The Arrival

Artist and writer: Shaun Tan
Publisher: Lothian Books

A comic without words, The Arrival's art is further towards the fine art end of the spectrum than the cartooning end and it makes a beguiling story.

A man packs his suitcase, says goodbye to his family, and sails away to a new country. The alphabet is strange, the wildlife is creepy, and the everyday systems are near incomprehensible. Our man has to find lodgings, a job and friends.

Not a misery memoir

Today I shall be talking about two books that were the subject of a talk I went to about a month ago. These books are Nicola Streeten's Billy, Me and You; and Una's Becoming/UnBecoming. Both have left a profound impression on me and I want more people to know about them.

Mouseguard: Fall 1152

Writer and artist: David Peterson
Publisher: Villard Books

What's it about?
Mouseguard is a series about a mouse civilisation. They have towns, artists, blacksmiths, and guardsmice who patrol outlying areas, act as guides, and protect citizen mice from predators,thieves and insurrectionists.

Temporary hiatus

It pains me to say this, but this blog will be temporarily paused for a little while.  This is because I have the most delightful three month old baby to look after!  He's been a long time coming and it turns out that babies really do require 24 hour care (who's have thought it!).

This means I have barely any time to myself, let alone to write comic reviews. I will be returning to this blog in the future,but I may change the way I write the posts so that I can feel enthused about doing them.

Thank you all for reading over the last few years, and please do keep popping back in, because there will be more posts in the future! Just not for the next few months 

Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,865 Story Possibilities

Just a short post for you today.  I recently came across a Choose Your Own Adventure comic book, named Meanwhile: Pick Any Path:

Art and writing: Jason Shiga
Publisher: Amulet Books
ISBN: 0810984237
Price: £9.99

The book uses a series of lines and tabs to guide you through the adventure, starting with a choice of vanilla or chocolate ice cream that will lead you through to a variety of different scenarios, some surreal, some not.  Amazon lists it as part of the top 10 graphic novels for teens, but this I disagree with. It's more suitable for an 8 year old.

It's beautifully presented with lovely glossy paper, is available in hardback, and feels like a nice present.  Shiga has a website where you can read his webcomics (mature readers only).

I have real difficulty with these sorts of books, I prefer a structured narrative and being led through the story, hence the lack of a real review.  Instead I skimmed through it and can see that it is imaginative and ideal for kids who do like these things.  It has received praise from people I respect, so I am happy to recommend it.

A guide to Marvel's significant events

We've posted a guide to DC's continuity changing events so I think a guide to Marvel's big events is well overdue.

Marvel's big events aren't about cleaning up storylines or changing continuity, but more about the spectacle, the event itself.  They have a major impact in the Marvel Universe, but they don't necessarily change history (unless the event is specifically about time travel, or changes in reality).

We won't list every single event Marvel has done, but we'll go through the ones that have had the most impact on the current universe.  We'll also include things that aren't necessarily events but are quite important in Marvel's history.  We'll put a logo next to each book denoting the main character or team that the event or storyline deals with.

The titles of each event will link through to the book's Amazon listing (where possible).  You could also buy them digitally from Marvel Unlimited, where you can buy individual issues or a year's subscription and get access to their entire digital archive.  Or you can buy the books from a comic shop - we have a list of recommended shops here.

If you are confused by any of the jargon in this post please have a look at our glossary.

Comics about Immigrants

A comics site called Women Write About Comics (WWAC) has recently written about five comics on the theme of immigration.

It's quite a political post as it's written with the UK General Election (7th May) in mind, but don't be put off  by that as the suggestions given are really rather good.  One of them is Anya's Ghost that we reviewed here, another is the current Ms Marvel series, published by Marvel Comics, which is excellent.  There are also webcomics listed.

I highly recommend you check out the WWAC site as well as the above linked article.