Tag: 5 stars

Paper Girls Volume 3 – Brian K. Vaughan

Illustrations – Cliff Chiang

Colours – Matt Wilson

Spoilers Ahead!

A note about spoilers: Once again I don’t know how to talk about this Volume without recapping Volume 2 or telling you about this one. I’m hiding anything I consider a potentially significant spoiler but please proceed with caution if you haven’t read this series. I’m excited about what happens and need to tell someone.

When we last saw Tiffany, Mac and Erin, they had just been reunited with KJ, who was MIA throughout Volume 2. The trio had spent some time in 2016, where they met a future Erin who was all grown up and still working for the same newspaper. They also met future future Erin, or Erin III, as I called her. She had a red backpack, was from way into the future and, yep, she was a clone. The old-timers followed our trio to 2016, travelling in style, and we met some huge creepy crawlies.

So, our four Paper Girls have finally been reunited but they’re not in 2016 anymore and they haven’t returned to 1988 either. Here’s the biggest clue that they’re, um, in another time entirely. ➡️

In the middle of the night Mac is contemplating her last cigarette when she encounters Wari, a warrior girl with face paint and interesting taste in jewellery, and her baby, Jahpo, who is very huggable. Fortunately Erin swiped the translator from Erin III in 2016 so the girls can communicate with the people in this time.

But warrior girl isn’t even the most dangerous encounter of the night. There’s also Claws to deal with and I doubt I’m the only one thinking the whole poking its tongue out routine isn’t a cheeky gesture.

Okay, I have enough information now so I’m calling it. Our girls are in the past. Way, way back in time. We’ve also seen what appears to be a shooting star, but in this series we don’t wish on them because they’re usually not shooting stars at all. Usually it means our girls have company. Company comes in the form of Doctor Qanta Braunstein, Project Leader at AppleX.

Something tells me she’s not from this time, which apparently is 11,706 BCE (just a teensy bit further into the past than I thought). Doc thinks that maybe she invented time travel, so this entire thing could be her fault. Also it turns out she’s from 2055. Although the Doc is not the girls’ only company.

When I was almost positive there weren’t any more surprises left, Mac and KJ came across this.

This fourth dimensional object allows you to see the future when you touch it, which results in KJ seeing, amongst other things, this.

Woohoo! I can’t wait!

I love that a bag of newspapers have made their way across time with the girls. Apparently, in addition to containing comics, they also make a good pillow. I really enjoy the humour in this series. It appears that no matter what time you’re in or from, your software will always require an update at the most inconvenient time possible.

I wasn’t sure about this series originally but I’m so glad I kept reading. It’s really beginning to come together for me and I’m figuring out bits and pieces I wondered about previously, like the origin of the hockey stick with the warning carved into it. Erin sent that through one of the folding (floating time hole) thingamajigs while the girls were in 11,706 BCE. It’s always fun when you feel rewarded for sticking with a series.

Then right near the end of the Volume this happened

and now Tiffany is in an alternate 2000 where Y2K happened, and who knows where the rest of the Paper Girls are!

I loved the cliffhanger at the end of this Volume and am so glad I don’t have to wait to begin Volume 4.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning series from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang continues, as newspaper deliverers Erin, Mac and Tiffany finally reunite with their long-lost friend KJ in an unexpected new era, where the girls must uncover the secret origins of time travel … or risk never returning home to 1988. 

Collects Paper Girls 11-15.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , ,

On a Sunbeam – Tillie Walden

On a Sunbeam is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Graphic Story category.

Mia is the new kid. The lady introducing Mia to everyone is Alma. Elliot (Ell) is the mechanical genius with the blond hair; they’re non-binary and don’t talk. Jules is the one with ice skates on her shirt; she’s loud and a lot of fun. Charlotte, the ship’s captain, is wearing the white jacket. She’s shy but opens up once you get to know her. Charlotte and Alma are partners.

This awesomeness is their ship.

Their team restores old buildings. Like this one, which has hidden rooms and staircases that lead to nowhere. I need to go there immediately!

Five years earlier, Mia met Grace. It was the first day of school and their paths crossed in the principal’s office while they waited their turns to get into trouble.

I liked Grace immediately and I adored Mia and Grace as a couple. Even this romantiphobe can see that these girls are capable of breaking the cute-meter. I can’t get enough of them.

See? Aren’t they just the sweetest couple ever?? Why did no one ever escort me to a school dance on a hoverboard?!

