Wren

Part 1: Awesome. Four stars.

Part 2: Grossly misogynistic. Zero stars. The series in general is pretty awkward with females characters, but when one gets killed off for being “too beautiful” I can't forgive it. This is one of my favorite series so far, so I'll be able to keep going, but this left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Winsor McCay doesn't need praise from me, but I'll give him some anyway. He is a national treasure, and Little Nemo is the greatest comic strip of all time. This art is over a century old, and it's still difficult to find comparable work. The first comic master and a founding father of animation, McCay is one of my all time favorite artists, and I recommend his work to everybody.
This edition is quite nice. It's non-linear, but it collects the work into it's different strengths, with each chapter introduced by experts such as Art Spiegelman, Charles Schulz, Chuck Jones and Bill Watterson. My only complaint with Little Nemo is how difficult it is to own. This is a Best Of collection from the library, but someday I'd like to have a complete collection.

This book is so fascinating. It's influence is everywhere, the poetic language is absolutely gorgeous, and the storytelling is complete garbage. It's also fascinating how the author's lack of scientific knowledge helped him create a world so impossible yet engaging. He couldn't predict cell phones but he was able to predict the internet, and even coined the word ‘cyberspace'. I'm not sure what the first cyberpunk story was, but this is the earliest one I'm aware of, and it's easy to see the influence it had on stories such as Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner. Do not read this book for the plot. It's barely touched on. The character motivations and conflicts are all buried under pages and pages of descriptors and it's obvious the author doesn't care about them much. It's better to simply enjoy it as the mega science fiction poem that it is.

“The murderer is one of us!” You've heard of this one before. This mystery novel has embedded itself in our culture a way that everyone is aware of the story even if they've never heard it by name. The entire story feels like a giant trope, but it feels that way because Christie seems to have taken full advantage of the genre and pushed its strengths to their fullest potential. I was lucky enough to not have the solution to the mystery spoiled for me beforehand, but I was proud of myself for guessing the murderer on my second try. Very little makes any sense until the murderer's confession in the epilogue. The tension that the author is capable of is absolutely mind-blowing. I don't think I've been this engaged in a read in a very long time. The best thriller I've ever read.

My new favorite thing is poetry that I discover through Twitter. First I found Patricia Lockwood and now it's Kimmy Walters. This tiny hand-bound book just came out and it's adorable. I'm having a hard time finding a foothold into the modern world of poetry, but I love everything I've seen so far. I highly recommend this book, and am looking for recommendations myself.

It's a great book, especially in physical form, but it tries to be too much. It's an art book, a biography, a series overview, a character guide, and a map of the Hergé museum all in one, but doesn't feel complete in any of those regards. I found it incredibly helpful as a starting point into the world of Tintin, but if you already know your stuff, you might get as much use out of this as me.

I haven't seen this film, but Dick is another author that I've long been meaning to dive into. The premise for this short story is funny, smart, and explored to its logical conclusion. It has some less than flattering portrayals of women, but the cast is so small that its difficult to tell if this is due to sexism or not. It's hard to elaborate on such a short story without spoiling anything, but I very much enjoyed it and I feel that it will stick me for a very long time.

People hate on this one but as a fan of Bronze Age Swampy I had a good time with it! It was nice to see him team up with all of his pre-Constantine friends and fight Arcane and fully identify as Alec Holland again as if Alan Moore never happened to him.

The modern inks and colors don't jive with the art and writing though

I like this story a lot. It comes from a time before vampires were in every single piece of fiction. Luckily, it's not so old that the language is unreadable, a fate that befell Polidori's The Vampyre. I haven't gotten around to Dracula yet, so I can't make the same comparisons I see others make, but I can say that I think this is beautiful. The language is gripping, and the emphasis that Le Fanu places on the mysticism and seductive powers of the vampire makes the genre feel unique from other styles of horror.

Side note: I believe this is the oldest story I've ever read with a strong LGBT presence in it. That on its own makes it noteworthy.

This book kept me up all night. I couldn't put it down. It is both very informative and very personal, and is a great starting point for learning more about the political environment in the Middle East. This is only one person's story, so it's far from an encompassing tale of the entire situation, but she takes time from her story to explain events and how they came about. News articles don't portray situations with the same gravitas as a memoir. Marjane admits that she was quite privileged growing up, so it's not as if you're reading a war journal. This is the story of a normal person from Iran, who mostly manages to avoid the horrors of war, yet is unable to escape the oppressive rule of the established regime. Required reading for everybody.

I like this book because it's very ambitious. Mack overloads the pages with as much material as possible. The art is pretty fantastic and you can see his style develop even in this one book. The dialogue was very hit or miss. Sometimes he would use words to emphasize what is happening on the canvas to great success, but whenever he would attempt to use too much prose, it would fall flat. It's a very rough book with plenty of shining moments that make it worth the read.

How do you review Shakespeare? Reviewing the tools of rhetoric gave me motivation to revisit some of Shakespeare's actual text. I found it much easier to follow than I did when I was younger. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays for a reason. It has some of his most iconic scenes and he was at the top of his game when he wrote his poetry. I found it highly enjoyable.

The story of a sickly woman being held captive due to her poor health. This has one of the more poetic descriptions of a descent into madness. It feels very much of its time, but fortunately I adore scary stories from the 19th century. It's a quick read, so I can't imagine it not being worth your time.