Ugh. Why did we pick this as a buddy read? I can't remember. I don't think Jayson drank the Kool-Aid and did the buddy read with us, but thanks for makiUgh. Why did we pick this as a buddy read? I can't remember. I don't think Jayson drank the Kool-Aid and did the buddy read with us, but thanks for making the banner at least.
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So what was this about? Uh. I guess there's a future where MJ died from radioactive spider poisoning? And there's a universe where a gross Old Man Spider, who looks like a deranged Santa Claus with abs, keeps going back to try to save her? And a big electronic web was activated around part of (or all of?) NYC? Supposedly to save the citizens from the coming apocalypse?
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There's a goblin, an old Miles Morales, a new (little kid?) Black Cat, and a Matrix version of Fisk. Plus, Venom and MJ. Kinda. Peter is sort of crazy, but so is everyone else, and there's time travel mixed with the Spider-verse. And not in a cool way.
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I guess I should have read the first Reign but this sucked so bad that I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I just...what even was this? Whatever it was, it wasn't good. Swerve to avoid....more
Nothing like a Batman vs Dracula comic around Halloween.
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And I managed to slide this Shalloween buddy read in at the 11th hour. Boom! Done! VerNothing like a Batman vs Dracula comic around Halloween.
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And I managed to slide this Shalloween buddy read in at the 11th hour. Boom! Done! Very proud of myself - hold your applause till the end, please.
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This is a fairly decent Elseworlds story that takes Batman to his natural horror villain, the vampire. Bat = Vampire = Dracula The little kid in all of us was just waiting for this to eventually happen. I mean, you can't go around in the night stalking prey and wearing a batsuit without some kind of retaliation from the vampire population, can you? It's just science. And that's what Moench did here.
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So Gotham's homeless and unwanted are being picked off the streets with little to no fuss, and found with their throats slashed. While Gordon tries to work the angle from a cop's pov, Batman hits the streets as a vigilante to suss out this serial killer. He begins dreaming of a woman who disappears into mist, and eventually finds out she's the leader of a group of good vampires who plan to take down Dracula. Can the Dark Knight team up with rogue vampires and save Gotham?
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The whole thing is very early 90s and it shows. Not in a bad way, but it does have a bit of a dated look and feel to everything. Even so, I thought this was a pretty fun little story. Not exactly something I would say is a must-read, but if you're looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, this would fit the bill nicely.
Recommended for fans of Anne Rice's Batman....more
I want more. If Brubaker and Philips could just never be done with their Criminal series, I feel like it would set things just a little more right in tI want more. If Brubaker and Philips could just never be done with their Criminal series, I feel like it would set things just a little more right in the world.
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In 1976 Teeg Lawless pulls off an armored truck robbery with his crew, then gets sent to jail after a fight at the bar that evening gets him arrested on a bench warrant - for failure to appear in traffic court. Womp, womp. Sucks, but all he should have to do is ride out his 30 days and then collect his portion of the take from his partner. Except someone wants him dead and is willing to pay to see it happen. You almost feel sorry for him but it's hard to drum up any sympathy for Teeg.
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Fast forward to 1979 and we follow a young Tracy Lawless as he is pulled along for the world's worst road trip as his father goes after someone.
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This one is just heartbreaking. You really feel for Tracy, just wanting to be a normal kid with normal experiences, but he's never going to be anything but old beyond his years.
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I loved the addition of the fake pulpy comics that ran alongside both Teeg's and Tracy's stories. Teeg is reading something called Zangar the Savage and Tracy is reading Kung Fu Werewolf.
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I have to admit I was kind of into that werewolf story and wouldn't mind if Brubaker and Philips wanted to do a limited run with that one. I can't be the only one...
Tracy Lawless is working off a debt to Sebastian Hyde, but he's just a little too scrupulous for this line of work and tends to make sure tGood stuff.
Tracy Lawless is working off a debt to Sebastian Hyde, but he's just a little too scrupulous for this line of work and tends to make sure the people he is sent to kill actually deserve it.