I absolutely love this story! I’m a sucker for found families so this was right up my alley. I usually don’t like anything that hints at including a love story and this has two, but they were gorgeous. All of the main characters were wonderful. Each had a distinct personality and their various backgrounds were interesting.

The world building was surprisingly easy to pick up, given there wasn’t as much text as I’m used to. I guess pictures really do paint a thousand words if they’re done well. Whether there were words or not I didn’t have to work to figure out how anyone was feeling or what the overall mood was in a specific situation. I did have trouble deciphering a couple of words here and there, but that may be due to reading it on an iPad.

The artwork is stunning. The colour palette is so subdued that each additional colour pops. This is one of the prettiest graphic novels I’ve ever seen and I don’t want it to be over. I need to know what happens to everyone next!

You can view all 20 chapters online at https://www.onasunbeam.com. Please check it out! It’s so good.

Special Feature: If you’re like me and you greedily devour movie and TV series’ special features to glean information about all of the behind the scenes stuff you didn’t know you needed to know, then you’ll be interested to know that the title of this story comes from the Belle & Sebastian song ‘Asleep on a Sunbeam’. You can listen to it here.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As new member Mia gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. Soon, though, Mia reveals her true purpose for joining their ship – to track down her long-lost love.

An inventive world, a breathtaking love story, and stunning art come together in this new work by award-winning artist Tillie Walden.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , ,

A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies – Alix E. Harrow

Apex Magazine Issue 105, February 2018

A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Short Story category.

He reached towards the book and the book reached back towards him, because books need to be read quite as much as we need to read them

I first read this short story three months ago and loved it. When I was about to begin my reread I realised that it was written by Alix E. Harrow. I have been fortunate enough to secure an advanced copy of their debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January. While it hasn’t reached the top of my to be read pile yet I’ve had a sneak peek and it definitely looks like my kind of book. After rereading this short story I now can’t wait to read it.

Anyone could see that kid needed to run and keep running until he shed his own skin, until he clawed out of the choking darkness and unfurled his wings, precious and prisming in the light of some other world.

I love magic portals, libraries and witches, so this story hit one of my literary trifectas. Books can be life changing and the right one can even save your life.

This is a story about a librarian who connects readers with books by “divining the unfilled spaces in their souls and filling them with stories and starshine”, a foster child and one of those books.

You can read this short story online here.

Rating: 5 out of 5.
by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , 1 Comment

A is for Apricat – Mauro Gatti

Everyone, please gather around and allow me to introduce you to my new obsession. It’s fruit, vegetables and other healthy yummies! It’s animals! It’s an entire alphabet of whimsical food/animal combinations and this kid in the adult suit is absolutely delighted by it. I can’t choose a favourite because they’re all so imaginative and fun. That’s fun spelled:

I wish I could spell the entire alphabet to you because this book is just so smile-inducing! It’s times like this when I need to borrow someone’s child so I can see the look on their face as they figure out what’s made me so happy. Naturally they would then fall in love with the book too. Never fear, though; in the absence of a child I read this book to my mother instead. Because … that’s how I roll apparently? Needless to say, Mum loved it too and we’re both planning to reread it tomorrow.

Oh, and if you like your educational mixed in with your cute factor, you’ll get a little fix of that too with Food Facts, bite sized (sorry, I had to get cheesy) pieces of information about every morsel you encountered as you made your way through the alphabet.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster, Jr. for granting my wish to read this book. I think I’m in need of a sequel that teaches me how to count.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Reread 24 March 2020

I’ve finally managed to get my hands on this board book (I love my library!) and it’s just as cute as I remember. My favourite letter during my reread was D:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A is for Apricat is a fun, creative way for kids to learn their ABC’s. Combining photos of fresh fruits and vegetables with cute illustrations of animals, illustrator Mauro Gatti has created a whole new kind of critter! The Apricat has the round, fuzzy body of a real apricot, with the adorable whiskers and face of a kitten. And the Turkale may have the head and neck of a turkey, but its body is fresh and green.

Each page features a letter with a new fruit or vegetable creature, paired with simple text to help kids learn the letter, the animal, and the food. A food facts page at the back explains the health benefits of each featured food with playful, kid-geared language.

Promoting healthy eating and imaginative thinking, this unique, lighthearted take on a basic concept will be enjoyed by kids and parents alike.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , ,

Wolf Girl #1: Into the Wild – Anh Do

Illustrations – Jeremy Ley

Spoilers Ahead!

Before I tell you anything else, you need to know that I am beyond excited to finally have a signed copy of one of Anh’s books.

