Tag: Graphic Novels

ARC, Books

Book 676: Sense of Wonder – Bill Schelley

Geoff W

Book art for "Sense of Wonder" with Amazon Affiliate linkI wasn’t sure what to expect when I said I’d take a look at this after the publisher reached out to me about a review copy.* As much as I love the MCU and the various graphic novels I read (especially LGBTQ+ ones), I haven’t read comics since the early 1990s when I read a ton of Star Wars comics at the local Borders, I was going into this blind when it came to comic fandom.

Sense of Wonder is a deep dive into comic fandom from its earliest moments to the colossal behemoth it has become today all through the lens of Schelly’s life and experiences. I had no idea that fanzines were a thing back in the 1960s (oh hey, internet generation) and thanks in part to Schelly’s wonderful writing style and the methodical yet meandering journey he takes you on in this work, I now long for the days of pre-internet community building via snail mail, rides from parents to other parts of town, and collect phone calls.

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Books

Book 652: Bob’s Burgers: Char-Broiled (Bob’s Burgers #5) – Jeff Drake, Brian Hall, Rachel Hastings, Mike Olsen, Mark Von Der Heide, and Anneliese Waddington

Geoff W

book cover for Bob's Burgers - Char-BroiledBringing the Bob’s Burgers comic adaptation to a close with issues 13-16, Bob’s Burgers: Char-broiled was kind of disappointing. I think there were other continuations through the free comic book day issues, but this was the last trade paperback anthology.
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Books

Book 644: Encore (The Backstagers #3) – James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh & Walter Baiamonte

Geoff W

The Backstagers, Encore, Volume 3 cover artOf the three, this was my favorite. Rebels Without Applause and The Show Must Go On were both good reads and absolutely must be read together, but I think this one was more what I was expecting when I picked up the firs tone. This is a series of vignettes centered around Valentine’s Day and Halloween. They’re short, they’re adorable, and they don’t require knowing the entire backstory of those first two volumes.

My favorite of the stories was the Valentine’s Day story around Beckett. Who doesn’t love a bah humbug story with a happy ending? It didn’t hurt that Jory and Hunter were extra adorable.

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Book 643: The Show Must Go On (The Backstagers #2) – James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh & Walter Baiamonte

Geoff W

The Backstagers Volume 2, The Show Must Go On coverThis was a  good quick read and a must read if you want to have any idea about what’s going on in Rebels Without Applause. They really should’ve put this into one collection. Maybe they did it because of the timing of these last four issues, but it wasn’t worth reading one and then waiting for the other.

The Backstagers: The Show Must Go On contains all the backstory that Volume 1 really needed to make it make sense, mostly. There seems to be a time jump between issue four (end of volume one) and five (beginning of volume two). I’m not sure if I’ve missed a lot (there are novels and I believe this was a webcomic) because the whole thing seems more disjointed than I thought looking back on it.

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Books

Book 638: The Backstagers: Rebels Without Applause (The Backstagers #1) – James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh, and Walter Baiamonte

Geoff W

I’m not sure how I came across this one. I think after finishing Bloom I wanted more LGBT (emphasis on G, because well obviously) graphic novels/works. I didn’t realize these were comics more in the line of Fence than Bloom and Check, Please! That being said it was a fun quick read.

The plot I don’t think has fully been developed in these first three issues (it’s a compilation) and so that left something to be desired. I liked the characters, the Backstagers were of course wonderful and the actors were annoying, and the setting is intense and I have no idea what’s going on there, but based on the pretty heavy foreshadowing I’m guessing I’ll learn more.

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