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Hyde, unwilling to lose him but not digging the way he's working out as muscle, tasks him with finding out who is offing men in the city who should have been untouchable. This town just isn't safe for criminals anymore! And if tracking down a criminal serial killer isn't dangerous enough, it seems as though Tracy has decided to have an affair with the big man's wife. Don't worry, I'm sure that won't be a problem later on...
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To add a cherry on the top of all this mess, the military has sent someone to find him and bring him back. But hey, considering everything else that's going on, maybe that isn't the worst thing that can happen to him, right?
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Tracy is everyone's favorite Lawless, and you just can't help rooting for him to find a way out of this mess. But everyone knows that no good deed goes unpunished.
We first met Jacob as the counterfeiter who makes Tracy a new identity in Lawless. And now BrubakeGoddamn. This is how you write crime fiction.
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We first met Jacob as the counterfeiter who makes Tracy a new identity in Lawless. And now Brubaker tells us his story. And I was not expecting the story I got.
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Like all hardboiled crime noir, there's a lousy dame at the center of this one. And like everything else in this thing, she starts out one way and ends up as something entirely different.
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Jacob's backstory is that he married the niece of the biggest crime syndicate boss in the city, Sebastian Hyde. So, when she went missing and Detective Starr kept trying to point the finger at Jacob, his wife's uncle didn't take the news well. He had Jacob beaten until he was crippled, which brought on a nervous breakdown that left him institutionalized for quite some time. Meanwhile, his wife's body was found in her car, the victim of an apparent accident on the road. To assuage his guilt, Hyde made it so that Jacob could live out the rest of his days writing his Frank Kafka, Private Eye comic strip for the paper. The end result is that the cartoon Kafka is along for the ride in Jacob's head giving him advice and telling him to man up.
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The skinny gist? Iris (the lousy dame) and her scuzzball boyfriend catch Jacob's eye in a diner when they get into a vicious argument. Intrigued by her, he slowly rides to the rescue and ends up getting embroiled in a lot more than he ever bargained for. And that's all I can say without spoiling the whole shebang.
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This is one of my favorite Criminal storylines so far. Wow. Just...wow. Highly Recommended....more
Three different characters tell the same sad story from their own point of view. And it is really well done.
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Jake is a boxer and the son of the Three different characters tell the same sad story from their own point of view. And it is really well done.
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Jake is a boxer and the son of the closest confidant and enforcer of syndicate boss Walter Hyde. So he grew up with the heir of a crime family as his best friend. But as time changes both of them, their friendship takes a beating. And of course, it's over a woman.
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Teeg Lawless returns from Vietnam with more than a few issues and easily falls into the life of a mean drunk. And when his gambling habit catches up to him, he falls even more easily into the life of a small-time crook. But when he finds out the woman he's been sleeping with has set him up, and that he's stolen from Walter Hyde, some tough choices will have to be made if he wants to survive.
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Danica Briggs is the woman who flits through this storyline and sets the wheels in motion for all the men around her. And her story is about as sad as it comes. She fell in love with the wrong man and her whole life spiraled out of her control from that moment on. By the time you get to her story, you already know the ending. But it doesn't make the ride any less interesting.
How far will you go to avenge a brother you don't really know? Tracy Lawless comes from a family of small-time but well-known criminals. And when he wHow far will you go to avenge a brother you don't really know? Tracy Lawless comes from a family of small-time but well-known criminals. And when he was old enough to reach the pedals of a getaway car, he followed in that family business. Arrested at a young age, he was given the choice between military service or prison. He chose to enlist and was put to work using his special skill set for the American government.
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Fast forward many years and he's done something to land himself in stockade until whatever he had done blew over. And in that time, his little brother was killed. Armed with an old photo and a slew of bad memories, he sets out to find the people responsible and enact his own form of justice. The problem with that is that sometimes justice has already been served.
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I like where this is going so far and I can't imagine that Brubaker and Philips are taking us on a ride that will be anything less than spectacularly seedy.
