Supergirl! Who else is looking forward to her?

So who else loves the action-girl version of Supergirl?

The newest Supergirl trailer has all the action anyone could ask for, showing her in costume battling an array of villains and carrying out daring rescues. She's going to be as active as anyone could wish. Add in the strong supporting cast and the fact that the last trailer showed her apparently having fun with her powers and it looks like Supergirl is going to get off to a strong start.

Now I'm starting to look forward to this! Always assuming, of course, that I can manage to squeeze watching it in! I am woefully behind on my superhero shows. Don't tell anyone, but I haven't actually finished Season One of Flash yet, and I liked it! Barry may be an idiot, but he's a likable idiot. I'm also still early Season Two on Arrow. Oliver is also an idiot, but he's a handsome idiot and he has Felicity on his team.

Anyway--Supergirl trailer:



Synopsis for Supergirl

Born on the planet Krypton, Kara Zor-El escaped amid its destruction years ago with her famous cousin. Now at the age 24, she finally embraces her superhuman abilities to be the hero she was always meant to be.

This a chattier version of a post I wrote earlier for FangirlNation. Post update/repost made with permission!

Book Review: X-Men: Battle of the Atom

X-Men: Battle of the Atom is the kind of time-travel mess you can only get in comic books. Hank McCoy has brought the past X-Men forward to meet the current group and encourage them to regain their idealism. Unfortunately for him, instead of inspiring their older selves and going home, the group promptly split up, with Angel going to join Evil Cyclops and others opting to stay in the current school. Now, the X-Men from the future come back and claim that their younger selves have to go home at once. Current X-Men argue about whether or not the past folk should have a say in matters, past X-Men doing some more splitting up, and Future X-Men chasing everyone. Marie Hill gets to rant about Hank McCoy being the real loose canon among the mutants, all sorts of chaos and mayhem ensues, and there is great confusion amidst the ranks. It's crazy, it's fun, and this kind of merry mayhem one of the reasons I read comic books.

It's not perfect, but it is great fun, with tons of chronal chaos, misunderstandings, and mix-ups going on. Watching three Beasts interact, or seeing younger Iceman face not one, but ultimately three, versions of his future self makes for some fun character moments. And did I mention Hill's tirade? Just the sheer, unadulterated ridiculousness of the situation alone is worth reading for.

The various artists and writers between them do an excellent job of keeping the individuals distinctive. There were a lot of people to track, but they were easy to track: I never found myself stopping and wondering "Now who was that again?" Ok, I did, but only for some of the really, really minor bystanders in the back--and one of them asks the same question, so that's ok.

The not perfect part? I am afraid I'm getting a little tired of "the-world-that-hates-and-fears-them," which is pretty much the X-Men's primary characteristic, and while that was not the central point of the issue, which focused primarily on the aforementioned chronal troubles, it did come up more than once. Unfortunately, this means I may have to bow out of the X-books entirely fairly soon, which would be sad. I may be intermittent in my following now, but the X-books were my first entry into comic books. Also, I'm still not really buying Evil Cyclops, especially because I've read the whole story, which involved more contrivances than I can swallow. Still and all, I enjoyed the volume, and I'm glad Beast brought the past people forward, even if Maria Hill is not.

The book will primarily appeal to people who already have some working knowledge of the X-verse, I think. There are a few to many versions of a few too many people running around for it to be an easy entry point.

Publication Information
Writers: Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Wood, Jason Aaaron
Artists: Frank Cho ,Stuart Immonen , David López , Chris Bachalo, Esad Ribic, Giuseppe Camuncoli , Arthur Adams
Published: January 21st 2014 by Marvel
ISBN: 0785189068 (ISBN13: 9780785189060)

Book Review:Uncanny Avengers Vol. 1: The Red Shadow

Sometimes, I expect to enjoy a book, and then I just don't. Uncanny Avengers: The Red Shadow is one of those times. In an attempt to change the world's view of mutants, Captain America has put together a new team of Avengers, one that mixes mutants and "regular" Avengers. Their first foe in this issue is the Red Skull who has grafted Xavier's brain onto his own and is using his new ability to whip up anti-mutant frenzy and rioting as—I guess—a step toward taking over. Essentially, the new team is faced with their worst nightmare: Captain America's long-time foe, Xavier gone bad (again), and anti-mutant rioting. Rick Remender has written some really good stuff in the past₍₁₎, and the Uncanny Avengers holds the potential to take the X-folk off into some new territory, so I was ready to enjoy the book.

Sadly, I spent most of it wishing everyone would just shut up. Alex Summers makes a speech. Rogue and the Scarlet Witch snipe at each other. The Red Skull talks. And talks. And talks. He now has the power to influence people's minds directly, and while he does that, he apparently cannot resist making endless speeches. I ended up skimming a lot of his verbiage which left the rest of the book rather slim pickings: oodles of fight scenes as waves of rioters turn on the Avengers, the X-Men, and each other.

I was disappointed with the main plot as a whole: The team mixup also provides an opportunity to do something new with the X-Men. Instead, they're still facing the same old "World-that-hates-and-fears-them."

So, no go here. X-Men enthusiasts might want to read the first bit where Alex makes his infamous "Don't call me a mutant" speech. Otherwise, read X-Men: Battle of the Atom instead.

₍₁₎The not too distant past: I cannot begin to say how much I loved Black Science, though I do try over onFanboyNation. Seriously, that book is incredible.

Publication Information
Hardcover, 136 pages
Published April 24th 2013 by Marvel
ISBN 0785168443 (ISBN13: 9780785168447)
Uncanny Avengers (Marvel NOW!) Vol. 1: 1-5

Rereading Astro City

The Astro City books are not books on my forever-and-always-reread shelf (yet, anyway); they're books I keep wandering back and rediscovering. "Oh, Astro City," I'll say to myself as I wander through the library, "I rather liked those."

And then I'll pick them up, and wham! There I'll be, immersed in them, admiring them, and daring anyone to say bad things about them—or even ever-so-slightly-critical things₁.


