Lilah SturgesKirja-arvosteluja

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/doctor-who-a-fairytale-life-by-lilah-sturges-kel...

This is an enjoyable enough fantasy-world-actually-a-theme-park story, with the Doctor and Amy liberating the oppressed. The art by Kelly Yates is seriously below par though, with Amy much more freckled than the real Karen Gillan and the Doctor often looking like someone else entirely. This was early in the Eleventh Doctor era, so perhaps the lead characters’ images were not well communicated to the artist, but it’s a barrier to enjoyment. There are some nice covers by Bill Willingham though.½

The comic of the movie of the novel? Really?? This seems spectacularly pointless. Sure, do a comic of the original novel and unleash the visual imagination of Frank Herbert in a way that can't be captured by another medium. (And I believe there are some comics directly based on the novel.) But why try to capture the visual imagination of a film of a novel on the page? It seems pointless—and once you read it, you realize it is pointless. This vastly accelerated set of highlights with art that essentially copies film stills gives you little sense of the grandeur of either film or novel.

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/hugos-2023-best-graphic-story-or-comic/

This is quite nicely done, but lacks both the visual grandeur of the film and the narrative detail of the book (even though of course it has more narrative detail than the film, and more visual grandeur than the book).

I didn’t know there were any graphic novels based on The Magicians, until I found this one at a library sale. I liked reading it well enough, but there were some disappointments. It’s basically the first novel, just told from Alice’s point of view. Except- it doesn’t really give you any more information on Alice, her background, what she was thinking, any new tidbits to the story, nope. I did like that Quentin wasn’t the centerpiece, I find Alice much more relatable, but still. Visually, it was okay- not all the characters were as I had pictured them from the novel (especially Penny- his personality seemed right, his appearance not really)- but the scenes of the magic school, the place-between-worlds, the landscapes in Fillory, those were pretty close to how I had imagined. The ending felt a muddle. Huge chunks of the novel are left out entirely, or condensed down to just a few panels here- which makes sense, as it’s a much shorter page count- this didn’t bother me too much but I think if you haven’t read the original, you’ll be missing a lot of what’s going on and why things happen. Don’t get me wrong, there’s parts I liked. I especially liked more explanations of the original Chatwin, of the sister who hid the last button, of the novel series that led these kids to want to go to Fillory in the first place (wishing deeply all over again that it was a real set of books!) If anything, refreshing my memory by reading this graphic novel adaptation, made me want to read The Magicians series all over again, and maybe also Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell too, because that one has a similar vibe- albeit different timeframe and setting entirely.

This graphic novel is a trans girl fantasy. Our main character Ash has been struggling with their identity. Their mother is gone, but she was a writer who made up a magical world. One day Ash ends up in this magical world with their friends and the secret of this world is that only girls are allowed. So, Ash feels elated that this secret area chose them, and that their feelings of being a girl are reflected and approved. This world is part Watership Down, part Neverland. Just when one thinks that Ash and their friends are going to solve the problems in this world, turns out that the problems are boys and Ash realizes that maybe it wasn’t the world telling her she’s a girl. In order for this world, invented by her mother to be saved she’s going to have to find her true self and her true power and get her and her friends safely home. This book is a bit of a slow read, but in the end it is worth it. It was an enjoyable adventure especially for those who already enjoy fantasy with anthropomorphic characters. However, there’s something deeper and darker in here. This land invented by her mother is all about fear. Fear is what gives it power. But her mother’s greatest fear was a man. That is never addressed, and I wish it was. The end of the book makes it seem like there will be further adventures and if there are I will check into them because while this was a slow read, it was a good one.

1368

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Fantástica aventura!

Summer 2018, Comics & Prose:

Given I read both versions of this story last night, back-to-back, within an hour, I'm going to rate them together and double up their reviews. I stopped reading the Banished of Muirwood when it became clear you really did need to read the prequel first, and so I was about two chapters into the first book of this series when I stopped.

The comics version of this prequel involves far less novel terminology (used in the trilogy before this whole sequel trilogy collections), but it has far more art. Such as that it forsakes naming things the way we're used to them being (such as the creature being a Fear Liath, but never narrated or called one on the comic page) and yet it, also, made a better use of art in emotional moments (such as Maia giving up her life).

The prose part had so many more sweeping descriptions that did more justice to the surroundings -- the bones of the abbey where the ocean, the cavern in completion. The prose part was, thought, also, lacking a number of the conversations that took place in the comics and the entire lead-in section wtih Maia's father, the city scene with the boy, etc, are all missing entirely from the prose.

The trade I have to rank the same as Trade #1. I was so disinterested in this crossover all together, that the further i pushed myself, dragging feet through it, it almost felt the worst it got. Things that made it livable:


1. Blue

2. The Page Sister's

3. The Literary Tropes

4. The culmination of the Little Girl gag

Eh. I pooped out on this about 2/3 of the way through but still finished it. A bit angsty and rather long, but I do like Bigby and Snow.
I don’t really love the unhinged lady baddie motif, though. With a diabolical male handler, using her as a weapon.
Blah.

After being so disappointed in how the main series ended, this spin-off was a pleasant surprise. Just a creepy murder mystery being solved by the Big Bad Wolf. No big deal.
Bouncing back in time to pre-requited Snow and Bigby reminded me of how much I liked the original series when I started it. I’m on board for more Bigby-centric tales.

