman. That's probably too much information. ANYWAYS.

So yes, I was predisposed to like this as a read. I wasn't even really worried that it might not follow the anime (and really, it would be that the anime didn't follow the manga, which came first.) I was prepared for some pretty significant departures, even. There aren't many, and the details that are different are pretty insignificant, at least in this first volume of two. The most noticeable differences are that there are a few battles present in the anime that are only mentioned in passing in the manga, and the relationships are much more clearly spelled out earlier in the manga, I think.

And oh, the relationships... but wait, I should probably summarize for those of you who have no idea what the hell I'm talking about.

Okay, so. This is all told in flashback in the manga, but the basic premise is this: Sakura Kinamoto is an ordinary third-grader when she accidentally opens a strange book in the basement of her house (and what a basement! it's a FREAKING LIBRARY). Out of this book fly dozens of strange cards, leaving Sakura with nothing but an empty case -- and a strange, adorable flying teddybear named Cerberus (hereafter known as Kero, the nickname Sakura gives to him, which he protests strongly). Kero informs Sakura that a) he's the guardian of the cards, and b) she must have strong magic to be able to open the book, and d) if the cards he guards escape, a disaster of unmentionable proportions will befall the world. So... oops. Now Sakura is going to have to get them all back, with the help of a very pink magic staff and the attention-loving Kero-chan at her side. The trouble is, the cards have minds of their own, and many of them aren't so keen to be returned to card-shape and be stuck in a book, so there are plenty of episodic adventures to go around as Sakura attempts to capture them all. By the end of the first volume, we're nearing her summer before fifth grade and she hasn't captured all that many cards yet, but it appears there may be some competition coming. (Also: volume ends on a brutal cliffhanger. Be warned. I am not getting Volume 2 until Christmas *wails*)

BUT. The cards aren't really what this story is about. This is the plot driver, but what we're really looking at here are the relationships, at love in all its forms from friendship to family to crushes and hero-worship to the romantic ideal of true love. There are not just love triangles here. There is a love geometry of astounding complexity. There are opposite-sex crushes, same-sex crushes, teacher-student relationships (there are at least three, one of which seems very iffy but somehow also not? I guess I was suspending disbelief pretty hard there, because if I wasn't I might have been pretty upset and as it was I winced a lot), loyal friendships, wonderful family relationships, love lost through death or marriage to another, and of course the glimmerings of true love.

As an example, we have Sakura's crush, which is probably the most straight-forward relationship in the book. All of us who have been in middle school remember the absolute heart-pounding, terrifying and yet somehow wonderful, all-consuming crush, and the desperate fear as well as the desperate hope that the object of our obsession might find out. Sakura handles hers with a lot more balls than I ever did and is veeeery adorably transparent. But then we also have a quieter, more mature crush on Sakura from her best friend Tomoyo. Sakura here is completely oblivious, but it's pretty clear to the reader how that relationship works. It's also pretty clear that Tomoyo has no illusions about Sakura's sexuality, and that she's okay with Sakura crushing on someone else. That relationship is one of those "pure, courtly love" kinds, never to be consummated and barely to be spoken of. Lest you worry that this might be the only form of same-sex relationship in the book, rest assured it's not, and that the other same-sex storyline is really, really sweet and entirely romantic. But to tell you more would be spoiling things, so I leave it for you to discover.

(most of the book is black and white, but there are some really lovely colour panels throughout)

Anyway. It's complicated, and affirming of love in all its forms. Another of my favourite relationships is between Sakura and her older brother Toya. They're at each other's throats constantly, with Toya pushing all sorts of buttons and driving Sakura nuts, and Sakura giving back as much as she can given her age and size. But when it comes down to it, they adore each other. Toya has some awesome (and hilarious) protective big brother moments, and there's a very touching story in which the tables are turned and it's up to Sakura to save him.

There's something about this story that makes me so happy to be loved by the people who love me. It's not that there's a single terrible relationship in Cardcaptor Sakura (except maybe the aforementioned teacher-student one, which you will notice when you get to it, and it's more that it seems like a terrible idea) -- it's not a "there but for the grace of god go I" kind of feeling, it's more a warm and fuzzy appreciation of the fact that I've got good people around me, and that I'm lucky to do so. It's an interesting and pleasant side-effect even if I'm not sure exactly where it comes from.