Why do I love them? For starters, they're about the city, the whole, big, wonderful, bustling place. That means I get to wander around and find all sorts of places, and even better, the narrative wanders. Various stories are told from the point of view of: a doorman as he watches city life go by, speculates on which of the tourists might come back to live, and remembers the time he was a hero (not the super-powered sort; the other kind); the boy who becomes the Confessor's sidekick; a former would-be super-villain trying to build a new life; a grumpy alien trying to decide whether or not his people should invade Earth; a heroine who looks like a fashion doll and cannot remember who made her—you get the idea. It's a varied list, and it has texture. Oh, and I love Shadow Hill, a place so strange even most Astro City folk look at it sideways.


For another, Busiek knows how and when to go small: The alien is grumpy when he shows up. Not menacing, not overwhelmingly powered or mystical, but every day, common grumpy. He kind of likes Earth, but then again, people can be so annoying… He's an ordinary alien, just someone doing his job. That doesn't make him harmless, but it does make him—real? Relatable? (Kind of scary, when you think about it, but pretty awesome, too). And Crackerjack, one of the superheroes, is just plain old vain. A friend (the one who introduced me to Astro City, in fact) once asked why I liked that so much. It's because then—and even now—most heroes tend to have outsized personalities; they brood more intensely than anyone else; they don't just get a bit touchy, they have berserker rages; on bad days, they destroy cities. Even the modern, "realistically" flawed superheroes tend to go overboard in a movie-star kind of way. It's nice to see someone who is just plain vain, a nice, ordinary, annoying kind of flaw.

Also, they're beautiful. The superhero designs are as varied as the heroes themselves, picking up a variety of backgrounds, times, and purposes. The art is lovingly, lavishly, carefully crafted. These are people here, not archetypes. They have different body types, varying postures, different expressions, and a variety of ages. It's a one-of-a-kind series.

So I don't know why Astro City is not on my forever shelf. It probably should be. On the other hand, it's kind of nice this way. I get to fall in love with the series all over again, every time I find it.

Edit:Somewhere in an early draft, I mentioned I was borrowing the Sparkly snuggle hearts category from Gin Jenny at Reading the End. Then I edited. Now I'm editing it back in. It's a very good category.

The complete list:

Astro City Vol. 1: Life in the Big City by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 2: Confession by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 3: Family Album by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 4: The Tarnished Angel by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 5: Local Heroes by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 6: The Dark Age Book One: Brothers and Other Strangers by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson
On GoodReads, at any rate, this does not show up in the regular "Astro City" search; neither does Vol 7. Shining Stars, however, does show up as Vol. 8, leading to a "huh?" moment. I have not read this one yet, nor Volume 7. I plan to remedy this lapse as soon as possible.

Astro City Vol. 7: The Dark Age Book Two: Brothers in Arms by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 8: Shining Stars by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson (Illustrator)

Astro City Vol. 9: Through Open Doors Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson

Astro City Vol. 10: View from Above by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson (Illustrations) Coming Sept 2014.

Book Review: Superman: Grounded vols 1 & 2 by J. Michael Straczynski (Author), Chris Roberson (Author), Eddy Barrows (Illustrator), J.P. Mayer (Illustrator)

When Volume 1 of Grounded begins, Superman has just suffered the loss of Krypton, all over again, and has, in the process, lost the trust of some of Earth's people because he appears to have cared more about the Kryptonians than about Humans. Saddened by the double loss, Superman decides to walk across America, reconnecting with the people of his adopted world (and country) as he does. He also promises to fly when needed and resume his walk later. As he travels, he mourns, meets old friends, and solves problems on a smaller scale than usual.

I am told this wasn't well received when it came out, and I wonder if that might be the difference between getting this fairly leisurely story one book at a time, spread out over months and getting to curl up with it and read it in one go. As a series of vignettes, it works very well. It also works very well as a crisis for someone who is, at base, a good man: He stops to reexamine his priorities before things hit super-crisis mode and he's done something stupid like destroy a city or get possessed by a demon (not to name any names here...). He and Lois have a good marriage, with her supporting him but also willing to call him out when needed (Now I'm mad at the New 52 and I haven't even read any of it yet!).

The two different Batman encounters, with Dick in volume 1 and Bruce in volume 2, were also highlights: He's friends with both men, but in a different way. Dick is more respectful of someone who has been a mentor, but still blunt. Bruce has a lifetime of friendship to draw on when he analyzes the situation. It is telling, though, that both versions of Batman approach the situation analytically and try to talk Superman out of his depression with the facts.

Insofar as they are separate stories at all, volume 1 of Grounded is the crisis issue and Volume 2 is the warm and fuzzy one, the one where Superman's friends all rally round to tell him that what he does as Superman is worth it. He spends a good half of it depressed himself, but there's never really much doubt what will happen in the end.

I do wish the whole "future Superpeople" storyline had been left out. If I have a complaint about the DC universe as a whole it's the sheer boiling number of alternates, future selves, and family members that are perpetually cropping up. Also, I think the major villain of the piece needed more character development. I can't say much without spoiling things, but unless she gets more backstory and care in a future issue somewhere else, she's a wasted opportunity, and she should still have gotten a bit more here.

The tale as a whole gets bonus points for the including the story of Bruce and Clark's first meeting back when they were both trying to hide their abilities and plans from the world and each other. I enjoyed the brief encounter with Straczynski's Wonder Woman as well.

The art? Gorgeous. The books would be worth picking up even if there were no story, just for some of the images.

Verdict: It's a solid entry into the Superman mythos and worth reading, even if it never happened in the current continuity.

I know, I know: I gripe because existing continuity is too complicated to keep track of and I also gripe because it has been un-happened. I'm also still reading the books.

Other Reviews
Superman: Grounded vol. 1 on Goodreads
Superman: Grounded vol. 2 on Goodreads

My Usual Suspects haven't written any reviews. Got any I should include? Contact me and let me know!


Links
My review of Straczynki's Wonder Woman: Odyssey

Superman: Grounded vol. 1 on Amazon
Superman: Grounded vol 2 on Amazon.
@straczynski

Wonder Woman Vols. 1&2 by by George Pérez (Author), Len Wein (Author), Greg Potter (Author), Bruce Patterson (Illustrator)

I tend to circle Wonder Woman stories cautiously. Part of the problem is she's the heroine everyone talks about, the one I'm absolutely supposed to like, the way I like Batman or Superman, someone who's just there--but who is a woman, and who is holding the "prominent woman superhero" status all on her lonesome. That's a huge load for one character to carry. Add to that, she's supposed to be both peaceful and a warrior. No tension there!

