Review: The Adventure Zone - Here there be Gerblins by The McElroy Family

Publication Date: July 17th 2018
Publisher: First Second
Pages: 256 pages

Welcome to the Adventure Zone!
SEE! The illustrated exploits of three lovable dummies set loose in a classic fantasy adventure!
READ! Their journey from small-time bodyguards to world-class artifact hunters!
MARVEL! At the sheer metafictional chutzpah of a graphic novel based on a story created in a podcast where three dudes and their dad play a tabletop role playing game in real time!
Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it's based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.
With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failure after critical failure.

Several months ago my husband started mentioning this podcast that I absolutely had to listen to called "The Adventure Zone". I would frequently hear him sniggering whilst listening to it, and given that we were about to start our own D&D group (I think that is entirely down to the sheer brilliance of the podcast that this occurred) I figured (after a lot of bullying) that I probably should give it a go. I warned him (frequently) that I wasn't a fan of podcasts, and I might try the first episode and find it was not my cup of tea. But finally, finally, I stuck the first episode on, and I could not stop laughing.

This podcast should come with a health warning, and some sort of disclaimer that you probably shouldn't listen to it in public because you'll get a lot of very weird looks from people as you start laughing at the sheer brilliant idiocy.

Even if you have no idea about the rules of D&D, or anything beyond "it's a nerdy game" you'll love this podcast. Three brothers and their Dad, the chemistry and familiarity as the four bounce off each other is pure magic. Griffin as DM creates a truly incredible story, and then watches as Clint, Justin, and Travis wreak havoc with it, with hilarious results.

With all that build up, my expectations were pretty darn high going into this comic, but it more than lives up to them. Sure, nothing will ever completely capture the ludicrous magic of the show, but this comic does a damn good job, and I found myself laughing out loud as I revisited the excellent first adventure in the series "Here There be Gerblins" and saw my three favourite incompetents heroes start their adventuring.

It's funny, it's brilliant, and I love it.
This comic is everything you ever wanted, plus a few things you never knew you wanted. It's glorious.
And given that the next arc of their adventure is possibly one of my all time favourites, I need the next issue of this immediately.

Review: Transmetropolitan Volumes 1 - 4 by Warren Ellis

Publication Date: January 1998
Publisher: Vertigo

After years of self-imposed exile from a civilization rife with degradation and indecency, cynical journalist Spider Jerusalem is forced to return to a job that he hates and a city that he loathes. Working as an investigative reporter for the newspaper The Word, Spider attacks the injustices of his surreal 23rd Century surroundings. Combining black humor, life-threatening situations, and moral ambiguity, this book is the first look into the mind of an outlaw journalist and the world he seeks to destroy. 

I’m not a huge reader of graphic novels, I’ve dabbled in the past with things like ‘Watchmen’ but honestly they and the fan-base that surrounds them has always kind of intimidated me. But then Mum got rushed into hospital with heart failure at the end of November last year and I just stopped reading. I couldn’t focus or persuade myself to settle to more than a page or two of any books, no matter how much I was enjoying the story. So a friend handed me the first couple of volumes of ‘Transmetropolitan’ and told me to read them.

I was expecting to enjoy them, I wasn’t expecting to love them. They’re dark, they’re filthy and twisted and a little bit depraved in places, but what surprised me were the complex the characters, and the sucker punch to the feelings that they deliver with alarming accuracy.

It’s a messed up, twisted and utterly brilliant world, but the true heart and drive behind these books is Spider Jerusalem himself. He of the filthy mouth, bowel disruptor gun, and surprising heart that shows up at unexpected moments and completely floors you. There’s a depth to these books that I wasn’t expecting, an intensity and morality that is what shifted these swiftly from an enjoyable read into something extraordinary. They are now an all-time favourite.

The first two volumes offer more disjointed but no less enjoyable and interesting stories, before shifting into a lengthy and more cohesive whole for the third and fourth. There’s so much more to this world than is obvious at first, a complexity and sometimes painful view that left me in turns breathless with laughter and close to tears.

Brutal, brilliant, and definitely not for younger readers, Transmetropolitan will offer a surprisingly insightful view of the world we live in, through a very surreal lens on a very different future with a complex lead at its heart.

“Trust the fuckhead.”

Review: Twilight the Graphic Novel Volume II by Stephenie Meyer & Young Kim

Having uncovered the dark secret of her enigmatic classmate, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan embraces her feelings for him, trusting Edward to keep her safe despite the risks. When a rival clan of vampires makes its way into Forks, though, the danger to Bella has never been more real. Will she make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people dearest to her?
The second volume of Twilight: The Graphic Novel completes the visual adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's worldwide bestselling debut novel and is a must-have for any collector's library.

