Panel of the Week: 10/28/15

My neverending quest to get up to date with this column continues. It would be going better if I'd do this more than once every two weeks... I mean, that's not a great ratio for a weekly column, right? Anyway, the winner for the week of October 29th comes from Spider-Man 2099 (Vol. 3) #2, written by Peter David, art by Will Sliney.

A robot.

Where the hell did it come from ?

Detroit?

Why Detroit?

No idea. Just a blind guess.

THAT'S why Detroit. Robocop, bitch.

Goodreads Book Review - Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Much like the first book, I had a hard time separating the book from the movie while I read. That being said, the book is a compelling read. It pulled me along through the few slow spots because I couldn't wait to get back to the good parts; when the action and intrigue is this book are on, it's ridiculously hard to put down. The thing I miss most in terms of what expectations I had from the movie is the behind the scenes intrigue; the movies had more of the people from the capitol as the games went on. But there are more than enough characters to juggle already so I can see why that part isn't in the book. Collins made me want to book up the final part immediately after putting this one down. I managed to resist that but that's definitely the mark of a successful novel.


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Goodreads Book Review - Unfettered

Unfettered by Shawn Speakman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As in any anthology, there were a few stories I liked and a few I didn't. In particular, the ones by Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Tad Williams, Daniel Abraham, Peter V. Brett, Lev Grossman, and David Anthony Durham all amused me to some degree or another, with the Brooks and Grossman ones probably being my favorite. The one that disappointed me the most was R.A. Salvatore's entry; it wasn't a bad story, per se, but as he's one of my favorite authors and has been for almost 25 years now, I was hoping for more. I did enjoy the conceit that sets this one apart from other anthologies, though, that the authors were unfettered by a controlling theme and could write whatever they wanted. I just wish some of them had written things a little meatier.


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Goodreads Book Review - The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this after watching the movies makes it very hard to separate the two in my mind; as I read I'm seeing the scenes from the movie instead of imagining things myself, which makes it hard to give a completely unbiased review. That said, I enjoy the characters and the story line is engrossing.The action could stand to be a little more descriptive and a lot more fleshed out; all the action scenes fly by, and frustratingly tend to end with someone passing out and having the results told to them when they wake up. Isn't "show, don't tell," one of the first rules of writing? Minor complaints aside, it's a very good book.


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Goodreads Book Review - The Aeronaut's Windlass

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Butcher's other two series, the first book in the Cinder Spires was a slow beginning for me. Part of it, I'm sure, is that I'm not much into the whole steampunk thing, so I guess a lot of the tropes that go with the genre were lost on me. But as always, I love Butcher's character work. All his characters feel alive, vibrant, and fully fleshed out, which makes it easy to care about them. I also enjoyed the overall plot he has going on here, although aspects of it, such as the love story that pops up, felt a little to rushed and unearned. What I think I loved more than anything else, was the way cats fit into the story. The characterization and lifestyle he gave them felt so spot-on to how cats are that it had me thoroughly entertained. In all, getting into this one was a little slow to me until about the halfway mark, where it really took off, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Meanwhile, am I the only one who caught a reference or two to the Codex Alera in here? Might they be connected?


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Panel of the Week: 10/21/15

Getting closer and closer... I swear, the idea of a weekly column seemed like a good one at the time! Anyway, the winner for the batch of comics from two weeks ago is a two-page spread that comes from Marvel's Weirdworld #5, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mike Del Mundo.

Weirdworld has been a weird book, part of Marvel's still ongoing Secret Wars event, filled with weird ideas and weird images and just, y'know, weirdness. In this final issue the battle for Weirdworld rages on, and it's fought between crystal warriors and magma men and swamp things and dragons and so on and so forth. Which isn't why this panel wins. Nor are the pencils and colors themselves why it wins, although they're great too. The reason this panel wins is that, in the midst of all the assorted aforementioned crazies duking it out, there are a pair of butterflies flying by with a nuke. How the hell does that make sense?

It doesn't.

It's just weird.

Panel of the Week: 10/14/15

I had intended to post this over the weekend, as it's a good one for Halloween, but the weekend got away from me, so this panel from The Walking Dead #147 had to wait until today. Which is fine, because it isn't really all that Halloweeny after all. Of course, the issue in question was written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Charlie Adlard. There aren't really any spoilers in this one, so don't worry.

If last week's panel winner was a commentary on where things are in the Marvel Universe right now, well, an image of Rick putting a gun to Michonne's head has to be a similar sort of commentary on things in the Walking Dead comic right now, right? Unless all isn't as it seems... Anyway, it wins because it's a fairly shocking panel, in context or out, and the scene that follows is pure gold. And I absolutely love the cold, emotionless look on Rick's face, like he isn't afraid to do something, even if it is against Michonne. Just a bit chilling, huh?