forestofglory

Translation State by Ann Leckie—Since I accidentally read a novella the other week I decided to try and read some of the novels that have been sitting on my ereader for ages. I told myself that I could be as ruthless as I am with fic and stop reading after the first couple of lines if I want. And I did decide not to read a couple of books, but then I got to this and read it!

It was a good read. I enjoyed it in a worldbuilding puzzle solving way, more than intense feelings about the characters kind of way. I mean liked the characters and cared about what happened to them, but the thing that made me want to keep reading was learning more about the world and finding out what happened next.

This was published in 2023 which is not that long ago, but somehow reading it felt like a blast from the past, probably because it’s been so long since I read the other Imperial Radch books.

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time by Dan Jurgens et al—I don't know why when recently I saw Zero Hour mentioned my brain latched on and decided to read it. I'm not usually into big crossover events. I only know who 2/3 of the characters are at best. (This way more than I would have recognized a year ago!) Anyways the story was fun, if confusing in places, and there’s so many characters no one gets much screentime. The art is very 90s and also kinda trippy, so many rainbows!

Also it was neat to see Hal Jordan in his Parallax phase, since the thing I’ve read the most of with him is The Spectre, and it was interesting to see his evil phase from which he needed redemption. I found his motives surprisingly sympathetic (I read some more about this and apparently they later retconed it so that Parallax is an evil energy being possessing Hal, which I hate! Give him some agency!)
Content note: childbirth, mostly off screen

Emerald Twilight by Ron Marz et. al—This is the Hal goes bad arc. It's only three issues and kind of a lot happens. I think this would hit harder if I knew who any of the characters other than Hal were. As I said above, being mad at all powerful beings for not saving people is something I found very sympathetic as motivation.

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I had my procedure at it was less bad than I thought it would be. Now I have to wait a while and see if it actually helps.

The City of Belgium by Brecht Evens—I'm got about halfway through this graphic novel The art is gorgeous, but I've gone from feeling mildly indifferent about all the characters to actively disliking most of them so I decided to stop reading it

Meet Me on Mercer Street by Booki Vivat—This is somewhere between an illustrated novel and a comic. I was a little sceptical at first because its about gentrification and neighborhood change and I have lot of options about those things, but it was handled beautifully, absolutely perfectly! The drawings are also incredibly charming!

Oddity Woods by Kay Davault—I decided to check this out because I loved the author’s other graphic novel Misfit Mansion. This has a similar vibe, with kid investigators in a spooky wood and strange inn, with very cute art. It was charming. My only complaint is that this is volume 1 and while it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger it does end with a lot of unresolved plot! And volume 2 isn’t supposed to be out until next year!

Robin & Batman by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen—This has kind of a similar set up to Batman & Robin: Year One which I read a couple of months ago in that it's about Bruce and Dick’s early relationship, but this one felt a lot bleaker. It’s also a little rushed in places. The watercolor art however is gorgeous!

Gotham Knights 12-32 Devin Grayson,et al— these aren’t quite as good as the first 11 issues, but still good. It doesn’t help that Bruce is isolating himself from everyone even more than usual in the run up to Bruce Wayne Murderer? Which makes it harder to do Batfam focused stories. Also there's some really blatant racism. But still so many great character moments.

I also reread all the Bruce Wayne Murderer/Fugitive? Issues (but didn’t reread any of the rest of the event) Some really great character moments there too!

So that’s all of Devin Grayson's run! I’ll probably read more (thought I’ve heard the rest is spotty) and also check out more of Grayson’s other writing

(I ended up posting a bunch of panels form this over on Tumblr. Tumblr has kinda become the place I yell about comics.)

*waves* I’m still kinda overwhelmed, but maybe starting to get into the swing of this school year. I hope so at least. I did get a bit more in control of my library pile

Meanwhile here’s some thoughts on stuff I read recently:

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, Vol. 1 - 3 by Hitsuzi Yamada—A manga and an overworked officer worker and her put upon homemaker cat. The concept is cute but I did not find the characters at all interesting. I read the first three volumes since I had them all out from the library but I don’t think I’ll read any more

The Makers Clubby Reimena Yee, Tintin Pantoja, and Melanie Ujimori—A cute YA graphic novel about secondary school kids teaming up to make stuff together!

Supergirl: Universe End by Mariko Tamaki et al—Unlike every other Mariko Tamaki work I have read previously this is not about high school girls and their fraught relationships. Instead it's a space adventure. It’s a well done space adventure but it's not really playing to Tamaki’s strengths, I would have enjoyed more interpersonal drama.

