Day 12, Holiday Reviewarama Gunnerkrigg Court Volume 2 from Archaia

Gunnerkrigg Court Volume 1 and 2
Thomas Siddell

Someone told me once that my reviews were more like PR with a slight difference that I brought my opinions into works and hoped to give people reasons to like what I was discussing. My buddy Michael May said my reviews were like a carrot, and a person who wrote, rather negatively upon his then site Comic Book News was like the stick. I rather agree, but not that reviewing is actually either/or, since the person I'd read for reviews is Michael May, who is both carrot and stick. You can smash people over the head for the creative talent or publishers not doing what you like, or give them reason to do it well by supporting them when they succeed.

Thereby, I am at a loss here, because I think this is a really good work, but it really DIDN'T strike my taste zone. It involves students in a bizarre magic training school, somewhat like the Harry Potter books but suitably different to be its own work. But, having referenced the Potter books, I didn't like those much, and this work is not the same so, entering in to read I had hope. The writing was intelligent and worth praising, the characters seemed well developed and the dialogue and plots were very nicely done. The art mixes animé fusion and straight forward western comic book styles. It is pleasant to look at.




But, ultimately, while I think that this is a work that is sincerely done, smartly aimed, intelligent and nice to look at, it isn't my taste being written towards. So, I give it a full recommendation to someone who likes Harry Potter, but add Johny Test from Cartoon Network and then wrap it in some beautiful production work by Archaia.

My guess is the target audience is more female, is young adult, and would be a welcome addition to most high school libraries across the US and the English speaking world.

Day 10, Holiday Reviewarama DAYS MISSING from Archaia and Roddenberry

DAYS MISSING
Phil Hester, Frazer Irving, David Hine,
Chris Burnham, Ian Edginton, Lee Moder,
Matz, Hugo Petrus, Dale Keown

Steward is a being who has existed through history, changed human event, manipulated things so that humans could go on, also, so that events that happened might not. As a result of the futzing with human events, there are "Days Missing" from existence, entirely. As in zapped. YOINK.

The stories told in this volume are really very interesting, and, more interestingly, tell the stories that are perhaps tangential to a central theme, a broad single minded plot. And, it is to me a very fresh approach. I don't really always like a story or universe idea enough to read episodes in the development of the grand tale. But here, I see the world around the edges, I see a portion and fragment here, a piece there. And by doing so I am able to see more, without being force fed a plot or idea. Instead it is an organic organization of information.

The writing and artistic talent on this work is stellar, and the production standards show in the nearly perfect presentation here. For an introductory chapter of what will be a longer work, I think it succeeds brilliantly.

However, I suspect some people require force fed story, force fed recognizable pathways. So, if you aren't the sort to enjoy differently told tales, this might not work for you. But I promise if you let it work, it does, and nicely so.

From the Publisher

Since the beginning of time, there has existed a being whose interaction and interference with mankind has shaped human history. His powers of time and intellect have allowed his secrecy and resulted in certain days being absent from any historical record. Their stories have never been told. Their details have never been documented. Their existence is not remembered. But, the occurrences of these days have forever changed the course of humanity's evolution. These are the Days Missing from our existence, and they are about to be revealed.

Day 6, Holiday Reviewarama The Secret History Volume 1 from Archaia

The Secret History Volume 1
Writer Jean-Pierre Pecau
Artists Igor Kordey, Leo Pilipovic, Goran Sudzuka, Geto, Carole Beau, Manchu, Olivier Vatine

Firstly letting my bias be known, I am a sucker for alternative history, and have degrees in history from two different Universities. So I am likely in the perfect target audience of this work.

Let me say, this is a work of extraordinary research, because in order for it to succeed, which it does, there has to be a verisimilitude. That is, there needs to be a feeling that the history being changed from and to, is real. If you feel for even a moment that what was being changed was in fact not real to begin with, then you are left with historical fiction instead of alternate history. Alternate history relies upon the ability to let the reader see things he/she knows to be true, and change that truth, thus achieving a mental connection. I am not familiar with any other work Jean-Pierre Pecau has done. All I know is that this work was perfect. I saw the changes, through the eyes of the main characters, and they resonated with me.

The target audience is someone who likes historical works, and can see what the changes are. If someone has not a speck of knowledge of human events and history, this is still a very nicely done work, full of beauty and fine detail. But for the work to be so striking, a love of what is changed is needed.

There isn’t anything here that doesn’t work, just perhaps some less effective than others for certain readers. We aren’t all born of similar parents and have similar DNA of course.

From the publisher

“Four immortal brothers and sisters are entrusted with ivory cards in the dawn of prehistory by a dying shaman, and told never to use the cards together. Four immortal brothers and sisters, four archons, leaping through time, consumed in an epic struggle to influence and shape the history of Western civilization. From Moses' challenge to the Pharaoh to the origin of the Grail myth; from the Pope's extermination of the Cathars to Nostradamus' travels in Italy; from the Spanish Armada and the Great Fire of London to Napoleon's conquest of Egypt; and finally to the Angel of Mons appearing over the trenches of World War I. A secret occult history of the world told in seven chapters”