Anyway, emboldened by my enjoyment of J. Michael Straczynski's Wonder Woman, I decided to try Perez's earlier retelling. My reaction is decidedly mixed.

Wonder Woman Vol 1: Gods and Mortals
The gods are in deep trouble. Mars is getting way out of hand, threatening to destroy the human race with his hijinks and thus destroying the gods, who need human worship to survive. For reasons that are not quite clear, they can't fight Mars themselves but need Wonder Woman to defeat the god of war and (hopefully) bring him to his senses.

The bad (and it's very bad): Rape as backstory. For an entire race. Honestly! Hercules tricks the peaceful (yet skilled in war) Amazons into trusting them, takes them into captivity where they are systematically raped. They escape and are sent by the goddesses (and god: Mercury had a role) who created them to live in isolation on Themyscira, guarding against the escape of evil imprisoned under the island. There are hints that this is for their protection, but equal, and somewhat contradictory, hints that this is something of a punishment for their failure to teach the world how to live peacefully, and for their anger at their rapists. This is a very strange, very mixed message.

The good: In the modern day, there are a lot of strong friendships between women and they ring true. One of the keys to Wonder Woman's success is a Harvard researcher, a librarian, and her subsequent friendship with Julia and her daughter, Vanessa, remains a strength throughout both volumes. I also enjoyed the way that Diana's relationship with Steve Trevor becomes one of friendship rather than romance, and that Etta now has a major role, a lot of backbone, and the ability to plan on her own.

Wonder Woman needs her mortal allies in challenging the god, which is a definite plus: I do prefer team heroes to soloists. The byplay among the godly onlookers doesn't add a lot to the tale (Who cares what happens to Aphrodite?), but does give some backstory when needed.

Verdict: Entertaining, but hasn't really hooked me on reading more Wonder Woman, and I'm still finding the superheroes the least interesting of the graphic novels I've picked up during the Summer of the Graphic Novel (Yes, I know, it's now the Winter of etc, but the "half year of..." is really lame sounding, and the Summer of the Dragonfly is still going on, and that started last year)

Wonder Woman vol 2: Challenge of the Gods
As with volume one, the friendships are strong, and The individual challenges and battles are entertaining enough, but once again the Amazons are threatened with destruction if Wonder Woman doesn't prove her worth. For a group of immortal warriors, they're awfully vulnerable. Oh, and once again they are threatened with rape. The bulk of the story is shaped by Zeus planning on an extended vacation down on the island full of beautiful women; he's angry when Diana refuses his initial offer of "blessing" and presents her with a series of challenges to prove her worth and preserve her, and the island's, safety from his lust. This is not out of character for the god, really, but this is the second book in a row where rape has been a major plot point.

Also, the whole Hercules raped the Amazons story is continued. While I am quite sure that there are valuable tales to be told about a woman forgiving her rapist, and I'm sure that they could (perhaps have) been told in comic book form, I am also certain that these stories shouldn't involve magically resolving the issue by tying rapist and victim together with a magic lasso of truth. That whole "magical insight" and "instant understanding" completely undermines and ignores the trauma of rape. Having Hercules declared more of a man because he realizes women can be equal to men? Not bad. Rewarding him with a kiss from his victim? Very bad.

Again, there are some good bits here: The friendships remain strong. I liked the Etta and Steve romance--I'm a sucker for a good romance. Also, though I probably wasn't supposed to, I loved the rapacious, over-the-top publicity agent, Myndi Mayer. Here jeweled heels and refusal to take no for an answer were wonderful.

All in all, though, I wouldn't say this was one of my more enjoyable forays into the world of superheroes.

The bit that interests me most is almost a throwaway bit: The first arc in here concerns the Cheetah and her attempt to lure Wonder Woman in by promising her evidence of the lost Amazons, the ones who didn't take the gods offer/exile of life in isolation on Themyscira. Nothing, other than a fight scene, comes of it, but I can't help thinking that there's more to tell of that tale in the future.

So, it's a mixed bag, and of course Perez's reinvention has now been trumped, or at least enfolded, by Straczynski's which has in turn been wiped from continuity by the New 52.

Other Reviews links of interest

Gods and Mortals on Goodreads
Challenge of the Gods on Goodreads

Got a review you think I should link to? Let me know!

Gods and Mortals on Amazon
Challenge of the Gods on Amazon

Book Review: Rogue Touch by Christine Woodward

This, like The She Hulk Diaries is a Marvel/Hyperion Press superheroine novel with a good dash of chick-lit. Rogue Touch focuses on Rogue of the X-Men before her days with the team, looking at the days shortly after she gained her power. I enjoyed it, though not quite as much as the The She-Hulk Diaries. Possibly because it focuses on Rogue's early days, it read more like young adult to me, though I don't think it is particularly shelved in that section.

Rogue Touch does not, by the way, fit into the established X-Men continuity--or continuities. I don't think the continuity laps is much of a problem, since alternate forms of publication often do vary details, and, in any case, the X-Men sprout new timelines regularly, but it may be off-putting for someone expecting it to be the comic book in a novel.

In this version of her story, young Anna Marie is on the run after putting her boyfriend in a coma when she kissed him. Now, she also has all his memories and skills. While struggling to make a living while not touching anyone, she meets a mysterious stranger, Touch, who is also on the run. They team up and fall in love, but there are things about his past that Touch isn't telling her--and that, of course, means trouble.

Overall, it was a fun, fluffy read that appealed to the side of me that likes to indulge in Georgette Heyer. The romance was not quite to my tastes; there were times when it was a little treacly for my tastes, though looking back, the part that bothers me most is the power differential: Touch is the older, more experienced of the two, and she forgives him some of the secrets he kept awfully quickly.

Still, it makes a nice, brainless read for the beach or wherever, and I do find myself looking forward to future installments in the Marvel/Hyperion line. At least, I'm assuming that The She Hulk Diaries and Rogue Touch represent the start of a line.

Book Review: The She-Hulk Diaries by Marta Acosta

The She Hulk Diairies is a Marvel novel focusing on the life and struggles of Jen Walters as she tries to come out from under the shadow of She Hulk and find a job and a boyfriend of her own. As She-Hulk, she's in trouble with the Avengers for her destructive behavior. As Jen, she need to find a new job and wants to find a steady boyfriend (Shulkie is known for one-night stands). She is also pining for a one-weekend encounter she-as-Jen had some time back, one that she thinks might really have been true love, but who never called her back--and she's not going to take the first step. She does get the job, meets two possible true-loves, and eventually starts listening to all the people telling her that she really ought to stop drawing the boundaries so firmly between Shulkie and Jen.

