Just rip out my heart already, Aaron. This was great.
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We are all hoping for a bit of redemption and I think some of the characters manage to finJust rip out my heart already, Aaron. This was great.
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We are all hoping for a bit of redemption and I think some of the characters manage to find it, or a version of it, at any rate. You know going in that there aren't going to be any happy ever afters, and I was kind of surprised that there were actually a few people left standing. On shaky legs, but standing. The feeling that life will go on, that these characters are still making new stories in this world after we close the book, is one of the signs that I just read something amazing.
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No spoilers - just read it. Highly recommended....more
There's actually a story in here with a happy ending! Stop getting my hopes up, Aaron.
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But that one story about the old couple who live all aloneThere's actually a story in here with a happy ending! Stop getting my hopes up, Aaron.
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But that one story about the old couple who live all alone out in the middle of nowhere and it looks like so dire for these two? That's my favorite story in this whole entire Scalped run. But you know me, I love a little something sweet from time to time.
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There are several stories in the beginning of this that go off on their own and look at characters that may or may not be important later on. Shunka's big secret! <--did not see that one coming.
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Carol's pregnancy was the big story arc for me in this one. Will she be able to kick the habit? And even if she does, then what? It tackles really tough subject matter and talks about several abortions that characters had, mothers who wanted to abort but didn't, and how all of these decisions trickled down for good or for bad. There's no black-and-white answer to any of it, and I appreciate that Aaron didn't try to give one.
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Dash might be the main character, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Dino is the character that all of us are following. Watching him walk that razor's edge, hoping he doesn't fall, that's what draws our eyes to the page. It's such a subtle but incredibly powerful vein running through the entire storyline. This was one of my favorite books out of the whole bunch.
Dash and Carol reconnect. Awwww. But instead of helping Carol up from her downward spiral of random sex and drugs, she helps Dash learn how to use heroDash and Carol reconnect. Awwww. But instead of helping Carol up from her downward spiral of random sex and drugs, she helps Dash learn how to use heroin to numb the pain.
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You find out more about FBI agent Baylis and the reasons behind his need for revenge against Lincoln. And in a shocking turn of events, it doesn't make him any more lovable or relatable. Good to know some things never change.
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A con man hits the casino and some unforeseen craziness pulls Dash into a life-and-death situation. And on top of all of that, we find out who killed Dash's mom, Gina.
So much happens in this one (view spoiler)[Dash's mother gets scalped, Diesel kills the prostitute and theThings get really hairy. Pun intended.
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So much happens in this one (view spoiler)[Dash's mother gets scalped, Diesel kills the prostitute and then kills her young son, etc. (hide spoiler)] that becomes the catalyst setting off the dominos that eventually lead to so many characters' downfalls.
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We also get more background on what went wrong when Gina Bad Horse and Lincoln were young and idealistic. How did they go from friends to enemies? One of the things that drew me into this series was how complex and entangled the relationships were in this thing. Exceptionally well done for a crime noir.
This is a crime story set on a Native American reservation. So right off the bat, that's a bit different. I definitely think you should keep in mind thThis is a crime story set on a Native American reservation. So right off the bat, that's a bit different. I definitely think you should keep in mind that this is noir and it's automatically going to showcase the seedy underbelly of the setting, so I don't think anyone should look at this and think that this is what Native American culture is like.
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I didn't think I'd like this very much but I got sucked into the story fairly quickly, and by the end of the book, I found myself downloading the next one because I wanted to see what happened next. You've got a main character who is angry and flawed and rolls into town with a lot of issues that don't make sense until a spoiler is revealed. And then you get a load of side characters that are multi-dimensional enough to make the whole thing feel very real.
If you appreciate detective stories, I cannot recommend Ms. Tree enough.
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Some of you might be worried that I'm recommending some shitty comic wiIf you appreciate detective stories, I cannot recommend Ms. Tree enough.
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Some of you might be worried that I'm recommending some shitty comic with a soft-hearted woman trying to save her clients or a fem fatale who crusades for justice and sees the best in people. Not so much. She's a volatile dick who shoots first and asks questions as the blood congeals on the floor. This is the stuff that hardboiled noir dreams are made of. [image] Highly recommended....more
The plot was decent, but some of the dialogue almost seemed like it was written as a parody of Readable. If you're a fan of this genre, that is.
