Batman: No Man's Land | Greg Rucka

Summary:

The novelization of the graphic novel story line by the same name, Batman: No Man's Land takes us through Gotham's fall and attempted survival. After a massive earthquake leaves Gotham in shambles, the United States Government decides Gotham isn't worth the many millions, if not billions, of dollars it would take to restore it. They officially cut off Gotham from all government aide and declare it No Man's Land. The only people left are those who are either forced to stay, due to economic situations, or who choose to stay for the sake of power, chaos or to try to help those left behind. But when Batman is a no show for three months, people begin to think he, too, has abandoned them.

Review:

I was introduced to this book because I expressed a love of novelizations of comic books (seriously, Hellboy novels are the best!!!) I am happy to say that this book did not disappoint. I'm not much of a DC fan, I'm more of a Dark Horse Comics person, but Batman is almost always the exception. And, in this case, I am happy to have made that exception and give this book a try. 

Because it's a Batman book, one shouldn't be surprised at how much death, blood, fighting, etc. there is. It isn't gory, by any means, but it's definitely not meant for a younger or particularly squeamish audience. Rucka does a wonderful job of keeping the darkness and grit of a true Batman story without going into extensive, unnecessary levels of detail. 

As someone who only occasionally reads Batman, there were a lot of characters I didn't know. That being said, I had no problems getting into the story. There were occasions when I wanted to look up characters, some of which I ended up remembering from the cartoon series, but for the most part, it's very easy to "get" the characters. You learn who they are through their interactions with others and when the story is told from their viewpoint. You don't have to be an avid Batman reader to enjoy the story or understand the characters' motivations. 

And there are a LOT of characters in this book. So many classic Batman villains, a character or two from another comic series (no spoilers beyond that), as well as the multiple iterations of Batgirl and Robin, and the Gotham City Police Department too. Because the novelization is based on an already written comic story, I'm not sure how much credit goes to Rucka for balancing the characters and how much goes to Jordan B. Gorfinkel, who wrote the original story. I may have to end up reading the comics to find out. As it is, though, we get several view points from several characters, but it never feels disjointed or convoluted.

I really did enjoy this book and was happy I picked it up. It's a dark and gritty tale that is fitting of a Batman story. If you're more of a fan of thrillers, this might be a good crossover book to get you interested in comics. If you're a comic fan, this might be a good book to get you interested in novels. Overall, I happily give 3.5 hoots.

              Hoot!Hoot!

               Hoot!Hoo

The Villain's Sidekick | Stephen T. Brophy | Mini-Review

Review:

This book is only about 100 pages, yet in that short amount of time, Brophy creates an engaging, memorable story with a surprisingly sympathetic main character. HandCannon works for The Eye and he's messed up, yet again, against Nightguard (the local superhero). He's given a chance to redeem himself and keep his job, but it's the same weekend that his ex-wife finally lets his little daughter visit him. I absolutely loved that HandCannon was so practical in his approach on everything. He even said he's not the monologuing type, highfalutin type. He is genuinely trying to make the best of the hand he's been dealt. This story ended up having so many things in it: action, mystery, comedy and even horror. I happily give this 4 hoots and encourage you to pick up a copy!

               Hoot!Hoot!

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Hellboy: The All-Seeing Eye | Mark Morris

Summary: 

When several dismembered torsos are found in random places around London, a rock monster is seen in a London tunnel, and the dead at a funeral home start moving, the BPRD are called in to help figure out what's going on. Specifically, Hellboy, Liz and Abe. While there, the team discovers a plot to open The All Seeing Eye and unleashing a world of chaos.

Review:

I'll admit, I have a weakness for Hellboy books, cannon or not. I absolutely love the world BPRD exists in and all the novelizations and collection of short stories are written by people who understand Hellboy. Morris is no exception to this and I am very grateful to him for getting the important elements right. 

This book is very well written and engaging. It actually took me away from my own world and left me feeling energized. The characters are intelligent, even the bad guys (which I love). The events are interesting and flow into each other so that, at no point did I feel like I missed anything. At the same time, though, the plot twist was still surprising!

I am happy to have this book in my collection and find it to be more encouragement to continue reading novelizations of Hellboy. If you're interested at all in supernatural mysteries, action, witty dialogue, or comic book heroes, I highly recommend Hellboy: The All-Seeing Eye. 4.5 hoots!

                                                   Hoot! Hoot!

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                      Hoo

Ex-Isle | Peter Clines

Summary:

In the fifth book of the Ex-Heroes series, a couple of stories are happening at the same time. Barry (Zzzap), St. George and Madelyn (Corpse Girl) go on a goodwill mission to a man-made island Barry found on his trip back from around the world. At the same time, one of the main food supplies for The Mount has burned up in a Los Angeles wildfire, so Danielle (Cerberus), Cesar (The Driver), Gibbs and the Supersoldiers are all sent to Project Eden to jump-start things and bring in more food. Naturally, things go wrong in both stories.

Review:

I read this book in two days. For two days, I had no interest in any other hobby or book. I was tempted to call in sick so I could just read. That's how good this book is!

I've never hidden the fact that Clines' writing style always gets me feeling amped up. He is incredibly talented at combining action and gore with hope and geeky humor. He writes amazing build-up and battles. The best part is, he is also able to surprise me, all while giving me all the clues that I've needed to figure out what the surprise is going to be. Everything in this book that happens, you COULD see coming, if you pay attention to all of the clues, but even when I think I'm paying attention, all the clues lead me to a different conclusion than is written. 

