Graphic Novels

Whether you call them graphic novels or comic books, doesn't change that I love reading them.  Here are a few of the ones I've spent time with lately. 
 -Lynnie 

Saga Volume 9, by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Fiona Staples (illustrator) 

Jeez this is tough to review without spoilers, but let me just tell you that I’m a bit gutted after reading these issues. Even more so realizing that it will be at least a year until we hear from Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples again. It’s almost cruel to take a hiatus from this series right now, but I trust them to continue the story that needs to be told. As always it’s riveting and shocking, the artwork is beautiful... and heartbreaking.



Locke and Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill (writer) and Gabriel Rodriguez (artist)

This series has been on my “to read” list for a while, but after seeing a trailer for a show based on this series I was inspired to get to it. I was not disappointed! This is the story of a family already in crisis moving into a mysterious family home and discovering its secrets and the consequences of those secrets.

The story and artwork are both fantastic and I can’t wait to get the next volume to see how much further they take this story. Written by Joe Hill, who does creepy/horror just as well as his famous father and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke and Key is creative, creepy, smart, and captivating.  


Oblivion Song, Vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman (story), Lorenzo de Felici (artist), and Annalisa Leoni (artist) 

I'm generally a lover of all things Kirkman, but I did not love Oblivion Song. The story was interesting and I loved the premise behind the story- an experiment casts part of Philadelphia into another dimension overnight, trapping several hundred thousand people in the Oblivion. Unfortunately, I didn't love the execution- the characters were somewhat interchangeable other than Nathan (the main character so far) and the art, particularly within the Oblivion was often just difficult to understand. Buildings, landscape and monsters were nearly impossible to tell apart, in large part because of the color palette within the book and the amorphous shapes of all of them. I'm sure that was intentional, and certainly worked to throw me off balance, but I just didn't enjoy it.

Will I read volume 2? Maybe. I just don't think it's high on my list.