Wren

Tomine gives off the impression of the upcoming artist who is going to blow my mind one day. This book has a few shortcomings of its own, but the heart is there, the technique is there, and the style is incredibly pleasant. He practically oozes Jaime Hernandez in this book and I'm very excited to watch his style become his own.

I am a huge fan of Satoshi Kon's animation, (as everyone should be) so I was very interested to see his comics work. Opus is not quite his opus. I'd give that title to Paprika or Tokyo Godfathers. (I haven't seen Millennium Actress or Perfect Blue yet.) Opus is a wonderful work of metafiction that uses themes similar to his other works. Kon is a master at manipulating space and time within the camera frame, and it's a blast watching him play around with comic book panels. Resonance is the fictional story within the fictional Opus, and it is the perfect battlefield for Kon's abilities. The author of Resonance gets sucked into his own story, and is forced to confront his own plot holes, has his hastily drawn buildings collapse on top of him, and fights his villain on both sides of the fourth wall. The book was sadly cancelled halfway through, but this collected edition features a bonus chapter where Kon confronts his fictional author and they compare their problems of being unable to end their stories. Kon puts the book on hold and promises to give the main character the ending she deserves, but sadly this cannot happen due to his passing in 2010.

I'm a sucker for anything that fits neatly between the art world and the pop world, and this book was everything for me. A great literary author decided that his next story needed to take place shortly after the fall of Camelot, and that it needed a dragon in it. The best way to instantly get me on your side for something is to have genre fiction a requirement to get your themes across. This book focuses on the importance of both personal and cultural memory, and is a love story about the later years of a relationship. I really don't want to spoil anything because this book is incredible. If you've ever wanted to see the fantasy genre take itself seriously, pick this one up.

This is a horrible book. It might also be one of my favorite books. Berardi has obviously done mountains of research and easily guides the reader through the marshes of his pessimism. This book covers many topics including the nihilistic nature of absolute capitalism, the isolated ways in which the digital generation is coming of age, and the social landscape that has come to encourage suicide. He tops everything off with a pleasant final chapter where he proposes a few things for the future including a strong focus on the mapping of the human brain and the use of irony as a weapon against the capitalist machine. I'm aware that this review isn't much different than the blurb on the back of the book, but this is seriously worth the read. It's simultaneously one of the most depressing and most inspirational books I've ever read.

One of the most important comics of all time. The Hernandez brothers have been regularly releasing annual additions to this book since its inception in 1982. Originally published as a science fiction “zine”, this book has long settled into its characters, aging them in real time. Maggie and Hopey, now nearing middle age, reunite to attend a punk reunion in their hometown. Old feeling are brought up, and they both discover the kind of people they've grown to be. I'm still lagging a bit behind on the Gilbert stories, but it was nice to see Jaime experiment with the zine format in this one. He uses different stories to cross-cut between past characters, and even squeezes in a tale about a supervillainess escaping from a space prison.

This is a very good intro to the character. It makes his origin important without becoming another boring origin story. I'm writing a review because I'm still upset at a controversial decision the Doctor makes. I personally disagree with it, but it falls in line with the other character decisions made throughout the story. This one feels pretty formulaic compared to Vaughan's more character-driven stories, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

A series of memoirs that offer an interesting view of the death industry. Doughty works at a crematory, but is skeptical of many aspects of the industry, especially the act of embalming. She shares many fascinating ideas on topics ranging from the many methods of corpse disposal to our country's willful ignorance of the presence of death. While this definitely reads like a person's first publication, a lot of great points are made. I feel that everyone should find a book that discusses this type of topic, and this one is as good as any.

Less of a novel and more of a companion, this book gives insight to the factual events that inspired the incredible movie. This explains the events in a less cinematic way, and provides explanations to the changes that were made. The film portrays Frank as an ever-present figure, while in real life he was a persona worn by Chris Sievey. The film took many artistic liberties to avoid the trappings of a standard biopic, and excluded events that would have detracted from the point. Those events, including the fact that Chris passed away before the film's release, are included in this text. I am a devout fan of the film, and I recommend it to all struggling artists who are afraid to fit in with the mainstream.

