Shade, the Changing Girl, Volume 1: Earth Girl Made Easy — Cecil Castellucci & Marley Zarcone

 

Publisher: Touchstone
Released: Dec 27th, 2016
Genre: Graphic novel
Source: ARC from publisher

 

 

Far away on the planet Meta, Loma’s going nowhere fast. She’s dropped out of school, dumped her boyfriend and is bored out of her mind. She longs to feel things. That’s where her idol, the lunatic poet Rac Shade, and his infamous madness coat come in. Loma steals the garment and makes a break across galaxies to take up residence in a new body: Earth girl Megan Boyer.

Surely everything will be better on this passionate, primitive planet with a dash of madness on her side and this human girl’s easy life. Only now that she’s here, Loma discovers being a teenaged Earth girl comes with its own challenges and Earth may not be everything she thought it’d be. Megan Boyer was a bully who everyone was glad was almost dead, and now Loma has to survive high school and navigate the consequences of the life she didn’t live with the ever-growing and uncontrollable madness at her side. Not to mention that there are people back on her homeworld who might just want Shade’s coat back.

From Goodreads

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels. It’s one of the genres I want to get more into. So when the chance to review Shade, the Changing Girl, Volume 1 came up I grabbed it.

I really enjoyed it. It did take me a bit to get used to the format and really grasp the storytelling, but that’s because of my lack of knowledge of the genre, not the novel itself. I found the story very interesting and about a quarter of the way through, once I got comfortable with the format, I just devoured it.

Since this is volume 1 I feel that it just introduced the characters and the plot. I wanted to know more about how she’s dealing being in the body of a bully, but I imagine that will happen in vol 2.

This was a cool story and I’m really looking forward to the next novel in the series.

Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks

Publisher: SLG Publishing
Released: Nov 27th, 2007
Genre: Graphic Novel
Bought at Word on the Street because I loved the title and cover image.

Joss’s life sucks. She’s worried about exams and student loan debt when she’d much rather be watching the zombie movies she loves. So it’s no surprise that when she tells her roommates that she’s been attacked by a swarm of real-life, brain-hungering zombies-zombies!- they think the stress has finally cracked her.

But Joss knows she’s sane- and it’s a good thing, too! Because the zombies are real, and the she’s the only one who knows how to fight them. Armed with “The Rules,” truths about fighting the undead gleaned from zombie movies, Joss, Sonnet and Robyn just might make it out of their dorm alive.

From SLG Publishing website.

Holy shit this was FUNNY. And not just “ha ha how cute” funny. I mean “snorting and tears streaming down my face” funny.

I’m just getting into graphic novels and I seriously think I need to read more like Zombie Calling. It’s a short little graphic novel, but my God it packs a wicked punch. Joss was a pretty cool character, as were her friends Sonnet and Robyn. And I loved that she was depending on her vast knowledge of zombie movies to keep them alive.

I also really, really dug that this takes place at a Canadian university. The whole idea of a zombie outbreak on campus was hilarious. After all, I pretty much felt like a zombie during most of my university days. 🙂

Review: The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire – Canada Reads

Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
Released: Sept 1st, 2009
Genre: Canadian literature, graphic novel
From the fine peeps at CBC Books.

Where does a young boy turn when his whole world suddenly disappears? What could change two brothers from an unstoppable team into a pair of bitterly estranged loners? How does the work of one middle-aged nurse reveal the scars of an entire community, and can anything heal the wounds caused by a century of deception?

Set in an imaginary version of Jeff Lemire’s hometown, ESSEX COUNTY is an intimate study of an eccentric farming community, and a tender meditation on family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation. With the lush, expressive inking of a cartoonist at the height of his powers, Lemire draws us in and sets us free.

From Top Shelf Productions website.

Apparently some folks have their panties in a bunch because a graphic novel has found its way onto this years Canada Reads panel. I mean, it’s a COMIC for God’s Sake! How can a lowly COMIC be considered literature. Well,  I have two words for those folks: Read. It. Not the words you thought I was going to say, eh? Well, this is a PG13 blog.

From the first panel I was sucked into the lives and stories of Essex County. I’ve read a few graphic novels before, but this is the first one that literally took my breath away. I am now convinced that Jeff Lemire is a cartooning, story-telling Canadian God. Seriously. I was dumb-founded by how beautiful this book was. And I don’t give a rat’s ass what snooty literary folk say: Essex County is not only Canadian literature, it’s Canadian literature at its best.

I loved how all three of the stories tied into each other, but also stood on their own. Novels where lives intertwine in unexpected and unknown ways  have a special place in my heart. I love how what at first appears to be random turns out to not only have more structure, but more meaning. The idea that you could go into a store and buy a chocolate bar from someone who is an integral but unknown part of your life is amazing.

