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Showing posts with label graphic novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label graphic novel. Show all posts

Review: Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns, Van Sciver (artist), Prentis Rollins (artist)

>>Thursday, February 23, 2012

Title: Green Lantern: Rebirth
Author: Geoff Johns, Van Sciver (artist), Prentis Rollins (artist)
Series: Green Lantern
Format: Graphic Novel
Pages: 192
Genre: Comics, Science Fiction
Publication Date: March 28th, 2007
Publisher: DC Comics
Rating: 6

Summary:
From Goodreads: The sold out 6-issue miniseries event of 2004-2005 — written by Geoff Johns (THE FLASH, TEEN TITANS) with art by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins — is collected for the first time, complete with the preview story from Wizard Magazine! Hal Jordan was considered the greatest Green Lantern of them all. But Jordan lost control, allowed himself to be corrupted and transformed into the villainous Parallax. Later, Jordan reappeared and made the ultimate sacrifice — a sacrifice that allowed him to become the Spectre, the Wrath of God.

After several years of activity on Earth, The Spectre became restless and sought a way to prove himself worthy of that noble reputation. See how a man born without fear and seeking to rebuild his life, puts cosmic forces into motion that will have repercussions not only on Earth but across the universe.

This volume also features an introduction by best-selling author Brad Meltzer and a new cover by Van Sciver!


Why did I read this book? I've always wanted to read something from DC (never really read anything before) and after seeing the Green Lantern movie (which was pretty rough) I thought I might like to try out the comic since there was some underlying awesomeness there.

Source: Gift

My Review
Green Lantern: Rebirth is the story of how Hal Jordan, apparently the best-ever Lantern, is redeemed from destroying the Corps and doing some other really Nasty things. Really, I still don’t really get what happened to Hal in the past – all I know is that he’s got some Spirit of Vengence inside him doing weird and vengeance-y things while also being tormented by Parallax. Some of these scenes bring internal torment to a whole new level.

One reason why I wanted to read Rebirth as my first Green Lantern comic was that it is a rebirth and therefore would be a good time to jump into the mythos. From that perspective, it was a good choice. We get a lot of the back story of the Lanterns: Hal, Kyle, John and Guy. We also get a lot of Lantern mythology about how their green power works and how the Corps came to be. Like I said, I came into this with only what I gleaned from the movie, but it seems like the writer probably retconned a lot of the history. It doesn’t make a difference to me, but maybe longtime fans may feel differently.

What I struggled with most was what was actually happening in the present. It was rough trying to orient myself to what was going on with Hal. The artwork is pretty great and fit the mood and story perfectly, but sometimes it didn’t make it easier to understand what was going on from a mystical level with the Spirit and Parallax.

Rating: 6
In the end, I enjoyed the Lantern story and am even more convinced that Green Lantern is the DC hero for me. One thing that solidified this is how Batman acted like a big jerk the whole book and in the end, I preferred the Lanterns’ 'lighter' style. The other JLA members make appearances which is fun. I do wish there were more women in this miniseries and I’m thinking that it might be common for there to be practically none in the Green Lantern books (other than the love interests). I’m willing to find out, though. To people who have no experience with Green Lantern, this is a rough start, but could be worth it in the end for the mythology and the reinstatement of Hal.

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Review: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Vol. 1)

>>Sunday, July 18, 2010

Title: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Vol. 1)
Author: Bryan Lee O'Malley
Pages: Not Numbered
Genre: Graphic Novel - Comedy/Action/Romance
Rating: B+

From Goodreads:
Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rock band, he's "between jobs," and he's dating a cute high school girl....more Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rock band, he's "between jobs," and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life get turned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends in battle? The short answer is yes. The long answer is Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.


This book starts off as a slice-of-life story set in Toronto (yay, a Canadian author!) that is pretty normal until some cool elements are introduced. Such as Ramona skating through his dreams (literally) and at the end, Scott battling an ex-boyfriend some mix of anime slash video game style. I thought that was pretty clever and also interesting because this book has such a "normal" feel to it, until these weird things just happen. It makes you wonder what else the author has up his sleeve.

I found that the writing was good. The author captures a lot of moments I think many of us have with friends and relationships and shows it in a funny way. I thought it was quite funny and laughed out loud many times. A great example is when Scott meets Ramona. She's a good heroine in the story: even though she is using Scott's dreams she is very stand-offish towards him at first and this creates some comedic moments.

The art great; at a glance it seems very simple and sparse and in a cartoon style but I think it was really well done and enhanced the action and feelings of the characters. The only gripe I had with it was at first it was hard to distinguish the rather large cast of characters due to the minimal style. But it's worth it.

I recommend this to anyone who has any interest in geeky things or is just interested in a slice of life comedy with some fantasy. My only problem is I wished it lasted longer. It's a quick read (I read the volume in 30 minutes) but I look forward to the next installment.

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