Comic Review: Mera: Tidebreaker by Denielle Paige and Stephen Byrne

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: DC Ink/DC Comics

Release Date: April 2019

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Princess Mera is teenage royalty and heir to the throne of Xebel, a penal colony ruled by the other not-so-lost land under the sea, Atlantis. Her father, his court and the entire kingdom are expecting her to marry and introduce a new king. But Mera is destined to wear a different crown....

When the Xebellian military plots to overthrow Atlantis and break free of its oppressive regime, Mera seizes the opportunity to take control over her own destiny by assassinating Arthur Curry—the long-lost prince and heir to the kingdom of Atlantis. But her mission gets sidetracked when Mera and Arthur unexpectedly fall in love. Will Arthur Curry be the king at Mera's side, or will he die under her blade as she attempts to free her people from persecution?

An astonishing graphic novel that explores duty, love, heroism and freedom, all through the eyes of readers' favorite undersea royalty.

From New York Times best-selling author Danielle Paige (Dorothy Must Die) and artist Stephen Byrne comes a Mera and Aquaman origin story that explores Mera's first steps on land, and her first steps as a hero or villain, forcing her to choose to follow her heart or her mission to kill.

Review:

I haven't really read any American comics, especially superhero ones. I'm just more of a manga girl. But the new trend of YA superhero comics has piqued my interest, and I want to like them.

This comic is about Mera before Aquaman, how she grew up and went against the expectations put on her in order to prove herself, and how that changed her perspective and helped her mature.

The artwork is okay, the coloring is really neat. The story was okay, too. I like the idea of these, but they don't keep my interest all that well, or seem to play out as well as they could. The idea of the story is interesting, but it was just kind of meh reading it.

This was okay. I'm going to try a couple more, I think, but I've lowered my expectations a bit, sadly.

Comic Review: Adulthood is a Myth (A “Sarah's Scribbles” Collection, #1) by Sarah Anderson

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: 2016

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Are you a special snowflake?
Do you enjoy networking to advance your career?
Is adulthood an exciting new challenge for which you feel fully prepared?

Ugh. Please go away.

This book is for the rest of us. These comics document the wasting of entire beautiful weekends on the internet, the unbearable agony of holding hands on the street with a gorgeous guy, dreaming all day of getting home and back into pajamas, and wondering when, exactly, this adulthood thing begins. In other words, the horrors and awkwardnesses of young modern life.

Review:

This is the first collection of Sarah Scribbles comics. I could tell it was an earlier work, as the artwork and subjects aren't quite as polished or as good. She's perfected the humor of this style at this point, I think.

Still, these are all funny. More typical scenarios, some romance-focused comics, but still an introverted girl getting along as an adult. If you enjoy these comics, I would recommend picking up the collected books.

Comic Review: Lobster is the Best Medicine: A Collection of Comics about Friendship by Liz Climo

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Running Press

Release Date: 2015

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Fans have fallen in love with Liz Climo's charmingly quirky animal kingdom, which was first featured in The Little World of Liz Climo-a place where porcupines, anteaters, and grizzly bears all grapple with everyday life with wit and humor.

Friends: They are there when we just want to hang out, or need someone to listen. They make us laugh, and lend a shoulder to cry on. Comic artist Liz Climo captures the true spirit of friendship with this quirkily charming collection. Her animal kingdom is a place where sharks, otters, porcupines, and even crustaceans come together to show the best of what friends have to offer.

This little book will remind you to appreciate your own friendships...and inspire you to share with a special pal.

Review:

This is a collection of animal comedy strips. All two panel pages of humor, light-hearted and sweet; mostly about friendship and odd friend pairings, but also some odd situations animals can get into and puns.

I'd read some of these before, but others were new to me. It was a very fast read, but also really fun. Quick little humor snippets, cute drawings and sense of humor.

This was a delightful little book, and I plan on picking up more.

Comic Review: Snug: A Collection of Comics About Dating Your Best Friend (Catana Comics) by Catana Chetwynd

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: February 2020

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Why bother getting out of bed when you could stay bundled up with that special someone and a book of cozy, cute comics. From the author of the bestselling Little Moments of Love comes Snug, a collection of comics that perfectly captures the honest, playful, and relatable snapshots of romantic life.

Catana Chetwynd’s second book has the same charming and inviting style as her first and includes 50 percent new, never-before-shared comics. Snug is a celebration of the quirks and peculiarities of every one of us—and the magic that happens when we find our matching puzzle piece.

Review:

I will admit that this book didn't hit as hard for me as the first one (maybe since I read them so close?), but it's still very good. If you like the first book, or just Catana's comics from online, you'll enjoy this.

It's a comic based on the simple moments in life, the little moments of a romance. Living together, growing together, the moments that let you two just be together, and also all the silly, funny moments two people can have.

I really enjoy the art style, and the comedy used, and the heartwarming moments, too. It's relate-able and fun. I definitely recommend picking it up.

Comic Review: Herding Cats (Sarah's Scribbles, #3) by Sarah Anderson

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: 2018

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Adjusting to life as a world-famous cartoonist isn't easy. Terrifying deadlines, piles of junk-food wrappers under a glowing computer screen, and an ever-growing horde of pets....umm, never mind--it's pretty much the same.

With characteristic wit and charm, Sarah Andersen's third collection of comics and illustrated personal essays offers a survival guide for frantic modern life: from the importance of avoiding morning people, to Internet troll defense 101, to the not-so-life-changing futility of tidying up. But when all else fails and the world around you is collapsing, make a hot chocolate, count the days until Halloween, and snuggle up next to your furry beacon of hope.