He’s one of my favourite authors!

Happy dance time!!!

Gwen is awoken in the middle of the night. Her school backpack is crammed with food and the rest of her family are rushing to pack what they can in their car before they leave. Gwen doesn’t know where they’re headed or what’s going on, only that something big and scary is happening. It isn’t long before she is separated from her mother, father and her big sister, Kate, who just turned eleven. She winds up alone in a forest in the middle of the night.

While Gwen can’t find any other people she does wind up meeting some animals that are just as alone as she is:
Puppy, a courageous wolf with a black patch on her forehead in the shape of a diamond. She has golden-yellow fur and turquoise eyes.
Nosey, a labrador, who is patient and smart.
Zip, a greyhound, who’s fast, but clumsy as a result of his diminished vision.
Tiny, a bossy and fearless chihuahua.

Along the way we also meet Brutus, a strong black mastiff,

and Eagle.

Over time this unlikely group become family, protecting one another and hunting together.

The dogs had become my brothers. Eagle was my little sister, and Puppy was my best friend.

Gwen still doesn’t know what happened to her human family but she’s determined to find out.

I fell in love with Anh’s writing when I discovered his WeirDo eries on the shelf of my local library a couple of years ago. I was intrigued by the fun lenticular covers and soon wanted to be a Do so I could hang out all the time with Weir and his family. I even laugh along with the terrible dad jokes! Then Hot Dog! appeared on the shelf and I met friends Hotdog the dog, Kev the cat and Lizzie the lizard. I enjoy the humour and the focus on friendship, and the importance of teamwork and being a good sport.

More recently I met Nelson Kane, Ninja Kid, and his family. I fell in love with them all, but hold a special place in my heart for Grandma Pat, who is one of the coolest grannies I’ve ever met. It was through Ninja Kid that I was introduced to one of my favourite kid’s book illustrators, Jeremy Ley.

Today I met Gwen. I was expecting more of the same when I learned Anh and Jeremy had teamed up again for a brand new series, Wolf Girl. I couldn’t have been more right! Or wrong!

The book vortex that sucks me in each time I pick up one of Anh’s books was working perfectly. There was adventure, a loving family and so much heart. Jeremy’s illustrations are just as brilliant as I’ve come to expect and still capture not only what’s happening in the story but also the way I feel as I’m reading. There’s even the familiar feeling of dangling over a cliff as I impatiently wait for the next book in the series.

It’s all so familiar … until it wasn’t. While all of Anh’s previous stories have a fun lightness underpinning them, this series begins with fear and uncertainty. What follows is the adventure I was expecting but a darker one with a distinct lack of dad jokes. Different doesn’t mean bad though. I loved it! And I may have noticed a sneaky tear trying to escape at one point. I urgently need the next book in the series.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When disaster separates Gwen from her family, she must fend for herself, all alone in the wilderness. 

Luckily, she’s not alone for long … When a wolf puppy, a Labrador, a Chihuahua, and a greyhound want to make friends, Gwen discovers talents she didn’t know she possessed. 

It will take all her new skills and strength just to survive. Does Gwen have what it takes to be leader of the pack? 

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , ,

Saga Volume 9 – Brian K. Vaughan

Illustrations – Fiona Staples

Saga Volume 9 is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Graphic Story category and my (slow but steady) Hugo readathon is the reason why I started binge reading the series last week.

In the process I’ve met new friends, lost a lot of new friends and fallen in love with a galaxy I didn’t even know existed until recently.

Huh. Well, that sounds ominous.

The Will and Ianthe [hiss!] have arrived on the planet where we last saw Alana, Marko, Hazel, Friendo, Petrichor, Ghüs, Sir Robot, Squire, Upsher and Doff, who are all together aboard the treehouse rocketship. Hazel and Squire now act like they’re siblings, Petrichor and Sir Robot now act like … something else, Upsher and Doff are still trying to secure the story of their lives, and Ghüs is playing babysitter, remaining cute no matter what he does.

See? What did I tell you?! Cutie pie!

The treehouse rocketship lands on Jetsam, home of our tenacious tabloid reporter and photographer. Upsher and Doff have offered our favourite family a deal that seems too good to be true but they’re not the only ones who may be considering it.

Sir Robot reminded me why I don’t completely trust him and elsewhere, Agent Gale resurfaces; both men have their own agendas. So many competing agendas in this series! Most of which aim to harm my our favourite family!

The past catches up with a few of the characters and it’s Saga, so not everyone is going to come out of it alive and those that are left to pick up the pieces are changed. So am I.

