Tag: Diamond Book Distributors

Disney Manga: Descendants – The Rotten to the Core – Jason Muell

Illustrations – Natsuki Minami

Let me begin by telling you I’ve never seen the movie and haven’t read volumes 1 or 3 of this Disney Manga trilogy. Based on the blurb and cover illustration, we’ve got some kids who spend a considerable amount of time at the hairdressers and who usually live on the Isle of the Lost with their Disney baddie parents – Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella De Vil.

I don’t know how or why but these baddies in training have been invited to attend a yuppie prep school in Auradon alongside the goody two-shoes Disney hero kids. Our baddie Descendants are Mal (purple hair), Evie (blue hair), Jay (really long hair and probably brushes it a hundred times a day to keep it silky smooth), and Carlos (likely to be bleached, extremely likely to be highly styled, spiky hair).

Baddie parents are counting on baddie kids to act the part in their evil scheme to overthrow the goody two-shoes and take over the kingdom (or maybe just the Auradon part or is Auradon the kingdom?!). Will baddie kids be bad or will they save the kingdom by “embracing their innate goodness”. Hmm… “embracing their innate goodness”. I suppose we are in the Wonderful World of Disney. 🧚‍♂️

I’m not overly sure what happened in this volume other than it being a set up for the grand finale where our baddie heroes decide if they’re more baddie or hero. Other than that there were enough “I need a boyfriend” conversations, makeovers, cheerleaders and insta-love magic style to make me extremely grateful I’m done with high school.

If you loved the movie then you should like this trilogy because, from what I’ve read, it’s a play by play of the movie’s highlight reel. Personally I think I’ll give the rest of this trilogy a miss and will give the movie a very wide berth.

I like my villains to be of the sarcastic, funny, evil variety that is destined to die but they’re going to entertain you until then, like Hans Gruber from Die Hard or Peter Krieg, A.K.A., Simon Gruber (Hans’ brother) from Die Hard with a Vengeance. I want to love my villains, not watch them magically transform into someone we can all look to for moral guidance. If you want your villains to have a lightbulb moment and turn syrupy sweet this may be the story for you.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, TokyoPop and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read Volume 2 of this Disney Manga trilogy.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The children of Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella De Vil have never ventured off the Isle of the Lost … until now. Invited to pristine Auradon to attend prep school alongside the children of beloved Disney heroes, Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos must carryout their villain parents evil plot to rule once again. Will the rebel teens follow in their rotten parents’ footsteps or will they choose to embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?

This is volume 2 of the Descendants Manga Trilogy.

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Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie – Anthony Del Col

Illustrations – Werther Dell’edera

I’m not quite sure how this happened but I made it through my entire childhood without reading a single Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book. I began to rectify this glaring hole in my bookish experience two years ago when my library bought the first few Nancy Drew books. I read and enjoyed the first two before getting distracted by another book. Here we are two years later and I’ve been distracted by so many other books that I haven’t read the third book or beyond. I’m yet to read a Hardy Boys book.

I was excited to have the opportunity to read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie but when I tried to get into it the first time I was concerned that my lack of inside information about this trio would mean I would be lost before I started. I needn’t have worried. Finally giving up on getting to know Nancy better and the Hardy Boys at all first I dove into this graphic novel today and it was surprisingly awesome!

When I originally met book Nancy she came across to me as fitting a tad too well in the ’practically perfect in every way’ box but I loved her character in this noir graphic novel. This story shows Nancy, Frank and Joe with an edge that I’m guessing they never had in the novels.

In this story we find ourselves in postcard perfect Bayport. The Hardy Boys are suspects in their father’s murder and together with childhood friend and fellow mystery solver Nancy Drew, they need to find a way to clear their names and identify the real murderer. Along the way there are fist fights, suspicion thrown around some shady and not so shady characters, police brutality, flashbacks, meetings in the middle of the night and a good ol’ fashioned secret passageway left over from the Prohibition era.

I’m not sure how people who grew up loving Nancy, Frank and Joe will fare with what appears to be a hardening of their characters and a less innocent bunch of mystery solvers. I enjoyed the grittiness of the investigation and it probably says something about the feel of the graphic novel that in my head the male narrator/voice over had the same voice as Mickey Rourke’s Marv in Sin City.

