Not for me. I read the foreword to try and get a feel for what this was going to be about, as I had never read anything by Alejandro Jodorowsky before.Not for me. I read the foreword to try and get a feel for what this was going to be about, as I had never read anything by Alejandro Jodorowsky before. Maybe something is lost in translation, but he sounded very up-his-own-ass in it. Especially the part where he talked bout how one artist couldn't draw faces, one could only do robots, one wasn't good with landscapes - and how he wrote the stories that allowed them to work within those parameters.
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There were little forewords in front of each story that didn't add much to the reading experience other than to overexplain a bit for my taste, as well.
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But maybe I just didn't understand what I was getting into? I only grabbed it because it was a Hoopla Bonus Borrow and I was out of comics. Anyway. I thought all the stories kind of sucked (except the one about the vampire, ironically), but none of them were long enough to actually hate.
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Whatever this is, I'm not the right audience for it. Recommended for someone else. ...more
A retelling of Lovecraft's A Thing on the Doorstep. Which I haven't read yet, as I'm not a huge fan of Lovecraft - don'thurtme.
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The book opens wiA retelling of Lovecraft's A Thing on the Doorstep. Which I haven't read yet, as I'm not a huge fan of Lovecraft - don'thurtme.
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The book opens with a man walking into an asylum and shooting his best friend. This is the story of why Daniel Upton says he didn't murder Edward Derby.
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Two boys who speak to each other like they're both about 40 years old meet at a museum. One boy is frail and sheltered and incredibly interested in the occult. The other is a bit more normal, but for whatever reason, they click and form a bond that lasts over the years.
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The rest of this part one shows the two as they grow into men, still part of each other's lives as they find love and children. Daniel and his wife even name their son, Edward Derby Upton.
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And while Daniel's family seems normal, the woman Edward loves is a bit odd. *cue Psycho violin screech*
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The art is serviceable and I want to know what happens next, so I'll probably grab Part Two. Recommended for Lovecraftian horror fans....more
Great first issue. This is a continuation of the story from The Nice House on the Lake, and it gave me a peek at the wider view of (maybe) where this sGreat first issue. This is a continuation of the story from The Nice House on the Lake, and it gave me a peek at the wider view of (maybe) where this story might be headed. Because to be honest, this is a very vague title.
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This new Nice house has a different group of people and a different being that brought them here. It seems to hint that there might be some kind of contest between houses. And that while Walter bent the rules to include his friends, Max did not. How did one of Walter's friends end up in Max's house then? I don't know, but I'm interested.
I'm not the right audience for this. I've picked it up 3 times and listened to about 35 minutes of it altogether. But she keeps whining aDNF 3%
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I'm not the right audience for this. I've picked it up 3 times and listened to about 35 minutes of it altogether. But she keeps whining about how she can't trust Xaden because he didn't share rebel secrets with her, and she can't trust her brother because he faked his death and she had to mourn him for years. Seriously? If what they're saying is true, millions of lives are on the line if this rebellion fails. But no. Nobody trusted a kid and you had to be sad for a few years. Oh god. The horror! The pity!
When she got all snippy at the leaders of the rebellion for thinking they could "decide her fate" while she was "in the room" - in other words, decide if they should send her back into the school and trust that she wouldn't rat them out to her mother (the general!) - I decided I couldn't do another 27 and a half hours of this.
3.5 stars This is the best Mercy book I've read in a while!
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So excited to see some of that old magic back. I liked that all the sex scenes in thi3.5 stars This is the best Mercy book I've read in a while!
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So excited to see some of that old magic back. I liked that all the sex scenes in this basically faded to black, too. One, because I'm getting to the point that I've read so many sex scenes over the years that I'm just tired of them taking up page time. And two, because I don't think sex scenes are Briggs' forte to start with. Last time around, I was really starting to get an ick over Mercy and Adam's cringe relationship, but now they're back to just being a good, solid urban fantasy couple.
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The skinny gist of the story is that Mercy's brother, Gary, shows up at their house completely incoherent and unable to understand exactly who everyone is without a bit of help. It's up to Mercy and Adam to backtrack through the past few months of his life and figure out who or what cursed him.
