Fantastic Universes

  Green Arrow: Stranded Writer:  Brendan Deneen Artist:  Bell Hosalla Letterer DC Hopkins of AndWorld Design Review by Tony Farina Thank you to Net Galley and DC Comics for an ARC DC Comics strikes again with a re-imagined origin story for a young generation of readers. This time, they put the Emerald Archer in the center of the bullseye. Writing a story like this can be difficult. If one is writing for younger kids, the path is laid out. When one is writing for Young Adults, it is a bit easier to follow as well. Writing for middle-readers is tricky. How does the writer talk to them and not down to them? How can the writer keep them intrigued without them thinking it is “for babies?” While I don’t have the answers, Brendan Deneen does. In this story, we meet a young Ollie Queen whose parents are getting divorced, who was just embarrassed in front of one of his peers and who is being asked to do something he’s never done before. These are all things a middle rea...

An Uglies retrospective Review by  Tony Farina Way back in 2005, (I’m old, so it seems like just fifteen minutes ago) a guy from Texas who lived part of his time in America and part of his time in Australia, kicked the doors in on what Young Adult science fiction could be.   The man was Scott Westerfeld. The first book, of what started as a trilogy, that grew to a quartet and somehow ended up being an octet, was called Uglies . I would love to say that I was first in line on the first day, but I wasn’t. I heard about it through some of my students at the same time one of my daughters heard about it from friends at her school.   He sold the first three books as a trilogy ( Pretties and Specials ) and they came out in pretty quick succession. The trilogy takes place in a world where a climate crisis happened and some cities survived by creating a Logan’s Run meets Ayn Rand’s Anthem world where the nanny state is very real. Children are all born “Ugly” and on thei...

"Batman: The Detective" Writer: Tom Taylor Artists: Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope Color Artist: Brad Anderson Letterer: Clem Roberts Review by Tony Farina Special thanks to Net Galley and DC comics for my review copy. Batman is a hero. Full stop. Tom Taylor isn’t breaking new ground. The Dark Knight is good. He saves people. He tries his hardest. He is flawed. He is broken. He tries his hardest. Yes, I know, I mentioned it twice, but that is because it was that important. Batman is so focused on the past and the present that he rarely thinks about the future. Taylor and company focus on this one minor chink in Batman’s armor. To be frank, before I read this, I never really thought much about it myself. Sure, I’ve spent time thinking about time and how the things I do affect the future, but I don’t really follow that down into infinity and I don’t think about fictional characters that way at all. Tom Taylor though, clearly has thought a lot about it. What happens if ...

"The Nice House On The Lake" - Volume One Writer: James Tynion IV Artist: Álvaro Martínez Bueno Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire Letterer: AndWorld Design Review by Tony Farina Thank you to Net Galley and DC Comics for the ARC You know how sometimes you just catch lightning in a bottle? When Pete Best was replaced with Ringo Starr, a really good band became the greatest rock and roll band of all time. When Andy Serkis crawled onto the set and said “precious” for the first time, everyone heard Gollum in a whole new way, forever. He’s even narrated the newest version of TLOR audiobooks because he simply has to. DC Comic’s Black Label has done something that will, over time be listed as one of the greatest combinations of writing, art, and colors of all time in The Nice House on the Lake . In fact, I have no doubt that like The Lord of the Rings , we will one day soon use NHTL to short-hand this epic story. Jordie Bellaire is one of the top three colorists working today. P...

    By Fay Clark Well, that was a short month! I'll have to remember that for next time, because I have to admit even I struggled to finish the challenges this month. I only just got in under the wire! I hope everybody else had a great reading month. This month, we have gone for yet another theme!! I really hope people can get into this months theme as I love it. March holds international woman's day and the UK's Mother's day. I have created the March challenges around this. Challenge 1 - Read a book with a strong female lead. Challenge 2 - Read a book written by a woman. Challenge 3 - Read a graphic novel that has a female artist. Challenge 4 - Read a book that reminds you of your mother. Challenge 5 - March's book of the month was a great shout from Steve. We will be reading "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. This consist of a strong female lead and, shall we say an interesting mother-daughter relationship. WELP. This sounds like an awesome month! I can not wait...