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The plot was decent, but some of the dialogue almost seemed like it was written as a parody of a hardboiled crime story. Surprising, because while this is the outline of Spillane's story, Max Allen Collins wrote the comic, and his Ms. Tree series is top-notch.
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The interior artwork kind of threw me, too. Everyone looks glossy and plastic - cheap. I can't explain it any better than that. Those covers are amazing, though.
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Ok, so without spoiling anything (though the end result was pretty easy to guess early on), Mike Hammer gets caught up in a sexy blonde and spends the rest of the book protecting her from the mob. But we all know he needs to dump her and hit it with his bad-ass secretary, Velda.
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Like I said, the actual plot isn't bad, but there are some pretty cheesy lines in this and that artwork is...woof. Eh. I've read worse....more
I didn't realize this was a Max Collins graphic novel about the mob. I saw Tom Hanks in the movie trailer and thought it was some depression-era story I didn't realize this was a Max Collins graphic novel about the mob. I saw Tom Hanks in the movie trailer and thought it was some depression-era story about a father and son's sappy road trip. To be fair, I see Tom Hanks and tune out, so I never really paid attention to what this was.
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Max Collins has the distinction of being the guy who wrote Jason Todd in his Batman run to be SO ANNOYING that fans voted to kill the young sidekick off. It is fair to say he does a much better job with these hardboiled crime stories.
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This was awesome. It's got elements of true crime written into a fictionalized story of a mob hitman, Michael O'Sullivan (think: John Wick), who sees himself as a s soldier. He's a true family man. He's as gentle and loving a father and husband on one hand as he is a stone-cold killer on the other.
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But when his young sons devise a plan to allow one of them to sneak into the backseat and ride along with their much-beloved father, the oldest son witnesses a mob hit that results in his whole world being tilted on its axis. The son and heir of the Looney crime family takes it upon himself to kill their enforcer's wife and (what he thinks is) the child who witnessed the hit.
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Mike Jr. and his father then embark on the Road to Perdition. <--a farm where his mother's sister and husband live, who have agreed to take the young boy in. The road is paved with revenge as Michael unleashes his wrath on the men who were complicit and still harbor the man who killed his family.
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The ending was a bit abrupt for me. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and thought it was a very full circle sort of thing, but I wish the last few pages had been extended out somewhat. Minor complaint! On the whole, this was AMAZING, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Or even anyone who loves a good graphic novel. This somehow manages to be violent and tender in the same breath and that's no easy feat.
It's the story of Batman's grandma and grandpa. Sam Bradly is an old man in a hospital room, presumably on his deathbed, who retells the part he playedIt's the story of Batman's grandma and grandpa. Sam Bradly is an old man in a hospital room, presumably on his deathbed, who retells the part he played in an ugly time in Gotham's history to the Dark Knight.
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Alright. So, there's some Batman(ish) stuff in here, but it's mostly just a hardboiled detective story. And I really liked it for that. "Slam" Bradley is an ex-cop who runs a detective agency in Gotham. One fine day, a fast-talking dame walks into his office and hires him to personally deliver a letter to Richard Wayne and his wife, Constance.
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Everything goes completely sideways as Sam discovers that he's been thrust into a kidnapping plot ala the Lindbergh's baby. It seems little Helena Wayne was snatched from her crib sometime earlier, and now he's the guy on the doorstep holding the ransom note. It's not a good look.
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As Slam unravels the mystery of the missing baby, he's also unraveling the seedy underbelly of police corruption and racism in Gotham. And here's where the story takes a lot of interesting twists and turns that go outside the usual Batman tale.
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The story itself was excellent. And because of that, I really wish it hadn't had to be connected to Batman in any way. The only part of this that didn't completely suck me in was Slam and Batman's interaction. There was honestly no point in Sam telling this tale to Bruce in a this is where you come from kind of way. It didn't have much to do with him or his mission, other than as a history lesson. But that's a mild complaint and it didn't affect my overall enjoyment.