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Their search leads them to a lodge in Montana during the middle of a supernatural snowstorm that has them completely cut off from the rest of the world, and a cast of characters that includes the fey, an elemental, a spider, a few goblins, and a vampire and her ghostly husband. All they have to do is find out which one of them stole a frost giant's magical harp. Oh, and if they don't figure it out soon, they might just be responsible for Ragnarok. I love it when Mercy's dad stirs the pot.
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I do wish Briggs wouldn't leave so many plot threads and characters dangling. Like, it's fine for one or two things to be mysterious to give us something to look forward to, but it seems like she starts something interesting in one book, forgets about it in the next, mentions it again for a second in another book, and then kind of forgets again. And she does this with multiple characters/plot threads. What's up with Tad and Zee? What the hell with Sherwood? Where's Stefan and all the vampires from the first few books?! Gabriel is getting married to some girl he just met?! And on and on and on. Just don't mention it at all if you don't plan on giving us a resolution or explanation in the next book. Please. But this was still a far more coherent and fun story than I've been used to from this title in the past few years, so we're going to call this one a win.
I didn't love it, didn't hate it, but also didn't get the point of it. Or, I guess that's not right. I got the point, but it didn't wow or horrify me.
[I didn't love it, didn't hate it, but also didn't get the point of it. Or, I guess that's not right. I got the point, but it didn't wow or horrify me.
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A person wakes up on a table and can't see. They can't remember...anything. For most of the rest of the book, a voice from another room instructs them in activities that will hopefully bring their mind and body to a state of health. The first few pages were interesting but I ended up thinking that it was ultimately kind of long and drawn out for what seemed to me to be a pretty foreseeable ending.
(view spoiler)[So what that she's making clones of her dead husband and none of them have survived? So what that he didn't "authorize" her to make the clones? When you're dead, you're dead. You won't care what happens to your DNA. It's like how I've never understood why some people get so freaked out over the idea that someone in a funeral home might fuck their dead body. Who cares? You're dead. If some weirdo has a last hurrah with my corpse...LOL! Are they gross? Yes. Does it concern me? No. (hide spoiler)]
This seems to be a favorite from the Forward Collection, but it was too disjointed to be a five-star read for me.
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So, the premise is cool and tThis seems to be a favorite from the Forward Collection, but it was too disjointed to be a five-star read for me.
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So, the premise is cool and the first half of the story really gives you a lot of food for thought. If you could choose your unborn child's temperament using genetic "nudging", would you? A fertility clinic gives a man the opportunity to see three different versions of what his son's life will be like using statistical probability based on what personality attributes they can bring to the forefront. Would you want your child to be content and stable if it meant they never lived up to their true potential? Would you choose a path that had creativity and passion if it also meant addiction and chaos? Would you pick a life where charm and charisma meant skating through life as an asshole until life invariably teaches them a hard lesson? You gotta think about that for a minute, right?
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Because you're not just trying to weed out diseases or decide on an eye color. You're plotting out a roadmap for their life, and not in the hopeful let's make sure they go to a good school sort of way. No, you've gone whole hog in a manipulatively invasive way. Oh, wow! That's something to chew on.
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Then it veered off the rails and went in a whole new direction when he left the clinic to mull things over. Without giving any spoilers, I'll put it like this: Pretend you're sitting at a bar and you strike up a conversation about {insert SPORT here} that's playing on the television. Then suddenly, this other guy starts ranting about the ice wall around the flat earth and how 5G cellphone towers have been installed by the government to send out mind control signals. It's not where you thought your night was headed when you casually mentioned that you were pulling for the college basketball team on the television.
(view spoiler)[Sam's having doubts about his life choices and daydreams that his wife is having an affair with the fertility doctor, so he hits a bar on the way home. The bartender gives him some sob story about having triplets after their first child, causing him and his wife to have to re-arrange their priorities (this equals being poor), then tells him about his one smart daughter and 3 not-as-smart sons and all the sacrifices they made for her to get into the best college, only to be told by her doctor that they all needed to sit down and talk because ISSUES, and the whole family saw a therapist and the kids all talked about their childhood, and it was just the most specialist thing ever. Then the bartender and another patron proceed to tell him that they think the military is funding the clinic to make super-soldiers. Yes. Seriously. So Sam gets in his self-driving car and rides back to the clinic and snags his sperm. He hops back in his car, goes to the pub, and slaps his container full of spooge down on the bar. I'm taking my DNA back, baby! The three guys eyeball his jar of goo as the story fades to black... (hide spoiler)] I get it, but that whole last bit ruined the initial what if coolness of the first part of the story for me. It overexplained things in a way that took the fizzle out of it.