The story is light-hearted, mostly, and humourous, mostly, with depth at the right parts. It's a little silly and a little over-the-top (nothing like Ranma 1/2, not that I think it's even possible for any other work to touch that) but there are touching moments that are a pleasant counter-balance, and a reminder of what is at stake. Though one might suspect at first glance this story would be too saccharine, there's way more to it than that, and it's absolutely worth a second look.

Highly, highly recommended. Some of the humour is very manga-conventional, especially around Kero, and the art is intricate and often beautiful in a very manga way, which occasionally makes it a little hard to follow. On the other hand, the characters are easily distinguishable if highly stylized (I think Toya has to be around, like, 11 feet tall, or Sakura is perhaps only 2 feet tall?) and the facial expressions are perfection itself. No cookie-cutter, hard-to-read characters here. I would actually recommend watching the anime first if you can get your hands on it, and then reading this after; it adds dimension and a lot more depth to the anime, and makes the action very easy to understand. I'm about to start watching the entire thing again.

Just a quick practical caveat that I feel I should mention, lest anyone feels the need to jump out and buy this immediately: if you are international to the US, don't be ordering these volumes through the company linked at Dark Horse. The shipping fees are astronomical and not stated up front. The Book Depository or your favourite local store are probably much, much more economical options.

Also: my desktop image has changed over the course of writing. Just saying.

Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation by Tom Siddell

I. Heart. This. Book.

It has been since the last Harry Potter, folks. It has been that long since I was so wrapped up in a story. I loved this, and then I went online and proceeded to read the rest of the story, and loved that too. And now I am stuck because Siddell publishes updates every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and I desperately need to know more. It's like waiting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows except that it's released one page at a time. I knew, when I finished the book, that I should have controlled myself and just waited for the next published copy so I could read it all at once. But self-discipline is not one of my strong suits.

I'm not sure how to summarize it, either, especially since the story is ongoing, but I guess I can stick to the first published on-paper volume. Antimony Carver is sent to Gunnerkrigg Court, nominally an English-style boarding school, after her mother's death. Antimony had been living with her mother in the hospital, and it was her mother's wish that she would attend Gunnerkrigg Court. Antimony's father is completely absent, in a way that makes the reader angrier the more we know. We meet Antimony when she's first breaking school rules, less than two weeks into her stay, by helping a shadow creature escape the school. We meet her friend Kat as Antimony meets her, and start to untangle various mysteries about the school that all seem to be leading to one overarching mystery beginning in the Court, or perhaps beginning in Gillitie Wood, which is forbidden territory across the bridge from the school.

I can't be much clearer without getting into spoilers and/or taking up several hundred more words. This is an extremely complex story, with themes of love, betrayal, friendship, grief, humanity, technology, and magic all tangled up in it. Suffice to say, seeing it through Annie's eyes is helpful, as she's clever, witty, dry and trying her best to stay neutral while being extremely loyal to the few friends she has. Annie's a bit of an outsider, on account of her coming to the school a bit late, and especially on account of the fact that she has the ability to see spirits and interact with them and doesn't seem to care to hide it. It means that we see quite a lot of the picture, while still being mostly limited to Annie's perspective. And did I mention the wit? Annie's generally really funny, and there's a really wonderful mix of very moving moments, frightening moments, and very funny moments throughout the story. I laughed out loud a couple of times. I also got a little teary at points, too.

The supporting cast is just fantastic. They're also complex; I'm 31 chapters in and still completely confused about most of their motivations, but not in a bad way. I'm also thrilled to report that we're not that close to solving the big mystery yet, nor even really knowing fully what shape it takes (or even if it's one big mystery, or two or three loosely connected mysteries), so there's likely to be more of Annie and Kat to keep me enthralled in the future. I certainly don't want to let these characters or this story go any time soon. Each chapter can usually stand alone as its own story, but we're building towards something. My concern is that it will be pretty anticlimactic when we get there.