Anyone can kill you, but it takes someone you know to really HURT you. It takes someone you love to break your heart.

The details in the illustrations keep delighting me. Squire’s ducky baby sling has now been converted into a backpack! It was a nice thing to notice in between all of the times my heart was shattered.

Anticipation and dread aren’t opposites, just different versions of the same game.

This is the first cliffhanger I’ve been involved in where I don’t have the luxury of immediately picking up the next Volume and I chose one hell of a time to be stuck on this damn cliff wanting to curl up in the foetal position.

Seriously, I think the author and illustrator of this series are going to need to start paying my therapy bills! I know we’re at war here but you’re only allowed to kill off people I don’t like from now on, okay?

So, until I get the opportunity to continue this series I’m going to pretend I wasn’t traumatised by this Volume. Instead I’m going to remember this brief respite from danger, when fun existed and even those in whatever galaxy this is knew how to reference Jaws.

Maybe in the next Volume Gwendolyn, Sophie and Lying Cat (who were physically absent during this Volume) will find a way to make everything miraculously okay again? Hey, a girl can hope!

description

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The multiple Eisner Award-winning series returns with a spacefaring adventure about fake news and genuine terror. Get ready for the most shocking, most impactful Saga storyline yet.

Collects Saga #49-54.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , ,

Saga Volume 8 – Brian K. Vaughan

Illustrations – Fiona Staples

Spoilers Ahead!

Hazel’s mother, Alana, is from Landfall, a “sci-fi wonderland”, and her father, Marko, is from Wreath, Landfall’s moon, a “magical fantasy realm”, but nothing’s feeling overly magical or wonderful right now because my heart was unceremoniously sliced open (multiple times) by the author and illustrator during the last Volume. Not satisfied with their previous attempts to destroy my emotional integrity, they commenced with the agony as soon as this Volume began.

It’s been two months since we’ve last seen our favourite family and I cannot even imagine the hell they’ve been through in the meantime, or the hell that they’re about to endure. I really can’t. This series is definitely not one to shy away from the really big issues.

So, we’re on a planet called Pervious travelling to the Badlands and although we’re here for more heartache, at least they have pretty multicoloured zebras there to remind us there’s good in the world too. After all, we need this reminder when we discover Dung People are also found here. So, without further ado, meet Button.

Petrichor and Hazel have the discussion about their bodies in this Volume that I’ve been waiting for and it was handled so well. I love that the diversity of this series includes a transgender woman. Petrichor has intrigued me since I met her and she’s finally given a chance to really shine in this Volume. No matter what she does from this point forward I’ll have her back.

A Volume of Saga is not complete unless we get to meet some new people. In this Volume Petrichor and Sir Robot meet up with a family – Kidd, Paw and Maw,

while Alana, Marko and Hazel meet Endwife.

Given the sensitive nature of why we’re on Pervious in the first place I didn’t expect to see Hazel’s younger brother, Kurti, who died in utero at the end of the last Volume. However, due to some amazing and apparently quite dangerous magic called Forecasting, Alana, Marko and Hazel all get to interact with who he could have been. It’s beautiful but it’s also heartbreaking. This scene pretty much broke me.

In a flashback of The Will’s childhood we meet his Uncle Steve, A.K.A. The Letter, and his chameleon sidekick. It’s also pretty clear now why The Will and his sister became Freelancers.

Speaking of The Will, he initially met the person I now love to hate more than anyone else right now during the previous Volume. I now know this woman as Ianthe and while I despise her, I will say this for her; this woman travels in style!

After not seeing any of them in the previous Volume we learn that Upsher and Doff have met up with Ghüs, Squire and Friendo. They’re in the vicinity of a Dread Naught, which could potentially help nourish them and keep Friendo off the menu. If only Dread Naughts weren’t invisible until the day they die. Except, robots can see their insides regardless because … robot, I guess.

I love that D. Oswald Heist’s books and quotes keep popping up in this series. Between those and The Will’s drug induced hallucinations I get to see characters I thought I’d never see again. It reminds me of Chris Carter saying that no one ever really dies on The X-Files and gives me hope that I may be fortunate enough to get a glimpse of some of my favourite departed Saga characters. That means you, Izabel and the original Kurti.

The illustrations are extraordinary in this series. They manage to go from breathtakingly beautiful to carnage and back again seamlessly. One of the main reasons I’m so chained emotionally, for better or worse, to so many of Saga’s characters is because I’ve seen their strengths, vulnerabilities and traumas written all over their faces or whatever they have instead.