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The first half was such a great premise that I can't give it less than 3 stars, though....more
Very cute. So the gist is that (sometime in the future) a bunch of the 1 percenters got on a spaceship as the Earth was hitting a crisis point in the eVery cute. So the gist is that (sometime in the future) a bunch of the 1 percenters got on a spaceship as the Earth was hitting a crisis point in the ecological sense. They made a new version of Earth. A "better" version. One where they don't have to deal with peasants. Now they've sent back someone in the servant class to retrieve some kind of resource that they need, with the promise that he'll get this perfect skin as a reward. That part was very hard for me to visualize, but whatever. Basically, he'll get to be blond with a big dick. Earth was dying when they left, so all he's got to do is navigate this barren planet and get the goods. But he is in for the surprise of a lifetime.
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(view spoiler)[ Earth is flourishing. Filled to the brim with not only plant life, but people! And they're happy in their ecologically sound cities, where everyone has everything they need to live and no one is forgotten or abandoned. They even get paid if they don't work! It appears as though life got better for the have-nots once the haves left en masse.
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Inside his mind, he's got this chip with basically a downloaded version of the new world leaders' consciousness that's constantly talking to him and telling him what to do, how to do it, giving out information (that's a sunset, that's a tree, that's a woman, etc.), while informing him how gross it is on Earth when compared with the perfection they've created on their planet.
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At the end, our unnamed astronaut has to decide what he wants to do with this information.
Unfortunately, I'm not rich. And I've met my peers. Some are wonderful, some are horrid. Greed and callousness aren't character traits relegated only to the wealthy. So, while it's a lovely idea to say that if only we could get rid of the people in charge, the borders would come down and we would all peacefully work toward finding solutions that would benefit mankind as a global unit, I'm afraid that's just not so. What would realistically happen if they all disappeared is that their Great Value counterparts would step in to take their place. We'd still have wars, we'd still have genocide, we'd still have people that lacked basic necessities. It doesn't mean it's useless to try to make the world a better place, it just means that there's no such thing as a quick fix. (hide spoiler)] But this is fiction and I liked the story. Sci-fi, ftw!...more
An NPC in a game gains sentience. How? Why? No idea. Its creator spends years of her life trying to unpack what that means and trying to ensure that herAn NPC in a game gains sentience. How? Why? No idea. Its creator spends years of her life trying to unpack what that means and trying to ensure that her new life form doesn't get out of control. As with all new technology involving AI, it works out splendidly for the humans.
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Ok, this is one book that I would recommend you go the audio version. Rosa Salazar killed it with the narration - the amount of emotion conveyed was just *chef's kiss* I mean, I'm talking about her voice cracking and everything. Good stuff, good stuff.
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In the end, I was on the side of the AI. (view spoiler)[I mean, everyone's going to die someday, so why not kill everyone off and upload them into a reality without all the nonsense and anxiety? I didn't really see what all the fuss was about. Our main character was miserable already. And as far as the "noooo! just let me end!" argument, well...you are ending. It's whatever cleaned-up version of you that the AI uploads into their new reality that will keep on keeping on. (hide spoiler)]
It's the end of their world as they know it. But Samantha does not feel fine.
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There is a meteor hurtling toward the planet. And the impact is goiIt's the end of their world as they know it. But Samantha does not feel fine.
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There is a meteor hurtling toward the planet. And the impact is going to kick up dust clouds that will blot out the sun. Then there will be the requisite tsunamis. And whatever is left after that the lava monsters who live in the center of the planet will most assuredly break out of the crust and destroy. Shhh. Just let me have that last one...
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Ok, so most of the end of Earth via impact stories revolve around humans stoically making their peace with death OR trying to figure out how to divert/destroy the asteroid. Roth's story assumes that people figured out this thing was coming at them and started planning evacuation. I'm intrigued. There's a way off the planet, so what's the story about?