Out of all of the comics coming out today, this one is easily my favorite. Matt Fraction has already proven his worth by turning Hawkeye into one of Marvel's most engaging and likable books, but he really kicked things up a notch for this original story. He does so many things right, but his most genius move was bringing CHIPPARD ZDWARRGGKY into mainstream comics. Chip Zdarsky is the most fun you could possibly have on Twitter, and he is a major force behind the humor of this book.

This book is amazingly funny, but that's not why it's my favorite. This book ignores all of the negativity that has been built around sex and pornography, and reminds you that it is a fun, healthy, and natural thing. Everyone does it, from librarians and bankers to bus drivers and soccer moms. It's wonderful that there's a story about sex that doesn't condemn it with worn-out social commentary.

This book is a breath of fresh air and I am very excited to see where they go from here.

I'm not sure about this one. The men behind this book are obviously masters of the craft, but something falls flat here.

This is my first Chaykin book, but his experience shows. I love the amount of detail he puts into his work, but it felt cluttered at points. You can tell this was intentional by the amount of speech bubbles and the hurried atmosphere of the station, but I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters being thrown at me.

The other thing worth mentioning that shouldn't surprise you if you've seen any of the covers to this series is the portrayal of women. Fraction has shown the ability to write about female sexuality with great understanding in his book Sex Criminals, so when paired up with someone who draws smut as well as Chaykin, I was expecting some sort of commentary or spin on the subject and I received none. To be fair, this book was so tightly woven that there wasn't room for that sort of commentary. They may get around to it in the next book, but it doesn't look like that the direction they want to go.

The style, atmosphere, themes and setting are all very interesting to me and I wish I was able to go more in depth, but I very much feel like I'm reviewing the opening chapter of a story.

One topic I've been very fascinated by is poetry by people my own age. The only poetry I've really had exposure to is either from the Romantic Era or centered around black culture in America. They are both fascinating and beautiful in their own ways, but they tell me very little about what kind of poetry I might be capable of creating. Enter Patricia Lockwood. She is barely older than me and has a style that reflects the current Internet generation. Her choice in words is both insanely outlandish and hard-hitting on a personal level. She can take a sensitive topic and translate it into something completely surreal without losing its meaning. Her best poem is “Rape Joke” and there seems to be a continuing theme addressing misogyny and the entitlement of men. I really enjoyed this collection and I'm actively seeking modern poetry if anyone would like to suggest anything.

The strange title almost turned me off, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. This is less of a how-to guide and more of an overview of the different tools used by English writers. This is entry level, so I knew some of the things discussed, but I think having someone elaborate on the different subjects gave me a more natural understanding. Rhetoric is a tool that should be used wisely, otherwise your words will sound forced. This was a good brush up for when I pick up writing again very soon.

This was the best zombie story I've ever read. I've been trying to branch out to new writers, so I picked this up thinking there was no way it was Mike Carey, author of Lucifer and The Unwritten and one of my all time favorite comic book writers. It was. He handled himself quite well with prose, which was fascinating, as most comic book writers have a hard time transitioning. All of his major themes were there, including the parts where the plot seems to be wandering off course, only to have everything come veering back into place towards the end just time to enforce a tremendous impact of an ending. No one does endings like Carey. (I'm very excited to see how he wraps up the Unwritten this year.) This book won't change your life but it's an incredible thriller.

2014 was a pretty good year for comics outside the mainstream. Scott McCloud may be the guest editor, but I want him in some sort of curating position for the rest of his career. The man has impeccable taste and a greater Understanding for Comics than most anyone. This book has excerpts from many comics that I already follow, such as Love and Rockets, Saga, Multiple Warheads, and works by Michael Deforge and Chris Ware, along with books I've been meaning to check out such as Sailor Twain and a few books that I overlooked last year. They are very carefully chosen, and rarely feel like fragments.