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Apparently, Slam is a really obscure character from back in the day that King retconned. I had zero knowledge of this until I started reading some of my friends' reviews after I'd finished the comic. He's popped up now and again in different comics over the years but I didn't recognize him at all. Kinda neat. If you enjoy hardboiled detective comics, I think you'd dig this. Recommended....more
So we all have different people inside of us. Or different aspects of ourselves, I should say. I'm a friend, a daughter, a motheTrippy and dark.
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So we all have different people inside of us. Or different aspects of ourselves, I should say. I'm a friend, a daughter, a mother, a wife, a reader, and a kickass cook. And that's just the sides of myself that I'm willing to admit exist to random Goodreaders. But what about the sides of myself that even I don't know are there? And that's kinda what Brubaker and Philips explore here.
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You have a man, mostly content with his life, who heads out on a business trip. On the plane, he settles in to read a manuscript by one of his potential authors. Like he always does. All is normal until he realizes this author has written about a recurring dream he has been randomly having for his entire life.
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This unsettles him and sets in motion events that will shake him, and everything he knows about himself and the world around him, to the very core. How much of what happened to him is real and how much is imagined? And at the end of the day, does the answer to that question even affect his life much?
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I liked this a lot. Then again, I'm a huge Brubaker Philips fan, so your mileage may vary. Recommendedish....more
This might be the gold standard for hardboiled detective stories.
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I mean, Sam Spade. Everyone knows Sam Spade, right? I still prefer Nick and NoThis might be the gold standard for hardboiled detective stories.
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I mean, Sam Spade. Everyone knows Sam Spade, right? I still prefer Nick and Nora from The Thin Man, but as popular as those two are, I think Sam is probably considered the quintessential private dick.
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So, the gist is that hot shady chick comes slinking in one evening, begging Spade and his partner to help her locate her younger sister, who has taken up with a married man. LIES!
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You tell her, Spade...
Anyway. This lying client, originally known as Ruth Wonderly, who then claims to be someone else and eventually fesses up to being Brigid O'Shaughnessy, is incapable of telling the truth about anything. She's the worst. Just. the. worst. So of course, Sammy wants to bang her.
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Apparently, Sam is a ladies' man. I'm not sure how, though. He supposedly looks like Satan and treats all the women in his life like shit. <--maybe that was considered hot back in the day?
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At any rate, all the women are throwing themselves at him and all the men grudgingly respect him for his manly prowess. Spade is the total package. And he ain't playing the sap for no ditzy dame, gaddammit!
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Spade is a man with questions that need answers. Lots of questions. How hard is it to shake off a woman you're tired of sleeping with? Is it even wise to do that when you're under investigation for her husband's murder? How much do you owe a partner? Is your secretary really a good judge of character? What's that goofy looking kid doing spying on you? Who's the mousy guy waiting for you in your office with a deal? And finally, what's a Maltese Falcon, and who the hell is offing everyone in order to get to this weird bird?
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This was my 1st time reading Hammett's classic about Sam and his search for the Maltese Falcon, but I had already listened to Hollywood Theater of the Ear's theatrical production of the story. <--they do a fabulous job and I'd definitely suggest it for fans of the book. However, I'd also suggest that you read the book before listening to it. Because while it is an amazingly well-done adaptation, it is exactly that. An adaptation. The book is better. <--duh
Ok. Well, I thought I would like it a bit more, but maybe coming off of Hammett's The Thin Man & The Maltese Falcon wasn't the best thing to do. I preOk. Well, I thought I would like it a bit more, but maybe coming off of Hammett's The Thin Man & The Maltese Falcon wasn't the best thing to do. I prefer Hammett's writing. <--so far Because I'm guessing that these books get better? It just seems as though this plot was overly complex for no good reason because, in the end, the story really didn't go anywhere. Ane when it was over, I kind of went...what? that's it?
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Again, it's not so much that I think The Big Sleep is bad, as I think I just enjoy the other guy's dialogue better. It's snappier or something. Having said that, I'm not going to give up on Raymond Chandler. But I do think I'm going to take a break from hard-boiled detective stories for a while and then come back and visit Philip Marlowe at a later date.