This was mostly a fun read, though my overall response is decidedly mixed. I enjoyed Acosta's ability to blend of the superhero and superhero science with the mundane world we all know. Without quite warping our world out of shape, Acosta makes room for the existence of robots, aliens, and super-advanced science, pointing out the legal problems some of these things cause and that Jen Walters, as a lawyer, has dealt with. I was on the fence about the choice to give Jen a somewhat scatterbrained first-person voice. On the one hand, it was appealing. On the other, it didn't really sound much like a highly-educated, highly successful lawyer who, however messy her personal life, probably knows how to keep very good records.

I also liked the Walters/Shulkie dichotomy. It's clear to the reader early on that this is not a true personality divide, not of the Banner/Hulk variety, but a more willful decision to keep the parts of her life separate, and watching the "two" of them accept this was enjoyable.

The romance, sadly, did not work for me at all. Jen talks a lot about the great sex the couple had, but it is more than three-quarters of the way through the book before the man himself reappears (That's not really a spoiler, right? I mean, you had to know he would, given the type of book it is), and he does not make a good impression. First of all, he's engaged to someone else, but he still wants to work on the old relationship, and he starts right off by demanding Walters drop the case she's on because she'll be prosecuting an innocent man. How is she to know the man is innocent? Well, she has to take her ex-lover's word for it: This is a good guy. Right. So someone who desperately needs a job and has just landed a good one, is supposed to throw over her assigned case and probably lose the job because her one-time weekend lover says so? When she doesn't drop the case, he promptly turns sulky and claims she wasn't the person he thought she was. This left a very bad taste in my mouth, and the one or two flash-back conversations later didn't soothe me, even if scientific love songs are appealing. Sadly, love interest number two has problems of his own, though it is in his favor that he likes powerful women.

Overall, She Hulk Diaries was an enjoyable, fluffy read, but not without its flaws.

Book Review: Avengers Arena vol. 1 Kill or Die by Dennis Hopeless(author) and Kev Walker (Illustrator) and Alessandro Vitti (Illustrator)

I picked this up because I wanted to find out what happened to Cammi post-Guardians of the Galaxy, which I loved and am rereading, not because I liked the premise, so you're fairly warned: Kill-or-be-killed is not my preferred genre, and Avengers Arena₍₁₎ only reinforced my non-preference.

I still don't really know about Cammi₍₂₎. She gets to show up at the beginning, right before she and a lot of other teens, some of whom I recognized, some of whom I did not, are captured by some bored villain to and stashed, his own private little cut-off pocket of space wherein he can manipulate stuff so they have to kill one another in order to amuse and entertain him. Hasn't this guy heard of TV?

In any event, he isn't much amused as the teens spend most of their time wandering around trying to figure out if there's a way off. (There isn't, yet, or we wouldn't have volume 2. I hadn't realized when I checked this out that there was a whole series planned₍₃₎) and vaguely discussing how not to kill anyone, while someone or another is staging sneak attacks. I think one or two characters might actually have died in the attacks, but not only is this hard to be sure of for comic book reasons (people turn out not to be dead all of the time for various good and bad reasons), it's hard to keep track because I only recognize a few of the characters and only really know a couple, so it's hard to keep them straight. This combination drastically undercuts the "suspense": It's hard to care who's doing what to whom if you don't know why they are in the first place, and harder still of a drowned team mate isn't actually dead after all.

Mostly, everyone persists in wandering around talking and not fighting. This is an odd thing for me to complain about, since I don't actually want them to fight; I haven't even read Hunger Games, for crying out loud, and that's supposed to be really good. I just want them to do something, to have some sort of a story, and they don't--there's no option but to kill, and little desire to kill, so the plot options are severely limited.

There's not even much by way of character development, the sort of thing desert island scenarios are built for. Oh, they talk, and someone everyone thought was nice turns out to be a nasty, manipulative sort, but I didn't know her enough before to find this surprising, or even to know if I was meant to find it surprising, or how surprising anyone else on her "team" finds it, or even to remember her name, so it's a wash in terms of development or caring.

Not even the guy who assembled the bunch appears to have thought things through much. Arcade's teenage "contestants" include Cammi, who is entirely normal human in terms of strength, Darkhawk, who isn't actually a teen, and a cyborg girl, who has had no training at all--she's barely had time to realize she has implants. You'd think if the guy wanted excitement he'd have gone for the more explosive and trained sorts.

By the end of this volume Arcade, like the reader, decides not enough is happening. Rather than taking this as a cue to abort the experiment and take up crocheting or chess, he opts to up the stakes a bit by making survival-without-killing even harder. The abductees still stubbornly refuse to go Lord of the Flies, though there are ominous hints that Things are Only Going to Get Worse.

I'm not holding my breath.

---
(1) Named that because a small segment of the stolen teens are Avengers in training. Why their teachers haven't found them yet, I don't know.
(2) Except that she's doomed. She may have good survival skills, but they're the sort that mean forming strategic alliances and knowing when to run. There is no way for her to be the last one standing in a pure power fight. So, yeah. She's doomed, and Drax (if Bendis remembers to have him remember her) will have something more to angst about. Basically, Murder World is a giant refrigerator. No one is going to get a heroic death; the survivor(s) will get to mourn, and that will be that. Unless, that is, someone hits the reset button.

(3) It would work better as a six-issue miniseries, I think. That would actually open the door for more options: They could overcome Arcade, outwait Arcade, actually act like heroes....

Relevant Details
Paperback, 144 pages
Published May 21st 2013 by Marvel
ISBN 0785166572 (ISBN13: 9780785166573)

Author: Dennis Hopeless
Illustrations: Kev Walker & Alessandro Vitti

Links of Interest
Avengers Arena on Goodreads

Know of a review I should include? A link I should add? Drop me a line and let me know!

Book Review: Final Crisis by Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones (Illustrator), Doug Mahnke (Illustrator), Jay Babcock (Introduction)

This is not really a review, more a puzzled musing.

