Humble Book Bundle: Be The Change
I’ve been mostly picking through reading graphic novels out of this bundle. There’s a lot more material, some of which I’ve already read and some of which I may eventually get to.
Yo, Miss by Lisa Wilde - A semi-biographical story of a school year at a “second chance” high school from the perspective of a teacher. I don’t love the art, but the story is engaging and I appreciate the wrap-up ending that is hopeful, but realistically so.
FTL, Y'all! Edited by C. Spike Trotman & Amanda Lafrenais - Sci-fi short stories, mostly involving space travel. Generally decent. “The Senior Project” by Maia Hobabe was particularly standout.
Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill - This was interesting because it’s a “mostly” autobiographical story and Gill is only a few years older than I am. It’s fascinating to recognize things that were never my life, but I had vague impressions (especially by later high school) were the lives of some of my peers.
Archie: A Rock 'n' Roll Romance by Dan Parent - In the vein of “What if Archie married Veronica?”, this is the “What if Archie married Valerie from the Pussycats?” story. It’s not brilliant, but it’s clever and focuses on the drama between the two bands and the issues of fame with marriage and children, in a lighthearted Archie sort of way. (Interestingly, it ignores the racial aspect entirely. The fact that it’s a mixed-race relationship has no bearing on the story. Kinda the way Kevin Keller stories are always just Archie stories with boys instead of girls.)
Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams, Noah Hayes, Elle Power - This is a cute detective story featuring a lot of car racing, Russian spies and absurd contrivances, but I think it went a little too hard, too fast. The first plotline ends with a sci-fi twist and far too many hanging threads. I was hoping for a more neatly contained cozy mystery sort of thing, like the first issue implies it will be. (Also, I initially thought Goldie was a kid and had to recalibrate when I realized she’s just short.)
The Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton by Alex Simmons, Fernando Ruiz - Archie series regular Chuck Clayton teaches cartooning to various classes of kids and learns valuable lessons along the way. The stories are standard goofy fare; though the bits about how comic books are made seem pretty well calibrated for the ten-year-olds who are the target audience.
The Black Mage by Daniel Barnes, D.J. Kirkland - This had such a good blurb: The story of the first black student at a Hogwarts-style magic school, done in a colorful manga style with a lot of Final Fantasy references. I was even with them on the “Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas and John Henry were wizards who fought the Klan” thing. It was really the obviousness of the school (“St. Ivory”) being run by the Klan and the trite, obvious references in the dialogue that was just too much. There was real potential to have something both deep and fun; or something full of tropes but crazy enough to work; but they tried to go in too many directions and didn’t quite pull it off.
As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman - An all-female hiking trip told from the perspective of the only black girl; exploring problems of “white feminism” from the perspective of a teenage outsider. I think it really could have used another chapter or three; it doesn’t really resolve so much as kinda progress a few character arcs a little, and then end. Very well done up to that point, though.
Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels - A sci-fi story featuring an elderly couple who pursue an experimental treatment to make them young again…which isn’t actually what it was billed as, and their “new bodies” are actually superintelligent blobby clones who they’re inexplicably psychically connected to. Things do not go well; it would not be inappropriate to call this a horror story. (Though it’s not “anti-science”, it’s more sensibly anti-under-the-table-unsupervised-and-unethical-science.)
Archival Quality by Ivy Noelle Weir, Steenz - A woman goes to work at a haunted museum as the overnight archivist and, shockingly, gets haunted. The conspiracy/mystery payoff isn’t quite as big as one might hope, and the ending is a little too pat (they didn’t quite stick the landing), but it’s not bad overall.
The Girl Who Married a Skull: and Other African Stories (Cautionary Fables and Fairytales) Edited by Kate Ashwin & Kel McDonald - This one starts strong; the title story is delightful. There are a few weaker ones as you get further in, but it’s overall a solid collection and the art and re-imaginings generally work very well. Probably the one I’d most generously recommend, of the things I read.
Yo, Miss by Lisa Wilde - A semi-biographical story of a school year at a “second chance” high school from the perspective of a teacher. I don’t love the art, but the story is engaging and I appreciate the wrap-up ending that is hopeful, but realistically so.
FTL, Y'all! Edited by C. Spike Trotman & Amanda Lafrenais - Sci-fi short stories, mostly involving space travel. Generally decent. “The Senior Project” by Maia Hobabe was particularly standout.
Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill - This was interesting because it’s a “mostly” autobiographical story and Gill is only a few years older than I am. It’s fascinating to recognize things that were never my life, but I had vague impressions (especially by later high school) were the lives of some of my peers.
Archie: A Rock 'n' Roll Romance by Dan Parent - In the vein of “What if Archie married Veronica?”, this is the “What if Archie married Valerie from the Pussycats?” story. It’s not brilliant, but it’s clever and focuses on the drama between the two bands and the issues of fame with marriage and children, in a lighthearted Archie sort of way. (Interestingly, it ignores the racial aspect entirely. The fact that it’s a mixed-race relationship has no bearing on the story. Kinda the way Kevin Keller stories are always just Archie stories with boys instead of girls.)
Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams, Noah Hayes, Elle Power - This is a cute detective story featuring a lot of car racing, Russian spies and absurd contrivances, but I think it went a little too hard, too fast. The first plotline ends with a sci-fi twist and far too many hanging threads. I was hoping for a more neatly contained cozy mystery sort of thing, like the first issue implies it will be. (Also, I initially thought Goldie was a kid and had to recalibrate when I realized she’s just short.)
The Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton by Alex Simmons, Fernando Ruiz - Archie series regular Chuck Clayton teaches cartooning to various classes of kids and learns valuable lessons along the way. The stories are standard goofy fare; though the bits about how comic books are made seem pretty well calibrated for the ten-year-olds who are the target audience.
The Black Mage by Daniel Barnes, D.J. Kirkland - This had such a good blurb: The story of the first black student at a Hogwarts-style magic school, done in a colorful manga style with a lot of Final Fantasy references. I was even with them on the “Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas and John Henry were wizards who fought the Klan” thing. It was really the obviousness of the school (“St. Ivory”) being run by the Klan and the trite, obvious references in the dialogue that was just too much. There was real potential to have something both deep and fun; or something full of tropes but crazy enough to work; but they tried to go in too many directions and didn’t quite pull it off.
As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman - An all-female hiking trip told from the perspective of the only black girl; exploring problems of “white feminism” from the perspective of a teenage outsider. I think it really could have used another chapter or three; it doesn’t really resolve so much as kinda progress a few character arcs a little, and then end. Very well done up to that point, though.
Upgrade Soul by Ezra Claytan Daniels - A sci-fi story featuring an elderly couple who pursue an experimental treatment to make them young again…which isn’t actually what it was billed as, and their “new bodies” are actually superintelligent blobby clones who they’re inexplicably psychically connected to. Things do not go well; it would not be inappropriate to call this a horror story. (Though it’s not “anti-science”, it’s more sensibly anti-under-the-table-unsupervised-and-unethical-science.)
Archival Quality by Ivy Noelle Weir, Steenz - A woman goes to work at a haunted museum as the overnight archivist and, shockingly, gets haunted. The conspiracy/mystery payoff isn’t quite as big as one might hope, and the ending is a little too pat (they didn’t quite stick the landing), but it’s not bad overall.
The Girl Who Married a Skull: and Other African Stories (Cautionary Fables and Fairytales) Edited by Kate Ashwin & Kel McDonald - This one starts strong; the title story is delightful. There are a few weaker ones as you get further in, but it’s overall a solid collection and the art and re-imaginings generally work very well. Probably the one I’d most generously recommend, of the things I read.