I love the small details that allude to previous Volumes; at the end of this Volume Hazel is wearing the bracelet that Jabarah gave to Alana in Volume 7 and I couldn’t decide if I needed to smile, cry or both when I noticed this. Jabarah gave this to Alana during her pregnancy with Hazel’s brother. In Jabarah’s culture it’s worn until the day the child is born. 😢

Despite all of the trauma I’ve witnessed while reading this series I always find moments of hope in the darkest times

and when even hope feels like a dream, at least there’s plenty of cute smooshed in between the pain.

And when I think I’ve seen every creature this galaxy has to offer I turn the page to find this!

I adore this series!!!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

After the traumatic events of the War for Phang, Hazel, her parents, and their surviving companions embark on a life-changing adventure at the westernmost edge of the universe.

Collects Saga 43-48.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , ,

Saga Volume 7 – Brian K. Vaughan

Illustrations – Fiona Staples

Spoilers Ahead!

After the cliffhanger at the end of Volume 6 I couldn’t wait to start Volume 7. At this point in the series I don’t think I can say much without accidentally spoiling previous Volumes so if you haven’t read them yet you may want to avert your eyes now.

So, Hazel is five years old now and has finally been reunited with both of her parents. I don’t care what she says; she’s still adorable to me, even when she drools in her sleep.

This kid is even adorable when she’s delivering bad news.

Anyway, joining Hazel on board the treehouse rocketship at the beginning of this Volume are Alana, Marko, Izabel, Prince Robot IV Sir Robot and Petrichor, who we met in Volume 6. Hazel and Petrichor have both lived with keeping the truth of their bodies a secret so I’m interested to see how this plays out in the future.

Due to technical difficulties with the rocketship this motley crew wind up on Phang. Remember Phang? Where Sophie was born and lived (briefly) before she was sold into sex slavery?

Of course the war between Landfall and Wreath has even made it to a comet, useful to both sides because of its resources. Never mind its people, who have suffered immeasurably as a result.

Meanwhile, Sophie (who is her very own brand of adorable in glasses), Lying Cat and Gwendolyn are together on Wreath, Marko’s home moon.

Actually, no, I’m not. P.S. I’ve missed you, Lying Cat! Gwendolyn has a meeting with Gale and his henchmen in an “exotic” location.

Back on Phang, we meet Kurti, another cutie whose name means “sunshine!”, and his extended family. How can there be so much cute in a series that has so much bloodshed?!

Also on Phang is a cute little boar called Bootstraps and The March (who aren’t as cute). Petrichor meets a bluecap, who “are planted in places of conflict to remember tales of battle”

and we learn what a Timesuck is. Big picture spoiler ahead!

The Will and Sweet Boy briefly meet Velour, Gwendolyn’s wife in their search for Gwendolyn, Sophie and Lying Cat.

There is so much going on in this Volume and I have no idea how anyone who hasn’t read the series from the beginning could hope to catch up at this point. On a personal note, we lost my favourite character of the entire series so far in this Volume

but they were certainly not the only ones in the running for my Top 10 favourites who didn’t make it. Falling in love with allegedly fictional characters and then watching on helplessly as the author and illustrator unceremoniously slaughter them is not cool. Not cool at all.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

From the worldwide bestselling team of Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan, “The War for Phang” is an epic, self-contained Saga event! Finally reunited with her ever-expanding family, Hazel travels to a war-torn comet that Wreath and Landfall have been battling over for ages. New friendships are forged and others are lost forever in this action-packed volume about families, combat and the refugee experience. 

Collects Saga 37-42.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , ,

Saga Volume 6 – Brian K. Vaughan

Illustrations – Fiona Staples

When we last saw Hazel she’d just begun kindergarten, which would have been much cuter if either of her parents could have been there to walk her to school.

Despite their absence she still manages to nails her art project, even though it wasn’t exactly what her teacher, Noreen, asked her to draw.

Previously, Lexis and Zizz of the Last Revolution, along with a reluctant Hazel and Klara, had hopscotched their way away from, well, everyone else and managed to cross paths with a whole ship of TV heads. The TV heads Royal Guard had been searching the galaxy for the missing monarch, Prince Robot IV, whose baby had been stolen by Dengo.

If you haven’t read Volumes 1 to 5, then please read them before venturing into Volume 6 or you’ll likely fling this graphic novel across the room in confusion. This is not the kind of story where you can just waltz right into the middle of and think you’re going to know who’s who in the galactic zoo. If you’ve already read 1 through 5, you’re fine. Continue enjoying the twists and turns.