I'm not having any luck with JLA comics. So far, every single TPB I've picked up has featured not only the entire massive team but also all their alternates from every possible universe.

This one is no exception: Final Crisis, has more than the JLA (My brother read this over my shoulder and repeatedly reminded me, "It's not a JLA comic; it's a crisis crossover." I agreed to pass that news on, for whatever it's worth).

What is the story? Well, um--Darkseid decides to take over the multiverse with a form of "anti-life" that basically makes everyone him. There are Monitors trying to take care of the "purity" of everything, a cosmic vampire-thing trying to eat all life, and a whole lot of superheroes of all sorts. There's an unnumbered quantity of "ultimate" this and thats running around. Various boundaries get broken, assorted family members and loads of characters I didn't recognize show up. People get killed. Things happen.

I enjoyed it, in a way, just letting the story happen and surfing along through the madness, but it's certainly no story for beginners!

No other JLA I've picked up has been as interesting, or as puzzling, but they've all packed in just about every possible character possible and then some, usually without any sort of intro, and generally including alter-egos, family members, and alternates.

So, gentle readers, should I ever get my act together and decide to approach the Justice League in an organized fashion rather than going by title, author, or book-on-the-shelf, what should I pick? Which books actually attempt to stick to a somewhat manageable team level? Bonus points if they actually introduce the character somewhere before the story starts.

Other (more reviewy) reviews
Fifty Books Project
Huh. Fifty Books was all the book blog search engine turned up. Got one I should add to the list? If so, let me know!

Book Review: Uncanny X-men : The Complete Collection. Volume 3 by Matt Fraction (writer), Kieron Gillen (writer), Greg Land (art), Whilce Portacio (art), Phil Jimenez (art), Steve Sanders (art), Jamie McKelvie(art)

On reading this, I found out it took place just before Avengers vs. X-men. I'd probably have read it first if I'd known. I do wish Marvel and DC would think to include chronological lists of the recent publications inside each volume--they do on some, but not on others.

There's going to be a middling spoiler in here; I'll post a warning, but if you're like me, you're past warnings almost before you see them, so here's a heads-up.

There are two major plots in this one: Hope, the "mutant messiah" is settling in on Utopia and is asked to help a handful of emerging mutants figure out how to cope with their new powers. Meanwhile, an entrepreneur is to copy & sell mutant powers, but on the side, he's trying to blackmail the X-men into selling the right to copyright their genome in return for curing them of a plague. Oh and Emma has to deal with Shaw once and for all (or until the next writer gets bored). Also, the mutants finally get around to hiring a PR specialist. It's only taken them--how long?

Two of the plots--Hope's miraculous ability to help new mutants figure out their power and the confrontation between Emma and Shaw were fairly standard stuff. In fact, the Hope line annoyed me a bit because it threw in the tiresome "God won't help you" line that various writers keep shoving into the different X-books (or at least the ones I'm reading lately). On the plus side, there, though, at least one of the emerging mutants had parents who were concerned about him and just wanted someone to help their son. After reading so many "turn mutant and everyone hates you" books, it's nice to see that someone realizes this isn't a universal truth.

The more interesting line was the mutant powers as drug line.

Spoiler starts here:




I loved the idea of mutant power being cool. Who wouldn't want to fly? If you could buy wings for, say, a day or a week, wouldn't you? What would that do to the mutants if their power could be easily copied and spread? If they were trademarked rather than evil? How would that change their view of themselves? Their view of the world? The world's view of them?

I really wish this had been a longer-running story with more twists and turns to it, with all the mutants having a say in what happened and maybe even considering the offer. Instead, of course, the corporation turns out to be standard-issue Evil, making the drug addictive and customizing a plague to kill the mutants if they don't cooperate. It's all over fairly quickly, all things considered.


Spoiler ends here.

However, the plot was left somewhat open-ended, and overall, the book was a reminder of why I spent a few years reading the X-men obsessively, and they were my gateway to superhero comics and, ultimately, through a long, slow road to comics in general. I also appreciated the publicist. Finally, the X-Men are thinking about how to manage their image, and paying someone who does her job and does it well and to the best of her ability. I wonder where, when, and why she disappeared?

Also, this collection made sense: All the relevant bits to each story were included. That may sound like faint praise, but I'm slowly learning that this is not always the case.

So, overall: Not a book that will addict you to the X-men or to comic books if you aren't already a reader, but an entertaining way to spend the time if you are.

Reviews
Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Collection on Goodreads.
Anyone got links to others? I kept finding bits and pieces, but not the whole. I admit, I didn't search very far, so if you wrote one, send me the link and I'll put it up!

Mervi's Book Reviews has a reviewof Quarantine, one of the tales in this collection.

Links of Interest
Whilce Portacio on Facebook. He tends to show work-in-progress and talk about how and why he makes decisions. Definitely worth following!

Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Collection Volume 3 on Amazon.

Book Review: All-new X-Men. Vol. 1, Yesterday's X-Men by by Brian Michael Bendis (Author), and Stuart Immonen (Illustrations)

During Avengers vs. X-Men,Cyclops, leader of various teams of the X-Men for, oh, forever, possessed/was possessed by the Phoenix force. He went from slightly obsessed with preserving the remaining mutants to flat-out crazy dark in no time flat. After the Phoenix force was dealt with, he was briefly penitent, but because the world hates-and-fears mutants, he was pushed back into darkness in record time.

Now he's teamed up with Magneto, who is back to being evil again, and is declaring a mutant revolution. In order to stop him, Beast imports the past X-Men with the idea that the young, idealistic Scott will be able stop cynical, evil Scott, or at least make him feel good and guilty.

It's an interesting idea, but there's not much room for it to grow here. Yesterday's X-Men is very much a stage-setting volume and what comes after might or might not develop into something character-driven and fun, but for the moment, I'm left wondering. I have liked X-Men stories in the past--devoured them in fact--but I'm starting to wonder if the series and I are going to get along very well this time around. Maybe I should go back to the independents again.

As with the whole Avengers vs. X-Men series (or at least, all I've read of it; there seem to be an uncountable number of side books) a good many things happen "because plot." I know the "hates and fears" thing is part of the whole X-Men schtick and has been from the beginning, but there's very little refinement here. Three different teens, two with completely non-scary power manifestations (one is a healer), are surrounded by the authorities the moment their powers show. Their parents disown them. Their friends don't like them any more. Really? Come on. I know people are weird, scary, and unpredictable. They're also disorganized, prone to letting things go, and actually capable of loving their children, friends, and relations. It's been years since "the mutant gene" first manifested, and I have a hard time thinking that most of the world still panics at the thought of non-explody mutants. See what I mean about me and the series?