I loved the front cover image, combining the trio and providing a hint of what’s to come. The illustrations matched the style of the story; dark, murky at times, with plenty of shadows to add to the ambience.

While one part of the mystery is solved in this graphic novel there’s an overarching mystery that remains to be solved another day, and it will definitely be a follow up I’ll be looking out for.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Dynamite Entertainment and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Volume collects issues 1-6.

A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery unlike any other you’ve ever read! When the teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy are accused of the murder of their father – a detective in the small resort town of Bayport – they must team up with Nancy Drew to prove their innocence (and find the real guilty party in the process) in a twisting noir tale, complete with double-crosses, deceit, and dames. 

Writer Anthony Del Col (Assassin’s Creed, Kill Shakespeare) and artist Werther Dell’Edera (Batman: Detective Comics, House of Mystery) bring the iconic teen detectives into the modern age, and redefine noir for a new generation of readers!

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Wrapped Up Volume 1 – Dave Scheidt & Scoot McMahon

Wrapped Up Volume 1 features Milo, a twelve year old mummy who’s passionate about pizza and skateboarding. If you want to embarrass him just call him ‘Beetle’. Milo lives with his mummy Mum, archaeologist stepfather Henry and older stepsister Jill. For some reason poor mummy Dad lives with this blended family and no one seems to be weirded out by this. The next door neighbour is a wizard that has no name and is friends with Milo.

I’m not sure how this works but mummy Mum and mummy Dad wound up with a mummy son, even though, being mummies, they’ve been dead for quite a while. This is one of those graphic novels where you need to suspend your disbelief and just go with the flow. For example, in the introductory story a gorilla interrupts the family’s pizza dinner by crashing through the wall and then falls in love with Milo.

In Night of the Pizza Knight Milo wishes he could have pizza every day and No-Name-Wizard who appears perpetually drunk and/or stoned (potions are mentioned) grants Milo’s wish. They hadn’t counted on the arrival of the Pizza Knight or the ire of a cheesed off (sorry!) pizza delivery guy.

In Mummy vs Wild Jill asks Milo to meet her at the zoo. Amira, who we haven’t met until now, tags along with Milo. Once at the zoo the three split up and all of a sudden Milo is being chased and crawled over by zoo animals. This was my least favourite story in the collection.

In The Babysitter’s Flub Milo’s mummy Dad is going on a date and has arranged for Milo to have a witch in training babysitter that is younger than he is. This story features a chocolate milk cow and a psychotic pizza.

In The Ewww-y Decimal System Milo’s mummy Mum has a job for Milo at the library where she works. She needs him to locate the book that someone shelved after vomiting in it as the smell is (obviously) bothering the customers.

In Killer Cats and Mummy Wraps the wizard next door is certain that evil cats are trying to kill him.

In Keep It Down Milo can’t sleep because of the teenage jock frogs having a party in the back yard.

In Hungry, Hungry Kaiju it’s up to Milo to save the day when a ravenous monster causes havoc.

In Children of the Night Jill is having a picnic with her vampire friends one night in the cemetery (as you do). They realise they’ve been caught and have to bail, leaving their snacks behind 😢, but the person behind the torch light isn’t who they thought it was.

In Night of the Creepy Kewpie think Chucky but it’s a Kewpie doll instead and it’s decided Milo is its father.

In Halloween Treats Milo and the Wizard-With-No-Name learn what becomes of the discarded Halloween candy that nobody likes.

My favourite character in this strange family is Jill. She rocks awesome purple hair, loves vampires, has great clothes, jewellery and makeup, and works in a comic book store.

There were several artists involved in this collection. My favourite artwork was by Scoot McMahon and would have preferred it had they illustrated the entire book. There wasn’t anything wrong with the other artists’ work. I just really liked Scoot’s style.

My favourite panel features a gigantic purple cat doing a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man impersonation by reaching for Milo and Wizard-Man who are on the roof of a building. The awesome thing about this gigantic cat is that it’s actually all of the cats joined together to form the shape of the “man-cat”.

This collection was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were a couple of stories I wasn’t a fan of and I felt the others needed to be fleshed out (apologies again!) some more. I enjoyed the stories more once I stopped questioning everything that didn’t make sense to me and let them flow over me instead. The series itself has potential and I’m interested to see where it goes from here.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Milo is just your average twelve-year-old boy. His loving parents are mummies, his best friend is an old wizard, and his babysitters are witches. When Milo isn’t busy at school or visiting the comic book store, he loves to hang out with cool teen vampires, play with magical kitties, feed a hungry kaiju, and avoid a love-crazed gorilla at all costs. You know, typical kid stuff.

