Returning to a month of (some) themes!

February is nearly upon us so we thought we'd pick up where we left off last year, and continue with the Valentine's and LGBT history month reviews.  Not every book will fit into these categories, but some will.

We hope you enjoy it!

Update to an earlier review

Our Young Justice review has now been updated with some further reading recommendations.  If you enjoy superheroes, teenage fiction, team up books or comedy you would do well to have a look at this book.

It's a Young Adult book that's laugh out loud funny, although it has to be said a lot of the humour is rather childish.  It's a great introduction to some spectacular characters, most of which are still active today.  It's one of my favourite books and I try and push it on to as many people as I can.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Marvel Fairy Tales

Writer: C.B. Bebulski
Art: João Lemos (Peter Pan), Nuno Plati (Created Equal), Takeshi Miyazawa (Alice in Wonderland), Ricardo Tercio (The Wizard of Oz and Off the Beaten Path), Kyle Baker (The Friendship of the Tortoise and the Eagle)
Colours: Christina Strain (Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland)
Letterer: Dave Lanphear (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, off the Beaten Path), Artmonkeys (Pinocchio), Dave Sharpe (The Friendship of the Tortoise and the Eagle)
Publisher: Marvel

What's it about?
Much like Spider-Man Fairy Tales this book contains versions of Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz using characters from the Marvel superteam, The Avengers.  Also included is Off the Beaten path, a version of Red Riding Hood from the Spider-Man Fairy Tales collection, and The Friendship of the Tortoise and the Eagle from X-Men Fairy Tales.

Palestine

Art and Writing by Joe Sacco
Publisher: jonathan Cape

What's it about?
Joe Sacco is a Jewish American journalist who in the early 1990s spent two months in Israel and Palestine, meeting and interviewing people the people living there.  The results of these conversations and experiences have been turned into this book.

Win a Batgirl comic!

So, there's a blog called Girls Read Comics and they are currently hosting a contest to win the Batgirl Rising trade.  I can highly recommend this book, it is on the list for review on this site and it's a great fun read. If you like the style and delivery of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show you would probably like this.  Oh, and it's written by Bryan Q Miller who writes for Smallville.  That may or may not encourage you.  I can tell you that people who hate Smallville do like the Batgirl book.  You can read more about the book on Amazon here.

If you want to enter you just need to leave a comment on their post, with the words 'New reader', however I would encourage you to go to the post and read the full rules!

Winners will be chosen this Friday at 7pm EST.

So, if you are interested in getting a free comic, head on over to the Girls Read Comics post and leave them a comment!

NOTE: The competition is not on this site, leaving a comment here won't win you anything (except my appreciation)

DC's Crisis of Continuity

Recently, a follower on Twitter asked me if I could do a guide to DC's various Crisis events, as he couldn't quite get his head around everything. I'm not surprised, it's a minefield and confusing even to a regular reader of DC's comics. If you go into a comic or book shop you will see lots of books with the work 'Crisis' in the title. If you visit any comic blogs that cover DC's books you will probably see a Crisis mentioned.  Crisis is a very impressive word and it certainly sounds dramatic, but how do all these books fit in together? Where do they link and what do they mean?  And how do they fit in with DC's new 52 comics?

Keep reading for I shall try and break it down for you.

Gonzo. A Graphic Biography Of Hunter S. Thompson

written by Will Bingley
illustrated by Anthony Hope-Smith
foreword by Alan Rinzler
Publisher: SelfMadeHero

What's It About​?
“Over the course of Hunter S. Thompson's extraordinary life he was publicly branded a bum, a vandal, a liar, an addict, a freak and a psychopath. Only some of which are true,” so states the blurb of this book, a graphic retelling of the life of the infamous “gonzo” journalist from his earliest brush with the law at the age of nine to the time of his death in 2005. On the way he covers the 1972 American Presidential election, Watergate, the Fall of Saigon and the 1970 Kentucky Derby.

About Marvel Comics' Rolling Status Quo System

Whilst reviewing some Marvel Comics collections I found myself again and again explaining the status quo of the Marvel Universe at the time the story was written. Rather than repeat myself endlessly I decided it would be easier to explain Marvel's system of rolling status quos in one post and simply link back to it in future. Now, to explain:

One of the big attractions of the larger comics companies is the shared universes in which their characters exist allowing their series to mix and interact in interesting ways. One of the great criticisms of comics is that the decades-old characters are not seen to change in any meaningful manner. Whilst I and my colleagues dispute that criticism (we'd hardly have founded this website if we didn't) Marvel Comics sought to overcome that perception by very publicly evolving the state of their universe.

The Trials of Shazam Volume 1 and 2

   

Writer: Judd Winick
Art: Howard Porter (volume 1, on the left), Howard Porter and Mauro Cascioloi (volume 2, on the right)
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
There's an ancient wizard named Shazam who has, in the past, bestowed some of his power onto mortals.  Three such mortals were Billy Batson, Mary Batson and Freddie Freeman, collectively known as the Marvel family, after their hero names - Captain Marvel.  Trials of Shazam continues their story.  We have previously reviewed another Marvel family book, First Thunder, but unlike First Thunder this book is for an older audience.  It is more sophisticated, both in terms of the plot and the execution of the story.

Iono-Sama Fanatics

Writer and Artist: Miyabi Fujieda

Publisher: Independent

What's it about?

This is a Yuri title.  Yuri means girls love and is the name given to manga about female couples.  Yuri can be explicitly about sex, or can be more about the relationship side of things.  Some of it can be a coming out narrative, some of it can just be two women getting it on.  The male equivalent is called Yaoi.

Iono is the princess of an unspecified small nation.  She travels to Japan to find black haired women willing to become her sobames – companions (she’s very specific about the black hair).  ‘Sama’ is an honorific given to someone of a higher status than you and ‘fanatics’ refers to the sobames Iono has engaged in her service, all of whom, naturally, call their boss Iono-Sama.

The book opens with Iono on the streets of Japan hitting on random women requesting that they be her sobame.  Her method of picking up women is to stand in the middle of the street and yell ‘who wants to apply to be my sobame?’.  She's not wonderfully successful at this.  Eventually she finds a woman named Eto Hachibe.  Iono falls for Eto and when she invites her into her household she won't take no for an answer.  The rest of the book follows Eto's new life in the royal household as she tries to find a job for herself whilst managing Iono's insatiable desire for more sobames.

It's a comedy, it's a romance and it's all about women!

Superman/Shazam: First Thunder

Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Joshua Middleton
Letterer: Nick J Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
First Thunder tells of one the first meetings between Superman and Captain Marvel.  I will assume that you all have an idea who Superman is and skip straight to explaining Captain Marvel.

12 year old Billy Batson has been given the powers of the Gods of magic.  By uttering the word Shazam he becomes Captain Marvel - the World's Mightiest Mortal!  He is blessed with the Wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

Mythology fans might spot a disparity here - Achilles isn't a God and there is a mix up between the Greek and Roman names for the Gods.  I can only imagine that the people creating the character weren't too concerned with the facts.  Nevermind, just think of it as a separate pantheon.

Throughout America ancient mystical artifacts are being stolen from museums.  This spate of thefts brings both Superman and Captain Marvel to Fawcett City to investigate further, whereupon they discover an ancient sect wanting to unleash a demon on the world.  Meanwhile, Dr Sivana, Captain Marvel's nemesis, sets out to destroy the Captain once and for all.  These two plots weave together to form a memorable climax that is unexpectedly affecting.

This book is probably more for the young adult/older child age range.  It can be read an enjoyed as an adult - certainly, I think it's great - but I can imagine many non comic reading adults not being too impressed.