I really loved the Twilight books when they first came out – this was back before they got big. They were a beautiful form of escapism whilst my Grandmother was dying, and so they’ve always stayed on my shelf as a chicken soup when I’m feeling pants.

Then the films came out and I lost interest, I really dislike the films – pretty much everything about them, although I will admit that they do seem to get better slightly the further into the series we get. Anyway, the films kind of ruined the series for me. But then the graphic novel came along, and I was tempted to leave it and not bother, but then I saw a couple of examples of the artwork and I was hooked. I mean Young Kim’s drawings are stunning.

With the book split into two, there was a long wait for this volume to come out, but now here it is (finally) and the second half of the book has finally been taken into Young Kim’s talented hands.

The reason I love these books so much is partly because the artwork is so incredibly beautiful, but also because she hasn’t been influenced by the film franchise at all. Gone are Pattinson and Stewart’s wooden portrayals – instead we have Bella and Edward exactly as I imagined them. The detail is incredible, the drawings stunning, and it brought the story to life again for me. I was faced once again with all the things I loved about the series originally without the films dragging it down.

The graphic novel stays very true to the original book, so little things that are forgotten in the films are brought back in and is so good to see the complete story here.

Whether you are a fan of the books or the films or both, or maybe if you’re not really a fan of the series at all, I still recommend trying the graphic novels. The artwork brings the story to life, the writing is stripped right down to the basics, and it’s a beautiful format to explore the story in.

Books I'm Squeeing About in October

Firstly, apologies over how late this post is. September has been completely crazy, complete with commuting, cats, jobs, lack of sleep, and being ill.
So there have been less books read than I’d hoped, but some really good ones thrown in there. But onto October, where we try to save as much money as possible in preparation for Christmas, but still get some awesome books in the process…

1^st October – Angel Fire by L. A. Weatherly

This is the thrilling second chapter in the electrifying "Angel Trilogy". Angels will never be seen in the same way again. Gorgeous, charismatic Alex has the courage and skill of a trained Angel Killer. Unique, dazzling Willow has the beauty and power that comes with being half-angel. As the power of the malevolent Church of Angels grows, now it's up to Alex and Willow to train a new team of Angel Killers. Willow soon finds her half-angel identity met with hostility by some of the other AKs, while privately, she must wrestle with the knowledge that her father, Raziel, is a depraved, evil angel. However, while life in the AK training camp is tough, at least Alex and Willow are together. But when Alex discovers that the death of his brother and fellow Angel-Killer, Jake, was linked to a secret CIA mission to defeat the angels, he is forced to leave the camp to complete his brother's work... without Willow. Alex promised Willow he would never leave her, but with the fate of the human race at stake, destiny has ruled that Alex and Willow must be parted once more…

I found the first book in this trilogy ‘Angel’ by accident this time last year. It was gripping, brilliant, and completely absorbing. And I couldn’t believe I had to wait a whole year to find out what happens next…
So finally it’s arrived, and I get to do the happy dance as soon as it drops through my letterbox!

11^th October – Twilight The Graphic Novel Volume II

Having uncovered the dark secret of her enigmatic classmate, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan embraces her feelings for him, trusting Edward to keep her safe despite the risks. When a rival clan of vampires makes its way into Forks, though, the danger to Bella has never been more real. Will she make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people dearest to her?

Ok, so I admit freely I love the Twilight books. Note that I say books, not films, which I really am not fussed on. However, the films kind of ruined my initial love of the books, and when I decided to give the graphic novel a shot, I re-discovered my initial love for the story.
The illustrations have no bearing on the film what so ever, and it took everything back to the original tale. I love everything about it, the illustrations, the pieces picked out, the entire re-telling. But since volume I only covered up until the meadow, I’ve been desperate to see the remainder of the story since, so finally, here it is!

13^th October – Snuff by Sir Terry Pratchett

According to the writer of the best-selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse. 
And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder. 
He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, and occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment. 
They say that in the end all sins are forgiven. 
But not quite all…

I’m in the middle of reading this book at the moment, and it’s absolutely brilliant. A new instalment in the Sam Vimes story line, and brilliantly funny as always, this has all the makings of a Pratchett classic.

18^th October – Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garci & Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?
For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.
Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

I haven’t yet read the second book in the series yet, but book one was brilliant. It took a while to get going but part of the slow build meant that with the build up done with, the next few books can really let go on the story and world that’s been built up.