The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Note: Image not actually a good representation of the story. Klaus  (Issues #1-7) Grant Morrison and Dan Mora, 2015-2016 I remember seeing this title about a reimagined Santa hit stores. I've always been intrigued but also very tentative about it. A big part of why I never read this book before now is that I've been burned before on Santa retellings, and the cover art was fairly realistic/Conan in style, making me think it would be too dark. I have strong opinions on what is appropriate Santa behavior and what is not. I have a history with this character that I'm protective of. In short, I have FEELINGS about this topic. Now I've read it, and... y'all, this might be a new favorite. Read the full review on Mainlining Christmas! 4 Stars - A Very Good Book P.S. - This mini-series has been followed by a series of annual one-shot stories that have ramped up the superhero-flavor, the action, and the sense of an entire yuletide-magic-universe. I've re...

Patsy Walker, A.K.A Hellcat: Vol. 1: Hooked On A Feline, Vol. 2: Don't Stop Me-ow, Vol 3: Careless Whisker(s) Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, 2016, 2017 Premise: Patsy has been through a lot. She's been an Avenger. She's been to Hell. Now she just wants to figure out how to make enough money for rent, and help other people out along the way. Collects Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat #1-17 (complete run). Aww. Shelve this book next to Squirrel Girl, they're both great examples of friendly comics with diverse casts of interesting characters that deal with emotion and action without losing a sense of hope and camaraderie. Patsy Walker is a really interesting character in a meta sense. She was created as a teen humor comic that turned to romance as the characters aged. (There were many of these comics in the 40s and 50s; the Archie comics are nearly the only surviving example of the type.) A cameo in an superhero title established that the characters might exist in the...

Thor: The Goddess of Thunder and Thor: Who Holds the Hammer? Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Jorge Molina, 2015 Premise: The son of Odin is no longer worthy to wield Mjolnir, and the only one who can lift the hammer is an unknown woman who takes on the power and the responsibility of being Thor. Collects Thor #1-5 and Thor #6-8 and Annual. The nice thing about waiting and catching up on comic books later is that you tend to only read the good stuff. The less nice thing is that sometimes you know the ending. Happily, the fact that I went in knowing the reveal at the end of the second volume (the identity of the new Thor) did not diminish my enjoyment in this case. For me, these issues had just about the perfect balance of humor and drama. The art and writing take the larger-than-life characters and plot seriously, but it never gets too dour or bleak. It wouldn't be a perfect jumping-on point for someone who's not used to sprawling comic universes and stories that ...

Mockingbird: I Can Explain and Mockingbird: My Feminist Agenda Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, 2016, 2017 Premise: Bobbi Morse is a lot of things. She's a spy, a superhero, a scientist. She's an ex-wife and a SHIELD agent and an Avenger. And she is done taking anybody's shit. Collects Mockingbird #1-5, Mockingbird SHIELD 50th anniversary #1, Mockingbird #6-8, and see below. Like too many people, I only heard about this series when it met its untimely cancellation . I picked up the first trade almost immediately but didn't get a chance to read it until recently. It is a metric ton of fun. A few different aspects contribute to the brilliance of this book. One is the balance of superheroic and mundane. Bobbi's life is punctuated by crazy escapades, but she also deals with annoying medical check-ups and clothing stains and relationship drama. Another is the fun meta-stuff that I love. Tons of little jokes in the background art or the intro pages for each ...

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe Ryan North, Erica Henderson, 2016 Premise: The first original graphic novel starring the only heroine with the powers of both squirrel and girl! Squirrel Girl enjoys eating nuts, kicking butts, and making friends. What would cause her to beat up the entire universe? Many minor characters are from the ongoing series, but you could read this without reading the series as long as you read the character intros. The current Squirrel Girl series is one of my favorites, possibly of all time, and this story has all the aspects I love. Doreen, her squirrel friends, her human friends, her casual attitude toward superheroics, her belief in the goodness of people, her computer science skills. The plot hinges on some unanswered questions about the potential power of communication with squirrels and the established fact that Doreen has taken down a huge number of Marvel villains. She's one of the most powerful characters in Mar...

Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life Edited by Liesa Mignogna, 2016 Challenge Book! Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 - Read a collection of essays Premise: 22 authors write about their relationships with comics and superheroes. Happily or unhappily, the worst piece in this collection is the first. I was so dismayed to read a pale, pathetic piece about how Batman inspired some well-off guy I’m not familiar with to be a writer. There’s a better piece later in the book with the same thrust - superheroes inspired me to be creative. And that’s fine. But boring. The second piece is a raw, passionate, beautifully written essay from a woman whose rage causes her to connect viscerally with the Hulk, and how she eventually walks away from an abusive, toxic family life. The essays are overall interesting and often funny, but there is a bright line between the ones that are about the creative process, or even one I quite liked about a love for Spider-Man and a love for Ma...

Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers Brian Michael Bendis, Steve McNiven, Sara Pichelli, et. al., 2014 Premise: The Guardians of the Galaxy, plus fan-favorite Iron Man, are up against a coalition of galactic powers with ambiguous goals. One goal is clear, though: Quill's father, lord of the Spartax Empire, wants him home... or dead. Collects Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1, #1-3, GotG: Tomorrow's Avengers #1 I enjoyed reading this, but only a few days later, not much of it stayed with me. The art is nice, modern comic art. Sticking Iron Man into the story feels more than a bit like an obvious marketing ploy, although his snark adds a fun dimension to the book. Issue #0.1 is a retelling/revamping of the origin story for Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord). It’s fairly well done and probably the most interesting bit of the book. The main plot of the book concerns King J-Son and a council made up of rulers of all the major galactic powers. They discuss the jurisdi...

Hawkeye: Rio Bravo (Volume 4) Matt Fraction, David Aja, Chris Eliopoulos, Francesco Francavilla, 2015 Premise: Follows L.A. Woman . Clint digs down to an ever-deeper rock bottom but finds a place to stand there. Collects Hawkeye issues #12, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21-22 This is the climax of Fraction’s run on Hawkeye, and I enjoyed it, although I didn’t find this volume as a whole as satisfying as I hoped I would. I might go back and read the issues in the order in which they were released, (which requires flipping back and forth between books 3 and 4) to see if that changes the overall pacing for the better. There are really fantastic moments in this book. Gorgeous, perfect moments where a character makes a choice or makes a stand, or a bunch of plot pieces come together, or friendship and affection is more important than anger and resentment. The story as a whole just didn’t 100% gel for me. I kept having to go back and re-read sections to catch some foreshadowing I missed o...

Batgirl (Volume 1: The Batgirl of Burnside) Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr, 2015 I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Babs moves to a new neighborhood for a fresh start, a new look, and a new outlook. Reviewing this book is really hard. I think I'm too old for it. (For what it's worth, I am 33.) I like the art; I like the humor. In principle I like the lighter take and I liked aspects of the story. But for me, it's not my Batgirl, without quite being a brand new Batgirl. In this volume, they did a soft reboot. The character gets a new outfit, new friends, a new neighborhood to protect, and the protagonist has been called (both affectionately and not) "hipster Batgirl". She does live in a Brooklyn analogue, and is making dumb mistakes the way young people in their early twenties do ... although it bothers me a little that at the same time she's struggling with, not college, but her dissertati...

Hawkeye: Little Hits (Volume 2), Hawkeye: L.A. Woman (Volume 3) Matt Fraction, David Aja, Annie Wu, Javier Pulido, et. al. Premise: Follows My Life as a Weapon . Clint and Kate continue to kick ass separately and together in between getting their asses kicked. Collects Hawkeye #6-11 and Hawkeye #14, 16, 18, 20 and Annual #1. I know I’m bundling these reviews, but I need to talk about them both separately and together. Little Hits is a collection of single concept issues that are connected to what came before and what came after. Meanwhile L.A. Woman is one story, a story that is happening concurrently with a story that will be collected in the next volume (The missing Issues 12, 13, 15, etc.) I like both, although I liked them quite differently. The first two issues in Little Hits were both issues I bought when they came out. Issue 7 was rushed to print for a very good reason: it was written in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, about the hurricane, and all author’s royal...

Catwoman: Volume 3: Under Pressure Ed Brubaker, Paul Gulacy, Sean Phillips, Diego Olmos, 2014 Premise: Sequel to No Easy Way Down . Selina returns from her road trip to find that the East End of Gotham needs her help more than ever. But she’s standing alone against a tide… Collects Catwoman #25-37. And so Ed Brubaker's run on Catwoman comes to an end, not quite with a bang. The writing is still pretty decent, although the larger plotting feels disjointed and awkward. The art however, is just bad. Paul Gulacy more or less ruined this book for me. It isn't so much that the characters are ugly, although they are. It's that they change drastically depending on the angle and are unrecognizable. If you didn't tell me that was supposed to be Holly and Karon, I would never have known. All of the women are frightening face on, with weirdly grotesque shading. It made it really difficult for me to enjoy the story, especially when the prior volumes had such good art. ...

Avengers: The Enemy Within Kelly Sue DeConnick, Scott Hepburn, Matteo Buffagni, Filipe Andrade, 2013 Premise: Collects Avengers:The Enemy Within #1, Captain Marvel #13-14, 17, Avengers Assemble #16-17. Sequel to Captain Marvel: Down . Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has been having a rough time. Between dinosaur attacks and villains threatening her friends, her own powers might be killing her. She'll need the help of all her teammates to face down the force behind the plot against her. I really enjoyed this, both for itself and on principle. But first, my little quibbles. Because this story took place over two series, there are two art teams. The styles aren't too jarringly different, but one team has an obsession with bulging veins that I find really off-putting. The dialogue might be just slightly too quippy. It's superheroes, so it should be quippy, but there were a lot of characters in this and their dialogue could have differentiated them just a bit mo...

Fearless Defenders Volume 1: Doom Maidens Cullen Bunn, Will Sliney, 2013 Premise: Collects Fearless Defenders #1-6 . Valkyrie has a problem. Since the troubles that Asgard has been having (it’s super complicated, but you don’t need to know the details to read this title), she was supposed to put together a new cadre of Shield-maidens to replace other vanished valkyries. She hasn’t exactly done that, and now an ancient team of death warriors are rising from their graves to correct the balance. Valkyrie and Misty Knight might need all the ladies of Marvel to get on board to save Earth from the Doom Maidens. This was really fun to read. The writing is really strong, the dialogue is snappy without being gimmicky, and the art only occasionally strays too far into cheesecake territory. It’s a great showcase book for a bunch of somewhat lesser-known Marvel superheroines. Valkyrie is the one I knew best, from a few issues here and there of various events and team books she appeared ...

Catwoman Volume 2: No Easy Way Down Ed Brubaker, Cameron Stewart compilation 2013, original issues 2002-2003 Premise: Follows on from Volume 1. Selina’s made an impression on the Gotham underworld… that’s not always a good thing. She learns the hard way that doing nice things for Gotham City will only get you beaten back down. Collects Catwoman #10-24 and Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1. “One thing I’ll never get used to about the past is that it’s never really over...Just when you think that your history is done--locked away, forgotten...It rears its ugly head to remind you that no matter how fast you are, you can never escape yourself.” This thick volume starts off with a couple warm-up one-story issues illuminating aspects of Selina’s personality and technique, then dives into a multi-layered epic tying back to the events of Volume one and other parts of Selina’s history. But don’t worry if you’re new, you’ll pick up all the context you need along the way. The...

Captain Marvel Volume 2: Down Kelly Sue DeConnick, Christopher Sebela, Dexter Soy, Filipe Andrade, 2012 Premise: Collects Captain Marvel #7-12 . Carol Danvers is still reeling a bit from her time-travel escapades, but she’s ready to help out her friend Monica Rambeau to determine what’s causing ships to go missing off of New Orleans. Later, are her own powers failing her, or is something more complicated going on? I read the first arc of the new Captain Marvel series in issues, and I liked it well enough, but decided to wait for trade for the next part. I’m glad I ended up picking it up, both because it was great to read all at once, and because it’s easier to review and recommend in trade than issues. In this volume, I feel that this book is really hitting its stride. The balance between drama, snark and realism is well-tuned and the character relationships both build on decades of continuity and are easy for me to understand, whether or not I have context. The art isn’t ...