Also, I have to take a moment to whine about Cyclops: I rather liked the idealistic version, and I've been frustrated by various writers working over the years to make him more interesting, usually by adding a lot of angst and anger to his character and subtracting any and all thought and planning from his skill set.

As I mentioned earlier, the bulk of this volume is spent setting the scene and bringing the old team forward. There's not much time for present X-men to interact with their past selves, or for the past selves to see the world and try to cope with how it has changed and how they--their future selves--have responded. It'll be interesting to see how that develops, and whether the various writers can handle the oversized team(s?) that will result.

Until next time!

Links:
Yesterday's X-Men on Goodreads
Yesterday's X-Men on Amazon

Did you write a review I should add? Know of one? If so, contact me and let me know!

Book Review: Avengers vs. X-men: It's Coming by Allan Heinberg (Author), Jason Aaron (Author), Brian Michael Bendis (Author), Jeph Loeb (Author), Jim Cheung (Illustrator), Adam Kubert (Illustrator), Olivier Coipel (Illustrator), Ed McGuinness (Illustrator)

Essentially, this is a mismatched collection of teaser titles that came just before the Avengers vs. X-Men got started properly. All of them are parts of larger arcs that eventually fed into the whole huge Avengers vs. X-Men battle. Individually, none of them stand up well on its own. Few, in fact, make any sense in isolation.

If you can get hold of it at the library, it's worth looking at it to reread the end of the House of M storyline (which I'm kind of wanting to reread now). I vaguely remembered it, but I did appreciate the refresher. Otherwise, It's Coming is only worth it for the completist, and that only so this hypothetical individual can jot down the arc-titles of all the other books in order to go find out where those are collected in their entirety, always assuming they are collected in full somewhere.

Links:
Avengers vs. X-Men: It's Coming on Amazon.
Reviewed on Fantasy & SciFi Lovin Reviews

Got any other links or reviews I should include? Drop me a line and let me know!

Book Review Avengers vs. X-Men: Legacy by Christos Gage (writer), Rafa Sandoval (Illustrations), & David Baldeón (Illustrations)

I found this more interesting than the main title in the Avengers vs. X-Men series₍₁₎, mostly for the side story where Rogue ends up trying to mediate a conflict on another planet after she angers Illyana and gets herself exiled. In the bulk of the book, everyone is continuing to demonstrate the magnificent negotiating skills they displayed when the fight first began, which is to say toddlers in a playground manage better.

In the main story arc here, the Avengers send a group of B-listers to the Jean Grey School to keep an eye on the mutants there to ensure that none of them decide to sneak out and fight--or something. I'm not really clear on what, precisely, they hoped to accomplish, but they did make sure to include at least one hothead on the team, so fireworks quickly followed.

As with the core title, it was amusing enough. I enjoyed it on a certain brainless level, and I got to see She Hulk in action--I'm starting to get more and more curious about her--and the eventual trigger for this battle is more believable than that of the big starting battle in the core title, but all the same, one would prefer the Earth's Mightiest Heroes & co. to be able to think somewhat more clearly than they do here. I mean, really, why would Captain America send anyone at all, and if he did, why not make sure the people involved were actually capable of keeping their mouths shut and their fists down when verbally provoked? But, hey, I don't think one is supposed to think too much about these things.

There were segments here--Rogue's and Frenzy's in particular--that showed how seductive the mutant utopia was. That part really helped. It makes the initial battle no easier to understand, but does show why more mutants joined the cause after the Phoenix five took over running the earth. They got to be heroes, unambiguous and beloved for the first time. That's pretty potent stuff.

I enjoyed the side story most, though. Rogue's B-story, where she is sent offworld by an angered Illyana and finds herself trying to resolve a conflict there has a clear beginning, middle, and end and Rogue gets to build something that will last₂. There were a couple of after-the-Phoenix tales as well, but I find I'm already forgetting them.

I did like the art. I find I prefer the more detailed, finished faces that Sandoval and Beldeon provided than the less-finished, more emoting versions the big guns gave in the core collection.

In short, I haven't given up on the big superheroes yet--for one thing, I still have a pile of books waiting for me--but I'm sticking to my initial conclusion on this Summer of the Graphic Novel: I prefer the shorter, more contained series to the big, sprawling, emotions-off-the-scale stuff that I keep finding in Marvel and DC. I'll revisit the thought more later (probably).

---

(1) At least, I'm assuming the book with the unadorned Avengers vs. X-men title is the "main" title with the others being optional(?) side-titles. I'd rather like Marvel to include some sort of easily accessible diagram in the back showing what happens where and when in the timeline so that readers who either never read it during its original run or who have forgotten can look back and say "Yes, there!" Wikipedia helps, but I always take a certain number of points off mentally for books or TV shows that require outside aid for the basics.

No, I don't actually have a point system as such. One day I might write a post explaining why, but all the same--if I have to look outside the text for no special reason, it's a mark on the negative side.

(2) I admit, my cynical self says that was waaay to easy, but hey, it worked, and it's unlikely Rogue will revisit the planet, so we can all pretend it lasts, unlike all the "permanent" changes in various comic books that keep sort of unhappening themselves (Magneto's a villain, no , he's a hero, no...; Jean is dead, alive, dead... Superman is married to Lois Lane, no he's not...)

Links:
Avengers vs. X-Men: Legacy on Amazon
Reviews on Goodreads

Got a link you think I should include? Did you write a review I should add? Contact me and let me know!

Book Review: Avengers vs. X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Frank Cho, John Romita, Ed Brubaker

Basically this was an excuse to work through all those "Who would beat whom in a battle?" questions.

Minor spoilers follow, though I doubt anyone will be much surprised.

The X-Men and Avengers, displaying all the conflict resolution skills of toddlers, decide to argue over the best way to deal with the coming Phoenix and its potential host. After about five minutes of talking, they start fighting. It's actually quite hilarious at that point: Scott goes out to talk with Captain America, and the rest of his team stands back and chats about how cranky he's been lately and how unlikely he is to negotiate. Once the fighting starts, they shrug and join in.

