Bite Sized Reviews: Emily and the Strangers #1

Expected Publication: May 27th, 2014
Emily and the Strangers #1
By: Mariah Huehner, Rob Reger, & Emily Ivie
Dark Horse Comics

In order to win a legendary haunted guitar, Emily is determined to create the most rockin' song the world has ever known!

But can she do it solo?

Emily isn't known well for playing with others, but she's going have to rely on the help of some strangers if she's going to succeed on her musical journey to the true heart of rock 'n' roll!

Review

     I hadn't read an Emily the Strange comic in years, since The Lost Days circa 2009, to be precise about it.  I think what used to appeal to me the most about Emily and her world were two things: she was an outsider like me, and man was that chick mired in Gothic stuff!  I absolutely loved her cats, her laboratory, all the crazy inventions and the sense of a mystery solved at the end of that particular story.  I guess I outgrew this particular character, which makes me sort of sad.  But there were some things I just couldn't deal with in this particular story.

     Since when was being an outcast synonymous with being a complete jerk to everyone else?  Also, the way the story played out with the haunted guitar was extremely trite.  If you're going to make Emily a unique character who "doesn't play well with others," don't entirely bomb that premise by inserting some lame, after-school-special lesson about the value of working with others.  Her working with the other kids to form a band just didn't ring true to her character as portrayed thus far.  And the slang and made-up words got on my nerves after awhile too.  I would recommend this to my teenage self, but my adult self says no dice.  It was cute, a decently drawn comic, but definitely not my thing anymore.

VERDICT:  2/5  Stars

*I received this book from Dark Horse Comics, on NetGalley.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication is May 27th, 2014.*

Bite Sized Review: Alice In Tumblr-Land

Published:  November 5th, 2013

Alice In Tumblr-Land

By: Tim Manley

Penguin Books

ISBN-13:  9780143124795

Disney meets Lena Dunham in this illustrated humor book featuring your favorite fairy tale characters dating and finding their way in the 21st century.

The Ugly Duckling still feels gross compared to everyone else, but now she's got Instagram, and there's this one filter that makes her look awesome.  Cinderella swaps her glass slippers for Crocs.  The Tortoise and the Hare Facebook stalk each other.  Goldilocks goes gluten free.  And Peter Pan finally has to grow up and get a job, or at least start paying rent.

Here are more than one hundred fairy tales, illustrated and re-imagined for today.  Instead of fairy godmothers, there's Siri.  And rather than big bad wolves, there are creepy dudes on OkCupid.  In our brave new world of social networking, YouTube, and texting, fairy tales can once again lead us to "happily ever after" - and have us laughing all the way.

Review

     This review is just going to be a quickie, because this book is mainly just drawings from the author's website.  I love anything to do with fairy tales, and I am always saying this - plus, it was a cool concept.  What would fairy tale characters be like if they had to live in a modern world, with all its conveniences?  But they also would have to deal with the pitfalls of a technology saturated world.  This was supposed to be a book of humorous (and I assume), somewhat fanciful drawings of fairy tale characters.  I honestly looked through it and smiled a few times, but for the most part I didn't really find its sense of humor all that amusing.  If anything, this book was pretty depressing.  I associate fairy tales (and their reimaginings) with magic and the high likelihood of love, or at the least a somewhat happy ending.  It wasn't very fun to see beloved characters as mostly miserable, average people.  Overall, this was a disappointment and I wouldn't recommend it unless you have an angsty, worry filled personality.  Or, if you want to look at the pictures.  Those were kind of fun, if you go in with low expectations.  Any sort of credit this gets from me is based on the quality of the drawings, and that's it.

VERDICT:  1/5 Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, Penguin, , via NetGalley.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published November 5th, 2013.*