Overall, a pretty good issue. You get your money's worth out of this one, too. Four graphic stories and one short prose.
The Cloak! A cloak soaked in eviOverall, a pretty good issue. You get your money's worth out of this one, too. Four graphic stories and one short prose.
The Cloak! A cloak soaked in evil tries to kill a man over and over again. Why? BECAUSE EVIIIIIL.
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The Mary Celeste: Ship of Evil A one-page shorty about a haunted ship. It seems like a lot of these stories are based on some kind of urban legends and that might be the case here. But don't quote me on that because it's not like I researched it.
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FREAK! Oh god! There's a FREAK chained up in the attic! Basically, a family had a disfigured, mentally disabled kid - and then chained them up in the attic. As you do. Hijinks ensue.
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The Boy Who Was 2000 Years Old A little boy runs a fever and starts speaking in Latin. Is he a reincarnated slave from ancient times? I vote YES!
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MURDER? <--a short prose story about...murder.
A guy loses a day to amnesia. Tuesday to be exact. Is it possible that he married a woman and killed her all on the same day? Oh well. Guess he'll never know.
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Side note: as of the time I'm writing this, DC Infinite doesn't have issue #6 for some reason. Boo! Recommended for fans of schlocky old horror and/or Jack Kirby....more
Still hanging in there with this Jack Kirby buddy read and I'm actually not sorry yet. Although, these have quite a bit of text crammed into each panelStill hanging in there with this Jack Kirby buddy read and I'm actually not sorry yet. Although, these have quite a bit of text crammed into each panel, so factor that into your personal enjoyment level.
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Nasty Little Man! Hobos get their asses handed to them by a leprechaun.
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The Angel of Death! A vampire bug attacks a small village and ends up getting shot by the town liar.
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The Courts of Sleep! A rich man with a selfish mean streak learns what the phrase "fuck around and find out" means.
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There was also a page-long text story called Minuet by Moonlight about a guy who dreams travels back in time on a lonely road. Or was it moooooore than just a dream?
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Pretty good set of stories. Recommended if you like this sort of thing.
If you love old horror comics, this is not to be missed!
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I found this while looking for something for our Jack Kirby buddy read in The Shallows.If you love old horror comics, this is not to be missed!
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I found this while looking for something for our Jack Kirby buddy read in The Shallows. There's a lot to pick from when it comes to Kirby, but my eyeballs lit up when I saw this one because I dig kitschy old comics with a supernatural twist to them.
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I opened this up fully expecting it to be the same schlock I've come to expect (and love) from these kinds of comics. And was kind of floored that they were...shockingly good.
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There were 3 graphic stories and 1 short print story, and all of them were great. My favorite was Maniac, though. It tells the story of a man and his mentally disabled brother, and it completely subverted my expectations. I was thinking it was going to be some Of Mice and Men kind of thing, and was...not.
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The Head of the Family (on the cover) was also very cool, as was the Island of Dr. Moreau feel to The Greatest Horror of Them All.
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Now, is this really a 5 star read? Well, that's going to depend on what you enjoy in a comic, but for me it was great. Highly Recommended....more
Nope. I'm done. This was my last volume of Spawn. The plotting is scatty and there are walls of text all over the place. I can't do this. I tho[image]
Nope. I'm done. This was my last volume of Spawn. The plotting is scatty and there are walls of text all over the place. I can't do this. I thought I could but I can't see this going anywhere tolerable.
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The condensed plot is that Spawn hangs out with the hobos, fights gangs of "nerds and creeps", finds the guy who whacked him & mutilates his face, Angela shows up, and Terry gets threatened. If that sounds interesting, let me assure you it wasn't.
