Category: Graphic Novel

Title: Harley Quinn, Volume 2: Joker Loves Harley
Author: Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: DC Comics
Source: Purchased
Release Date: June 27, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Harley Quinn’s punk-rock epic concludes with a BANG. Too deep and not covered enough, their undercover mission comes to an end as the gang takes on thieves and murderers. All the laughs and some of the quacks are all here.

Taking a break comes with unexpected woes when Harley and Ivy head to the Bahamas for sun-kissed beaches and ice-cold drinks.

Review:

Harley is back for more adventures! 

I love this girl! She’s so hilarious. All her catch phrases are awesome. I really laughed at each of the comics in this volumes. 

These stories were unpredictable. I liked the addition of the Joker and seeing his interactions with Harley. 

Harley’s fighter side and her innocent girlie side are both shown in these comics. She shows what a fighter she is when she confronts the Joker. But when she gets to see Santa, she becomes a little girl again, lining up with all the kids to tell him what she wants for Christmas. These dual sides of Harley work very well together and make her the funny and entertaining character that she is. 

I’m excited for Volume 3 to come out in a couple of weeks. I’ll be reviewing it when it’s released! 

My review for Harley Quinn, Volume 1: Die Laughing can be found here. 

Title: Allen, Son of Hellcock
Author: Will Tracy, Gabe Koplowitz
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Z2 Comics
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: August 29, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

The son of the greatest barbarian who ever lived is thrust into a quest that, frankly, he’d rather sit out.

Long before darkness descended upon the realm, Mungletown was protected by noble heroes led by the great loin-clothed warrior Hellcock. So fearsome was his might that . . . well, actually, a dragon eats him on page nine. But never mind that! Years later he’s still hanging around as a ghost to cajole his disappointment of a son, Allen, into taking up the mantle and becoming a proper heir to the Hellcock legacy. But Allen prefers a simpler life of eating sandwiches, drawing his own pretty terrible comic books, and being afraid to talk to girls. When Kaarl, the son of Hellcock’s retired nemesis Lord Krong, attacks the town to break up the monotony of peacetime, only local rabble-rouser Madeleine stands up to him. In a desperate bid to impress her, Allen decides to get Hellcock’s old band of adventurers back together and take the fight to Kaarl. Without much of a plan or any useful skills, what happens next is quite painful to witness.

From the comedic minds of Will Tracy (The Onion, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver) and Gabe Koplowitz (VICELAND), ALLEN, SON OF HELLCOCK has it all: washed-up sorcerers and swordsmen, terrifying horse-donkeys, sensitive ogres, fashionable elves, ornery minotaur landlords, an exceedingly polite retired despot, a black-hearted but oddly lovable villain, an idealistic young woman who’s the only one with any brains, and a would-be warrior who can’t seem to escape his own hackneyed destiny . . .

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I laughed out loud many times.

Allen is not the typical son of a hero. He’s nerdy and weak. He’s not like Thor, who is just as strong as his father, and able to complete his father’s tasks. This story takes that typical father-son heroic story and flips it.

There were many strange creatures along the way, that were just so weird and funny. They met horse-donkeys, animals with the head of a horse and body of a donkey. Everyone was freaked out by these creatures, even though they look pretty ordinary. There were also owls wearing hats and three foot tall “giants.”

There was a point when the creators of the book appeared in the story. I love when this meta technique is used, drawing attention to the fact that this is a graphic novel.

There were some graphic parts of the story (i.e. A head being ripped off a body) and lots of sexual innuendo, so this book is for a mature audience.

This was a really funny story. You should read it if you want to read something a little different from the typical heroic graphic novel.

Title: Harley Quinn, Volume 1: Die Laughing
Author: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: DC Comics
Source: Purchased
Release Date: March 21, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Harley Quinn’s crazy world on has gotten even more crazier when an unexpected, contagious enemy comes to town! Protecting her neighborhood just got a little harder, good thing they have chainsaws!

Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti continue their mammoth run on this New York Times best-selling title in Harley Quinn, Volume 1: Die Laughing!

Review:

I loved this graphic novel! This is the first Harley Quinn comic I’ve read. My only experience with her is from the movie Suicide Squad. I loved her in that movie. 

Harley is hilarious. I laughed out loud so many times. She’s constantly making mistakes and just throwing herself into the middle of fights without thinking about it first. 