Anyone with an open mind about graphic novels and fantasy will find something to love here. The art is just lovely, the story blows my mind. If you can't find a paper copy, be prepared to spend a couple days in a row sneaking a peek at the website every time you have a free minute at a computer. And be prepared that your mind will wander its way into the story when you're not reading it, too. Many thanks go to darla for the heads-up on this one. I wouldn't have even known it existed otherwise, and her enthusiastic review encouraged me to recommend it for purchase at our library sight unseen.

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Oni Press, 2010
245 pages

I made the mistake of starting to read this one in bed before work one morning. Forty-five minutes later, I had a grand total of ten minutes to get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, and get out the door in order to be at work on time. And I still hadn't finished the book.

I find it hard to know what to say about this last book of the Scott Pilgrim series. I don't want to spoil anyone, of course, and further, it's hard to wrap up a series I've enjoyed so much. So, before I get into a slightly deeper discussion, let me just say I think this book was a good end to the series. It wasn't a horrid disappointment, nor did it blow me away; it just fit. I don't think it had the shiny-new, silly and charming wit of the first two books; I didn't think it was as clever. But it went in the direction it had been set up to go for the past three books, fully committed and very entertaining.

fishy summed up this volume as "everyone realizing they're dicks." Which... um, yep, that does it. One of the reviews I've seen put it this way: "Scott realizes he's not as harmless as he thinks he is." I like that a lot, because I think that comment gets at the heart of Scott Pilgrim's character. He doesn't have a very high opinion of himself and therefore can't conceive that he might matter enough to hurt someone else. Scott is often very immature, to the point where sometimes, despite his charm, he is unlikeable. But by the end of Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour he starts to realize that, and one actually has some hope for him. Part of what I love about this series is the fallibility of all of the characters. None of them are perfect and most of them have both good and bad characteristics. Except maybe Gideon and most of the evil exes.

There were parts of this volume that were confusing, never fully explained, and not in a good way. I think I figured most of it out, but some stuff was left unsaid that confused me, as opposed to entertained me. And in some cases, the explanations I came up with from the text were pretty lame, as opposed to what I was hoping for -- so it's possible that I just decided that those parts were more mysterious than they actually were, if that makes sense. I did like that the ending gave us closure on a couple of stories that O'Malley had started for other characters. I liked that things were still somewhat ambiguous for everyone else.

I probably can't talk too much more without getting into spoilers. I enjoyed this book; it wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be, but it was good and I'm satisfied with it as an ending. I'm looking forward to the movie, actually -- which is a rare thing for me. I don't look forward to movies as a rule and I really don't look forward to movies based off of books. I'm still very skeptical about Michael Cera being Scott, but I think I can get over that.

Is it indeed Scott Pilgrim's finest hour? I'm not sure about that, but it's a good end to a great series.

Bone Volumes 1, 2 and 3 by Jeff Smith

There's something a little daunting about writing a review of this series so late in the game. A lot of bloggers I follow faithfully have already read this one and written about it eloquently, and I am not sure that I have anything to add to the conversation, to what has already been said.

My own personal reaction? I have loved all three books so far. Not with a "OMG EVERYONE READ THIS NOW!" kind of fervour; it was more a thorough enjoyment, a complete immersion in the story. And I think that happened for two reasons: I have complete trust in where Jeff Smith is taking me with this story, and I feel at home with the plot and ideas and characters. A long time fantasy reader, I recognize the conventions, but the story isn't bound by them. It's a humourous and loving treatment of them.

Overall plot: the three Bone cousins, Fone, Smiley and Phoney are on the run after being booted out of Boneville for some unspecified (at the beginning) transgression on Phoney's part. We do know the exile is almost certainly well-deserved. After a cloud of locusts overtakes them in the desert, the boys are separated and Fone (our hero) finds his way into a strange valley after a run-in or two with some rather odd creatures. Once there, he finds his way to Thorn, a young woman who lives in the valley with her Gran'ma Ben, and here really the adventure is just beginning.

