Tag: comic books

Reviews

ARC Review: Mooncakes – Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

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Release Date: 15th October 2019
Publisher: Lion Forge
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mooncakes is a beautiful little queer graphic novel that follows a young witch, Nova, and her relationship with her childhood crush, Tam, a werewolf. The two deal with their feelings for each other and what it means for their friendship, whilst also battling demons and understanding the magic and witchcraft that they possess.

It was incredibly cute and I loved getting to meet these characters whilst having a glimpse into their lives. They deeply care about one another and have a strong sense of duty to one another as well as family. Family takes an important role in the comic which was an aspect I especially loved as I feel stories, particularly fantasy ones, often separate themselves from family and don’t address the important role that a family plays in someone’s life.

The story itself was lovely and intriguing and everything you would want, but another strong aspect that cannot be ignored is the beautiful illustrations and art that runs throughout the graphic novel. The style is really soft and detailed and it matches the story perfectly. Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu’s work compliment each other and match very well.

Overall, this was a lovely graphic novel to read and I’m glad that netgalley gave me the opportunity to see it in it’s working stages with the arc. I love the storyline, the art, the representation, the characters, and so much more. I definitely recommend picking it up.

Reviews

ARC Review: All the Better Part of Me – Molly Ringle

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Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: 3 September 2019

All the Better Part of Me is a new adult contemporary about a young actor who is starting to make a name for himself and navigating his newfound feelings for his childhood best friend.

I liked the story of this, especially for the representation of bisexuality. It felt very real for him to not understand his feelings and to question himself without taking anything away from what it means to be bisexual. He wasn’t afraid of being bisexual, something that I think is important to show, but that didn’t mean he automatically had all the answers, which I think it is also important to show.

I was initially intrigued to read this because it was classed as new adult and I thought it would be nice to read about characters close to my age, but I don’t think the new adult genre is for me. The characters were still a few years older than me and were doing a lot more (like living in different countries and dealing with pregnancy), and the new adult genre is also quite nsfw.

It was a good book that I think people are really going to enjoy.

Reviews

ARC Review: The Backstagers #2 by Andy Mientus

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Thank you NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: 19 March 2019

The Backstagers is a wonderful middle grade series written by Andy Mientus and illustrated by Rian Sygh and is based on the comics by the same name. It follows a group of students who work behind the scenes in their school’s theatre productions and the adventures they have along the way. This sequel, The Theater of the Ancients, picks up not long after the first book ended as the group embark on their next theatrical production, Tammy, a musical in which the group cast a deaf actress to play the deaf lead, and their new magical adventures backstage.

I was really excited to read this series as Andy Mientus is one of my favourite actors and the concept of a story inspired so much by theatre with a touch of magic was incredibly appealing to me. Both of the books so far in this series are well-written and I absolutely love reading them, but this sequel is definitely my favourite of the two. It is a brilliant story with some great characters, though I do wish I knew a bit more about some of them, and some fantastic representation.

One of the key things that I look for in books is the representation and this book does a brilliant job of including the diversity of humanity in the story without making it the focus of the story. There are several queer characters and several POC. There’s a deaf character in the sequel that the group all readily include and work together with to make sure that they and the show are totally inclusive for (I especially liked how there are notes in the ARC referring to illustrations of ASL signs that will be in the finished edition and how it often reminded me of Deaf West Spring Awakening – a production Andy Mientus was a part of). There are mentions of mental health and taking care of yourself and how you should never be ashamed to be struggling. All of these things are well-written and slotted into a story that is targeted towards a middle grade audience that doesn’t get this candour and diversity usually which makes it incredibly significant and important.

I’ve barely touched the surface of how good this book is, how much is accomplishes, and how glad I am that young people will have access to it. Many of them will be able to relate to the characters and find themselves in its pages and many more will learn so much about their peers and the world, they will have an insight into the way that the people around them are feeling and they will see what role they can play in it all too. All whilst they are reading about a group of misfit kids fighting ghosts, gaining magical artefacts, and exploring the mystical secrets behind the scenes of the world of theatre.

Reviews

ARC Review: Foreign to You by Jeremy Martin

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Thank you NetGalley and NineStar Press for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: 11 February 2019

In Foreign to You there are humans, like Finn, and Fianna, like Adelaide, who can shape-shift into deer. The two characters are from entirely different worlds with Finn being a hunter to the Fianna and Adelaide being a respected member of the Fianna, but they must work together if they hope to bring about peace.

The writing of this novel was beautiful and, though this could make it difficult to follow at points, also allowed you to easily get lost within its pages and feel as though you were part of the world. It’s an incredibly unique story and I always love fantasy novels that feature queer characters and storylines, especially when it is simply allowed to be part of the world without it being a big deal as it is in this one.

Tips

Tips for Getting Into Comics

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I don’t read a massive amount of comics and I am by no means an expert in them, but I used to find starting to read them so intimidating until I actually started and realised it wasn’t as difficult as I first thought it would be.

Tip #1: Start with something familiar.

One of the easiest ways to get used to the format or to find a place to begin is to read something familiar. That could be reading a comic for something you’ve seen a movie adaptation of or even just with the same characters. Some of the first comics I read were about Spider-Man and I picked storylines that I was already familiar with (i.e. Death of the Stacys).

Tip #2: Don’t worry about starting at the beginning.

I used to worry about the sheer amount of comics and the backlog of stories for different characters that I thought I would need to read to understand the latest ones, but comics are quite versatile and you can start pretty much anywhere. Comics work in separate storylines a lot so you can just pick one you find interesting and read the issues relating to that. Any references that are made to other works usually give enough detail that you can understand it and it also gives you a little note telling you the issue it’s from so you can read that one too if you wish.

Tip #3: Read digital editions.

The first few comics that I read I bought as physical copies, but these are expensive so I couldn’t get very many. I now usually read them on my Kindle (or borrow them from the library) which is so much better and lets me read a lot more. They are a lot cheaper and there are some great subscription services that allow you to access many (such as Kindle Unlimited & Marvel Unlimited) and they are often enhanced for reading on digital devices with services like ComiXology.

Tip #4: There are many comics other than Marvel and DC.

This seems really obvious, but I used to think that comics were mainly about superheroes and I didn’t realise how diverse they actually were. I absolutely love superhero comics, but I understand that the genre might not be for everyone. However, comic books are as diverse as regular novels meaning that if you want to try comics then I’m sure you would find something you would be interested in reading.

Tip #5: Just have fun!

Comics are great and I love reading them so much. I especially love reading them when I’m in a reading reading slump because they are so quick it makes me feel like I’m getting a lot of reading done and they are really easy to read too. I love getting to look at the art along with the story and to see how each artist has their own styles as well as how they each depict the characters and the world. Just have fun with them and don’t overthink them too much.

I hope some of these helped. Feel free to message me if you have any questions and I will be happy to help and spread the love of comics. Also if you have any of your own tips then please comment them for others to see!

I will make a post with some comic book recommendations soon so make sure you check back to see them!