Bone: The Great Cow Race
by Jeff Smith
Scholastic, August 2005
144 pages

In Bone Volume 2: The Great Cow Race, Phoney Bone is up to his old tricks again as he attempts to rig Barrelhaven’s famous Great Cow Race by entering Smiley Bone dressed as a cow. On top of that, the stupid, stupid rat creatures are up to something and the red dragon that Fone Bone is always seeing turns out to be real.

Hilarity ensues.

Speaking of the Great Cow Race, why is nobody is bothered by Gran’ma Ben running in the Great Cow Race? Are all the villagers okay with watching the seemingly crazy old lady run in a race versus cows? Also, cows don’t run fast. Whose idea was it to race them? It almost seems that the village is afraid of the crazy old lady who lives in the forest. But that’s just my take on her at the moment.

I did like the second volume. It had a nice mixture of comedic moments mixed in with events that move the story forward. This book doesn’t do much to change my opinion of the series in either direction. I still think it’s a fun comic and I can see why people like it. But volume two just feels like more of the same and not an epic continuation. It could just be The Great Cow Race is building up to something. After all, there were some major plot developments and something odd is going on behind the scenes. At this point I haven’t read volume 3, Eyes of the Storm, but now that I have this post out of the way I plan on reading that volume in the near future.

Bone: Out From Boneville
by Jeff Smith
Scholastic, February 2005
144 pages

Bone might have been one of the first comics I was exposed to when I was little. I remember reading Bone in the pages of Disney Adventures Magazine back in 1994. I haven’t read Bone since but for the past couple years (about three years to be exact), I have been told by multiple people that the Bone graphic novels are worth reading.

In the first volume, Out From Boneville, the title character Fone Bone and his two cousins Smiley Bone and Phoney Bone are chased out of Boneville by an angry mob thanks to Phoney Bone’s get-rich-quick schemes. The three bones get seperated and it’s up to Fone Bone, with the help of Thorn (a pretty human) and Gran’ma Ben (a feisty human) to reunite the Bone cousins and get back to Boneville.

At least, I think that’s the goal, getting back to Boneville. They were chased out so I’m not quite sure they would be welcomed back with open arms. This is a nine book series so there is still plenty of time for things to happen. I enjoyed the first volume. Fone Bone develops a crush on Thorn and it’s cute to see Fone with little hearts over his head. There is also a bug named Ted and his much bigger brother who show up. Plus, there is a mysterious red dragon who may or may not be a figment of Fone’s imagination.

I can see why this series is so popular; It’s got charm, danger, romance, humor, stupid rat creators, and mystery. The color editions of the books are the ones to get. Having started with the colored editions, it would be hard for me to pick up the black-and-white releases and enjoy them as much as the ones I am reading.

It just struck me that my partner is missing volumes 7, 8, and 9. This may soon become a problem.

Second Opinions:
Running Mad
Capricious Reader
Book Lust

The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man
by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Vertigo, August 2010
168 pages

As we last left Tom Taylor, real life inspiration for the fictitious lead character in the Tommy Taylor book series, he was being escorted out of his father’s estate and accused of murdering a house full of horror writers. Volume 2, Inside Man, takes place in a prison in France where Tom is awaiting trial. But prison can be a dangerous place and it’s up to Elizabeth Hexam to break him out of jail.

Inside Man is a lot stronger than Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. The characters are already established so less time is wasted catching the read up. One new character introduced is Tom’s cellmate Richard Savoy who should not be confused for Ron Weasley. So now we have a know-it-all girl, a clueless red haired guy, and a the main character who everybody is trying to kill for reasons that elude him. The Unwritten has become an adult Harry Potter. That author knows it too. How could he not? I’m not saying this is a bad thing, yet. I’m curious to see whether or not this series will be able to continue as a homage to Harry Potter.

A good thing about this volume is that it starts to explain all the weird things happening to Tom like the mysterious hand tattoo that disappears and reappears seemingly at random and his encounters with literary characters such as Frankenstein and Roland from The Song of Roland. By the end of the book, I had a pretty good idea what was happening to Tom. The book never comes right out and explains what it happening and why, but that would just waste page space. There were still questions left unanswered which is perfect because there needs to be some reason to pick up volume three.

Lastly, I couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity between volume two and volume one. Both mainly take place in a confined environment and while people try to kill Tom. Previously it was set in the mansion and now it’s set in a prison. I don’t know anything about the plot of volume three, Dead Man’s Knock. We’ll see if it follows the same plot structure.

