Sailor Twain

Mark Siegel's Sailor Twain has some nice artwork. It's not very often that you see a graphic novel, told entirely in charcoal. This makes for a nice change. There is one problem though; the story is very slow to get moving.

The book tells the story of a steamboat captain who finds a wounded mermaid in the Hudson. It takes four chapters before this actually happens. Then we spend about 200 pages where the captain falls in love with the mermaid at the expense of his marriage, the ships owner sleeps with every woman he can find, and we learn a lot about the mythology of mermaids thanks to a writer named C. G. Beaverton. After that we finally get a reasonably climactic conclusion.

Even the big chunk where nothing is really happening is kind of interesting. The parts detailing mermaid mythology were entertaining. The owner's budding relationship with C. G. Beaverton was cool. Even with that, this large hunk of story is kind of a drag.

It's not a bad book, but I do think it could have been better.

Little Death

I was lucky enough to get a copy of Thomas Kriebaum's Little Death from Library Thing's early reviewer program. It's a shortish graphic novel told in what is, I believe, called a "pantomime strip" format, i.e. with no dialogue.

The book contains fourteen multi-page stories and a few single panel ones. They all feature Little Death who is a toddler-sized skeleton dressed in a Blues Brothers-type suit. The stories center around him touching people and making them die. They are generally very funny, though I admit I'm still not sure exactly what the point was of number six.

If you're interested in lighthearted comics about a mini-grim reaper that are done in the style of older Mad Magazine comics, then this is the book for you. I enjoyed it, anyway.

Werewolves of Wisconsin

I got my latest LibraryThing early reviewer book yesterday, and since I finished it quickly, it's time to review Werewolves of Wisconsin and Other American Myths, Monsters and Ghosts by Andy Fish.

The first thing I have to point out is that, despite not being described as such in the product description at the time of this review, this book is a graphic novel. This doesn't bother me, but I've seen enough people complain about graphic novels they assumed were regular novels that I figure it's worth pointing out.

I would assume that you're familiar with the sort of stories from Tales from the Crypt and similar comics where some creepy guy narrates tales of horror. This is sort of like that, with Baron Samedi filling in for the Crypt Keeper. The main difference is that instead of narrating fictional tales, the Baron gives us bits of folklore and reported strange occurrences.

Normally I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, but I found most of the stories in this volume to be boring and generally unbelievable. Also, I really didn't care for the artwork. I suppose this might serve as a good introduction for people interested in Forteana, folklore, and "strange but true" stories, but those who are more familiar with the genre will find little that's new.

Zombies vs. Unicorns Day 5: The Last Zombie

I haven't read it yet since it isn't out yet, but I might as well use the final day of my Zombies v. Unicorns Week to plug Brian Keene's upcoming comic, The Last Zombie. The first issue is scheduled to be released next week.  It's the story of what happens after the zombie apocalypse ends. The last zombie in the title is one of the main characters, a scientist on a journey across the country who has become the last person to be infected with the zombie plague and just wants to see his wife one last time before he turns. That;s pretty much all I know about it, since it isn't out yet, but I can say that I'll be reading it, and you should too.


Edit  6/26/10: Coolness. Brian was nice enough to give me a copy of The Last Zombie #1 at the Commix Connection Creator Cookout today. It is a freaking awesome comic. The story promises to be exciting, and the artwork is terrific. If you like zombies, you don't want to miss this!

The Final Post

I've decided to stop posting reviews here, for two reasons: 1) I can't think of anything useful to say about a book half the time, and 2) I started this to make money off the google ads and amazon store, and it hasn't worked.

So, I'll just leave you with one of my favorite webcomics, Unshelved:



If I've done it right, this comic should update whenever they update the strip, so check back often (if you want). And why not buy their books?

Dominic Deegan Volume Two: Ecstasy and Evil, by Michael "Mookie" Terracciano

I got my copy of Dominic Deegan volume two today. I just love Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire

This volume covers chapters 10 & 11. It's a great story, and it has commentary by the author. The only bad thing is "A Brief History of the Strange Life of Szark Sturtz." In his about the author bio, Mookie says that he's quite bad at prose writing, and now I know why. Still, he's great at writing comics. This is well worth picking up from the Seer's Catalog.

I give Dominic Deegan Volume Two a full five yo-yos.

Seer's Digest, by Michael "Mookie" Terracciano

Okay, so I got a copy of Dominic Deegan One and a Half yesterday, aka Seer's Digest. If you read my review of Crystal Clear, you know I've been waiting for this one.

There's no point in going into how great a series I think Dominic Deegan is. If you want to hear about that, read the review of Crystal Clear or the review of the web comic. For now, I'll say that it's a damn great web comic. It's one of the few web comics I read that I'm pretty sure I'll keep reading as long as it's still being written. I can't say the same for the other comics else I've reviewed. Yes, I still read Dr. McNinja and the InqTales stuff, but there's another I've given up on.