Teen Titans Together by Kami Garcia, and Gabriel Picolo—The final volume of this six volume graphic novel version of the teen titans. I really enjoyed the first five volumes so I was excited for this! But I started out feeling a bit lost as to what was going on since it had been six months – I ended up rereading the penultimate volume and that got me back on track. Anyways this was very fun! A good end to the series. (having read even more comics in the last six months I’m more aware of the way these versions of the characters for the mainline versions

The Compleat Terminal City by Dean Motter, and Michael Lark—Another thing I read because there is discussion of it is the book about comics and cities I’m reading. It’s kinda weird and I’m not sure if I liked it or not but it was very city. My favorite part was the two female characters who become friends and roommates, but they weren't really the focus of the story.

A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang by Melodie Doumy—A short little book that the British Library put out to go with their exhibit of papers from the library cave at Dunhuang a year or two ago.A very nice overview of why Dunhuang is of such importance to historians, with some discussion of daily life there. Lot of excellent pictures of documents and other artifacts

Still thinking a lot about comics and cities. (It's fun! Maybe someday my thoughts will shape up enough write a post about the topic) Also my library pile has gotten out of control again, so I'm going to try to find time to tackle it over the weekend

Monkey Prince by Gene Luen Yang, Bernard Chang, et al—I’ve enjoyed all of Gene Luen Yang’s other works that I’ve read so I thought I should check this one out too. It’s pretty fun! A couple of issues at the end there are part of a large crossover event and thus a little confusing, but mostly this monkey trickster superhero nonsense.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, et al—I read this because a friend found me an undergrad thesis about urban space in the first four issues of this comic. Based on my first read though I wouldn't have said this comic was doing anything especially interesting with cities, but I guess I’ll have to see what the thesis says about.

Misfit Mansion by Kay Davault—Cute YA novel about a monster who lives in a monster sanctuary but wants to explore the nearby town and befriend the townsfolk. This had a more complex view of found family than I often see in fiction and I really liked that!

The Lost Daughter of Sparta by Felicia Day and Rowan MacColl—Based on a Greek Mythology character that’s only mentioned briefly in few sources. This is a very modern values in a Greek mythological setting, which I know is not everyone’s cup of tea. Taken as its own thing though it is a good story if a bit preachy.

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There's so many comics in the world, some times I feel overwhelmed by all the things out there I want to read. (I just put in a bunch more library holds, opps) I also finally manged to finish the first case of The Truth!

Monster Locker by Jorge Aguirre, Andrés Vera Martínez— A middle grade contemporary fantasy graphic novel about a kid who finds a monster summoning portal in his locker on the first day of middle school. Cute and fun with a lot of quirky characters. I especially liked Abuela! It was also good to see monsters based on Aztec mythology – not something I see very often.

Absolute Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp, Javier Rodriguez, et al.— My first foray into the Absolute universe. I've been reluctant to try it because the Absolute Universe seems aimed at people who like their comics grim and gritty and that's not me. But burins talked about this in their Eisner reading post and said it was “a love letter to cities” and I've been thinking about how cities are portrayed in comics a lot recently (a hazard of having an urban planning degree is that I think about the built environment a lot).

I’m not familiar with the original version of Martian Manhunter so I didn’t really know what to expect, but I also think this is pretty different anyways. This is about an FBI agent who has symbiotic relationship with an alien being and starts developing mind reading powers. Except that makes it sound boring but its not it weird and trippy, but is weird and trippy. The art really contributed to the tripyness here – with psychedelic colors representing people’s thoughts, and varying levels of abstraction to reflect what’s going on.

I see why burins said it's a love letter to cities! The city in this comic feels lived and diverse (it's mentioned several times that a lot of immigrants live there). But the comic doesn't shy away from the bleaker aspects of cities like homelessness and prejudice.
CN: mass shooting, animal death

The Truth Season 4, case one— I really enjoyed the last season of this silly reality TV show that’s kinda a cross between a murder mystery dinner party and an escape room. This year I seem to have lost my ability to watch TV by myself so even though this season is pretty good have had to make an effort to actually watch it.

Anyways, it's pretty good. Not everyone was able to come back for this season and the group dynamic is a bit different, but still fun. I thought seeing the preview pictures that I wouldn’t like this years costumes as much as last years, but seeing these costumes in action and getting to look the the details more has caused the to really grow on me (plus there are some wuxia inspired costumes for a latter case that look amazing)

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, ep26-101 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al—So these do work better for me in short doses, as evidenced by the fact that I have read a lot of episodes now. I still think they are a little shallow but they are also fluffy and fun. There are some multi-part episodes that have a bit more depth, but they are still too tidy.

Also it's interesting how differently paced these are on the screen where you see one panel at a time and have to scroll a bit between panels and on the page where it's been condensed.

