Book Review: Batgirl Vol. Burnside 1 by Stewart, Fletcher and Tarr

Summary (GoodReads):

Barbara Gordon is no stranger to dusting herself off when disaster strikes, so when a fire destroys everything she owns, she spots the opportunity for a new lease on life – and seizes it! 

Following the rest of Gotham City’s young adults to the hip border district of Burnside, Barbara sets about building an all-new Batgirl…and discovers new threats preying on her peers! As the new hero of Burnside, Batgirl gets started by facing twin sister assassins on motorcycles! Collects BATGIRL #35-40.

My Thoughts:

I'm a little conflicted about Batgirl of Burnside, which compiles 7 chapters of the Batgirl comic. I know it's supposed to be a bit of a reboot as part of the New 52 event and all, but I felt like I was missing something, like there was stuff I was supposed to know and I didn't. 

That said, I still could understand pretty well what was going on int he story, and what Barbara Gordon was doing, and how she was moving on with her life after an accident, but I felt like I had almost no clue on what people's relationships to each other were. 

Still the book was interesting, the artwork was cute -  even if there were a few too many shots of Barbara in her underwear for me - and there were lots of things that I really liked, like her new Batgirl costume - I WANT her letter jacket - and my favorite panels were actually the ones where she was hanging out with her friends, though I admit they got a bit crowded sometimes. 

All in all, though, I kind of want to keep reading this story, make sense of it more as it were, because, like I said, very cute  artwork and a really modern approach to the character. 

Ms. Marvel Vol. 1 No Normal by Wilson and Alphona

Summary (GoodReads)

Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she's suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! 

When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she's comin' for you, New York! 

It's history in the making from acclaimed writer G. Willow Wilson (Air, Cairo) and beloved artist Adrian Alphona (RUNAWAYS)! Collecting MS. MARVEL (2014) #1-5 and material from ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW! POINT ONE #1.

My Thoughts:

I've said often enough that I don't particularly enjoy reading comics, and I'm far more inclined to reading Manga.  And a lot of it had to do with the style, so I was happily surprised to see a change in the art direction of Marvel's with Ms Marvel. And that it was something that I could get behind.

In this newest incarnation, Kamala Khan, a high school student obsessed with superheroes, gets to become her own idol, Ms Marvel, due to some strange happenings hitting her town. She quickly gets in over her head as she learns to navigate her new powers (which are a form of shape-shifting as far as I understand from the first volume No Normal - which compiles the first 5 issues of the series).

I really like Kamala, who struggles to be a good friend and a good daughter, and also live her superhero dreams. I loved the person she confessed her secret identity to, it made so much sense that she would go to that person for help. I really liked her relationship with her friends, it felt very real.

All in all, I'm really excited to keep reading Ms Marvel.

Book Review: Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

The Deal: Maggie has spent her childhood being home schooled by her mom, the only girl and youngest of her clan. But it's time for her to join her three older brothers at a public high school and, even though she tries to play it cool, she's in for quite a shock.

And her brothers aren't really helping, her dad just got made into Chief of Police, and reeling from her mother's recently departure - she left the family - and has a melancholy ghost following her around. 

But things do look up when she meets Lucy and Al and begins making friends with people not related to her. 

My Thoughts: Friends With Boys was a cute, quick read. I actually didn't know it was a graphic novel until I started reading it but it was quite good. I'm not the biggest fan of the style, but then I'm more of a manga-girl, and I often find comic-drawing a little harsh and, in this particular case, a bit dark (in color scheme not theme per se).

Anyway, the story was rather nice, I really liked Al and Lucy and Maggie's brothers. I've never have brothers but their relationships seemed true and there were lots of funny moments. Oh, and you can see a sample of it  at http://www.friendswithboys.com/

1/2

Mini Review: Cherish by Wataru Yoshizumi (Manga)

The Deal: Chiriro lost her mom when she was 3 years old and since then she has been brought up by her Mom's best friend Taku-chan and his partner Rei. Now she's 18 and about to start college at the same university her mom and adoptive dad went to.

On the first day of classes, Chihiro runs into her first boyfriend, Tsuda-kun. Back in middle school, he dumped Chihiro after she told him her parents were a gay couple, and then he moved away and they never talked about it.

Only that now they are going to the same school, are in the same school club and he is under the impression that she's the one who dumped him because he was moving away.

My Thoughts: First off, don't let yourself be put off because Tsuda supposedly has a problem with Chihiro's parents. He really doesn't. And I shouldn't say it, but I'm afraid that part of the description will have a negative effect on the story's appeal.

Anyway, Cherish is a short, sweet story about first love and second chances. I usually don't like the Big Misunderstanding plot, but since this story was told in three chapters and things got solved very quickly, I didn't mind. And I was actually surprised at what really happened.