To discuss each separately for a moment: Out from Boneville is our introductory volume, in which we meet most of our major characters, good and bad. Something that can always be challenging in a series is making sure that everyone's invested up front, that the characters are clear and the plot is engaging, but there are no infodumps. There's no problem with that here. One thing leads naturally to another (er, being lost in a desert leads to locusts, I guess?) and by the end of the volume we know where we all stand, with the standard mysteries in place (who is Gran'ma Ben? What's the deal with the dragon? Who is the creeeeeepy hooded dude, and what does he want with Phoney? Will the stupid, stupid rat creature ever get a quiche?)

The Great Cow Race is awesome. We start to get a good handle on the characters, there are some cracking funny moments, and we start to get into some emotional depth. It was in this book that I decided that Gran'ma Ben is my favourite character, supplanting the dragon.

Eyes of the Storm takes a much darker turn. Though it was hinted at before, it's eminently clear that there's a much deeper problem here, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions. In fact, I think, despite some of the answered questions there are more unanswered at the end of this volume than at the beginning, including the pressing one of what the heck Phoney is up to and why he's a target. I have an even softer spot for Lucius the bartender by the end of this volume, too.

Overall, I really enjoy the central characters, especially Fone Bone (and as above, Lucius, Gran'ma Ben and the dragon). Fone is a perfect character for us to see this world and this story through. The art is fabulous, expressive, evocative, and so easy to follow. It's a true graphic novel in that the story is inseparable from the art; neither the text nor the art could stand on its own. I can see exactly why this series appeals to people of all ages. Though it's checked out of the library most often by kids, it's made the rounds through the blogosphere because of adult bloggers; and I recommend to everyone who enjoys a good fantasy quest story. Even if, or perhaps especially if, you have never read a graphic novel before. The next three will be up soon!

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa

I'm not quite sure why it took me so long to read this. I don't mean so long to pick it up, because that wasn't it -- I picked it up, read a bit, put it down, picked it up again, read more, read a couple of novels in between, read more... it just seemed to be a long process, which is unusual for me. It wasn't that I didn't like this book, because I really did. In fact, it keeps growing on me even after I've finished. Images are stuck in my head, and keep popping up at different times, and have been doing that since I started reading it. I think in some ways, I found this book a bit like a hot bath -- very pleasureable, as long as I eased myself into it.

This lovely graphic novel tells the story of Ehwa, a Korean girl growing up in a small village with her widowed mother. It explores love, sexuality, and gender relations and roles, all in a beautifully poetic way. There are some very funny moments, and some very tender moments, and some almost painful moments. There are parts of it that cut a little close to home, which I think was part of my strange reluctance to read it sometimes. Some experiences in growing up are universal, no matter where or when you grew up. That wondering if you're the only one in the world as weird as you are, for example; that feeling of alienation even from those you consider your friends. And that first confusing feeling of love, and then feeling even more confused when you realize there's more than one desireable person out there. I felt very close to Ehwa at many points throughout.

On the whole, I think I enjoyed Ehwa's relationship with her mother the most. This is wonderfully rendered, with Ehwa often seeing more than her mother realizes, and her mother guiding and advising Ehwa honestly and gracefully. I love how supportive they are of each other, and how strong Ehwa's mother is. It's a nice change from a lot of stories I read, where parents are either entirely absent or emotionally absent, or dysfunctional and villainous.

As I said, I'm still turning this one over in my head. It's a story that requires some contemplation and quiet enjoyment. This is a different kind of graphic novel than I'm used to, and I'm very grateful to Mandy, who sent this book my way when I won a giveaway on the Words Worth Books blog. I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise, but I'm very glad I had the opportunity to read it. It reads and proceeds like poetry -- slowly and to be savoured. I'm looking forward to the next two, The Color of Water and The Color of Heaven.

Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

After years (literally) of meaning to get to it, I have finally read Kazu Kibuishi's beautiful Amulet: The Stonekeeper. And the first thing I wrote down in my journal is: it's wonderful.