The premise for the first couple of comics was so crazy. An alien came to earth and disguised himself as a cow. Then he ended up being processed and turned into hot dogs. Everyone who ate the hot dogs turned into zombies. Of course, they couldn’t find the source of their illness because how would they figure out that they ate an alien in their hot dogs? 

There were some graphic images, but they were so extreme that they just seemed ridiculous. It took away from the seriousness of the scene. 

I recommend this book if you like graphic novels. This is the first in the series. 

Title: Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father
Author: Jonathan Hennessey
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Release Date: August 8, 2017
Rating: ★★★

Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies in the 1700s. His mother died when he was young and his father abandoned him. He wished for a war to start, so he could make a name for himself in the world. Years after arriving in America he got his wish. He fought alongside George Washington to make America an independent country. Following that, he became a lawyer and polititian. 

This story tells about the early America, under the influence of Hamilton. He is just a part of the narrative. It tells about things happening around his life, but not just about him. 

The graphics are really nice in this book. Each frame shows a different place, from South America to New York. They are great depictions of the time period. 

There wasn’t enough dialogue in this book for me. The only speech parts were taken from real quotes. Graphic novels can be great teaching tools for young readers, but there was so much narrative and not enough story, so I think kids would get bored. Just because it’s a historical story, doesn’t mean it has to be boring and just state the facts. It could tell the story in an exciting way to entertain as well as teach, but I don’t think this story did that. It felt like more of an essay with pictures than a graphic novel. 

Title: Poe: Stories and Poems
Author: Gareth Hinds
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: August 1, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

This collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories and poems begins with The Masque of The Red Death. In this story, Prince Prospero has a party in his castle, so his friends can escape the red death that is happening in the city. He has 7 different rooms, each decorated in a different colour. But when the clock strikes 12, an unusual guest makes his way through each of the rooms to the Prince. This is a very illustrative tale, because of the colours in each room. I loved the way that the colours even reflected on the people in the images.

The Tell-Tale Heart is one of my favourite Poe stories! A man doesn’t like his boss’s glass eye. He steals the glass eye and kills his boss. He chops up the body and hides it in the floor boards. When the police come to investigate the screams that were heard by neighbours, the man feels so guilty he ends up confessing to the whole thing. The images in this story were quite dark at times, but it was a good representation of the tale.

The final poem in the collection is “The Raven,” Poe’s most famous work. I loved the illustrations for this poem. They really highlighted the raven, sitting on top of the door. It’s interesting that the narrator in this poem was illustrated as Poe himself. I love this poem and the graphics that went along with it were amazing.

This is a great graphic novel. I really liked that there was a legend with the themes of Poe’s works, such as   The themes of each story or poem were listed at its beginning. This makes the collection a great pick for young readers or people who are just being introduced to Poe’s stories and poems.

Title: Joyride Vol. 1
Author: Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release Date: September 27, 2016
Rating: ★★★

The people of Earth can no longer see the stars. Uma Akkolyte wants to escape into space to finally see the stars. Along with her friend Dewydd, they sneak onto a ship and travel into space. When they try to escape the ship, they are followed by a woman, Catrin. She follows them so far that she ends up leaving with them. Then, they proceed to explore other planets and pick up some friends along the way. 

This was a good story. There was a lot of action, and the graphics were good. 

I was a little lost sometimes when they brought up new terms. There were new planets and creatures. Also, sometimes they used the word “space” in place of swear words, but it took a while for me to figure that out. 

This was a pretty good graphic novel with an interesting plot. 

Title: Flash Gordon
Author: Jeff Parker, Jesse Hamm, Grace Allison
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Dynamite
Release Date: July 25, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

The world has been invaded by Ming, who is Flash Gordon’s nemesis. He placed a new continent in the Pacific Ocean, which created tidal waves around the world. Flash Gordon and his team go to the new land to defeat Ming and send him to another planet. But first they have to face apes, an animal army, and hallucinogenic plants. 

I had never read any Flash Gordon comics before this one. I liked that the illustrations were done in an old fashioned style, so it looks like the original comics. The cover also looks like an old newsprint comic. 

The story was pretty good. I had a hard time getting into it at the beginning because I’m not familiar with the history of the characters. But I liked it by the end. The final action scenes were exciting. 

This graphic novel is great for fans of the original comics and new readers.