Eventually, the Phoenix comes and renders all the smashing moot, and it all comes down to Hope.

The second half of the book has a collection of individual A vs. X fights, some of which are funny and some of which are indulgences of various fantasies.

The collection actually kind of fun in its own colorful, brainless way, but one would hope that Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the world's scariest and mostly-benign-except-when-they're not mutants would have a somewhat better grasp on diplomacy. I found Storm and Black Panther's divorce particularly egregious. I mean, it's not that I have anything in particular invested in their marriage--the last time I was regularly reading X-Men, Storm was breaking Forge's heart by taking a little to long to say "yes"--but presumably they had a friendship, a courtship, some love, some reason to marry. Here, they side with their respective teams without so much as a second thought. There's a certain amount of pathos in the "Storm vs. Black Panther" fight in the second half of the book, but, like much of the rest of the book, things happen "Because plot" not because the characters are really showing any signs of moving events along.

I will say I appreciate the Marvel writers (or the collection's editors?) opting to provide short annotations about significant items and characters in the book. Some things I know from "back when," others, I had either forgotten or never new, so the one- to two-line inserts were quite helpful.

Reviews:
Goodreads Reviews
Got a review I missed? Let me know, and I'll include it!

Links of interest

Avengers vs. X-Men on Amazon

That's either too few or too many. Got a link you think I should include? Contact me and let me know! I'm especially interested in any list of how the multiple collections of A v. X are meant to be read! This is only the main plot.

Book Review: Hulk: The End by Peter David

Boring.

Also mildly offensive, but mostly boring.

The trade paperback has two stories: Future Imperfect and The Last Titan, both by Peter David.

Future Imperfect

It had never before occurred to me that the many dangers the Hulk faced in his life might include rape. I wish it had never occurred to Peter David, either.

Other than that, the tale is a fairly dull, meandering thing. In the future, humanity has faced the one enemy superheroes can't defend against: It has destroyed itself. I bring this up because both Future Imperfect and The Last Titan repeat this refrain rather tediously. Otherwise, they don't really belong in the same universe and are together, I assume, to provide enough "story" to fill a TPB.

Anyway: It's the future. The plucky rebels are running around spouting plucky rebel slang and being shot at by the Evil Goons. It turns out that the Head Goon is Hulk-of-the-future who was actually strengthened by the radiation of the final war and took advantage of his strength and smarts to build the one truly liveable city on earth. Here he rules arbitrarily, indulging himself in all sorts of sensual pleasures, while his people are downtrodden. Plucky rebels, who have no real distinguishing features so I'm not bothering with names, bring Present Hulk forward to fight Future Hulk. Fighting ensues, Good Hulk is captured, cue offscreen rape, escape and a tedious monologue by Evil Hulk about how he'd predicted this--which leaves one wondering why he didn't just kill his past self and spare us all--and on to the finale.

Never mind the possibility of an actually interesting story that deals with the fact that, no matter how arbitrary he was, Future Hulk had actually been the one person on the entire planet to think of building a safe city, or that the rebels have shown no intelligence or leadership skills but have now killed everyone who did, or... Oh, anything that made me want to care.

Why did I finish it? It was short. I was curious.

The Last Titan

Humanity has destroyed itself--only Banner, Hulk, some giant cockroaches, and an alien video camera remain.

Banner sulks. Hulk sulks. Giant insects come. More sulking. A vague and over-inflated comparison between the Hulk and Prometheus.

The tale tries for pathos; it achieves mild levels of "ick" when the Hulk is eaten live by giant cockroaches and his mostly destroyed carcass has to regrow itself.

Verdict? Skip.

Who's Who
Future Imperfect
Writer: Peter David
Illustrator: George Pérez
The Last Titan
Writer: Peter David
Illustrator: Dale Keown

Book Review--Daredevil: Shadowland by Andy Diggle & Antony Johnston (writers) & Roberto De La Torre (illustrator)

I read this because it is by Diggle₍₁₎ rather than because I knew anything about the characters, and it was worth reading on that ground. I cared about the characters--especially faithful Foggy--and wanted to know what happened, and mostly, I enjoyed the read. The big, big problem which I'll get to, is the publisher's fault, not that of authors or illustrators.

Daredevil: Shadowland begins after Daredevil has taken over the Hand, a band of Japanese assassins, in an attempt to turn their organization to good purpose. He's also built a gigantic, forbidding fortress right in the middle of Hell's Kitchen. His friends think there might be a problem with this.

The good news is that the tale really focuses on his friends and allies as they attempt to figure out what is going on, whether they can trust Daredevil any more, and what, if anything, they can do to reach him. That was beautifully done. I felt for them and for their dilemmas, especially for poor, loyal Foggy who so much wanted to believe in his friend. I could also fully understand the friends who decided not to trust Matt/Daredevil any more. Whatever outside influences were working on him, the man had clearly made some stupid decisions, and the sort of stupid decisions that lead to riots and mass-possession are the sort of stupid decisions that really should make friends think twice.

And the art is gorgeous, dark and atmospheric. Characters' expressions are clear, and the individuals distinct. A lot of my affection for Foggy came straight from watching his face as the tale unfold.

I'm so-so on the central dilemma: On the one hand, sure, Daredevil has a literal devil influencing him through some of it, on the other: Do we have to have a "Kill one criminal and your as bad as all of them" dilemma? Again? Yes, it's got to be a strain on any superhero, watching things repeatedly fall apart, but it's--hardly a new story any more. Diggle's focus on the people on the sidelines (to varying degrees) really helps sell this story, but it's not exactly new.

And now we come to the big problem:

Marvel decided to split the TPB of Shadowland up by hero rather than by, say, event. Since several major events apparently took place in some other character's title, there are a couple of massive plot gaps, and not so much as a summary to bridge the space. You'd think that the people who wrote the perfectly adequate "What went before" introduction to the book could have managed a "What happened during..." to fill the missing pages, but no, instead there is a cliffhanger and then, on turning the page, a jump forward to the aftermath. Most of the time, it's possible to do a mental fill in and go on--but at the end there? Nope. I find that unforgivable.

