Book Logging (Graphic Novels)
Jul. 29th, 2018 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckThe Backstagers 1 - Apart from having a cast of mostly boys (because it’s set at an all boys school), this reminds me a lot of Lumberjanes. I’m hoping that the series continues and can keep up this quality. I like the theater tech work stuff, but I’m a lot more interested in the depths of the theater which connect to other worlds. Most of the on stage people are either jerks or non-entities which… Pretty accurate from the tech work side.
5 Worlds 2: The Cobalt Prince - I'm curious to know what comes next in this series. I almost remembered details from the first book (which is better than I often do). I'm not sure whether to call this series SF or fantasy. It fits the same mental niche for me that the Amulet series does, just with a different visual aesthetic.
Goldie Vance 1 - This was my second attempt to read this graphic novel, and this time, I got through. I was pretty uninterested in the first half of the book this time around, too, but I really liked Goldie’s interactions with Diane in the second half. Maybe more of that and less of the mystery shenanigans? I can hope.
Goldie Vance 2 - This volume hit my phobia of deep water because a portion is set underwater with drowning a real threat. That makes evaluating the volume difficult for me. I finished it, and there is more Goldie and Diane which I liked. I just still don’t care so much about Goldie herself or feel like I know much about her.
Gunnerkrigg Court volume 1: Orientation - I had read this before, online, but it has been years, so I was glad to be able to refresh my memory. I'm fascinated by the world. I don't think the library has anything beyond the point when I stopped reading (I stopped all webcomics several years ago just because I was feeling like it was a chore rather than a pleasure. I meant to go back, but I never did).
Hatsune Miku Future Delivery: Little Asimov and the Green Thing Left Behind 1 - This manga is very picaresque, and I never really got a good feel for the continuing characters. If the library gets further volumes, I will probably try them, but I'm not even remotely attached to the story or characters.
Lumberjanes 6-8 - I still adore this series. I don't always like the art, but I love the characters and the story. I can adapt to most changes in art as long as I keep getting all of these characters having adventures together. I very much like that Barney is getting space in the story, too, and is able to be a Lumberjane and to receive a clear welcome as who they are.
The Mighty Zodiac: Starfall - I’m kind of amused by the rabbits as dark shadow villains, but over all the world building made sense to me. I didn’t quite like the art which seemed kind of chunky to my eyes, but that’s a very minor thing.
The Prince and the Dressmaker - I liked this, generally speaking, but I also felt like it needed to be longer for the character development to work and for me to feel the weight of the choices the two title characters faced (I don't remember the characters' names at this point, I'm afraid). I think the Prince's homeland was a Ruritanian invention rather than him fitting into any historical family tree in our Europe (but I've also forgotten that detail). There were a number of points in the story when I really wished for a section of prose to give me some sort of interiority for the characters because I got the impression that the really interesting and difficult things were all happening inside people's heads. The outward stuff felt insufficient to support the characters. Of course, that would mean pinning down things about the Prince that are left ambiguous as the text stands. The character could be read as a cis, het guy who likes to crossdress but could equally be read as genderfluid in some way or as a trans woman who doesn't have the concept available to her in her culture. Kids who identify in some way close to those options don't have all that many characters who might be interpreted as intended to be like them. I was glad that the dressmaker got her own choices and priorities.
Princeless 5: Make Yourself Part One - This one starts with Adrienne spending a lot of time and frustration on her hair and on the crap she got for it not being 'the right sort' of hair. She comes up with a solution that pleases her but that pretty much side-steps the question-- she cuts it all off. Then she and Bedelia head north to find more of Adrienne's sisters and some of Bedelia's relatives.
Princeless 6: Make Yourself Part Two - I hope that
Bedelia gets more time in future volumes. I don't like the idea of the story dropping her just because she's got a task that's going to keep her nailed down, geographically. If we can check in Prince Doofus (Yeah, I can't remember his name) every so often, we can keep up with Bedelia.
Red’s Planet 2 - I liked parts of this quite a bit. It makes sense to me that most of the alien's wouldn't realize that Red is a child. The outcome of the election also made sense to me. I found the end of the book to be spiked with a little heartbreak that none of the characters realize is there, and I'm not sure I want to have that in my head going forward.
Sparks! - The premise of this graphic novel-- two cats in a mechanized dog suit rescuing people-- is so silly that I expected the entire story to be one note jokes, but the characters have some depth, and the point is more them developing than it is them defeating the supervillain (not that that part's not important).
xxxHolic 13-17 - The library doesn’t own any further volumes, and we’re still waiting for ILL service to resume, so it’ll be a while before I read the rest of the series. I'm curious to see where the series ends up. I know that many people weren't happy about where this and its sibling series went, so I'm wondering how it will read to me.
Yona of the Dawn 1-2 - I'm curious to see where this series goes, plot-wise, but I find that I don't like any of the pretty, young characters all that much. I keep mentally poking them and asking why I'm supposed to want to spend time with them. This is a manga series with a princess on the run after a palace coup.
Started but not finished:
Darth Vader: Imperial Machine - I found reading this to be too difficult for me to go on with it. I’m not sure what it was that made it so difficult except that it had more to do with my eyes being uncooperative than with the story.
Ratfist - I didn’t like the the art or the humor. I pretty certainly could have dealt with the art, but the humor was never going to work for me. What I read had an underlying bitterness and viciousness that just repelled me because it all aimed at destruction. There’s a place for that sort of angry humor in terms of making people think, but I find it sapping because it says, “Give up. The assholes won a long time ago, and nothing you do will ever manage to dislodge enough of them to matter.” Killing Voldemort does something, but you can’t get rid of all the Umbridges.