Of course, I can’t talk about Essex County without talking about the artistry behind it. I was blown away by the amount of emotion that Lemire could show in a single frame of a crow, or a silo or a man sitting at the kitchen table. No dialogue. No words. Yet it’s clear what’s going on in the story and the character’s mind. Those simple frames were stunning and moving. I never thought that a graphic novel could bring me to tears.

I loved Essex County. I loved the intertwining stories, the characters, the writing, the drawing. Hell, I even loved the thickness of the paper.

And as for you nay-sayers, well, isn’t Canada all about diversity and acceptance of things that are different from the norm? I think it’s high time the graphic novel made it’s way into Canada Reads. And Essex County, with it’s stories of loss, family and life in rural Canada is the perfect contender.

Alison Dare’s Double Dare Blog Tour

I was so happy when I got the chance to not only read the wickedly amazing Alison Dare graphic novels by the equally wickedly amazing  J. Torres and J. Bones, but also to have a bit of fun creating my own Alison Dare mini adventure as part of the Alison Dare Double Dare blog tour.

My thoughts:

Okay, first of all, how cool is Alison Dare? The daughter of an archeologist mom and librarian/crime fighting superhero dad, Alison always has lots of adventures. And, of course, plenty of chance for misadventure. Both of these graphic novels, Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures and Alison Dare, The Heart of the Maiden were so much fun! Seriously. The art work was super, the story lines outstanding and quite often I found myself laughing out loud at Alison’s antics and some of the supporting cast of characters.  The novels had an old school 1940s-1950s radio serial feel to them. Kinda like Batman meets Indiana Jones meets the Mummy. Just super cool.

The adventure: The Case of the Pharaoh’s Cat

Never one to shy away from trouble or adventure, Alison Dare recently went on a brave rescue mission. On location with her mom, Alison stumbled upon a nefarious plan by Vlad the evil mastermind to steal the Pharaoh’s precious kitty cat. With her father tied up elsewhere and her mother busy with the dig, it was left up to Alison to save the day!

"You'll never be able to fight your way to the Pharaoh's kitty cat, Alison! Not if I can help it!"

Harvey, the giant gargoyle was scary, but using her wit and some luck, Alison was able to defeat him with a quick game of "Hey, what's that behind you?".

The next hurdle was the giant grackle gang. This may very well be the toughest opponent Alison has ever come up against! Well, besides brussels sprouts and her math homework.

The head grackle was tough, but no match for Alison. After feeding him some cat food and strawberries, he went right to sleep, leaving the way to the Pharaoh's kitty cat wide open.

The Pharoah's kitty cat was rescued and returned to its proper place. And once again Alison Dare saves the day!

The contest:

The folks over at Tundra books are hosting a super fun contest to win some Alison Dare swag. Just pop on over, print out one or both of the Alison Dare photos and have some fun. I know I did.

Thanks so much to the folks over at Tundra books for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and for the review copies.

Review: Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Scholastic Canada, 2010

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there’s still more: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.

 

 

From Scholastic Canada website

 

I’m pretty darn new to graphic novels. In fact, Smile is only the second one I’ve ever read. But I have a strong feeling that because of how much I loved Smile, it’s a format I’ll be reading a whole lot more of.

While the main story line is all about Raina and her quest to have her teeth look normal again, having a perfect smile isn’t really what Smile is about. It’s about growing up, those awkward teen years and learning to like yourself for who you are. In other books these life lessons have appeared heavy handed, but this was not the case here. It’s been many, MANY years since I’ve been a teen but reading about Raina, her boy troubles, obnoxious friends and self consciousness brought it all back. While I never had braces or issues with my teeth I could still sympathize and groan with her for what she was going through.

And as someone who was a teen in the late 80s the references to that time period’s clothing and fads were wonderful. (Caboodle anyone?) When Raina describes what she wore on her first day of high school I actually snorted. From the scrunchie to the socks matching the sweater, she had it down to a tee.

This was a quick read for me and when I sat down to start it, I didn’t get up until I finished it. I was captivated by Raina’s voice and everything she was going through. I highly recommend Smile to kids and adults a lot. After all, most of us still feel like an awkward 13 year old inside.

Likewise: The High School Chronicles of Ariel Schrag by Ariel Schrag

Published by Touchstone, 2008
Reviewed by Colleen McKie

In Likewise, author Ariel Schrag completes the telling of her years in high school, a story that was started in Awkward and Definition and Potential. Likewise explores Arial’s final year of high school.

The awkwardness of high school is captured beautifully in Likewise, and at times I felt somewhat awkward reading it.  I also thought that the main character was very whiny at times, but then I remembered back to what high school was like and I realized that she captured those agonizing feelings of desperate crushes, not fitting in and trying to decide who you are perfectly.

Likewise was my first foray into the world of graphic novels, and I think that I may not have enjoyed the telling of the story as much as I could have due to the fact that I wasn’t used to the medium.  I have a feeling that as I read more graphic novels, I will be coming back to Likewise to give it another read.

Check out Likewise.