Second Opinions:
Comics-per-day Reviews
Fyrefly’s Book Blog

The Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
by Mike Carey & Peter Gross
Vertigo, January 2010
144 pages

What if the Harry Potter series was based off of a real person instead of a fictional one? That is the basic premise of Mike Carey’s The Unwritten comic series. In it, Tommy Taylor (i.e. Harry Potter) is a popular literary character with thirteen books depicting his epic battle between him and Count Ambrosio (i.e. Lord Voldemort). The Tommy Taylor series was written by Wilson Taylor who has long since disappeared and left his real life son Tom an orphan. Now an adult, Tom has been riding the coattails of his fathers literary legacy by appearing at conventions and signing books. People often have a hard time distinguishing between the fictional Tommy Taylor and the real Tom Taylor. Then things start to get weird as a man claiming to be Count Ambrosio kidnaps Tom and nearly blows him up. He gets saved by Tommy’s childhood friend Elizabeth Hexam/Sue Sparrow (i.e. Hermione) who, by all means, is suppose to be a fictional character as well. Hoping to figure out what the heck is going on, Tom investigates his father’s gothic castle in Switzerland. But this is just the beginning for Tom Taylor and things are naturally going to get worse for him.

The Unwritten is a pretty good comic. I read the first five comics as they were originally released in comic form back in 2009. Since then they have been collected in a convenient trade edition which contains #1-#5. For the sake of convenience, those are the only ones I am going to cover.

What first drew me to the comic was the strong literary themes throughout the story. Tom’s father taught him literary geography, such as where Frankenstein was written or the location of the hospital Charles Dickens used in No Thoroughfare. It’s apparently quite useless trivia but you wouldn’t want to go up against him on Trivia Night at your favorite bar. Although not apparent to be useful, this trivia comes in handy later on in the story. For now it’s just a weird quirk.

The Unwritten also tries to follow the fans reactions to the drama surrounding Tom. Imagine the world’s most famous child icon, who was seemingly adored by all, is suddenly accused of murder or for being a messiah of some sort. The series captures the publics reactions by giving a glimpse in to message board postings and news stories about Tom. It works pretty well without slowing down the story.

From what i’m able to gather, The Unwritten has become pretty popular? I’m not really in the loop in terms of comics, but I continue to hear nothing but good things about. I like it’s take on the Harry Potter-esq stories and it’s mature story lines. Fans of fantasy, comics, and comics that don’t involve superheroes in tights should check The Unwritten out.

Second Opinions:
Jenny’s Books
Sequential Review
Firestorm Cafe and Books

Dark Entries
by Ian Rankin
Vertigo Comics, August 2009
216 pages

John Constantine is hired to investigate supernatural activity on the set of popular reality TV show Dark Entries (hey, that’s the name of this book!). In order to investigate he must be locked in the haunted house and become a contestant in the Big Brother-like show that tries to scare the contestants. The problem the show is facing, and the read John is called in, is that contestants are being scared but not by the producers.

Before I continue, may I ask, does the name John Constantine ring a bell to you? It didn’t to me. I was expecting a mystery-noir story with a dash of reality TV criticism. I expected the mystery of the unexplained spookings to be explained by a ratings hunger producer who was wearing a mask the whole time a la Scooby Doo. But if the name John Constantine does ring a bell to you, you’ll know that he is an occult anti-hero/detective who frequently fights demons and other supernatural beings. He was portrayed by Keanu “Whoa” Reeves in the 2005 film, Constantine.

Going back to the book, I had different expectations. I like mysteries that are based in the real world or at least a world real enough to were I don’t have to suspend my disbelief. The first half of this book was pretty good I’ll admit. It set up the mystery and weird things were happening inside the household. John’s fellow house guests had also developed amnesia. John was confronting the show’s producer through the Confessions Room when the producer proudly proclaimed “Welcome to Gameshow Hell!”.

. . .

I nearly put the book down. All the mystery that was set up in the first half of the book got solved in the next few pages. The story then focuses on John’s attempt to get out of hell and back to the real world. Maybe this is my fault for not reading serialized comics like Hellblazer or seeing the Keanu Reeve film. So did my lack of familiarity ruin this book for me? Yes. Quite simply this isn’t the type of story I would sit down and read. I don’t care for supernatural stories because it’s so easy to explain ANYTHING. Mystery stories shouldn’t be wrapped up so easily. Anyway, I would pass on this book unless you’re a fan of the Hellblazer series.

Second Opinions:
Bookslut
Big Shiny Robot
Emma Lee’s Blog

BONUS: Go watch the film Stay Tuned from 1992. It’s fantastic satire.

Stay Tuned (Theatrical Trailer)

Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Hill and Wang, July 2009
160 pages

I read the original Fahrenheit 451 for the first time my sophomore year of high school. At the time I was still a pro-Math, anti-English individual and completed every assignment grudgingly. Obviously things have changed for me. But my annoyance with all things English in high school may have unfairly tainted my opinion of Ray Bradbury’s classic Fahrenheit 451. The only thing I remember thinking about the book is that it had a nebulous ending. I hate nebulous endings. Is it so much to ask for to get some closure?