Yvain - Arthurian graphic novel. I got 20-30 pages in and just kind of wanted all of the characters to die in a fire, so… I stopped reading. I should have realized that the format wouldn’t make me enjoy Chretien de Troyes’ story more than I’d have enjoyed it otherwise.
5 Worlds 2: The Cobalt Prince - I'm curious to know what comes next in this series. I almost remembered details from the first book (which is better than I often do). I'm not sure whether to call this series SF or fantasy. It fits the same mental niche for me that the Amulet series does, just with a different visual aesthetic.
Goldie Vance 1 - This was my second attempt to read this graphic novel, and this time, I got through. I was pretty uninterested in the first half of the book this time around, too, but I really liked Goldie’s interactions with Diane in the second half. Maybe more of that and less of the mystery shenanigans? I can hope.
Goldie Vance 2 - This volume hit my phobia of deep water because a portion is set underwater with drowning a real threat. That makes evaluating the volume difficult for me. I finished it, and there is more Goldie and Diane which I liked. I just still don’t care so much about Goldie herself or feel like I know much about her.
Gunnerkrigg Court volume 1: Orientation - I had read this before, online, but it has been years, so I was glad to be able to refresh my memory. I'm fascinated by the world. I don't think the library has anything beyond the point when I stopped reading (I stopped all webcomics several years ago just because I was feeling like it was a chore rather than a pleasure. I meant to go back, but I never did).
Hatsune Miku Future Delivery: Little Asimov and the Green Thing Left Behind 1 - This manga is very picaresque, and I never really got a good feel for the continuing characters. If the library gets further volumes, I will probably try them, but I'm not even remotely attached to the story or characters.
Lumberjanes 6-8 - I still adore this series. I don't always like the art, but I love the characters and the story. I can adapt to most changes in art as long as I keep getting all of these characters having adventures together. I very much like that Barney is getting space in the story, too, and is able to be a Lumberjane and to receive a clear welcome as who they are.
The Mighty Zodiac: Starfall - I’m kind of amused by the rabbits as dark shadow villains, but over all the world building made sense to me. I didn’t quite like the art which seemed kind of chunky to my eyes, but that’s a very minor thing.
The Prince and the Dressmaker - I liked this, generally speaking, but I also felt like it needed to be longer for the character development to work and for me to feel the weight of the choices the two title characters faced (I don't remember the characters' names at this point, I'm afraid). I think the Prince's homeland was a Ruritanian invention rather than him fitting into any historical family tree in our Europe (but I've also forgotten that detail). There were a number of points in the story when I really wished for a section of prose to give me some sort of interiority for the characters because I got the impression that the really interesting and difficult things were all happening inside people's heads. The outward stuff felt insufficient to support the characters. Of course, that would mean pinning down things about the Prince that are left ambiguous as the text stands. The character could be read as a cis, het guy who likes to crossdress but could equally be read as genderfluid in some way or as a trans woman who doesn't have the concept available to her in her culture. Kids who identify in some way close to those options don't have all that many characters who might be interpreted as intended to be like them. I was glad that the dressmaker got her own choices and priorities.
Princeless 5: Make Yourself Part One - This one starts with Adrienne spending a lot of time and frustration on her hair and on the crap she got for it not being 'the right sort' of hair. She comes up with a solution that pleases her but that pretty much side-steps the question-- she cuts it all off. Then she and Bedelia head north to find more of Adrienne's sisters and some of Bedelia's relatives.
Princeless 6: Make Yourself Part Two - I hope that
Bedelia gets more time in future volumes. I don't like the idea of the story dropping her just because she's got a task that's going to keep her nailed down, geographically. If we can check in Prince Doofus (Yeah, I can't remember his name) every so often, we can keep up with Bedelia.
Red’s Planet 2 - I liked parts of this quite a bit. It makes sense to me that most of the alien's wouldn't realize that Red is a child. The outcome of the election also made sense to me. I found the end of the book to be spiked with a little heartbreak that none of the characters realize is there, and I'm not sure I want to have that in my head going forward.
Sparks! - The premise of this graphic novel-- two cats in a mechanized dog suit rescuing people-- is so silly that I expected the entire story to be one note jokes, but the characters have some depth, and the point is more them developing than it is them defeating the supervillain (not that that part's not important).
xxxHolic 13-17 - The library doesn’t own any further volumes, and we’re still waiting for ILL service to resume, so it’ll be a while before I read the rest of the series. I'm curious to see where the series ends up. I know that many people weren't happy about where this and its sibling series went, so I'm wondering how it will read to me.
Yona of the Dawn 1-2 - I'm curious to see where this series goes, plot-wise, but I find that I don't like any of the pretty, young characters all that much. I keep mentally poking them and asking why I'm supposed to want to spend time with them. This is a manga series with a princess on the run after a palace coup.
Started but not finished:
Darth Vader: Imperial Machine - I found reading this to be too difficult for me to go on with it. I’m not sure what it was that made it so difficult except that it had more to do with my eyes being uncooperative than with the story.
Ratfist - I didn’t like the the art or the humor. I pretty certainly could have dealt with the art, but the humor was never going to work for me. What I read had an underlying bitterness and viciousness that just repelled me because it all aimed at destruction. There’s a place for that sort of angry humor in terms of making people think, but I find it sapping because it says, “Give up. The assholes won a long time ago, and nothing you do will ever manage to dislodge enough of them to matter.” Killing Voldemort does something, but you can’t get rid of all the Umbridges.
Yvain - Arthurian graphic novel. I got 20-30 pages in and just kind of wanted all of the characters to die in a fire, so… I stopped reading. I should have realized that the format wouldn’t make me enjoy Chretien de Troyes’ story more than I’d have enjoyed it otherwise.
