The Book Pirate

I was given a copy of The Return of King Doug and burned through it so fast I almost wondered how.

I think the idea behind this book is incredibly funny and something that has never been done before. The idea of “The Chosen One” has been done so many times (Frodo, Buffy, Neo, etc.) that someone was bound to put a good twist on it, and they did.

Doug Peterson is a young boy who discovers the fantasy kingdom of Valdonia. It’s at the bottom of a well that sits in the backyard of his parent’s summer cabin. Being human, the creatures revere him as The Chosen one, their commander, who will lead them into battle against the wicked Queen who has taken over their lands. Together with the magic amulet, the Heart of Agnon, they will defeat her and crown Doug their King.

Sounds great, and even Doug is in, until he realizes that he is a little boy and this isn’t a game. It’s a real battle. There’s a chance he could get ripped apart.

So he goes back home.

25 years later Doug is a lazy good for nothing that can’t keep a job. He has since fathered a boy and we pick back up when it’s his weekend with his son. They end up at the cabin, his son goes off to play and well…I think you see what’s coming.

The Centaurs and the Tum Tums are in an even worse place. If it was bad before, now it’s REALLY bad and Doug must confront his fears and his bad habits to save his son and take back Valdonia from the evil Queen.

This may sound all epic but it’s very funny as well. I have been waiting for a fantasy/comedy that’s actually good and this one satisfied me. Aside from the story, the linework by Wook-Jin Clark is fluid and beautiful and he does a terrific job of really bringing Valdonia and it’s people to life.

It seems that I might be getting what I asked for. The other day I purchased a copy of Empire magazine which told me that Natalie Portman, James Franco and Danny McBride would be starring in a fantasy/comedy called Your Highness, and just today, when I googled “The Return of King Doug” all these images of Ben Stiller popped up. Apparently, he has signed on to produce and possibly star in….you guessed it…The Return of King Doug.

The Return of King Doug is written by Greg Erb and Jason Oremland

It is illustrated by Wook-Jin Clark

It’s published by Oni Press

I have been a fan of Kazu Kibuishi for a while now, having purchased the first volume of his book Daisy Kutter at the Stumptown Comics Convention several years ago. His style pulled me in at first but while reading Daisy Kutter, the story and storytelling intrigued me. Before I knew it I had a new artist I had to follow. From there I went on to read my new favorite series, Amulet, which I am dying to read more of.

Since there isn’t a new Amulet yet, I looked around for more work by Kazu and a friend turned me on to Copper. It looked familiar. I thought maybe I had seen Copper in a previous volume of Flight but I couldn’t be sure.

This friend turned to the back of Copper and showed me that it included a tutorial on just how Kazu creates the Copper strips. He takes it from his thumbnails all the way to his finished pieces and the digital coloring section was of great interest to me.

For me, I suppose that’s how Kazu Kibuishi gets me. He dangles a lovely carrot in front of my face and before I know it I have gone on an incredible journey with his characters that seems to end all too quickly.

Copper, he tells us in the introduction, began as a sticker and t-shirt design and has since turned into something greater. The adventures that Copper and his dog/friend Fred go on are interesting and filled with meaning if you pay attention. Some of my favorites include the mushroom jumping and the spectacled, blue-haired girl who they just can’t seem to catch.

I’m gonna go ahead and say that Copper often gives me the same kind of feeling I would get when reading my Calvin and Hobbes collections. It’s filled with possibilities, imagination and things you can even learn about yourself.

Blurb for the back cover:
“Superheroes? Check.
Orphans? Check.
Girl that looks like a violin? Er, check.”

So The Umbrella Academy appears to be your typical superhero comic on the outside. A group of seven kids are adopted by some rich guy in order to “save the world”. Naturally, these kids were born in mysterious circumstances and have super human powers. The book opens with a prologue with six of the kids saving the Eiffel Tower and the seventh watching as she seemingly has no super power. The story jumps forward twenty years and we discover that the group has broken up and gone their separate ways only to be reunited at the funeral of their adoptive father. Yanya, the seemingly unspecial seventh child, gets pulled in to a diabolical scheme that just might prove how special she really is, but at the same time, destroy the world in the process.

I haven’t read many superhero related comics but what drew me to this one was the fantastic art style (drawn by Gabriel Ba) used in the book. It’s colorful and morbid with a nice attention to detail in the bigger panels. Plus, the girl on the cover looks like a violin.

Story wise I didn’t find it to be anything that special. There is a bad guy and there are superheroes. The superheroes stop the bad guy and the heroes stand around and are like “It’s a good thing our adoptive father’s death conveniently brought us all together again so that we could overcome our differences and team up to stop the apocalypse. Also I could really use a sandwich right about now!”. There is a very dry humor that is used to tell the story. It wont make you laugh out loud (or LOL, as kids nowadays are calling it) but it will make you grin.