The Judas Contract Marv Wolfman, George Perez, 1988 Original Issues released 1983-84 Premise: Collects The New Teen Titans #39, 40, Tales of the Teen Titans #41-44 and Annual #3. One of the most well-known story arcs in the history of the Teen Titans. Tara Markov, known as Terra, joined the team months ago, and has become one of their own. None of the Titans know she’s secretly a double agent. There were aspects of this story that I liked, but overall this was a little too dated and melodramatic. I wish the collection had included more of Terra’s introduction. The book starts when she’s an established member of the team, but right before the reader is let in on her secret. The good: Sketchy-scary-evil Terra is cool in much of the lead-up to the betrayal, and this volume includes the introduction of Dick Grayson’s Nightwing identity, which has some sweet moments. There’s a fun sparring scene between Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) and Koriand'r (Starfire). Raven gets to be bada...

Fantastic Four Vol 1: Solve Everything Fantastic Four Vol 2: Prime Elements Writing: Jonathan Hickman, Art: Dale Eaglesham, et. al., 2010 Premise: Collects Fantastic Four 570-574, 575-578. Marvel’s First Super-Family stars in all-new adventures. In the first volume, Reed Richards turns his brain to the most intractable problem of all: everything. In the second, the Fantastic Four explore four alien cities, and struggle to make peace between Earth and different civilizations. The Fantastic Four have been getting short shrift in the public consciousness recently. They’re a little stodgy and a little old-fashioned, and their movies really stunk. Hickman proves here, though, that there’s a lot to love about these characters. Everything that makes them really work is on full display here: their strengths and weaknesses and their rock-solid relationships with each other. The first plot arc really reminded me what’s amazing about Mr. Fantastic, a guy often relegated to one-panel ...

Hawkeye Vol 1: My Life as a Weapon Matt Fraction, David Aja, Javier Pulido, et. al., 2013 Premise: Collects Hawkeye #1-5 and Young Avengers Presents #6. I’m just going to quote from the beginning of the first issue. “ Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, became the greatest sharpshooter known to man. He then joined the Avengers. This is what he does when he’s not being an Avenger. That’s all you need to know .” What a fun series. Apparently when Clint isn’t busy with the Avengers he’s mixing it up with low-level gangsters, getting involved in the lives of his neighbors, and running the odd secret mission for SHIELD. Also training/hanging around with/getting trash-talked by Kate Bishop, also known as Hawkeye. (That’s sort of explained in the Young Avengers Issue in the back. They have the same code-name, just roll with it.) The dialogue is snappy and clever, the action exciting and tense. The art perfectly enhances the tone of the book; it’s stylized and gritty on one level, but also...

Superheroes Edited by Rich Horton, 2013 New Release - I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of review. Premise: A new anthology of fiction based around the title theme. From other reviews of this book, I expected to like it a bit more than I did, but I did still enjoy it. Like most anthologies, this was a mixed bag. The first few, especially, I thought were just fine, nothing too exciting. The last one I found long, meandering, annoying and pointless. In general, I think the target market for this book are people with a casual knowledge of superheroes, but who aren't really hardcore comic fans. For example, I enjoyed The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm , which followed the average citizens of a country ruled by a supervillain, and Tonight We Fly , about an aging hero, but these aren't any more inventive or interesting than stories that have already been told with Dr Doom or in Astro City. Not necessarily less interesting either, but I ...

The Spark (Extrahumans, Book 3) Sarah Jane Bigelow, 2012 Premise: Sequel to Broken and Fly Into Fire . Dee has grown older, but still feels lost inside. She can’t control her powers or her life. The little settlement of former heroes on the planet Valen may have finally gotten the government’s attention, and soon no one will have a safe refuge. In short, I don’t think this is a bad book, and big chunks of it were great, but overall I was left unsatisfied. Bit too much angst, bit too much dystopia in this one for me. Some great character stuff, but the very end pissed me off. For more details, read on, but Some Mild Spoilers Ahead. It wasn’t that I wanted the characters to solve all the problems of their dystopian future. At the end of the first book I got the feeling that the author wasn’t interested in telling that story. But I wanted something. I wanted one relationship to not fall apart or one character to not betray/fight/hate the others. I wanted some personal reso...