The Spectre(2001), issues 1-9 by J. M. DeMatteis, Ryan Shook et al— This was one of the things recced to me as result of my superhero comics rec list I’ve been reading it slowly one issues a day most days. It’s a nice contemplative pace.

The premise is that Hal Jordan, formally a Green Lantern, and then some kind of evil villain called Paralax, has now been reincarnated as The Spectre, a mystical being who is supposed to punish the wicked. It’s very Christian, there’s like God, and Hell and angels and stuff, but it questions the righteousness of this setup. It’s a slow and thoughtful comic. I spent some time thinking about if I agree with it or not, but it's not really reaching conclusions, so much as exploring possibilities. I'm finding it a good story to think with.

The art is really unique and has a touch of art nouveau, but is also kinda creepy in places. I like it and it's a good fit for the story!
Content Notes: suicide, parental death

It hasn’t been that long since the last media roundup and I haven't read that much but I had lots of thoughts that I wanted to share, so have a post:

Hirayasumi, vol 3+4 by Keigo Shinzō— This continues to be very charming. I’m loving all the little details.The cityscapes here feel so warm and lived in! I'm not sure if it's a slice of life manga thing, a manga thing or just an artifact of my limited selection but I've been really enjoying the land/cityscapes in the slice of life manga I've been reading recently
Content note: fatphobia/diet culture

Silver Spoon, vol 14-15 by Hiromu Arakawa— I’m working on a rec list of slice of life manga and I was reminded that I’ve never read the last two volumes of this series. I'd always meant to reread the rest of the series but that felt like too much of a project. So I ended up just reading these last two volumes – it wasn’t that hard to pick up, there’s helpful story summary in the front of each volume.

This is a charming story about a city kid who goes to an ag high school to get away from everything. I love all the details and about farming, food equipment and rural life. I thought it wrapped up nicely!

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vol. 1 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al— I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time, and it was mentioned in the comments of my superhero comics rec list, so I finally got around to it. I ended up getting it on paper because the endless scroll webtoon format isn’t great for my hands.

It’s like a cute slice of life comic about the batfam. It’s got a very fic vibe, things are chill and everyone more or less gets along. Which sounds like exactly what I want in a batfam comic but for this first volume at least, felt a little flat actually. I wanted a bit more conflict or angst or something. I’m generally pretty happy with low conflict personal stakes stuff, but I guess these versions of the character feel a little shallow. Each story is so short, like five pages, its just hard to get much depth in that length.

(I’ll probably read some more of this because it is cute and free online. Maybe if I space out the episodes more it will not only not bother my hands as much but feel less bland.

X-men: The Animated Series season 1— Since I'm more open to Superhero media these days, R suggested we watch this animated series from the 90’s. It’s fun! I like that it's got a big team, though it does mean most characters don’t get much screentime. I also like that they are pretty much just fighting for mutant civil rights. There’s a lot less for me to suspend my moral disbelief about here than in most superhero stories I’ve encountered recently.

In which I have many opinions about comics and then rec some of them!

You can check it out here!

I’m leaving for a short trip soon and I thought it would be nice if I could finish up some of the massive pile of library books I have sitting around before then, seeing as I don’t want to take them with me. I didn't read as much of the pile as I hoped but I did make some progress!

Many of these are nominees for this year's Eisner Awards, since I looked at those and put in holds for the ones that seemed interesting recently.

Vern, Custodian of the Universe by Tyrell Waiters—Graphic novel about Vern, who having lost his job moves home to Florida where it turns out his grandma has gotten him a job at a weird tech company. This was fun and zanny. There’s multiverse travel and kinda trippy art to go with it. The story is a bit didactic but I really liked the message so that worked for me.

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux—This a murder mystery set at an all girls school in the 80s. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice it wasn’t contemporary) Our main character is a recent transfer student who doesn’t fit in. I really liked this, the characters were compelling, the mystery was interesting, and the ending felt just right

Content notes are spoilerish

Homophobia, underage sex, death of a teen

Globetrotters: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's World Tour by Julian Voloj and Julie Rocheleau—This graphic novel is inspired by real historical events – that I knew basically nothing about before reading this! All I knew was that Nellie Bly was a pioneering woman journalist. The subtitle makes it sound like Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were traveling together but actually they were racing to see who could get around the world the fastest! I was totally riveted!
Content note: period typical sexism and racism

Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town by Li Chen—The second Detective Beans book, about Beans the adorable detective kitten. This one is a collection of shorter stories, my favorite was the last one with the bear and the moon!

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young—This is hard to talk about. It's a graphic novel about a group of friends who are looking for one of their friends who is missing, possibly dead. (They are all teens) its kinda creepy, but also kind of heartwarming? Anyways I enjoyed it a lot!

I've been nearly constantly sick and/or overwhelemed for the last two weeks, but I did read some things!