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Honey Moon #3: Not Your Valentine – Sofi Benitez

Illustrations – Becky Minor

Sorry but this one wasn’t for me. I really enjoyed the first two Honey Moon books though.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Rabbit Publishers and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A Sleepy Hollow Valentine’s Day dance with a boy! NO WAY, NO HOW is Honey Moon going to a scary sweetheart dance with that Noah kid. But, after being forced to dance together in PE class, word gets around that Honey likes Noah. Now, she has no choice but to stop Valentine’s Day in its tracks. Things never go as planned, and Honey winds up with the surprise of her Sleepy Hollow life.

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Rapture – Matt Kindt

Illustrations – CAFU

The artwork in Rapture is brilliant! The people, creatures and landscapes really come alive. Not realising there are a swath of comics related to the characters in the Valiant world, I came into this one completely unprepared, basing my interest solely on the cover image.

I was thankful for the page that gave a bit of a heads up on who’s who in the zoo but knowing nothing else about the characters or the world I felt I missed out on a lot. The story was interesting, there’s plenty of action and the illustrations were incredible, but I didn’t connect to any of the characters so I wouldn’t recommend coming into this world via this graphic novel. 

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Valiant Entertainment and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

On a scarred landscape, two otherworldly armies prepare to battle one last time, vying for control of a massive tower named from an ancient language no longer permitted to be spoken. One army is led by a primeval force named Babel, whose goal is singular: to breach “Heaven” no matter the cost. The only thing standing in his way is a gray-haired barbaric warrior, filled with rage and regret, a man who sees this battle as his last chance for redemption. But he knows his depleted forces have little chance of victory unless aid comes.

Enter Tama: A 12-year old girl on the crest of a hill overlooking the battle, who has just become humanity’s only hope. The last in an ancient line of mystics who protect the Earth, she has foreseen this battle and knows millions will perish if she’s unable to stop it. Now Tama and her ragtag team of malcontents – Ninjak, Shadowman and Punk Mambo – must somehow defeat an elder god hell bent on piercing the heavens. New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (X-O Manowar) and artistic sensation CAFU (Rai) lead a Tolkien-esque journey into the space between life and death … through the Deadside … and into the many worlds that lie beyond right here with a spellbinding and horrific standalone volume! Collecting RAPTURE #1-4.

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Honey Moon #2: Scary Little Christmas – Sofi Benitez

Illustrations – Becky Minor

Honey Moon just wants to be able to celebrate Christmas like they do in normal towns, but nothing seems to be going right this Christmas. First Honey is cast as a shepherd in the annual Christmas pageant when she’s certain she would be perfectly cast in the role of Mary. Then she discovers that the pageant is in jeopardy this year because evil mayor Kligore is organising a Haunted Holiday Festival instead. Honey also stumbles upon a town mystery and is determined to solve it with the help of her friends.

Throughout the story Honey reminds us to stand up for what we believe in, even when it seems like we’re alone in our convictions. Honey is quite bossy with her friends in this book, with her assertion that she is the leader, and it was nice to see her flaws along with her good intentions. She also reintroduced me to the word numbskull so I should be thanking her for that. I haven’t heard that word used in years and am now determined to find a way to use it in everyday conversation.

The illustrations were so much fun and a great blend of Halloween and Christmas. I particularly loved that the scenes depicted at the beginning of each chapter were inside snow globes. My favourite snow globe scene was the snowman in a black cape with fangs. If I ever see snow I’m sure this will be the inspiration for my first snowman.

One of my pet peeves showed up frequently in this book. The detail in the illustrations didn’t always correspond to the description in the text. This happens a lot in children’s books and I’m not sure whose role attention to detail is, but it really frustrates me. Each instance is only minor but if the text specifically describes how something looks, then I expect that something in the illustration to match its description. Some of the examples in this book include:

  • Mrs Keys is wearing heavy boots. In the illustration she’s not wearing boots.
  • Miss Fortissimo was wearing a necklace that was so long it reached past her belly button. I didn’t see a necklace in the illustration.
  • Honey and her friends have fries and milkshakes. In the illustration there are milkshakes but no fries.
  • Honey is sitting on a bench with her little brother. Her little brother is not in the illustration.
  • The spots on a turtle shell are all different colours. In the illustration the turtle is only green. On the front cover the turtle is green with white segments on its shell.