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The art holds up. So, there's that. But the writing just isn't good enough to merit going back and dipping my feet into this nonsense anymore. This is not to say that it's terrible and anyone who loves Spawn is crazy, it just isn't for me....more
This was my 1st Jackie Collins. And it was everything I thought it would be and more. It was horrible. Horrible to the point that it seemed like I was This was my 1st Jackie Collins. And it was everything I thought it would be and more. It was horrible. Horrible to the point that it seemed like I was reading a parody. Except parodies are usually funny and this one just made me kinda sick.
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The characters in this thing. Everyone was this Carrington Dynasty level of faux glamorous that I thought went out in the 80s. The dialogue was...I have no words for what I endured. Well, one word springs to mind. Torture. You don't need thumbscrews or bamboo under the fingernails. You could just play this audiobook and break someone's mind. There's a Madonna/Cheresque character who unironically refers to herself in the 3rd person. YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY.
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You know what? No. Just...no. I don't want to talk about this anymore with anyone but my therapist. However. This isn't my kind of book. And it wasn't something that I ever would have willingly picked out on my own, so take my opinions with a grain of salt if this genre is your jam.
Just kidding. If I had the option to give this less than one star, I would!
Buddy read with Alexander of the Peterhans. I will never forgive you for this....more
I really feel like (due to my undying love of Keanu) I gave the first volume a fair shake. I was perhaps a bit kinder than I should have bYikes.
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I really feel like (due to my undying love of Keanu) I gave the first volume a fair shake. I was perhaps a bit kinder than I should have been, but in all fairness, there was always a chance it was going...somewhere.
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And it did go somewhere. If by somewhere you mean nowhere. And if nowhere is located beside a toasty dumpster fire. Because this was nonsense. What even happened here? I certainly couldn't tell you for sure. Each issue opens with panels of B hooked up to something with a countdown going on in the background. <--some big experiment!
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B, aka Unute, aka Keanu Reeves is an immortal being who wants to be able to die. As you do if you're immortal. This volume vaguely covers his past loves but in only the most generic sense. Apparently, his curse is that his children are all stillborn. So. No procreation. His goal now is to (wait for it) find his father. Remember his father? The lightning bolt that hit his mother square in the vag?
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Well, we're going to find him. There's a shady scientist/archaeologist who is up to some nefarious deeds, and even with all of B's thousands of years of experience, it seems as though he doesn't realize he's hitched his tent to a fairly obvious villain. Or maybe he just doesn't care? Anyway.
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The climax to this panel by panel countdown was (to me) a bit underwhelming. (view spoiler)[It turns out he's being squished. Compressed in a box underground and the scientists are monitoring him with all the little electrodes attached to him. He...explodes?
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And then travels back in time to make first contact. <--whatever that means (hide spoiler)] Make no mistake, I want to like this. Desperately. I love all things Keanu. <--yes, even now, godhelpme. Thing is, there just isn't really much payoff for this volume, and after the last volume not having much payoff, I was really hoping for more. Stuff happened, but it wasn't meaty stuff. Feels like they're throwing plots on the page to see what sticks. And not much is sticking. But maybe it doesn't have to in order to be fun?
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I'll read the next one because OF COURSE I WILL. I'm not some fair-weather fan! When, as a young woman, I watched Much Ado About Nothing, it certainly wasn't to see Kenneth Brannagh on the big screen. I'm in it for the long haul, baby. Here's hoping the next one is better....more
A medical/horror/thriller about evil lab rats that terrorize an entire town full of DUPLICATES. What the hell, you ask?
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Ok. Well, kinda. I'm goinA medical/horror/thriller about evil lab rats that terrorize an entire town full of DUPLICATES. What the hell, you ask?
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Ok. Well, kinda. I'm going to be honest, everything about this reads like one of those made for tv movies. A beautiful young wife is depressed and has been disconnected from life ever since her brother and son disappeared on a camping trip about a year ago. Her handsome broad-shouldered husband struggles to hold their family together and still be there for their little girl. BUT THEN! They run into her brother in a hotel lobby and he acts like he doesn't know who they are.
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Meanwhile. In a seemingly unconnected event, a doctor decides he's had enough and leaves the shady company he's working for, only to be ambushed and thrown off a balcony to his DOOM!