Review:

I have only just recently started expanding my comedy comics collection, and I've read a bit of the Sarah Scribbles stuff online, so picked this up when it was on sale. Not realizing that it was the third and final book in the set, of course. Thankfully none of it necessarily has to go in order, so not too big of a deal. I could tell it was her more recent work, though, more polished, than some of her earlier stuff.

The protag here is an introvert and a cat lover, and this is mainly comedic strips featuring the struggles regarding the everyday life, only she's also a famous cartoonist. It's all very fun, really. Very relate-able and funny.

About a quarter of the book, at the end, features some advice from a cartoonist to potential artists out there. It's actually a really sweet bit of the book, with heartfelt advice and encouragement. I definitely recommend picking this up, or gifting this book in particular, to the artistically inclined people out there.

Comic Review: Book Love by Debbie Tung

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: January 2019

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Bookworms rejoice! These charming comics capture exactly what it feels like to be head-over-heels for hardcovers. And paperbacks! And ebooks! And bookstores! And libraries!

Book Love is a gift book of comics tailor-made for tea-sipping, spine-sniffing, book-hoarding bibliophiles. Debbie Tung’s comics are humorous and instantly recognizable—making readers laugh while precisely conveying the thoughts and habits of book nerds. Book Love is the ideal gift to let a book lover know they’re understood and appreciated.

Review:

Given that I'm a bookworm, there's no way I wasn't going to enjoy this book. There's simple pages of book-related moments and statements and essentials and preferences. There's definitely a lot to relate to here.

I will admit this didn't hit me as much as I expected; it wasn't exciting or hugely funny, and I think I expected a bit more, maybe because of the other books I've read recently that influenced that. It's a quieter book, though, which makes sense given the subject. I think I just needed to go in with different expectations.

I'd definitely recommend it for other book-lovers, and I'm still going to pick up her other collection.

Comic Review: Little Moments of Love by Catana Chetwynd

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5-5

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: June 2018

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Soppy meets Sarah’s Scribbles in this sweet collection of comics about the simple, precious, silly, everyday moments that make up a relationship.

What began as stray doodles on scraps of paper became an internet sensation when Catana Chetwynd’s boyfriend shared her drawings online. Now, Catana Comics touches millions of readers with its sweet, relatable humor. Little Moments of Love collects just that – the little moments that are the best parts of being with the person you love.

Review:

I love this little collection of comics. It's starring this cute couple, and we get to see moments from when they first started dating, expectations versus reality, and moments as they live together and stay adorable and odd and cuddly at all times. They have a cat, and they're both introverted and sometimes work at home. It's definitely from a cute perspective, but it's also honest.

It's so very simple, and yet I love it. It was a lot of fun to read, and I will definitely pick up the next one.

Comic Review: Strange Planet by Nathan W Pyle

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5-5

Publisher: Morrow Gift (William Morrow/HarperCollins)

Release Date: November 2019

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Available November 19, 2019, Limited Quantity. Author Signed First Edition Hardcover. Straight from the mind of New York Times bestselling author Nathan W. Pyle, Strange Planet is an adorable and profound universe in pink, blue, green, and purple, based on the phenomenally popular Instagram of the same name! Strange Planet covers a full life cycle of the planet’s inhabitants, including milestones such as: The Emergence Day Being Gains a Sibling The Being Family Attains a Beast The Formal Education of a Being Celebration of Special Days Being Begins a Vocation The Beings at Home Health Status of a Being The Hobbies of a Being The Extended Family of the Being The Being Reflects on Life While Watching the Planet Rotate With dozens of never-before-seen illustrations in addition to old favorites, this book offers a sweet and hilarious look at a distant world not all that unlike our own. I feel more attractive. Honestly, you are. It’s the star damage. I CRAVE STAR DAMAGE.

Review:

I've been following Nathan W Pyle on Twitter for a while now, after discovering these Strange Planet comics. I pre-ordered the book pretty early on.

These comics are so funny and so cute. I love the perspective of looking at the human world from an alien perspective, describing things in much more real terms that we don't think of anymore. They're very real sometimes, too, in their honesty and portrayal.

There are some new comics in this collection, as well as the loved ones posted online. It's a very nice hardback, with pretty comics on the inside covers and organized in an interesting way.

If you like fun comic strips and humor books, I definitely recommend picking this one up.

Comic Review: Soppy by Philippa Rice

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

Release Date: 2014.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

True love isn’t always about the big romantic gestures.

Sometimes it’s about sympathizing with someone whose tea has gone cold or reading together and sharing a quilt. When two people move in together, it soon becomes apparent that the little things mean an awful lot. The throwaway moments in life become meaningful when you spend them in the company of someone you love.

SOPPY is Philippa Rice’s collection of comics and illustrations based on real-life moments with her boyfriend. From grocery shopping to silly arguments and snuggling in front of the television, SOPPY captures the universal experience of sharing a life together, and celebrates the beauty of finding romance all around us.

Review:

This was a cute, very light and easy comic. It's mostly pictures, with not a lot of dialogue. It's a slice of life kind of book, where we get to watch this couple before, and then as they live together, and the little moments of their life together.

We see the cute, odd conversations, how they tease and decide what to eat for dinner. Snuggling on the couch, the realities of how they sleep in bed, what they do in the morning as they get ready and then work.

It's all the little moments. And I appreciate that.