While overall I enjoyed reading Dog Daze more than this book (although I am quite partial to the first book in a series), I was still entertained and it made me laugh. I liked the story and the development of the mystery, and I love Honey’s determination and courage. I’m definitely interested in reading more Honey Moon books.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Rabbit Publishers and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Honey Moon has had it with the scary stuff, at least for Christmas. She wants Sleepy Hollow to celebrate her favourite holiday like normal people. Honey and her friends, Becky, Claire and Isabela, have one chance to take the holiday back, but it means solving a decade old mystery and ringing some bells. YIKES!

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Harry Moon: Harry’s Christmas Carol – Mark Andrew Poe

Don’t be afraid of the dark.

It’s Christmas time in Sleepy Hollow, or ‘Spooky Town’ as evil mayor Maximus Kligore turned the town into when it became a Halloween tourist attraction year round. Now, I’m all for year round Halloween festivities (Bah humbug!) but Harry Moon is on a mission to light up the pervading darkness of the town.

Harry’s magic teacher and friend, Samson, has been attacked by the mayor and his evil hordes’ Fouling Curse, and it’s up to Harry and his Good Mischief Team to battle evil toys and the powers of darkness to save Samson – along with the town’s Christmas spirit. Along the way Harry makes a new friend, learning not to judge someone by their outward appearance.

I loved the inventiveness of the anti-Christmas carols that the evil mayor pumps through the town’s airwaves, and replacing chapter with verse was a simple yet appropriate nod to the carols, anti and otherwise, that featured in the book. My favourite descriptions related to the colours of Lady Dra Dra’s wigs, which at one point was puke-lemon.

The illustrations were a great blend of Christmas and Halloween, with the images at the beginning of each chapter foreshadowing an event to come. I find the expressions on the character’s faces in the illustrations for this series are particularly wonderful, especially the evil grin on the mayor’s face in this book.

I’m not quite sure why Jesus couldn’t just be called Jesus. It is a Christmas book after all and while He is referred to as the Great Magician, in keeping with the magical aspects throughout the series, it irked me. There are sections where the Bible is either quoted or paraphrased during the book but at no time are these attributed as such. I did think that the Mr B.L. Zebub character’s name was clever though.

I expects children will love reading about the different varieties of jellybeans described – blue Penguin Poop, purple Reindeer Poop, and for when the purple inevitably sells out there’s the standby red and green swirled Elf Poop! The Halloween fans will also appreciate the town’s festive decorations – green dragon tails forming garlands and light posts wrapped with white bandages mixed with fake blood to imitate candy canes.

Favourite sentence:

“For the Great Magician and his deep magic can best be seen in the selfless love between one to another.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

While everyone is singing cheerful Christmas carols, Harry Moon and the Good Mischief Team march to a different song – Don’t be Afraid of the Dark. With their swords of light, the team battles against the Fouling Curse threatening Harry’s magic teacher, Samson Dupree, and the Sleepy Hollow Magic Shoppe. As evil armies of toys rise up, Harry must leave the sword behind to find a more powerful means to take down the darkness threatening Sleepy Hollow’s entire world. 

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Generations – Flavia Biondi

Translator – Carla Roncalli de Montorio

Starting this graphic novel I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was initially wary because I knew it had been translated from Italian. I always worry I’m going to miss key elements in translated works but Carla Roncalli De Montorio has done a wonderful job.

Beginning with Matteo’s train trip to his home town after three years in Milan with his boyfriend, he is certain he will not be welcomed into his father’s home. Returning with no money, job or relationship, he lands on his Nan’s doorstep, greeted by his pregnant cousin Sara. Matteo is surprised to see his aunts A, B and C are now living with his Nan. He also meets Odina, his Nan’s caregiver and Francesco, his Nan’s nurse.

Through interactions with his family, Odina and Francesco, Matteo begins to learn to deal with his problems rather than running away from them. His individual family members, some more accepting of him than others, teach him about love, support, strength and what the generations can learn from one another.

I certainly didn’t expect to cry while reading something with so few words. I guess that tells you something about how powerful this story is. Flavia Biondi, who incidentally has done a brilliant job conveying the story both in words and images, created a cast of complex characters who I came to love more because of their flaws, not despite them.