I don't even read Sorcery 101 anymore, because the writing (which was never all that great) just keeps going downhill. After the "action" in the last story ended, the Kell Hound spent 15 pages explaining to a newly made werewolf what it's like being a werewolf. 15 pages of people talking with no jokes and the only action being reviving a friendly vampire. whoopdie do. At three pages a week that equals five weeks of not a damn thing happening. She just really needs to work on her pacing, and dialogue, and spelling, and grammar (and stop ranting like a petulant child when someone dares to criticize her).

Anyway, to get back on track, Seer's Digest is great. This contains all the Dominic Deegan stories from the beginning through chapter nine. There's also some neat little filler artwork placed in to fill up what would otherwise be blank spaces. There's a cool afterword by Mookie, and a brief bio of him. The last page tells us that volume two is coming soon, and it can't come soon enough for me. The only real downside to this volume is that since it's self published, you won't find it at Amazon and your local bookstore probably won't have it either. That's not much of a problem since you can order it direct from Mookie for a measly $23. Go on, do it now, because Seer's Digest gets a full five yo-yos.

Are We Clear On This?

Well, I finally received my copy of Crystal Clear: Dominic Deegan Volume One from Amazon.

Dominic Deegan is my favorite web comic, and this book contains its first 100 strips. It runs up until the one where Luna decides to be Dominic's Assistant. We meet several important characters in the book: Dominic, Sparks, Siggy, Luna, Stunt, and Bumper. Really, it's a great book with strips from a truly excellent comic. (For my review of Dominic Deegan, see here.)

I've got to give it 5 yo-yos, but I don't actually recommend buying it. Mookie has created a Dominic Deegan One and a Half with the first nine chapters of Dominic Deegan--this book has the first 3. So far, he's only sold it at OTAKON, but I expect it'll be available from the Seer's Catalogue sometime next month (after Mookie completes his move to Texas).

If the Stories Are Endless, Why Is the Book So Small?

I got my shipment from Amazon today, and the first book I read was Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Endless Nights. Since it's a graphic novel--and not a very long one at that--it only took a couple of hours. As with all of Gaiman's Sandman stuff, I liked it.

If you've never read the Sandman comics, you should probably read this paragraph. If you are familiar with them, then skip it. There are seven anthropomorphic beings, called the Endless, who represent the intrinsic forces of the universe. They are Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium (formerly Delight). The main character of the Sandman series is, as you can probably guess, Dream. This book is slightly different.

Instead of focusing on Dream, Endless Nights tells seven stories, one for each of the Endless. Some of them were great and one or two I just didn't like.

"Death and Venice" is one of the ones I liked. It's a tale about how Death finally gains access to an island where time (and death) have been held off for centuries. "What I've Tasted of Desire" is a pretty good story too. It's about a woman who gets what she desires and then uses her desirability to revenge herself on her husband's killers. "The Heart of a Star" is Dream's story. It's all about how his first love chooses to love a star instead of him, and it shows how his feud with Desire begins. It's one of my favorites in the collection. "Fifteen Portraits of Despair" on the other hand, was one of the ones I really didn't like. It's basically fifteen vignettes about people who despaired and a bunch of pictures of despair. I suppose it was intended to be artsy or something, but it was just boring. "Going Inside" was a different type of story too, but this time in a good way. It's about five lunatics who are sent into Delirium's realm to rescue her. What I like about it is how each of the loonies fits the events into their own personal madness. The Destruction story, "On the Peninsula," is about an archaeological dig where they're digging up the future instead of the past. It wasn't one of my favorite stories, but I don't consider it one of the bad ones either. "Endless Nights," which is the Destiny story, I do consider to bad a bad one. It's not really a story, just a description of Destiny and his book. Still, the artwork for it is magnificent.

Sandman: Endless Nights is good, but not the best of the Sandman series. I can only give it 4 yo-yos. Up next, I've started P. G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens, which as it's a Wodehouse, is already showing signs of being a great book. Unfortunately, I'm having some problems with this particular edition, which I'll mention when I review.

More Web Comics

Since I got a shipment of books from Amazon, I put Firethorn aside and Started reading The Arm of the Stone, so I'm not finished with any books do reviews on. Hence, I've got another web comic review. It's Inq Tales, a collection of comics by IngaLill Roesberg of Norway. As far as I can make out, these were originally published as regular comics in Norway, and are now being posted on the Web in English. She has two series going on the site, The Knights of Dor and Felina.

The Knights of Dor is a fantasy about seven knights fighting against an ancient prophecy. Every five hundred years an evil wizard arises to rule over the lands of Dor. The Knights of Dor fight against the evil wizard. The comic has a nice mix of action and comedy that I just love.

Felina is, as you can guess from the title, about a cat. She reminds me of nothing so much as Puss in Boots, and all the other fairy tales where a really clever person outwits a bunch strong, but stupid, people (or ogres or giants or whatever). Those were always my favorite kind of fairy tales. Felina is also very funny, and I highly recommend it.