Emily, Navin and their mother move to an old family house on the outskirts of a town after a very difficult family tragedy, to try to start a new life. They attack the accumulation of dirt and dust in the old house in a determined way (this part made me laugh out loud) but their first night, things go horribly wrong. Investigating a noise in the basement, their mother disappears -- and Emily and Navin must undertake a perilous, fantastic journey to get her back. This is the first book in a series, and I believe the second book The Stonekeeper's Curse is on its way at the beginning of September. Very exciting!

And it really is wonderful. This book deals with big situations and a lot of grief and fear for young people, but it does it in a plain, understandable (insofar as big griefs are ever understandable) way. Which is not to say that this story is simplistic -- not at all. Just when I thought I knew who was good and who wasn't, I started to second-guess. One is left with the suspicion that nothing is really quite as it seems, and concerns that while Emily made the only choice available to her it might not in fact have been the right one.

I really enjoy both Emily and Navin. Navin in particular. My enjoyment of Navin made me think: why do I like him better than I like Emily? Emily is clearly the main character in The Stonekeeper, and she's very sympathetic as a sad, frightened, but determined and spunky kid. But she's got the weight of responsibility on her that makes her slightly less fun. She's focussed on getting their mother back in a single-minded, heroic way, as she should be; Navin is free to get distracted by giant pink herbivorous slugs. Navin is free to beg Emily not to take on the amulet, but Emily has to make the choice despite it's rightness or wrongness. This is something I find common to a lot of fantasy -- the main hero is more boring than the supporting cast (I'm looking at you, Garion, and you, Frodo) because they aren't free to be more interesting. They have a Quest. They have to answer to the Quest. Everyone else can be funny and charming, but the hero must Seriously Pursue the Quest.

This isn't a criticism, by the way. I do still really like Emily (and Frodo and Garion) but I thought it was interesting that I reacted in a similar way to Emily as I do to many other heroes in fantasies I've loved. There are other heroes I've loved in other fantasies, but it's not uncommon for me to feel a little bit less in empathy with the hero than I do with the characters around the hero.

Now, because Amulet: The Stonekeeper is a graphic novel, let me take the time to comment on the art. Here, have a look (these are prints from the book, available through Gallery Nucleus):



The art is just so cool. And it is beautiful, and supports the mood. It is clearly drawn, the action is supremely easy to follow, and the panels are so detailed and rich. Every panel is invested with a kind of light and energy. Kazu Kibuishi caught me with Copper years ago, and I've always loved his fantastical, almost-steampunk worlds. So to spend an entire novel in one of those worlds is a treat. The second one is coming out soon... I am quite excited to see it, and anxious to know what happens to Emily and her family. Though I have some suspicions, bred of many years of reading fantasy and fairytales, about how things are going to turn out, I also suspect that there will be surprises in store.

Highly recommended, for anyone ages 8 or so and up who likes imaginative adventure tales. Male or female; I think both are equally likely to enjoy this story.

Scott Pilgrim Volume 5 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Twists! Turns! Twins! Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe has it all. Also, killer robots, the parental Pilgrims, and various other traumatic events. Scott's moved in with Ramona, turned 24, everything seems to be going really well -- and then --

I'm actually finding it very difficult to say anything about this fifth installment of Scott Pilgrim's saga without giving anything away. This volume is absolutely packed. So much happens, and it starts happening straight from the beginning. Things that happen make me want to shake various characters, or possibly even sledgehammer them (+2 against angst) and yet, despite the angst and the dumb decisions, I still love them. And I am dying to know what happens to them now.

One thing I can talk about, albeit briefly, is that while I do find some of the decisions dumb, and some of them hard to swallow, and some of them just plain sad because I like these fictional people, none of them seem stupidly out of place or out of character. They all make sense, given the characters and the world that O'Malley has crafted. We're not treated to inner monologues, and we don't know all the motivations, but the choices each character makes are consistent with who they are. And even when it makes me cringe because I know it's not right, I understand the decision. And I like that -- and I like that there's enough depth in each of the major characters that I can grasp their motivations and disagree with them, but still like the characters anyway.

