Blog Archives
Various Anthologies – Broad Appeal
In case you missed the pun, this is a collection of work from mostly female cartoonists and, like most anthologies, has good things and bad things. It’s a great concept though, as it has bios for everybody in here along with links to their sites and even interviews with a few people. At least two of them work for Marvel in some capacity, but who am I to judge? Granted, a few of the stories are more than a bit cute (as admitted by the creators, so it’s not like I’m being sexist or anything), but the strength of this collection is the sheer variety of stuff involved. You have a nine year old girl reading and dealing with a comic about the atomic bomb in Japan on one page and a mostly wordless story about lazy cats working in a glue factory on the next. All kinds of great female cartoonists in here too. Check out the website if you don’t believe me. $9.95 is pretty cheap for something this packed too, so check into it, see what you think. Contributors: Sara Varon, Becky Cloonan, Raina Telgemeier, Ariel Bordeaux, Ellen Forney, Diana Sprinkle, Miss Lasko-Gross, Missy Kulik, Jen Benka, Kris Dresen, Hellen Jo, Kristen Petersen, Jen Sorenson, Michele Roman, Abby Denson, Jenny Gonzalez, Rachel Hartman, Mary Minch, Megan Kelso, Doreen A. Mulryan, Lark Pien, Sarah Anderson Lock, Elena Steier, Jennifer Moore, Lela Lee, Vanessa Satone, Shaenon K. Garrity, Catherine Tutrone, Ellen Lindner, Elayne Riggs, Robin Riggs, Janet Hetherington, Donna Barr.
Hartman, Rachel – Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming
Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming
Add this to the list of books that I’m not sure what to think about. The characters were all done well, the art was great, it was just a bit… dull at times, I guess. Still, this has the feeling of a prologue more than anything else, and time will tell whether or not this whole series is worth getting. She’s off to a good start though, and I can see where the Xeric grant came from. This is the story of Amy, in theory, but it’s really about the whole town and all the people that Amy deals with. There’s a vast array of characters and I found myself flipping back to the character guide at the start of the book a couple of times, and that’s rare. I don’t know who to recommend this to. If you like fantasy, well, a lot of the fantasy elements are here (knights and dragons, for example), but nothing much happens with them. This is about the characters through and through. I don’t know, maybe the minis would be of some help. You can get them at the website, by the way, but there doesn’t look to be much in the way of samples there. The heart of any good story is good characters. If this really is a prologue, she’s set herself up wonderfully. If it’s not, I don’t know if this is strong enough to stand on its own. Talk to me in a few years when I have the answer to that and I’ll be able to tell you more about it. Until then, it’s still a fun story to read, if slightly puzzling.
