Weekly Comic Reviews




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The Case for American Vampire

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It came to my attention last year that many of my friends, despite being aware of my affection for American Vampire, have not yet tried out this series. They claim to not be comic readers themselves (LAME) and/or seem to be of the opinion that vampires are played out. While I will admit that the series is not for everyone, I wanted to take a moment to clarify just how awesome it is. Caveat: Before we go any further, I should mention for anyone new, American Vampire is a currently-running comic book series which is “suggested for mature readers.” That means there is nudity, sex, and graphic violence. Just FYI. Okay! I first heard about AmVamp in Spring 2010, when I was finishing up my series of reviews of vampire novels , both classic and modern. I found it somewhat randomly; I was researching something else related to the books I was reading and saw that Stephen King was involved with a new comic book about vampires. I had just re-read and loved Salem's Lot , so I decid...
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All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1)

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All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1) Martha Wells, 2017 Premise: All Murderbot wants is to be left alone to watch tv. Unfortunately, if it doesn't want its free will to be discovered, it still has a job to do, and someone's trying to kill the people it's supposed to protect. This was an absolute delight. Going in, I thought was that this was a novella from the point of view of a killbot. What I found was a snarky sci-fi adventure with a protagonist whose general misanthropy is not entirely genuine, but this never falters into pathos. The humans call it Security Unit, or SecUnit, but a murderbot is what it calls itself. The reason why is a mix of black humor and cynicism. Murderbot is not only hiding its sense of humor but also its free will from both the humans it's assigned to and the shadowy Company that owns it and financed the scientific mission they're on. A SecUnit has consciousness, but it isn't supposed to be able to choose for ...
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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian Robert E Howard (Compilation published 2002, stories written 1932-1933) Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing. - "The Tower of the Elephant" Fantastic.  I'm so delighted I got around to reading these, and I'm actually glad I didn't do it sooner.  There are certain styles, especially dated styles, that I've grown to enjoy over time.  This book contains the first thirteen Conan stories, in the order they were (probably) written.  I don't know that I would have been able to understand or appreciate the prose and the undercurrents of these stories if I were hung up on the scantily-clad females. There are plenty of such women, but I find it actually honest, on a certain level.  Howard has created a complicated war-torn world, in which plenty of its fairer denizens are used as pawns by the men around them.  Many ...
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