Book-It 'o12! Book #37
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one, two, and three just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: The Hive by Charles Burns
Details: Copyright 2012, Pantheon Books
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Doug wants to tell his story...get it all off his chest. But there's a dark, sad secret from his past that he just can't face up to yet. The story that began in X'ED OUT continues."
Why I Wanted to Read It: This was favorably reviewed by the AV Club Comics Panel. Having now read the first book in the series, I could move on to this one.
How I Liked It: It wouldn't seem quite right to say that this book really continues from the first, given the complex nature of the storylines, but in as much as it can, it does.
While we're there, though, countless more stories and questions arise and while you're more likely to get lost than in the first book, it's still a fairly remote possibility: the author has a deft hand for keeping the reader engaged.
At a slim fifty-some pages and apparently the next work ("Sugar Skull" as foretold by the end of this book) not coming for one assumes the same length of time as it took for this sequel to arrive (two years), one might be tempted to wait until the series is finished, particularly if it's offered in complete form in a single binding. However, with the ending (that presumably ties all these loose ends together) dangling still, it's hard to want to wait, another testament to the author's ability to lure and engage.
It's hard to rate these as stand-alones, since they really aren't, but the quality of art as well as the diligent storytelling ensures that even if this series isn't an epic story, it's at least a memorable one.
Notable: Less brand names abound this time (and especially not in so distracting a manner), but is that a Pabst Blue Ribbon on the cover?
Title: The Hive by Charles Burns
Details: Copyright 2012, Pantheon Books
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Doug wants to tell his story...get it all off his chest. But there's a dark, sad secret from his past that he just can't face up to yet. The story that began in X'ED OUT continues."
Why I Wanted to Read It: This was favorably reviewed by the AV Club Comics Panel. Having now read the first book in the series, I could move on to this one.
How I Liked It: It wouldn't seem quite right to say that this book really continues from the first, given the complex nature of the storylines, but in as much as it can, it does.
While we're there, though, countless more stories and questions arise and while you're more likely to get lost than in the first book, it's still a fairly remote possibility: the author has a deft hand for keeping the reader engaged.
At a slim fifty-some pages and apparently the next work ("Sugar Skull" as foretold by the end of this book) not coming for one assumes the same length of time as it took for this sequel to arrive (two years), one might be tempted to wait until the series is finished, particularly if it's offered in complete form in a single binding. However, with the ending (that presumably ties all these loose ends together) dangling still, it's hard to want to wait, another testament to the author's ability to lure and engage.
It's hard to rate these as stand-alones, since they really aren't, but the quality of art as well as the diligent storytelling ensures that even if this series isn't an epic story, it's at least a memorable one.
Notable: Less brand names abound this time (and especially not in so distracting a manner), but is that a Pabst Blue Ribbon on the cover?