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But wait, there's more. Because this is a love story. See, when the couple decides to track down her brother for answers as to what happened to their little boy, they become embroiled in a secret experiment that involves (view spoiler)[downloading dead folk's brains and swapping them into a living body, seemingly overwriting that person's brain. OR DOES IT?
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(hide spoiler)] Can true love survive? Well, in this sort of fantasyland it certainly has a good chance!
"She was five feet ten with a sleek, model’s figure: perky firm breasts, a waist so narrow her husband could put his hands around it, and long, shapely legs."
Ok, Neiderman. You're trying to tell me a woman who has given birth not just once but twice, still has a waist that narrow? HOW BIG ARE HIS FUCKING HANDS, SIR?
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Oh! And this book has the honor of having the most unintentionally hilarious masturbation scenes I've ever read in a book. The evil scientist gets turrrrrned on by listening to the recordings of what's happening in her test subject's house and...
" In her erotic imaginings, the tape recorder had suddenly become a penis. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that only intensified the image and the sensation. Reluctantly, she began to surrender again, only this time she brought the tape recorder to her lips and kissed the smooth edge softly."
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Another thing that made me laugh was Neiderman's obsession with this dessert in the book called Better Than Sex. Like, he could not stop referencing it. As though it was the most risque thing he'd ever heard or something!
“Should I put up some coffee?” Elaine asked. “Oh no. Remember, I promised to take you and Melissa for dessert. Better Than Sex,” he added, smiling."
“I’ll order the Better Than Sex,” Elaine said, “but I hope it’s not true.”
"The waitress interrupted them with the platter of Better Than Sex and Melissa’s pie à la mode."
“You might be right,” she said licentiously, “this might be better than sex.”
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Alright. This was one of those books that we found because we read Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. And it was as deliciously campy as I was hoping it would be. Would I recommend this to someone who was trying to find a great medical horror book? No. But if you're in the market for a silly throwback to those horror novels you used to be able to buy on a grocery store spinner? Well, you could do worse.
I didn't enjoy this as much the second time around. I originally read Paper Girls, Volume 1 & Paper Girls, Volume 2 back in 2017. For some reason, I gI didn't enjoy this as much the second time around. I originally read Paper Girls, Volume 1 & Paper Girls, Volume 2 back in 2017. For some reason, I gave 4 stars to the 2nd volume and I'm not sure why. I'm also not sure why I just sort of stopped after that second volume. But some of my Shallow friends decided to buddy read these what with the resurgence of interest in the comics now that a tv show that is supposed to drop. So here I am in an attempt to fit in with the cool kids.
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Now, I don't want to make it sound like I hated it or something. It's ok. And the story has the ability to go either way right now. But a big part of me felt like 10 issues and/or 2 volumes in I should have more of an idea of what's going on. Then I remembered that in Y The Last Man Vaughan ended up stringing me along with tidbits only to shit the bed in the final volume. I'm not sure I trust you anymore, sir.
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I've got 2 more of these deluxe editions to go. Right now we've got a story about middle school girls from the 80s that get caught up in some sort of massive time travel adventure. Some of it is cool, some of it is weird, and some of it is just pretentiously annoying. Maybe the giant maggots, clones, and nonsense language start to come together in a coherent way in the next edition - which I haven't read yet, btw. We shall see....more
Ok, so this is the first manga I've ever read. I'm giving it 5 stars because I'm just assuming the translation process made the dialogue sound somewhatOk, so this is the first manga I've ever read. I'm giving it 5 stars because I'm just assuming the translation process made the dialogue sound somewhat simplified. Maybe that's just a thing? I don't know, and more importantly, it wasn't as though it is terribly written or anything, so I'm not knocking anything off for it.
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The story itself was a really nice slow-burn horror that centers around a teenage girl named Kirie, and her boyfriend, Shuichi. These two start to notice that the town and its inhabitants are quietly being driven mad by SPIRALS. Now, that's a really silly premise but Ito pulls it off like a boss.
