Looking For a Good Book

I requested, received, and read a handful of graphic novels recently, and while I will be giving five stars to another one (I don’t want to go into the lengthy explanation as to how my reviews are scheduled to be published), Geiger, by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson is my favorite of the bunch.

Years after a nuclear war turned the planet into a hellish wasteland, only one man is able to live outside without wearing a protective suit against the radiation. He is a legend … or maybe only a myth. He is referred to as Joe Glow or The Meltdown Man. But he’s not a myth.  He is real and his name is Geiger.

Geiger, who was an average human before the radiation rained down, has spent his life since the devastation waiting outside the bunker where his wife and children took refuge when he was caught by the blast. He is waiting for the time when they can come out of the bunker.

Because Geiger can survive outside and he’ll vigorously defend the area surrounding his bunker, this has led to some anxious rivalry.  In Las Vegas, a self-proclaimed King is trying to expand his realm and he needs Geiger out of the way.

The King has a map, leading to a safe haven, but he can’t get past Geiger. That map is stolen by one of the King’s workers.  She is planning to take her children and escape the clutches of the King as his kingdom. She is killed in the escape attempt, but her children manage to get away where they run in to Geiger – the terrifying legend. The children, who remind him of his own children trapped in the bunker, need Geiger’s help to survive in the post-apocalyptic world.

The artwork here is really top-notch. Gary Frank (with Brad Anderson colors) gives us just the right touch of realism with a sense of foreboding surrounding Geiger, and angst and claustrophobia when we’re in the King’s world. The artwork does precisely what it should – it complements the story. …and this story is powerful.

We’re dealing with a post-apocalyptic world and this theme is pretty rampant in today’s market, but author Geoff Johns rises above the abundance of post-apocalyptic stories by using this setting to provide a tone and establish location and time and making this a story about people.

There are a couple of different storylines running through here (Geiger’s, the King’s, the children’s) and I found myself constantly wanting to stay abreast of all the different characters and what was happening. Johns navigates this quiet well, bringing the various stories together with appropriate timing.

This is a graphic novel put together from an on-going comic book series so the ending of this graphic novel is a bit open-ended. That said, however, we don’t feel cheated. There is a story with definable actions and storyline(s) here and the break in this book seems quite natural.

Looking for a good book?  Geiger, Volume One is a graphic novel by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, and Brad Anderson and is an exciting, post-apocalyptic story about people and runs the gamut of human emotions.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Geiger, Volume One

author: Geoff Johns

artist: Gary Frank (and Brad Anderson, colors)

publisher: Image Comics

ISBN: 1534320024

paperback, 144 pages

Maybe, if I start checking reviews on Goodreads before requesting a book, I might have saved myself a little time by NOT reading this graphic novel.

It’s been over a century since the fall of civilization as we currently know it and now different gang factions inhabit the great metropolises. Giala and her tribe live in the ruins of the metropolis when they are attacked by a group of slave traders. The men in Gaia’s tribe are killed, the women taken captive, and the children quickly hidden in dangerous, abandoned buildings. Giala manages to escape. While dealing with grief at the loss of friends, she also plots to help those who were taken and may still be alive.

There’s a bunch of fighting.

One of the many sad aspects to this books is that there is absolutely nothing new here.  Every pastiche you’ve read before about a post-apocalyptic future with men turned barbarian.   It’s Mad Max in Manhattan and it’s a mess. While we start out with some intriguing possibilities (despite rather hackneyed characters) the story doesn’t go anywhere.

The art looks like computer game animation from about five years ago.  It’s slick and colorful but it’s also quite stiff. There was no sense of motion or action. You can draw people jumping or punching or kicking all you want, but no one here looks like they’ve been captured in the middle of a jump or punch or kick.  Instead they look like they’re posing for a drawing.

And of course there’s the needed anatomy lesson….  Like a teen-boy fantasy, the women wear strips of clothing (sometimes) and are all Barbie doll shaped with the form-fitting strips of cloth moving as if it were nothing more than paint.  The men are all bulky with muscles.

I don’t feel like the art fits the modern day graphic novel reader (unless you’re a 13 year old boy) and the story barely engages the reader.

Looking for a good book? Pass on the graphic novel After the Fall.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

After the Fall

author: Laurent Queyssi

artist: Juzhen

ISBN: 9781951719203

paperback, 96 pages

Friday Fitzhugh is a young adult detective. She spent most of her free time with her best friend, Lancelot Jones – the smartest boy in the whole world – solving crimes and exploring the occult.  That is … until she went off to college. But now Friday is back in town for the holiday and she immediately connects with Lancelot as something eerie is going on in their town.

I’m really not sure what to make of this book.

It took me awhile to appreciate the art.  It is highly stylized and it’s not a style that I generally enjoy. Friday looks more like Edna Mode from The Incredibles movie than she looks like a teen girl. The art wore on my, though, and the further I got into the book, the less it bothered me.

The story … well, there really is no story.  Not yet.  This volume, which is a compilation of comic issues, is still all set-up. It’s the introduction of the characters and the setting and how they all work together. But as far as actually doing anything or getting anywhere in the story …?  Not so much.

Because there’s nothing here the reader discovers that they have read 120 pages only to find that the story is just hinted at as they finish. This was quite frustrating. Perhaps if I was so completely enthralled with these characters that I couldn’t wait for the next installment, this would be fine. But I was not.

This begs the question – why not wait until there was some story before putting together a graphic novel of the comic issues? 120 pages is relatively short for a graphic novel, so waiting for another one or two issues would not seem out of line. However, I am not a publisher or a graphic novel creator, so perhaps there are other factors involved. I am, though, a reader and I know what doesn’t work well for me.

Looking for a good book? Friday, Volume 1 is a graphic novel that hints at some interesting things ahead, but fails to deliver anything other than an introduction.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Friday, Volume 1

author: Ed Brubaker

artist: Marcos Martín

publisher: Image Comics

ISBN: 153432058X

paperback, 120 pages