The analogy of people being apples and our family being a tree was just beautiful. Exploring themes of love, loss, grief, sexuality, homophobia and acceptance, this graphic novel’s depth pleasantly surprised me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

After three years in Milan, Matteo returns home to the provincial country town where he was born and from which he had fled. Coming out as a young gay man in a provincial country town had led to ugly clashes with his conservative father, and the urban metropolis of Milan had been a welcome change from the stifling small town life of his childhood and the anger and bewilderment of some members of his family. But now, Matteo finds himself with little choice but to return home, with no money, no job, and an uncertain future, like so many other young people of his millennial generation. Afraid of encountering his estranged father, he instead takes refuge with his extended family, at a house shared by his grandmother, three aunts, and his very pregnant cousin. As he tries to rebuild his life, reconnecting with the women of his family and old hometown friends, he warily confronts a few truths about the other generations of his family – from their bigotry to their love, and tolerance, and acceptance – and a few truths about himself, including his fears of confrontation and commitment.

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The Little Red Wolf – Amélie Fléchais

Illustrations – Jeremy Melloul

Spoilers Ahead!

Well, that was dark and depressing. The young wolf is on his way to his grandmother’s house to deliver a freshly slaughtered rabbit and is warned to stay away from a certain area of the forest because that’s where the horrible hunter and his daughter live. On the way he gets distracted, hungry and lost. He eats the rabbit intended for his grandmother and then worries about getting into trouble.

Along comes a nice young girl who offers to take him to her place for a replacement rabbit and he naïvely follows, unknowingly walking into a trap. We end up hearing two versions of the same story at the end of the book, both told as songs to the same tune. In one version the wolves killed the hunter’s wife. Therefore, wolves are evil and we must kill them all. In the other version the hunter’s wife was friends with the wolves and when the hunter couldn’t find his wife one night he got worried and searched for her. Seeing her with the wolves he was afraid and shot at the wolves, accidentally killing his wife.

While some of the illustrations are intricate and gorgeous, others are dark and would most likely give young children nightmares if this was their bedtime story. I know that generally the fairy tales we’ve known all our lives didn’t originate with the Disney version we’re used to but that doesn’t mean I want to read them to a young child. I can see this book being appreciated by some older children and adults but I personally wouldn’t want to buy it.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A young wolf, on a journey to bring his grandmother a rabbit, is charmed by the nice little girl who offers to help him … but nice is not the same as good.

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Dollface Volume 2 – Dan Mendoza

Spoilers Ahead!

Disclaimer for this review: I haven’t read the first volume of Dollface and I hadn’t checked out its reviews prior to reading this graphic novel so my interest in Dollface Volume 2 was based solely on its blurb and the image on the cover.

Emily and Ivan are the students who made Lila. Emily’s girlfriend Paige attends school in California while Emily is studying at M.I.T. Emily wants to visit Paige but can’t afford the travel cost or time because of mid-terms so Ivan, a ghost, creates a portal and the three of them whoosh through the portal to L.A. Once in L.A., Lila’s witch alert system activates so she and Ivan go check it out while Emily catches up with Paige. Then all hell breaks loose.

I like the concept of a 17th century witch hunter being transported to present time into the body of a doll that a couple of students created with a 3D printer. Also I generally love all things relating to witches, ghosts, tattoos, people with brightly coloured hair and blood spatter, so I figured this was a pretty safe bet for me. This time I was mistaken. Not much offends me but I personally found this graphic novel quite disgusting and wrong on so many levels.

Had I not committed to reviewing this graphic novel I would have stopped reading as soon as I turned the page and saw the woman eating babies in the basement of a medical clinic that offers abortions.

I’m sure there’s an audience for this type of graphic novel but it’s definitely not me. I take full responsibility for not doing enough research before I requested a review copy of this one. Had I done my research I would have known I wasn’t part of the target audience. Lesson learned.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Once Upon a Blurb

The adventures continue as Lila, Emily and Ivan set off to sunny California in search of the next witch on Lila’s list. In this story, Emily meets up with her long distance love, Ivan learns more about his ghostly form and Lila exhibits what she’s capable of when pushed to the limits. Get ready for California carnage in Volume 2 of Dollface: Tales of the ball jointed witch hunter!

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