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Spirals are one of those naturally occurring shapes and are fairly common to see if you're looking for them, and Junji Ito uses that fact to scare the shit out of us. To say the images in this leave quite an impression is an understatement. For me personally, the freakiest story was Mosquitos. Kirie is recovering from injuries in a hospital, and patients all around her are dying. Why? Well, she discovers that something is very wrong with a group of pregnant women who are about to give birth. Nightmare fuel.
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I thoroughly enjoy horror comics, so it was a nice sideways step to slide into horror manga. Not sure I would recommend this to just anyone who was looking to get into manga, though. Whether or not you like body horror will also definitely be a determining factor in your enjoyment level.
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However, if all of that sounds like your jam? Highly Recommend.
I read this as part of a Shallow Buddy Read, partially because I'm trying to branch out in my old age, but mostly because a couple of my kids really love manga and they're always trying to get me to read the stuff. Many thanks to both of them for sitting there with me for a good 15 minutes showing me (over and over) what order to read the panels....more
In the foreword, Milligan sounds like an earnest teenage boy as he desperately tries to convince the reader that he wasn't writing porn for the sake oIn the foreword, Milligan sounds like an earnest teenage boy as he desperately tries to convince the reader that he wasn't writing porn for the sake of porn. Not that there's anything wrong with that! Unfortunately for him, that's a harder sell when your dialogue is composed mostly of phrases like Ugghhh, Guhhhh, & Oooghhh. I'm just saying.
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He rambles on for a few paragraphs about how sex is usually the end game, but in The Discipline, it's what's used to get to the end game. Ritualistic sex is all part of the journey, man! Aleister Crowley, Tantric Yoga, Sex Magick! Or something like that. Then he spits out this gem and I laughed and laughed and laughed because I knew I was in for a good time with this book. Our hero. Melissa. Befreckled, bespeckled, bemused. She seems to me like a real woman, small-breasted but big-hearted. Intelligent, gutsy, but with real frailties...
Small-breasted but big-hearted!
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Ok, ok, ok. Just because there's a lot of sex in a book doesn't mean it isn't a great read. If sex moves the plot forward or makes sense in the situation, then by all means...MORE SEX! But this book is not that book. This is the literary version of a sci-fi porno flick. You know how the dialogue is really cheesy and doesn't quite make sense in porno movies? Like, they're just sort of grunting out words that no one would ever say, in a situation that would never arise in real life, all because I suppose you kind of have to have the appearance of a 'story' to go with the cheesy background music. THIS.
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She's a dirty housewife. *titter* And she's sexually frustrated because her millionaire husband is never home so she goes and stares at this painting of a monster fucking a woman. She meets what looks like cliche Eurotrash who tells her he's going to fuck her. He intrigues her FOR NO DISCERNIBLE REASON so she just agrees to start up an affair with him. Except he's creepy. Like, really fucking creepy. He says straight-up serial killer shit to her and takes her to a slaughterhouse for their first 'date'. Then he takes her to a BDSM club, roofies her, and leaves her in the middle of the street stark naked. BUT SHE'S INTRIGUED. AND SO TURNED ON.
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It just gets weirder and less coherent from there. Needless to say, it all revolves around everyone in the story having sex with each other. But the gist is that there are some sort of shape-shifting beings who live in pocket dimensions in different eras of time. You can communicate with them by stabbing yourself in the eye with a special needle or something. These dudes are fighting other shape-shifting beings. They have roofie spit, voices that can get you horny against your will, and can only survive if they take over a human's body by (you guessed it!) having sex with them.
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Then there's a side plot about our small-breasted heroine's white trash sister, Krystal. See, if Tiny Titties doesn't do what the sex monsters want her to do, then they'll go after her sister and use her as their sex puppet instead. AND IF THAT ISN'T A PORN PLOT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS. I mean, all this story needs is some guy with a huge dick that delivers a pizza. Go home, Milliagan. You're drunk.