The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier, Scott McCloud, et al.— A story about a group of kids forming a cartoonists club and making comics that’s also an intro to basic comics making and concepts. I’ve been wanting to read a bit more comics theory. (I’ve read Understanding Comics, but that was a while ago) Anyways this was cute and fun, but didn’t really scratch my comics theory itch. Would probably be good to give to a kid who is interested in comics though.

Supergirl's Family Vacation written by Brandon T. Snider, art by Sarah Leuver— This is so charming! It’s one of those graphic novels that’s its own little continuity – Supergirl is 13 and lives with her cousin Superman and his family and feels overlooked as a superhero. Anyway she convinces them all to go on vacation and then adventure happens! They go on a space road trip! Natasha Irons is there (she’s Supergirl’s best friend) Lois gets to be awesome but doesn’t steal the scene. There's a short scene of Batman and Wonder Woman getting instructions to take care of the stuff while they are away!

The whole thing is just very warm. I love the manga influenced art, the expressions are great, the colors are great! At one point there are magical girl-esqe transformation scenes. It’s very cute and sweet!

Batman & Robin Eternal by James Tynion IV et al— This did a much better job than Batman Eternal at being a story about legacy, and was just more cohesive in general. Only being half as long probably helped some. I read this when I was sick and bit out of it so I feel like some bits of it went over my head.

Laid-Back Camp Vol. 15-17 by Afro— While I’m on my slice-of-life manga kick I thought it would be nice to get caught up with this series.. It’s still one of my favorites of the genre, it's got food, female friendship, and great landscapes. It does make me sad that I am too disabled to go camping though.

Lightfall books 2-4 by Tim Probert— I was going to read these a bit slower, but they were due at the library so I had to hurry up a bit. This series is really good! I love the art, it's evocative, plus there are great landscapes! Also I didn’t say last time but there is a very good cat! The story went in some unexpected directions and I want to know what happens next! Too bad it's going to be a while before the next book is out.


A new season of my beloved wacky Chinese reality show The Truth has started airing and I'm excited for it! It's been a while since I watched anything.

I’ve been saving up these notes until I finish some of the longer things and that means they’ve been getting fewer and further between. But I do have more to say about each thing!

Five Worlds by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun— This series of five MG science fantasy graphic novels. There are multiple moons that the characters travel between and also magic which makes for a fun mix. Three children must go on a quest together to save the world. Occasionally the problems they face are a little too parallel to those of our world. For example their worlds are heating up, and it's going to be a disaster if no one does anything. And I found the similarities a little stressful. But mostly the story was lot of fun, with cool worldbuilding. The art is really good, very colorful and fun, but also surprisingly easy to follow what is going on from panel to panel even when the action gets complicated. The environments and backgrounds are also really good.

Superman vs. Meshi by Satoshi Miyagawa, Kai Kitago (Illustrator), Wes Abbott (Letterer), trans Sheldon Drzka— So you know those slice of life manga where everyone goes on in detail about how good the food is? This is one of those with Superman as the main character. He’s become obsessed with Japanese chain restaurants and so goes to Japan on his lunch breaks – it’s very cute.

Superman is so excited to eat food! One time he got confused about which kanji was for beef and which was for pork which I found very relatable. He also brings his fellow superheroes and family to come eat with him resulting in some cute moments. (thought I can not suspend my disbelief to believe that a bunch of old people from Kannas would be happy to sit on the floor and eat sushi)

I think this is much more successful as a foodie slice of life manga than it is as a superhero comic, but I don’t really think it's trying to be a superhero comic. (But if someone came to this expecting more typical superhero stuff they would probably be confused)

Content notes: Fat phobia - mostly off hand comments about gaining weight, but there was one issue where it was more of focus. Also non consensual memory wiping

Let's Eat Together, Aki and Haru, vol 1 by Makoto Taji, trans Unknow— Reading Superman vs Meshi made me want to read more slice of life manga, so I picked up this one about two college roommates eating together. It’s tagged a yaoi so I think they’ll get together at some point but right now it's just gentle pinning and blushing. Since this is about college students is about simple and easy foods, and there are recipes. It's cute and charming.

Batgirl vol 3 (2009) by Bryan Q. Miller et al.— I have a lot of feelings about Stephine Brown – some of which have to do with her political/fandom history. The first time I learned that there had been more than one Robin was years ago reading discourse about her death, and I just feel fiercely protective of her. All this is to say that I was excited to read this series where she is the star!

It’s fun! I don’t love the way it sets up a “Steph has always been a fuck up" narrative (That doesn’t track with my reading of earlier comics, though I did skip War Games) But otherwise I really like this version of Steph. And I love seeing her working together with and being supported by other women!