Comic-Con Inspired Reading

Paper Girls

Brian K. Vaughn

Grade: A

A little bit of random reviews and comic-con inspired reading for people who won’t be there this weekend. (I’ve always been torn on comic-con like part of me really wants to go at least once but part of me thinks I’d be absolutely miserable.) So… I read and watch everything on line 😉

Paper Girls Volume 1 is a graphic novel about four, well, paper girls who go out one morning and have increasingly strange things happen. They find what looks like a Dalek and then there’s disappearing people, strange creatures, people from the future (maybe?) and a whole lot of intriguing adventure and plot lines.

The art work by Cliff Chiang is really lovely in this one and while this is only volume one I’m totally down for more. This is not really one for kids despite the title. There’s a shooting, suicide attempt, some sci-fi like violence and because it’s 1988 some discriminatory language from one of the main characters.

I’m definitely looking forward to Volume Two.

Armada by Ernest Cline (B-) didn’t get the best reviews but it wasn’t bad for a “weekend take this to a convention” book. I actually listened to the audible book narrated by Will Wheaton.

The story is about Zack Lightman whose wildest dreams come true one day and he finds himself defending the Earth from an invading army that’s a lot like the video game he happens to excel at.

At first the pop culture references weren’t too bad. Mostly because I understood them but everything does kind of wear on you. At a certain point in this story I really thought it was all in Zack’s head. The problem was once I got to that point it was so extremely hard to take any of it seriously. You could also see where it was all going. Wheaton’s narration really did help save my enjoyment of the book.

One Con Glory by Sarah Kuhn (B) My e-book version of this one was only about 107 pages. It’s a quick fun read about an entertainment like reporter covering the conventions and her search for the under appreciated somewhat forgotten hero of her childhood. In toy form of course.

There’s also a cute guy whose a closet nerd. It’s a pretty fast easy read. But the characters were fun and lively even if the supporting cast wasn’t that deep or interesting. And I can understand the love for under appreciated characters. You connect with who and what you connect with you know?

Lastly there’s Zeroes (B) by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti:

This one started off slow to me but the characters, while not entirely likable or easy to connect with,  had some really intriguing powers. Especially Scam who has a voice (that he can’t control) that seems to be all knowing and starts mouthing off in the middle of a bank robbery which only leads to increasing trouble for him. There were times the voice seemed almost demonic.

Another intriguing power was the ability to control crowds which could be good or bad but was at one point used to calm the situation during the bank robbery. I liked how the powers were described and used and there’s definitely some good stuff here. Good characterization but I just wasn’t feeling it for some reason. Right now it’s like I feel it was an interesting book to read but I can’t imagine going onto the next one at this point. It’s like I was feeling the powers themselves but not really the plot.

Recommend: Definitely Paper Girls.

Enjoy the weekend wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!