I would recommend this graphic novel. The story may not be special, but the artwork and humor make it stand out compared to all the other graphic novels I have read (which is only a few, so really who knows what I am say…)

Other blog reviews:
read/RANT!
Bao’s Blog

I came across this article on You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice last and thought it was interesting enough to post about.

Do you remember the children’s book Nate the Great? Me neither. But it was a book published back in 1972 about a boy detective who solves murders petty crimes. In the book series this is this girl who goes by Rosamond who can only be described as “strange”.

See? They call her strange. Anyway, if you’ve been in Hot Topic recently (you can admit it, I wont think less of you), you may have noticed this girl.

Her name is Emily and she is “strange” as well. Emily was the poster child for skateboards in the early 90’s and have since become a pop culture icon with her very own book series.

Notice anything different? Me neither aside from a few words. YTWWN has more detailed information about this possible copyright infringement.

Blurb for the back cover:
“A decent graphic novel”

Jamie S. Rich, who you may remember from this drunken photo, is the author of the graphic novel series Love the Way You Love. Originally it was released in six smaller comics and later compiled in to volumes containing three parts each. Side A contains the first three while Side B, which was recently released, features the latter three. It is illustrated by Marc Ellerby, who according to his bio in the back of the book, is 24.

Love the Way You Love is the story of Tristan and his band Like A Dog. Upon returning home from a trip, he spots a girl, Isobel, at the airport who he instantly falls in love with but completely and utterly fails to strike up a conversation with. As luck would have it, she appears again that evening at the Like A Dog show with her tall, dark, hansom and all around greedy fiancé, Marcus, in tow. Naturally, the only logical thing Tristan and Isobel can do is have an affair behind the fiancé’s back. Marcus, whop is head of a record company wants to sign Like A Dog and make as much money off of them as possible. Things get worse when Tristan rejects Marcus’s record offer against his band mates wishes and they stage a mutiny

Overall this is a decent graphic novel. Originally the three volumes were pretty slim and make for a quick reading. In this collection that combines the first three volumes, it feels much more substantial. My only real problem is with the two main characters Tristan and Isobel who I find to be slightly on the annoying side of things. Tristan comes off as pretentious as he constantly rejects the opportunities presented to him to help advance his career and ignores everybody else who is effected by his decision. Isobel with her “woe is me” routine tries to play the part of the victim as she tries to figure out what to do with the two guys who care about her. Although near the end of Side A she does finally start to figure stuff out. I hope that in Side B we get to see more of her personality. As is, she is much too quiet and reserved. The rest of the cast provide the humor and help move the plot along. They are the ones who are working behind Tristan and Isobel’s back to actually make things happen. I feel that they are the ones that hold this book together.

Since this book is strongly music themed, if you are a music fan you might get a little something extra out of the recommended soundtrack the comes along with this book. Scattered throughout the story are little black boxes that will tell you watch particular song goes well with the scene. For added immersion, you could theoretically listen to those songs while reading.

Blurb for the back cover:
“Ingeniously drawn, helplessly immature, and a delight to read.”

Sam and Max freelance police originally appeared in comic form back in 1987. Since then the duo has appeared in many more comics, a television cartoon series, and computer games. Surfin’ The Highway was published in the ’90s but had since gone to that dreadful place known as “out of print”. Luckily, to capitalize on the recent increase in interest thanks to their newer computer adventures, Sam and Max Surfin’ The Highway has been republished for all to enjoy!

The due is made up of Sam, the suit wearing dog, and Max, a bunny-looking lagomorph. Together they fight crime and injustice (and pirates and a restless spirit that haunts the cereal aisle and rats and a fish named Mack Salmon, to name a few). Since they are freelance police, they get their assignments straight from the commissioner himself who is never seen. Since this is a collection of all the published Sam and Max cartoons so far, there is no story arch which keeps things moving at a fast pace and prevents any situation from getting stale.

Really the thing that stands out here is the humor in the dialog. Often times it is Max who will offer up a witty quip to break the tension. There are also instants when the fourth wall is broken and the humor is self referring such as the time Sam and Max go to the Philippines which is a cross between a tribal voodoo village with the pyramids in the background. Max points out that it was apparently drawn without reference material. Max will also point out when speech bubbles are blocking his vision. It’s this type of humor that makes Surfin’ The Highway worth reading. It’s ingeniously drawn, helplessly immature, and a delight to read.

Also, I recommend the cartoon series as well.