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But the nuts and bolts of the story isn't about how they built enough ships to send humanity out into the stars. That part is blessedly glossed over as a given, and we are introduced to a small group of horticulturalists and scientists who are working to classify as many plant specimens as they can before the final ship takes off. And even the plants aren't the story. No, it's about one young woman whose life holds no meaning and who is secretly planning to stay on the planet till the bitter end.
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To be honest, the majority of the story is dreary. I mean, if you want to stay behind...why not? Why not, indeed? There's a hopeful note to this one that I appreciated. (view spoiler)[Even if there is nothing for you at this moment, you just never know what might miss out on if you give up. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but I think humans need it. (hide spoiler)] It's not a fast-paced thriller but it was a decent story. Recommended....more
When a genius gets her husband to help her cheat at Keno with the help of a quantum computer and entanglementThe house always wins. Or does it?
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When a genius gets her husband to help her cheat at Keno with the help of a quantum computer and entanglement theory, it looks like she's covered all of her bases. But she forgot that while she's got brains, the owner of the casino has decades of experience catching would-be cheaters. So what's a girl to do when it looks like the chips are down?
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I loved this one! It was just long enough to tell a story and get me invested in the characters. It can be hard to do that with shorts, but Weir managed it. Recommended....more
I want more. If Brubaker and Philips could just never be done with their Criminal series, I feel like it would set things just a little more right in tI want more. If Brubaker and Philips could just never be done with their Criminal series, I feel like it would set things just a little more right in the world.
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In 1976 Teeg Lawless pulls off an armored truck robbery with his crew, then gets sent to jail after a fight at the bar that evening gets him arrested on a bench warrant - for failure to appear in traffic court. Womp, womp. Sucks, but all he should have to do is ride out his 30 days and then collect his portion of the take from his partner. Except someone wants him dead and is willing to pay to see it happen. You almost feel sorry for him but it's hard to drum up any sympathy for Teeg.
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Fast forward to 1979 and we follow a young Tracy Lawless as he is pulled along for the world's worst road trip as his father goes after someone.
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This one is just heartbreaking. You really feel for Tracy, just wanting to be a normal kid with normal experiences, but he's never going to be anything but old beyond his years.
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I loved the addition of the fake pulpy comics that ran alongside both Teeg's and Tracy's stories. Teeg is reading something called Zangar the Savage and Tracy is reading Kung Fu Werewolf.
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I have to admit I was kind of into that werewolf story and wouldn't mind if Brubaker and Philips wanted to do a limited run with that one. I can't be the only one...
Tracy Lawless is working off a debt to Sebastian Hyde, but he's just a little too scrupulous for this line of work and tends to make sure tGood stuff.
Tracy Lawless is working off a debt to Sebastian Hyde, but he's just a little too scrupulous for this line of work and tends to make sure the people he is sent to kill actually deserve it.
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Hyde, unwilling to lose him but not digging the way he's working out as muscle, tasks him with finding out who is offing men in the city who should have been untouchable. This town just isn't safe for criminals anymore! And if tracking down a criminal serial killer isn't dangerous enough, it seems as though Tracy has decided to have an affair with the big man's wife. Don't worry, I'm sure that won't be a problem later on...
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To add a cherry on the top of all this mess, the military has sent someone to find him and bring him back. But hey, considering everything else that's going on, maybe that isn't the worst thing that can happen to him, right?
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Tracy is everyone's favorite Lawless, and you just can't help rooting for him to find a way out of this mess. But everyone knows that no good deed goes unpunished.
We first met Jacob as the counterfeiter who makes Tracy a new identity in Lawless. And now BrubakeGoddamn. This is how you write crime fiction.
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We first met Jacob as the counterfeiter who makes Tracy a new identity in Lawless. And now Brubaker tells us his story. And I was not expecting the story I got.
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Like all hardboiled crime noir, there's a lousy dame at the center of this one. And like everything else in this thing, she starts out one way and ends up as something entirely different.