Still good, but my least favorite so far. I don't like Jack much, so I haven't been reading the spin-off series. That created some information holes in this one. I'll be glad to get back to just reading about the Fables.

3.5 stars-I really liked it overall, but one of the stories was incredibly disturbing. It's sort of something I wish I could unsee.
But, I liked the rest of the stories and the main plot line a lot, so I'll check out the next one.

I’ve been looking forward to this adaptation since I first heard about the project and it didn’t disappoint.

The script does an excellent job of condensing the complexities of the movie while keeping the narrative flowing (the addition of a couple of nods to the original book that weren’t in the movie is a nice touch.)

The art work captures the look and feel of the movie’s aesthetic well and the character likenesses are all in model. The action is also well staged and paced.

It’s difficult to translate the majesty of this movie onto the printed page and the colorist understandably follows a similar pallet in setting the scenes. Unfortunately at times the color is applied too heavily and almost obscures some of the action, it’s especially noticeable on one double page spread illustrating one of the movie’s most iconic moments.

Overall this is one of the better comics adaptations and is a worthwhile companion to the movie.

Fantasy v reality

Good story. All bout identity and finding one’s true self. And the strength & bimetallic of true friendship. One for MS libraries.

First off, I'm entirely the wrong person to review this. So basically, discard everything I'm about to say. I've never read the books. I loved loved loved that TV show. And that's so backwards for me. It's literally the only time i can think of that I've liked a screen version more than a paper version.

If you fall into that category (I can't imagine there are many of us) this might not be the right choice for you.

The characters that carry over into this story are the versions from the books, not the show. Dean Fogg will be a jarring change if you are used to the television version.

The story on the whole was actually pretty good. There were a couple twists that felt very magicians-ish. And enough that I'd like to know where it goes. As long as I can get it from the library.

And there's a piece of the graphic novel I'm having a hard time putting to words. It was both interesting and bothersome. I'm still rolling it around in my head a bit, so first off and foremost, I apologize if anything I say is offensive. Like I said, I'm still rolling this around in my head a bit, and my own thoughts have not solidified yet.

It's the inclusion in the story. I'm to a point in my life and especially in my consumption of fiction that the lack of inclusion/diversity stands out to me and diminishes my enjoyment of the experience.
It's who I am, it's where I live, it's what I read, it's what I love.

But......
This story felt like it was checking off boxes rather than feeling natural.
Case in point. The trans character frequently reminds us that they are trans. Even wears a t-shirt announcing they are trans. And there was this one panel that bothered me. I stopped cold on it and it took a bit for me to figure out why it bugged me. It's all of the characters walking down a hallway. I didn't notice it at first, but the male characters were drawn with a very specific leg position, and the females with a distinctly different leg position. The trans character was drawn with the male leg position. Why did that bug me so much? I don't know. Should it have? I don't know? I'd be curious to know if other people noticed and what you all think.

There was something we watched recently, I cant' remember what it was now. Recent in pandemic times might be the past month of the past 3 years anyway... Where there was a trans character that was never identified as trans in the show. It wasn't hidden, it wasn't a secret. It just wasn't called out every 10 minutes. We weren't reminded every 10 minutes lest we forget. And it wasn't literally written on a t-shirt.

That's harsh. Am i being too harsh? I think i'd rather have fumbled inclusion than no inclusion. Right? I honestly don't know. Still mulling it over.

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/3bVde-xVgB0

Enjoy!

Wasn't too happy with the ending to this series. Thought the second to last issue was a better ending. Also thought this comic dragged on way to long. And the horror rather went away, turned to fantasy, then some metaphysical stuff. Should have stuck with horror. I like fantasy and metafictional stuff, but with comics it can get overdone and usually in the same ways.

However, they did tie up the ending with all the characters you cared about at least and told you what happens with each of them. I liked the Sandman tie in with stuff like Goldie, Cain, and Abel. Even some of the new characters were somewhat interesting. I just felt they needed more background story to them because I felt we only got Fig’s story.

I just wish this series could have been better. Cause the series was good and then it got off track I think. Giving this trade and the series a four star rating. I had good story telling elements and some of the artwork was good too. Plus the covers keep the horror theme going even if the comic got off that genre and into something else.

Overall, this volume was one of the weaker ones and a little confusing to me. I could be the fact it took me a while to read since the last volume. The story is 3 stars, but I liked some of the artwork and the Halloween story was fun, so it gets a 4 star review.

And here I was thinking Fables was over for me.

I've read the whole series and all the spin-offs, so seeing this comic based off the video game after reading 150, I was a little thrown off. Wasn't Fables over? I was happy it was over too. However, I really liked this game. I thought it had a great story and they added interesting characters that aen't in the comic books.

Reading this book is similar to playing the game, but it's like if the writers played the game. Since the game is set up were you mostly control the story, it's easy to make different outcomes. The writers of this book also added backstories and events to the characters that aren't in the video game. For instance, this goes all into the Salem Witch Trials which was never mentioned in the game and only briefly talked about in the original comics.

I'm excited to read the next volume because it has my favorite character from the game, and maybe my favorite Fables villain, Bloody Mary. Waiting to see how they play with her character.

Only thing I didn't like about this is the art kept changing. I know it was made as a web-comic with three chapters for one issues type of thing. It's a little confusing, but it works out well. Some of the art I don't like, but nice to see some familiar Fables artist too.