This volume, by the way, is just as funny as some of the others. And it's paced very well. And I don't know what will happen, or if the ultimate ending for Scott will be a traditionally happy ending; the ending of this volume is a huge cliffhanger, which isn't fair because the last volume isn't out until... later. I don't know when. Waaah!

Scott Pilgrim Volume 4 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

So, I had planned for this next review to be of Kenneth Oppel's Skybreaker, the sequel to Airborn. That's my current read. However. The fourth Scott Pilgrim book, Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together, just happened to be bedside when I woke up from my nap, and I happened to pick it up, and an hour later I happen to have finished it. Oops.

But it's good. Actually, it's quite good, which is nice after I found the third book to be pretty-good-but-not-excellent, and I was worried that things might be heading downhill. The fourth is right back up there. It was possibly made better by my husband mentioning, offhand, that there was no evil ex-boyfriend in this one. I was kind of indignant -- what about the whole plot! Must move along! Don't worry, it does.

We have Scott meeting an old high school friend (whom he might not remember but we do), mysterious caped and be-sworded samurais, a Sex Bob-omb album in the works, a deadly half-ninja, Wallace without pants, Scott getting a job, and shifting living arrangements. The balance between sweet, salty, and hilarious is back as Scott tries to say the l-word. Which l-word? You will have to read to find out.

One section I really, really liked was a late-night awkward conversation filled with revelations and regrets. It was pitch-perfect emotionally. I haven't been there, exactly, but I know emotional truth when I see it, and I'm pretty sure that scene is played out, in variation, on many couches, in many apartments, in many cities, every night. It was a scene for me that rivalled the emotional truth I loved so much in Lost at Sea, and I was was really pleased to find that level of connection, in a sustained way rather than little flashes, in Scott Pilgrim too.

My husband's concerned that he doesn't like Ramona as well as he used to. I can see where that might come from, but I am still very fond of her. I am concerned that Scott might get his heart broken, but to be fair to Ramona, I think she's very conflicted. She's still quite mysterious -- but she's starting to open up a bit to Scott. And I think she needed to. It's nice to see their relationship developing. Scott is growing up, and Ramona is opening up, and it's all very sweet (and funny) to watch.

The first book is actually waiting for me at my favourite bookstore, and I'm going to have to go pick it up this week. I'll order them all, but it's a budget thing. At least there are only going to be six books! The final book isn't out yet... but I think, rather than ordering the fifth book ILLO, I might order it from the bookstore and then work backwards. Also, I have decided that whatever Bryan Lee O'Malley does next, I will have to buy it. He's quietly worked his way into my favourite author pantheon.

Scott Pilgrim Volume 3 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim strikes again.

Mostly ineffectually.

This is why we love him.

I finally got tired of waiting for the book order to go through, and picked up Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness (Vol. 3) via interlibrary loan a few weeks ago. It took me a bit to get back into things, since it's been ages since I read volumes 1 and 2. But it didn't take that long, and then I went back and re-read the bits I'd read while being slightly confused. Then I continued re-reading because it is awesome.

For those new to my book crush on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, the basic idea of the series is this: Scott is on his way to defeating ninja delivery girl Ramona Flowers' seven evil ex-boyfriends in street-fighter-esque combat, in a quest to be able to call her his girlfriend. It's set in an alternate Toronto (Ontario) and there are awesome references to all sorts of things I recognize. Where a Toronto Public Library branch was the scene of a battle in the second volume, both Honest Ed's (an iconic deep-discount department store) and Lee's Palace (a popular club and bar with great live shows) show up in volume 3. For those of you wondering (as Darla was) yes, Honest Ed's is a real place. I have never been in. It is impressively daunting enough from outside.

The storyline in volume 3, as might be guessed from the title, is a little more serious. There are some fairly painful moments, and tender moments, between different characters. The pacing was definitely slower and more introspective. I didn't mind it; I didn't think it was quite as good as the first two volumes, but it still kept my attention and my heart. My husband, who also reads these, found it dragged a bit too much for him -- spent too much time moping and not enough time moving the plot along -- and I can certainly see his point. I think some of O'Malley's characters also see his point. They're pretty aware of their graphic novel format, which I thought was cute (says Envy at one point: "Right. It's almost 3:30, and we've been here for a quarter of this book. Let's call it a night.")