The story is quite sweet over all, and I really liked Chihiro and how loyal she was to the people who raised her, even though she really did like Tsuda and how she struggled because part of her was happy to see him again.

There was a sub plot about Chihiro's biological father that was a bit random, but oh well. Also, because it's so short, there isn't tons in the way of character development. But I had a really good time reading this manga, and it was sweet.

Book Review: Secrets, Monsters and Magic Mirrors by Donald Lemke (editor)

Cover is from Rapunzel

The Deal: Okay, first let me explain how the book works: it's a graphic novel with re-tellings of five classic fairy tales in the form of a comic/graphic novel, each one has a different author in charge of the text and a different artist in charge of the artwork  - as a result, you get five very different styles.

The tales in question are Rapunzel, Thumbelina, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and The Princess and The Pea. The tales are very different esthetically and narrative more close to the original 'uncut' versions than to Disney or more kid-friendly versions.

My Thoughts: As I said, Secrets, Monsters and Magic Mirrors is a compilation and it sort of gets into a lot of trouble because of it. The stylistically, each story is very different from the previous one. The artwork for Rapunzel is dark but kind of awesome, Thumbellina's is a bit on the childish side; Snow White is more of classic comic approach (I found this one the creepiest of them all); Beauty and The Beast was a bit cutesy but basic, and Princess and the Pea a bit more square, but also cute. 

(I hope I'm making sense with the descriptions)

Now, here is where the trouble starts, the styles are so different and it's kind of jarring to jump from one to the next, and I think the book has a bit of a personality crisis. Some of the drawings are so elemental and cute, like they are aimed for kids, but I wouldn't feel comfortable giving this book to a young child because it can get kind of dark. And at the same time I don't think it's sophisticated enough for an older crowd - the retellings are very short, and the characterization remains a little cartoonish. 

One thing I did like about it, was that, at the end of each story, there was a little background about the particularly story.

 

Book Review: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and Peter Gillis

The Deal: An Unicorn learns that she's the last of her kind, and she hadn't realized because she had always lived in the same forest, taking care of the trees and animals there. 

One day, she decides to go out and find out what happened to the other unicorns of the world. She comes across many dangers, and eventually learns about the Red Bull and the King of Haggard, who is connected to the disaperance of the others. 

In her journey, she's joined by a hapless magician and Molly Gruel, who help her get where she needs to go.

There she meets Prince Lir, complicating things more. 

My Thoughts: I'm a huge fan of The Last Unicorn - the movie. I think it's one of the most beautiful pieces of animation ever produced. So I was very excited to read this adaptation of the book by Peter S. Beagle into a comic book. 

The illustrations are lovely, close to the ones to the movie but at the same time a little less dreamy and a bit more sophisticated, and it definitely captures the magic of this tale. And once I got over the fact that I kept trying to read it right to left manga style - since I'm far more familiarized with this style than with US comic books - I enjoyed it a lot, even though I did find the font a bit small.

I don't think I'll ever get over how heartbreaking this tale is, but it remains one of my favorites, and I think this is a very worthy adaptation of it. 

Ultra Maniac by Wataru Yoshizumi

Ultra Maniac by Wataru Yoshizumi - famous for her manga Marmalade Boy - tells the story of Ayu Tateshi and Nina Sakura two seventh graders. Ayu is a girl who doesn't really believe in magic and fantasy (one of her first lines is that she won't even read Harry Potter) until her life becomes entangled with Nina's, who happens to be a bumbling witch.

See, Nina was doing so bad at the Magic Kingdom school, that she decided to study aboard, in modern day Japan. Soon after Nina arrives at Ayu's school, she loses something very important: her magical mini computer, which Ayu finds by chance and returns it. Because of Ayu's kindness, Nina decides to tell her about being a witch, and from then on decides to use her magic to help Ayu - which usually lands them in trouble, especially in front of Kaji and Hiroki, two of the boys in their grade. Ayu is in love with Kaji but is too shy to tell him, so she acts all cool and composed around him - and attitude that has made her one of the most popular girls of her grade. As for Hiroki, now he does love fantasy... and he might even fall for Nina as well.

There is lots of fun and in this story - with a few dramatic moments too - which is filled with magic, friendship and romance. One note-worthy thing about the story is that Ms Yoshizumi does make both girls the protagonists of the story in equal measure, is their friendship what holds the story together and they both share the spotlight.

Also, no one draws cuter outfits!

Ultra Maniac is one of my favorite mangas ever - anime too, even though is a different storyline, the essence of the characters remains true, so that's worth watching too - and I love it for the ode to friendship that it is.

Grade

Ultra Manic is told in 5 Volumes, btw.