Anyway, as usual, grandmother Klara is on hand to figure things out. She’s one of the best badass grannies I’ve ever met.

They wind up in a detainee centre … somewhere where they meet Doctor Blaize, who may not be feeling so crash hot at the moment …

Oh, and my main girl Izabel reappears in this Volume so I guess one of the suns somewhere finally set. I’ve missed her so much! Her reappearance naturally results in my heart melting, yet again. Mini family reunion!

Hazel meets Petrichor, who intrigues me. I’m interested in getting to know them better. Meanwhile Marko and Alana have been reunited. With each other, not their daughter.

I’ll pretend you didn’t just say “years”. Also, they are reunited with their brilliant treehouse rocketship.

Ghüs, Friendo (Hazel’s pet walrus – I don’t think I’ve mentioned her before), the TV head formerly known as Prince Robot IV and his son Squire, who is definitely not a newborn TV head anymore, are together.

The Will has recovered and looks slightly different than he did the last time I saw him. Sweet Boy accompanies him.

Upsher and Doff returned and while I still don’t like tabloid reporters, no matter which part of the galaxy they’re from, this duo are growing on me. They still don’t rank anywhere on my favourite character list, which is frightfully long at this point, but I’m no longer looking forward to someone dispatching them either. Speaking of blasts from the past, Ginny, Hazel’s former dance teacher, also pops up briefly.

My favourite panels were book related. What a surprise! I love Noreen!

I have the tendency to wander into popular series fashionably late. A good portion of the time I’m not entirely sure what all the fuss is about but where Saga is concerned I definitely get it. Part of me is rueing the fact that I’ve only just discovered it. The other part of me is ecstatic because this means I get to binge read it and not concern myself (yet) with cliffhangers. But, what a cliffhanger!!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

After a dramatic time jump, the three-time Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series continues to evolve, as Hazel begins the most exciting adventure of her life: kindergarten. Meanwhile, her starcrossed family learns hard lessons of their own.

Collects Saga 31-36.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , ,

Saga Volume 5 – Brian K. Vaughan

Illustrations – Fiona Staples

Spoilers Ahead!

It’s been three months since we last saw our favourite family. Hazel, Alana and Klara have been kidnapped by Dengo, who has his reasons. He also had his reasons for kidnapping Prince Robot IV’s newborn son. Something about seeing a kidnapper wearing a baby sling with little ducky’s on it humanises him for me, even if he is a robot. You could say that Izabel may also have been kidnapped but, since the damn suns haven’t set, she’s not part of the equation right now. I missed her.

Meanwhile, Gwendolyn, Sophie, The Brand, Sweet Boy (The Brand’s dog) and Lying Cat (awesome, awesome Lying Cat) are searching for a very specific ingredient on Demimonde that they hope will cure The Will. But they may not be alone. Enter Halvor, who is the older brother of The Stalk. Incidentally The Stalk actually had a name – Enriette.

Then there are Prince Robot IV (with his TV head), Marko, Yuma and Ghüs, who have joined forces (possibly temporarily) in order to rescue TV head IV and Marko’s kidlets.

Poor Marko!

We meet the Revolution, a group of resistance fighters who use “asymmetrical tactics” to attempt to end the war between Landfall and Wreath.

They are Lexis (with the pink superhero eye mask), Sirge (the big brown guy with the red flames (?) coming out of his head), Quain (a snake guy from Mawker and the Captain of the Fourth Cell), Zizz (the guy at the back. He’s from Cleave. Remember we were there in Volume 1?), and Julep (the aqua lady in the lingerie).

There’s plenty of action in this Volume and because we’re in a war here, not all of our friends or foes are going to make it to the end of the story, or this Volume if we’re being honest.

Even though Hazel told us herself in the last Volume that she’s not always this adorable, she certainly is in this flashback. Aww!

While we’re talking cutie pies, check out how sweet Lying Cat looks when they’re sleeping. For a series with a brutal war at its core I find my heart melts much more frequently than I expected it to.

Then there’s Ghüs, who is potentially the sweetest of them all. Maybe.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Multiple storylines collide in this cosmos-spanning new volume. While Gwendolyn and Lying Cat risk everything to find a cure for The Will, Marko makes an uneasy alliance with Prince Robot IV to find their missing children, who are trapped on a strange world with terrifying new enemies.

Collects Saga 25-30.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , ,