Joe Pruett

It pains me to give 3 stars to The Art of Jim Starlin. There isn't enough original art in it (mostly there are scanned pages of some comics and some blown-up panels, which are a real let down), but the text saves the book. You can't count it as a real art book due to the previously written info, but Starlin wrote what would be a long interview/ reminiscencies in which he tells some very interesting behind-the-scenes stories that explain his comings and going with Marvel, his Zenith and downfall with DC, his creator-owned adevntures and his art relantionship with Ron Lim, which is amazing for me (spoiler: no sketches were made!!!).

Well, that little fan in me liked very much this book, but I'd hardly recommend to someone to buy it (only for die-hard fans). But if you find it cheap or in your Library, pick it! For sure a real art book (like the ones from IDW) will be issued in the future.… (mere)

SHOCK Anthology is a collection of short stories told via comics. Being a lover of short stories, and taking into consideration that super cool cover, how could I resist? As with any anthology, some of the stories worked for me and some did not. One thing I learned was that I needed to go through this volume slowly, otherwise moving from comic to comic, each being totally different in writing and artwork styles, was too jarring. That said, these are the stories that stood out for me:

THE LAST DANCE WITH YOU: was a beautifully told tale and even though the clues were there, I didn't catch on to where the story was going until we arrived.

DUMB BITCH: Don't you touch that dog!

ISTANBUL: I loved this one because the art work was gorgeous and evocative, even with no words.

THE DEAD CITY AWOKE: This tale was super short and had few words, but the art was simply breathtaking. (Probably my favorite graphics in this collection.)

LIVE OR DIE: A spooky story taking place in the middle of a war battle.

DEVOLUTION: I loved this dystopian tale of caution even if it was a bit implausible. I see seeds of this in our day to day living right now and I often wonder where it's going to end up. DEVOLUTION presents its own ideas as to how things will turn out.

MOMENTS: With tongue firmly in cheek, this tale about social media and how far it could, (will?), go was hilarious and disturbing all at once. With so many people paying way too much attention to their online lives and so little to their actual lives, I thought this tale was a fun and unsettling way to look at what the future might bring.

Overall, I enjoyed the concept of this book and the book itself. Thanks to Jennifer's AWESOME review, which you can find here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2320500428?book_show_action=false&from..., I decided to request this book from NetGalley and I'm so glad I did! With lots of variety and something for everyone, I recommend this fun volume to fans of short stories,comics and graphic novels!

*Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. This is it.*… (mere)

AfterShock Comics' SHOCK is a solid anthology, comprised of stories ranging from the horrific to the fantastical to the out of this world, with many reading like a print version of Black Mirror. Opening with a typically Gaiman-esque witch's tale from Neil Gaiman, gorgeously illustrated by Michael Zulli, the reader is also treated to alien invasions gone wrong, the horrors of war, wishes come true (but at what cost?), revenge, fairy tale retellings, and an especially moving story tied into the events of 9/11. As with any anthology, some stories are better than others, but overall there wasn't a single story here that felt out of place. I'm hoping that AfterShock turns this into an annual (or more frequent) release, building on the talent that they brought together for this premier release.… (mere)

Overall, it's a pretty even anthology of little comic stories, each with a sort of twist at the end (where I guess the SHOCK in the title comes from). There are some aliens (not particularly clever ones who try to hypnotize a scarecrow), there's a retelling of Red Riding Hood where she is a hood in the more colloquial sense of the term (i.e. hoodlum), there are fighting transformer buildings, etc. But again, like I find with so many comics, it's like a whole smorgasbord of amuse-bouches but then I want to eat something more filling than a bit of bacon wrapped in watercress, except there's not the option. Why is it that word-based short-stories can fill me up (good ones, at least, like Goodbye to Berlin or Just Pretending, or even non-traditional ones without true endings, like let's say If on a winter's night a traveler), yet I've never been satisfied completely with any comic anthology? Is it a fault of the medium or a fault of the reader?

So I liked SHOCK Anthology more than I expected to, but I still, as always, have my reservations about the effectiveness of comics for short stories.

SHOCK Anthology by Neil Gaiman, Paul Jenkins, Brian Azzarello, Cullen Bunn, Marguerite Bennett, Frank Tieri, and more went on sale April 24, 2018.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (mere)