The dialogue, as always, is amazing. I cannot praise these well-rounded, fully developed characters enough. If you're at all interested in superheroes acting human, you will enjoy this entire series and seeing these characters evolve. 

Really I only have one complaint about this book, which I can't talk about at all because of spoilers. But I cannot fault Clines. Yes, it involves my absolute favorite character, possibly my favorite superhero ever, but it's story essential and I was warned in the early parts of the book. Still doesn't make me happy about it.

I have to say, this is a wonderful continuation of the Ex-Heroes series that lived up to all my demanding expectations. 5 Hoots!

                Hoot!Hoot!

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Meta | Tom Reynolds

*Image courtesy of author's website.

Summary:

A decade after the first wave of Metas (superheroes) went into hiding or were killed off, Connor Connolly, orphaned by Metas, finds himself with superpowers. Metas are coming back, but not all of them have good intentions. 

Review:

This was a fun book. I was a little worried about reading yet another story about a teenage boy who finds himself with incredible powers, but Reynolds keeps the book interesting. There were even a few moments that I did not predict, so full credit to Reynolds for that.

Meta is a relatively short book (240 pages) so world building is relatively quick, yet well done. Exposition is given in the form of cautionary tales about where previous metas went wrong, keeping the world building interesting and relevant. The characters are a bit typical of this genre and story line, but the dialogue is still entertaining and has a few surprises.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and will be purchasing the next book, The Second Wave. If you're looking for a good story about superheroes and super villains, I recommend Meta. 4 hoots!

                Hoot!Hoot!

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Armchair BEA: Character Chatter & Blogging Q&A

Character Chatter

It's no secret that I am a complete Peter Clines fan girl. I literally jumped for joy when I got approved for an ARC copy of The Fold. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that the character I want to talk about most, that I would LOVE to meet in real life, is Barry (aka Zzzap) from the Ex-Heroes series. I was delighted to see him on the cover of the fourth book, Ex-Purgatory. 

I think one of the things I love most about Barry is that, yes, he's the comic relief, but he's also the most straightforward character. In a post-apocalyptic world with zombies and people pushing their own political agendas, Barry is always just trying to help out as many people as possible. He actually does help the most people because, in his Zzzap form, he's actually able to provide power for the entire Mount which allows the survivors to be productive and grow more and better food.

Best of all, Barry owns his role as the comic relief. Because he is the power source for the Mount in his Zzzap form for possibly days in a row, he gets bored. So to keep himself entertained he watches every DVD people can get their hands on. Of course, no new ones are being made, so he has to watch them again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and...you get the idea. Unfortunately this makes him a bit more difficult for Clines to write (you can't have Barry knowing about a pop culture reference from after the apocalypse) but I definitely appreciate the effort Clines puts into it. Barry's jokes are always just what I need.

To sum up, if I could say only one thing to Barry (aka Zzzap) it's this: 

Blogging Q&A

I'm not sure I've really been blogging long enough or well enough to be giving advice on how to do it. I guess I can summarize all the advice I've been given:

1 - Your blog, your rules. You set the schedule, you decide what gets posted.

2 - Don't stress the numbers. 

3 - If it stops being fun, stop doing it.

Mini-Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

Soon I Will Be Invincible takes place from two perspectives, the evil mastermind, Doctor Impossible, and the newbie superhero cyborg, Fatale. Doctor Impossible has been in the superhero game almost from the beginning. He's almost taken over the world several times and has been put in jail before he could finish every time. The book starts just before he escapes yet again with a new plan for taking over the world. Fatale is a woman who cannot remember her past since she got hit by a dump truck in Brazil and was saved by having all her missing parts replaced with robotics. Her introduction in the book is her starting a probationary term with the Champions, the worlds greatest superheroes, not in retirement. At the same time, CoreFire, the most powerful superhero on record, has gone missing and no one knows where he went.

I had high hopes for this book. It was entertaining enough that I finished it, but it fell kinda flat. There was just so much exposition. I get that it's necessary for world building, but that many flashbacks made me think of Dragonball Z. So much remembering and so little action. Ultimately, I can only bring myself to give this book 3 hoots. 

Hoot!Hoot!

Hoot!

Kickstarter Promo - The Adventures of Aero-Girl: A Girl and Her Gorilla

Earlier today I was asked to look at Issue 1 of The Adventures of Aero-Girl in an effort to raise support for Issue 2 on Kickstarter. As someone who doesn't have much money, I only support those causes that I feel are worth my time and the time of others. With that in mind, I highly encourage everyone who enjoys a good romp on the silly side, or who likes comic books with female leads, or who likes just plain old fun to go to Kickstarter and support this.

Issue 1 was an absolute delight and did a brilliant job setting up the world it takes place in. The work of all four artists only adds to the joy of reading. After reading the bad guys' names and getting a look at them I was worried that the story would only be a family friendly version of The Goon by Eric Powell, but I was happily proven wrong. It's a great story in its own right and I would love to read more.

Now, I know the tone of this post may seem incredibly calm, but don't let that fool you. I want this Kickstarter campaign to succeed as much as Bronies want Season 5 of MLP on Netflix.