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Buddy read with Alex. He told me to let everyone know he's single and up for all kinds of kinky alien-monster shenanigans. Really. Just flood his inbox with whatever nasty shit you're into. I'm totally not saying that because this comic was his idea. I swear. ...more
Ever wanted to read a comic that looked like a shitty digital children's cartoon? Me either. And yet, one of my Shallow buddies found this little gem anEver wanted to read a comic that looked like a shitty digital children's cartoon? Me either. And yet, one of my Shallow buddies found this little gem and somehow made it seem like a fun idea to read it with him. So here I am. I was not the only friend harmed by this prank.
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Honestly, I thought it would be worse than it was. The art is slick and bubbly, but the story is so at odds with this childish look that it made it pretty easy for me to swipe through the digital panels. That statement is in NO WAY an endorsement of the comic. I'm just saying it was hard to look away from this trainwreck.
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The gist is that Curt Connors' wife has a massive cancerous tumor on her spine and is undergoing a high-risk surgery that has a very low chance of working. Her cancer is from chemical dumping from a corporation headed by a real sleazeball who is (gasp!) denying all culpability. Connors is suing, and unbeknownst to him is the target of the snake chick who was hired by the above-mentioned corporate sleaze. The stress has Connors turning back and forth into the Lizard and hijinks ensue.
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Except that no matter how quippy Spider-man is, or how innocuous the art is, it's still a story about a man whose wife is dying. Oh, and whose son suddenly gets cancer while they're in the hospital watching the mom die. Very uplifting! Don't hand this to small children!...more
I actually liked this quite a bit more than I thought I would. The angry father/son stuff felt familiar, but the cop thing with the vampire spin on itI actually liked this quite a bit more than I thought I would. The angry father/son stuff felt familiar, but the cop thing with the vampire spin on it pushed the dynamic far enough away from other things I've read that it made it seem like a very fresh sort of story.
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The main thing I couldn't figure out was why John Adams as the head vampire? To me, it seemed kind of random and smelled a bit of that Hamilton musical. But I just assumed there was something pertinent I was missing because, let's face it, I'm usually missing something pertinent. So when I read the author's note at the end and he said he got the idea from Hamilton, I actually laughed out loud. What?! That's so fucking dorky! But it's whatever. I can feel the Hamilton fans swarming me now...
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I'm on the fence about this one. I liked all the characters minus the John Adams musical bullshit. I have the second volume, so we'll see how it goes from here.
[image] There were too many great horror comics to fit them all into October's buddy reads, so we're just kind of reheating the leftovers....more
Dracula is such an overdone concept that I wasn't expecting much. In fact, if it hadn't been for the buddy read, it wouldn't have even made a blip on Dracula is such an overdone concept that I wasn't expecting much. In fact, if it hadn't been for the buddy read, it wouldn't have even made a blip on my radar. And that would have been a shame because this was actually quite good.
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The gist is that our story follows a man who works for his family's company. The Company of Monsters. <--get it? His family is loaded, but that doesn't mean he isn't just another downtrodden cog in the machine, complete with a girlfriend (<--also works for the same company) who henpecks him to death. His quite obviously sleazy uncle, who practically oozes corporate greed from his elderly pores, has pulled him into his scheme to translate ancient texts under a veil of complete secrecy.
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What's in those texts and why the secrecy? His uncle is trying to resurrect Dracula in a convoluted scheme to use his immortality and power to...take over another company? Now, that part? I'll freely admit it was a touch wonky. There are lots of ways to plot a corporate takeover or hide financial problems, and all of them are easier than translating old spells or raising a famous vampire from his grave. I'm just saying.
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But it was different. And the characters and plot were cool enough that I gave it a pass and just decided to go with the wacky flow of things. Worth it! I had fun, and can't wait to see what volume two has in store for me. Recommended for fans of monster comics.
[image] There were too many great horror comics to fit them all into October's buddy reads, so we're just kind of reheating the leftovers....more