Blurb for the back cover:
“This is a kids book and it is painfully cliché ridden”

Another graphic novel, this time Amulet is aimed at the younger set of kids. Well, not super young, but maybe age 10 or somewhere along those lines. I dunno. I don’t have kids so it is kind of hard to gage what age group would enjoy this book. It reminded me of The Spiderwick Chronicles in the sense that one of the parents dies at the very start of the book and Emily, Navin and their mom go off it to the forest to live in a mysterious old house in an attempt to start over. As with all kids books nowadays, this house hides secrets and Emily soon finds herself in possession of a mysterious stone that grants her magical abilities. Naturally, the mother is soon kidnapped and it’s up to the kids to rescue her. Since their new house is mysterious, a portal of some sorts that takes them to an equally mysterious land where they meet their grandfather who has been missing for quite a while.

When push comes to shove, this is a kids book and it is painfully cliché ridden. We have magical passage ways, magical powers, relatives long thought dead, kids without parents, robots, and a talking pink bunny. Wait, sorry. That last one isn’t so much cliché as it is slightly odd. The only thing that sets this apart from other books of the similar genre is the fact that this one is illustrated. For the most part I like the drawings. They are colorful and sometimes neat to look at. Unfortunately, I find the character design of the humans to be a little too cartoonish for my tastes. I think it has to do with their heads being a little too tall. Everyone else though, from the pink bunny to the sinister villain, look fine.

I would recommend this book for the young adult crowd, but any serious graphic novel junkie will probably overlook this easily. Amulet is set up to be a series from what I can tell and this is only book one. There are some interesting plot points that I think can and will be taken further to add more depth to the series and take it in a much darker direction which is what I think this book series needs to stand out. But until then I’m going to have to mention the pink bunny for the third time and say that as is this book doesn’t add anything to the genre other than borrow from other successful works.

Blurb for the back cover:
“Sexily”

I am not the biggest Stephen King fan. Out of his many, many books I have only read eight of them: The seven books in the Dark Tower series and his pulp fiction inspired The Colorado Kid. The Dark Tower series is one that I am surprised more people aren’t interested in. It started in 1970 when Stephen King released The Gunslinger. Thirty-four years later, he finally finished the series with The Dark Tower in 2004. What drew me to this series is that it wasn’t King’s traditional horror type story but The Dark Tower is more of a fantasy story. Throughout the series, the story intertwines through some of King’s other work and occasionally crosses over in to real life.

Enter, 2007 when King returned to the series to pen a series of comic books that continue the story of the Gunslinger. In the first story arc, the one featured in the sexily hardbound edition the encompasses the first story arch, is based off of the fourth Dark Tower book, Wizard and Glass. I’m looking forward to the next story arcs which feature an original story.

The Gunslinger Born tells of Roland and his two best friends who are tricked in to early adulthood by evil man of many faces. Because of that they are sent away from their homes and come across a whole new set of problems in Hambry where Farson, the big evil guy, has put plans in to motion to use machinery from the old world to crush the forces of Affiliation led by Roland’s father.

This book is beautiful. Drawn by hand, colored by computers, the artwork in the book might be the nicest I’ve ever seen. It lacks the charm of a hand drawn, black-and-white graphic novel. It’s like comparing a low budget indie film like Juno to an expensive Hollywood blockbuster like Pirates of the Caribbean. But like all Hollywood blockbusters (especially the later two Pirates of the Caribbean films), something feels lost with such high production values. Since this graphic novel is based off of a 718 page (mass market version) book, something is bound to be lost and I am not sure how this story will read to somebody who has not read Wizard and Glass. I feel the story is a little rushed as they condense it down and the reader would have a hard time grasping the relationship between Roland and Susan or Roland versus the Big Coffin Hunters. I hope that in the future graphic novel plot arcs will be a little more clear.

Overall I wouldn’t call this a good introduction to the Dark Tower series (for that read the second book, The Drawing of the Three). Fans of the series however will enjoy this continuation of the series. So much of Roland’s life is left unexplored in the books that the graphic novel format is a good way to explore his past.

Blurb for the back cover:
“I like the color green”

Marie’s day is going along normally until a friend she hadn’t seen since high school shows up only to get hit be a speeding van. After that her day deviates from normal as car chases ensue, birthdays are celebrated, affairs are had, people are shot and in the end, Marie quits smoking. All because her now comatose friend was up to no good and now she is caught up in the middle of it all. One Bad Day is graphic novel that is fittingly called Slacker Noir. The protagonist does little to advance the plot except to continuously be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Steve Rolston who is an illustrator by trade ventures forth with his first attempt at writing in addition to drawing the entire book. For some reason the book is printed in a dark green ink instead of the traditional black. There was probably some logical, artistic reason for that. Whatever that reason could be escapes me, but it does give the book a softer feel. Plus, I like the color green.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is the way Marie is drawn. With the hoodie, piercings and lesbian haircut, she presents herself in a tough but casual, slightly aloof, manner. This book was an enjoy, quick read worth keeping an eye out for in your local graphic novel store.

I’ll be spending this week trying to finish the 560 page tome that is A Short History of Nearly Everything. So until I finish that particular volume, this week will be dedicated to graphic novels.