But there is more depth to most of the characters now, and there's a bit more intrigue surrounding Ramona. Who is she really? What is she up to? Because she's up to something and one suspects it might be problematic for all concerned in future volumes. Which I've ordered from the library! No more waiting around for me. Up next: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together.

Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley

It's like how the grass is greener on the other side. Grass just looks nicer from the other side, you know? Grass where you're standing looks like dirt with green hair.

Lost at Sea is an earlier graphic novel written by Bryan Lee O'Malley, of Scott Pilgrim fame. This is, without a doubt, one of my new favourites. I had to ILLO it from another library system, but halfway through it I purchased it online from my local bookstore so that I can have it and love it forever and ever. It was just one of those books that I know instinctively I will never want to do without.

Raleigh is an eighteen year old, caught between her last year of high school and her first year of university. More specifically, she is caught in a car with three of her classmates, driving back to Canada from California. She is painfully shy and terrified of everything, including her classmates, friendship, and cats. The story unfolds slowly from a very personal first-person point of view, as we read Raleigh's thoughts throughout the book, interspersed with events as they are happening.

I think Raleigh is wonderful, as are her classmates. But that wasn't the only reason I loved this book. I love it for its quirky sense of humour, yes, and the art is cute, the writing is fantastic, and the plotline is engaging. But what shifts it from a good read to likely my favourite book of the year so far (maybe even as favourite as The Wee Free Men) is the way O'Malley has managed to capture that terrifying, confusing, painful, yet unique, tender, and beautiful feeling of growing up and being somewhere between a kid and an adult. I remember being there. Not exactly where Raleigh is, because each of us experiences growing up differently, and one of the things this book did for me was remind me of how individual the experience of trying to become an adult is. It reminds me to look at teens I meet and not just think "I've been there" but also "but not exactly there."

I remember having Raleigh's superlative quality to my thoughts; now I think of it as angst but I suspect I do myself (and other teens) a disservice to think it was only that. I really was trying to figure out my place in the world, in relation to my family, my friends, my ideals, my path in life. It all seemed so immediate and urgent. Sometimes I made good decisions. Sometimes I was stupid. But I was living it all with immediacy, even while desperately hoping to get out of it soon and wondering if anything would ever make sense. (It still doesn't all make sense, but I'm a lot more comfortable with that now.) Part of what amazes me is how well O'Malley captures that kind of thought process. I don't want to go back to being a teenager, but this was a surprisingly pleasant visit to that mental space again.

As for the material of the story, we don't know why Raleigh is in California, or how she met up with her classmates, or what has happened that has so unsettled her that she would agree to drive to Canada in a car with three people she barely knows. Things have happened to Raleigh and even when we begin to see the full story, it's not the full story. Much of this is left up to the reader to surmise. I think O'Malley has given us just the right amount of information. My reading of the story was not that something bad had happened to Raleigh, although I suppose that's a possibility; just something big and different and scary and wonderful. I'd be interested to see what others interpreted.

A few more quotes. I've tried to take the ones that still give you a sense, even divorced from the art, but there's a lot of wonderful moments in which both are so completely integrated that there's no way to share them if I can't show you the images.

But excuse my digressing because I do have a life story and it may not be important or interesting but it begins with a best friend and it ended this morning. Sort of. Well it ends with now, technically, or it doesn't really end at all but it doesn't go past now, yet, at least.

This specific trip, even, California to home: this isn't the first time I've taken it. This trip is a recurring theme for me. I'm sure it means something, but I'm kind of bad at taking meaning from things that way. The cats, the road, mom, California, Vancouver and everything in between. It means something to have no soul and no friends and too many cats that I can't even touch. What does it mean?

I'm also going to parrot part of the back blurb as my recommendation for who should read this:

Raleigh is eighteen years old, and she has no idea what she's doing. If you've ever been eighteen, or confused, or both, maybe you should read this book.

Yes, I'd say that covers it.