As far as I can make out, Knights of Dor is updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Felina seems to be updated daily. I give both of these 5 yo-yos.

McNinja. . .Dr. McNinja

Well, since I still haven't finished reading any new books, and I don't like going more than two days without a post anymore, it's time for another web comic review. As you can probably guess from the title, I'll be reviewing The Adventures of Dr. McNinja.

Just as the name implies, Dr. McNinja is a doctor and a ninja. According to the comic, Dr. McNinja's ancestors were Irish. One day several centuries ago, their village was attacked by pirates, and Dr. McNinja's ancestors fought them off using frozen shamrocks. This impressed a passing ninja, who trained them in the art of ninjitsu.

Dr. McNinja is, more or less, the black sheep of the family. His parents don't approve of his being a doctor. They'd rather see him kill people than cure them. Not that he doesn't kill people, he just doesn't kill enough people to make mom and dad happy.

He's fought many strange adversaries in his comics: Ronald McDonald, a gang of dinosaur-riding banditos, a muscle guy with an organic jet pack, a giant lumberjack, and the ancestor of the pirate who attacked Dr. McNinja's ancestors' village. He also has some odd friends, including a gorilla receptionist and a Mexican boy with a silly mustache for a sidekick. I know it all sounds rather silly, but that's okay; I like silly.

Now would be an excellent time for anyone to start reading the comic, because a new story will start on Monday. The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is second only to Dominic Deegan on my list of favorite web comics, so I'll give Dr. McNinja 5 yo-yos Hopefully I'll finish my next book soon. It's The Touch, Brian Lumley's's latest Necroscope book (this time with no vampires!).

Another Divergence into the World of Web Comics

Since I still haven't finished reading my latest book, I thought I'd take an opportunity to talk about another web comic I like. Once again, I'm talking about a fantasy themed comic. This time it's Sorcery 101 by Kel "Kell Hound" McDonald. While I don't think it's quite as good as Dominic Deegan, I do still like it.

There are a couple of reasons why I don't think it's quite as good. First off, there's the spelling and grammar. While Kel's spelling and grammar has improved, it's still not really all that good. Several of the older strips are just full of misspellings.

There are also a few minor problems with the plotting. Mainly with not knowing when to cut stuff. For instance back at the end of March there was a brief interlude where Seth, one of the vampires, tries to buy a werewolf from another vampire. The scene took several weeks, and really didn't contribute anything to the overall plot as far as I could see.

The main reason I like this is because of the characters. I just think their interesting. The main character is Danny, an apprentice sorcerer/chain smoker/womanizer/blood slave/high school teacher. Then there's his best friend Brad, the werewolf, and his wife Ally, who isn't a werewolf but is a mage, and their daughter Rebecca, who is also a werewolf. Then there's Pat, Danny's sorcery teacher and a vampire. Finally there's Seth, who's a powerful vampire and is the one with a blood bond with Danny.

The current storyline has Danny, Brad, and Seth going to a vampire party to rescue one of Danny's students. The student was bitten by Rebecca and is now a werewolf. He was grabbed by some vamps and is being auctioned off as a slave.

The comic usually updates three times a week, but right now it's being updated five times a week because Kel got $300 in donations last month. If she gets $500 this month, she'll update five days a week again next month. So, why don't you head over there, read the comic, and donate.

While it's no Dominic Deegan, I do like Sorcery 101, so I'll give it 3.5 yo-yos. Next time I'm late with a review, I'll do another web comic, most likely Doctor McNinja or Ganalath the Extraordinary. I also read VG Cats, but since I'm not a big enough geek to get all the video game references, I don't feel qualified to write review of it. If anyone knows of any other web comics they think I'd like, please leave comment.

I See

I've decided that updating my blog about once a week or so isn't really often enough, and since I can't read much faster, I've decided to do more reviews in the "Stuff I Like" category. Today, I'm going to talk about my favorite web comic, Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire.

This is one excellent comic. Mookie, the writer/artist, must be some kind of genius. He does an excellent job of creating believable characters and story lines. While I'm no art critic, I'd have to say that his artistic abilities are on par with those of professional comic strip/comic book artists. Not only that, but, unlike many other web comics, his site updates every day (unless he's at a convention, it's a holiday, or he's spending time with his lady friend).

As you might guess from the title, the comic is fantasy themed. The older strips tended to be more comic. Often Dominic would be asked to use his seers abilities to answer stupid questions, then he'd make fun of the client. The stories became more serious after the introduction of Luna, Dominic's girlfriend. Since then, he's gone on to save a dryad from an Infernomancer, battle an evil called the Storm of souls, rebuild a small town, and lots of other stuff.

This is one of the best web comics around. I definitely recommend that you go and start reading it right now. I give Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire 5 yo-yos. There's also a print book containing the first 100 strips available. I've ordered it from Amazon, though they are taking a Hell of a long time to ship.