I digress, I happened upon the graphic novel adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 while at my library recently. Since I have been enjoying graphic novels lately, I checked it out. From what I can remember from high school, the book seems to be a pretty good adaptation. Since I had all but forgotten most of the details of the story, the graphic novel did a good job explaining the the time period where the story takes places. It includes the one hundred foot billboards and the mechanical hound. But graphic novel’s ending is still open to interpretation, but enough years have passed to where I have learned the value (or to tolerate) such endings.

The adaptation, by all means, does not replace the novel version. Instead it’s more like an abridged version of the story and with pictures. I’m half tempted to go to the library and check out the actual novel and re-read it which may have been the point of the graphic novel all almost. Offer me a taste of the story then go get me the read the whole thing. In the end, Fahrenheit 451 is a classic novel and while the graphic novel does abridge the story slightly, it’s still a good adaptation and worthy of your time.

Side note: It would seem that in 1986 they produced Fahrenheit 451: The Video Game. It’s a classic text based adventure game where you type commands like OPEN DOOR or SET BOOK ON FIRE. The story in the video game takes place after the book so this might the be closure that I was looking for. I’m probably not going to play it. But it’s nice to know that it’s out there should I ever feel so inclined.

Term Life
by AJ Lieberman
Image Comics, March 2011
144 pages

Nick is a planner. He plans heists and sells these plans to the highest bidder in the criminal underworld. But when a plan he created goes south, a russian mob boss by the name of Yuri thinks Nick double crossed him and killed his son in the the process. Now Yuri wants Nick dead. But before he dies, Nick wants to something good for the thirteen year old daughter he never met. He takes out a million dollar life insurance policy that will take effect in 21 days. All Nick has to do is avoid the people who want him dead until the policy takes effect and his daughter will be taken care of.

I came across this graphic novel after learning that the artist, Nick Thornborrow, worked as a concept artist for one of my favorite video game companies, Bioware. And since I am a sucker for gritty, noir style comics, I had to get this book as soon as it came out. I’m glad I did too. Within a couple hours of it being delivered, I had already read it and have since re-read it. It’s one of those books that is better the second time around. Not that the first go around was bad, it was just a little confusing because I tend to rush through comics and not look at the pictures. That’s why I committed to re-reading, this time taking the time to look at the art work.

The art work for this book is rough. The loose drawings almost look as if someone had taken the rough sketches and colored them before they were finished. This isn’t a bad thing. The art style is fitting for a story of this type where guys are being shot at and punches are being thrown. You wouldn’t want all these drawings clean cut but the art adds so much to the story. Best of all, it’s in color! Sure, those colors are yellow and blue with hints of red, but the color really excited me because I had been expecting it to be in black-and-white.

Another reason I had to read the book twice is the story is not told in a linear fashion. It jumps around a bit. On one page you may be seeing Nick’s story line and on the next is about two russian goons. The book does try and help with these quick transitions by titling as you would title a chapter in a novel, but it’s still very abrupt especially when you first start reading it. Another thing about the the scenes is that they are not always in chronological order. It reminded me a bit like the movie Memento but on a smaller scale. Again, a second reading ensured that I didn’t miss anything.

In the end I really enjoyed both Term Life‘s story and art style. I’ll probably get around to reading a third time at some point.

The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead
by a wide cast of people
Marvel Books, February 2010
208 Pages

Things are finally starting to come together. After building up tension throughout the previous three books, John Farson and his army of mutants and old machines are finally at the gates of Gilead and ready to tear it down. They have some help of course from the traitors and spies that are lurking in the castle itself. Anyone who has read The Dark Tower book series (or even the title of this volume) should know that this isn’t going to end well. What surprised me was just how badly it was going to happen. A lot of important people die in this book including Roland’s father making way for Roland to lead the gunslingers in defending Gilead.

One topic that this volume covers very well is the importance of Roland’s lineage. It is often mentioned that Roland is a descendant of Arthur Eld and this is the first time readers see what Arthur Eld was like and what made him a great leader.

Also returning in the volume is Aileen who pulls a Mulan and dresses up like a boy in order to fit in with the other Gunslingers. Rightfully so! I really like her character and since she was first introduced in the comic, readers do not know what becomes of her. I can make educated guesses on the fate of Roland’s friends Cuthbert and Alain, but whether Aileen will survive or not is entirely unclear. In the novels it is stated that Roland is the last Gunslinger. But since Aileen is a girl and girls are not allowed to become Gunslingers, then there is a pretty good chance she will survive. And maybe get her own spin-off comic? Please?

So Fall of Gilead is the penultimate volume in the the first series of Dark Tower comics. The last, The Battle of Jericho Hill, promises to be a bloody bloodbath with few survivors. Sadly, I don’t have a copy of it. I guess I should get around to placing that Amazon order…