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Jacob's backstory is that he married the niece of the biggest crime syndicate boss in the city, Sebastian Hyde. So, when she went missing and Detective Starr kept trying to point the finger at Jacob, his wife's uncle didn't take the news well. He had Jacob beaten until he was crippled, which brought on a nervous breakdown that left him institutionalized for quite some time. Meanwhile, his wife's body was found in her car, the victim of an apparent accident on the road. To assuage his guilt, Hyde made it so that Jacob could live out the rest of his days writing his Frank Kafka, Private Eye comic strip for the paper. The end result is that the cartoon Kafka is along for the ride in Jacob's head giving him advice and telling him to man up.
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The skinny gist? Iris (the lousy dame) and her scuzzball boyfriend catch Jacob's eye in a diner when they get into a vicious argument. Intrigued by her, he slowly rides to the rescue and ends up getting embroiled in a lot more than he ever bargained for. And that's all I can say without spoiling the whole shebang.
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This is one of my favorite Criminal storylines so far. Wow. Just...wow. Highly Recommended....more
Three different characters tell the same sad story from their own point of view. And it is really well done.
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Jake is a boxer and the son of the Three different characters tell the same sad story from their own point of view. And it is really well done.
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Jake is a boxer and the son of the closest confidant and enforcer of syndicate boss Walter Hyde. So he grew up with the heir of a crime family as his best friend. But as time changes both of them, their friendship takes a beating. And of course, it's over a woman.
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Teeg Lawless returns from Vietnam with more than a few issues and easily falls into the life of a mean drunk. And when his gambling habit catches up to him, he falls even more easily into the life of a small-time crook. But when he finds out the woman he's been sleeping with has set him up, and that he's stolen from Walter Hyde, some tough choices will have to be made if he wants to survive.
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Danica Briggs is the woman who flits through this storyline and sets the wheels in motion for all the men around her. And her story is about as sad as it comes. She fell in love with the wrong man and her whole life spiraled out of her control from that moment on. By the time you get to her story, you already know the ending. But it doesn't make the ride any less interesting.
How far will you go to avenge a brother you don't really know? Tracy Lawless comes from a family of small-time but well-known criminals. And when he wHow far will you go to avenge a brother you don't really know? Tracy Lawless comes from a family of small-time but well-known criminals. And when he was old enough to reach the pedals of a getaway car, he followed in that family business. Arrested at a young age, he was given the choice between military service or prison. He chose to enlist and was put to work using his special skill set for the American government.
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Fast forward many years and he's done something to land himself in stockade until whatever he had done blew over. And in that time, his little brother was killed. Armed with an old photo and a slew of bad memories, he sets out to find the people responsible and enact his own form of justice. The problem with that is that sometimes justice has already been served.
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I like where this is going so far and I can't imagine that Brubaker and Philips are taking us on a ride that will be anything less than spectacularly seedy.
In the last volume, the twins find out that their grumpy mother and carefree father have hidden depths when their mom tosses them inI'm hooked.
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In the last volume, the twins find out that their grumpy mother and carefree father have hidden depths when their mom tosses them in a haunted house and tells them to "fix" it. Like those parents who toss their kids in the pool and tell them to sink or swim. Except with demons and possessed dolls.
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When this volume opens, the twins are floundering. Trying to figure out not only who they are but what, as well. What does it mean to come from two immortal bloodlines? And two immortal bloodlines of...?
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Ok, so it starts with a ritual murder committed by what looks to be a bunch of sweet elderly philanthropists. When Milly starts seeing one of the ghosts who was murdered, she and Billy try to unravel the mystery behind it all. They also need to figure out why that creepy little doll they thought they were rid of is showing up again, as well.
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Not to mention something seems to want Billy's attention. Something that knows his father and wants to make a deal.
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And speaking of his Keon, it appears he has a brother? The family dynamics here were a lot of fun to start unpacking and I imagine it will only get more interesting from here on out.
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Ok. For me, the stars of the show are Ipo & Keron. I can't be the only one who thinks that, either. They're written in such a fun way that you can't help but want them to get as much page time as their children. I like that it's a generational story, and I appreciate that both generations are equally interesting.
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Alright, all of the above barely scratches the surface of this volume. I mean, you really get your money's worth out of this when it comes to juicy plot. This is easily turning into one of the titles I actively look forward to and search out, and one that I can see myself purchasing once it is collected into books.
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