Yes, I know graphic novels do this sometimes. I think it's crazy. What is the reader supposed to do? Sense when you've reached the end of one bit, grab the next graphic novel, read that bit, put it down, pick up the fourth book along and so on? Yes it's possible to get a nice guide off of Wikipedia or something, but it's silly. It's not that Marvel opted not to publish the whole series; as far as I can tell, graphic novels exist for all the bits, it's that they decided to split it by hero rather than plot. Ugh! I'd think even veteran comic book readers who know all the various characters involved would rather read the narrative chronologically rather than in bits. It's a mess!

Who is Who & Other Interesting Bits & Pieces
Shadowland: Daredevil on Amazon
@andydiggle on Twitter
Andy Diggle's website
Reviews on Goodreads Edit: On second thought, mine won't be there. I am afraid it would skew the results against similar stories. My really low score would be based on the publisher's decision, not the writing or the art, and while Goodreads algorithms are good, I doubt they're quite up to that level of discrimination.

According to Wikipedia, the full collection is:

Shadowland: Daredevil
Shadowland
Shadowland: Blood on the Streets
Shadowland: Power Man
Shadowland: Moon Knight
Shadowland: Street Heroes

You're on your own figuring out which one goes where. I liked the book, but not that much. A quick trip to the library to verify they didn't have any of the others was my limit.

--
(1) The man wrote Snapshot. He has my attention.
(2) After this, I may have to pay some attention to Antony Johnston as well. I did not, I confess, pay close attention to who had what share of responsibility for which part of the plot, or even if that was tremendously evident.

Book Review: Indestructible Hulk, Vol. 1 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If last summer was the Summer of the Dragonfly, this summer is turning out to be the summer of the graphic novel.

This time around, the book was suggested by my brother, who hasn't yet read Indestructible Hulk himself but who had heard Waid had made the Hulk interesting again and suggested I should try it (He's reading it now).

Hulk, like Wonder Woman, is a character I've been peripherally aware of but have never particularly cared about one way or another. Ruffalo's portrayal in The Avengers caught my attention, though, so between that and my brother's recommendation, I put it on hold at the library.

It made for a nice afternoon's read and definitely upped my interest in the Hulk, or at least in this Hulk. The bits and pieces I've picked up here and there have focused on a sort of tragic dualism: Poor Banner is stuck with Hulk ruining his live and visa versa. Here, Bruce Banner takes a more active stance--which ends up suiting both of them. Instead of trying to "cure" himself of being the Hulk, Banner opts to live with the situation. When he's Banner, he'll work on useful world-saving devices like universal water purifiers. When he's Hulk, he'll attack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies. They have permission to fire him at targets as needed.

As it turns out, it works out well for everyone (except, perhaps, the bad guys!).

Volume 1 of Indestructible Hulk is pretty much laying the ground work: Banner presents his idea, S.H.E.I.L.D. buys it, Banner and Stark do a bit of arguing and a bit of inventing, and Hulk gets to smash. It was a fun read in its own right, but it really makes me look forward to future issues: Stark is not really sure how to deal with the "new" Banner. How will his other colleagues/enemies respond? How will Hulk? I'm a little (ok, a lot) vague on the relationship between Hulk and Banner, but my general impression is that Hulk finds Banner at least as troublesome as Banner finds Hulk. Will this lead to something of a peace between the two personalities?

I have a few more books by Waid and a few other Hulk books in line now. Of course, this means I'll be reading backward in Hulk's chronology, but oh well!

Oh, and I'll add: I have a theory that any given collected set of comics ought to present a sufficiently complete story that a new reader can drop in without knowing all the ins and outs beforehand. Indestructible Hulk passes that test!

Who's Who:
Author: Mark Waid
Illustrator: Leinil Francis Yu
Publisher: Marvel
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0785168317

Links of Interest
MarkWaid.com: Mark Waid's website.
leinilyu.tumblr.com Leinil Yu's Tumblr account
Indestructible Hulk vol. 1 on Amazon

Indestructible Hulk Vol. 2: Gods and Monseter coming out Sept. 24, 2013; Edit: My review of the volume--which was good!--up on FanboyNation.

Book Review: Wonder Woman: Odyssey Vol. 1 & 2 by J. Michael Straczynski

You know the best part about libraries? I mean other than the books? It's the people who work there.

Last time I was at the local library, I wandered over to the book cart and commented on the number of new graphic novels they had. Nancy, who was pushing said cart, immediately gave me a quick, enthusiastic tour of the shelves, and in the course of the tour, told me I must read the J. Michael Straczynski Wonder Woman: Odyssey volumes 1 & 2, both of which were, conveniently, available just then.

These aren't books I would have picked up on my own: Wonder Woman has never really quite caught my attention, but there's nothing like an enthusiastic recommendation from a fellow-book lover to get my attention, and, anyway, they were right there. Also, I mean, J. Michael Straczynski. That right there is a pretty good reason to pick something up.

I'm glad I did.

Wonder Woman: Odyssey Vol.1

This is Wonder Woman re-imagined: Most of the Amazons are dead, she's growing up in hiding--and she still wants to fight for justice for those around her.

She's young, earnest, energetic, and determined to learn everything she can both from her teachers and despite them, and she's trying to balance the divine interference in her life with the more mundane world in which she lives.

I like her.

Also--her costume is a 100% improvement over the swimsuit-thing (Yeah, I know. The swimsuit is iconic. I also don't like it!), but it still keeps the Wonder Woman "look"--the bracelets, the W's, the red, white, and blue. It just also happens to look like it might also be comfortable.

It moves along briskly, and Volume 1 ends on one heck of a cliffhanger.

Wonder Woman: Odyssey vol. 2

Sometimes, cliffhangers turn out to be unimportant and their resolution a bit of a disappointment. Not so this time! The story thunders along, gaining momentum, with the stakes getting higher and Wonder Woman getting both stronger and smarter.

By the end, Stracczynski blends his "new" Wonder Woman and her backstory back into the "old" Wonder Woman to pave the way for new, strong stories. It works, too! At least, I recognized all the raggle-taggle bits I've picked up along the way as I've read here and there, and I found them nicely tucked in to a workable tale that let the old stories stay true while also letting the new Wonder Woman live.

So hurray for libraries and the people who work there!

By the way: This is Part Two of "Books that Deserve Longer Reviews." Just in case you hadn't noticed. I'm sort of making up the lengths and book numbers per entry as I go along!