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I had the audiobook with Elliott Gould as the narrator and he was fantastic, in case you were thinking of giving this one a listen....more
So far this is my least favorite of Hammett's books. <--and yet, it has a sequel? Hmmm. I can't say I'm crazy about this particular detective (the unnaSo far this is my least favorite of Hammett's books. <--and yet, it has a sequel? Hmmm. I can't say I'm crazy about this particular detective (the unnamed Continental Operative) but there was certainly a large cast of colorful characters.
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The gist is this guy from a detective agency gets hired by the man who runs the newspaper, but Mr. Newspaper gets killed before Mr. Detective can even see what he wants. However, Newpaper's dad (who runs the city), hires him to clean up the town and flush out the corruption. <--because he's afraid those guys are coming after him next.
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Mr. Detective takes his job seriously, so even when Newspaper's Dad tells him to back off, he keeps right on going. Inciting a war between the cops, bootleggers, and gangs in the area that damn near kills everyone.
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Like I said, it's not my favorite, but it's also not a bad book if you're looking for a classic hardboiled P.I. story....more
I had no idea this was a book until someone here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ mentioned it to me.
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Now, they mentioned it because they were giving an example of I had no idea this was a book until someone here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ mentioned it to me.
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Now, they mentioned it because they were giving an example of a book that had an annoying amount of sex. And I can now attest after reading this one that, yes, I also could have done without all the juicy scenes.
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Honestly, this story just didn't work for me. I thought it was far too long, the plot was really convoluted, the characters were kind of wooden, and the sex scenes were unnecessary. <--not being a prude, they just didn't add anything but length to an already dense book.
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The gist is that in the future you are re-sleeved into new bodies of varying quality when you die thanks to a disk thing implanted in your neck that downloads your consciousness. Or if you can't afford to be re-sleeved, you get shelved until...well, until. It's a cool concept and Morgan did a good job exploring the ins and outs of how something like that would work. There's a religious faction that's against resleeving, the new dilemma of death vs real death, and (of course) lots of ways to porn it up with cheap sleeves.
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The ideas are very interesting. But. This thing just dragged on and on and on with a resolution that was just so incredibly unsatisfying. There are a few more books in this series, but I don't really think this is my cuppa, so I'll more than likely stop here....more
I was kind of disappointed in the conclusion, but I couldn't pinpoint why until I talked to my kid about it. <--that was a weird moment in and of itseI was kind of disappointed in the conclusion, but I couldn't pinpoint why until I talked to my kid about it. <--that was a weird moment in and of itself. The day your child explains something about youtoyou - yikes! Anyway. He said I was upset with the conclusion because Crime/Mystery stories always explain things at the end. There's that big whodunnit? ta-da! at the last page. And Lovecraftian stuff is, by its nature, always vague and incomprehensible. The ending was never going to be completely explained in the same way a detective comic would be, and therein lies the reason I wasn't satisfied. BECAUSE OF THE FUCKING TENTACLE MONSTERS.
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However, I think now that I'm a bit more self-aware (thanks, kid!) of my reasons for feeling a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth when I closed the book, I'm less dissatisfied. Ish. Looking back, it does answer a lot of the questions that were swirling around in my head. Just maybe not completely and maybe not the way I wanted them answered.
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Ok. In this final showdown, Josie and Nick, along with a mysterious figure called The Librarian, head out to take on the Cthulhu cult and free Josephine from her curse. And ohmygod the shit this poor woman has been through. That thing with her son? You were reeeeeeeeally hoping that it wasn't what it was, but deep down you just knew. Ooof! Yeah, I would want to die, too.
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Anyway, spoilery stuff happened and the series is over. And I can honestly say I'm not sorry I read it. Your personal mileage may vary, but I think it's a solid series that only slips a teeny bit at the finish line.
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This won't be something that everyone likes, but I think most fans of the Brubaker/Phillips team will mostly enjoy this one....more
So, who is Josephine? More importantly, what the hell is Josephine?
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Josephine doesn't know the answer to that question, either. But in these issSo, who is Josephine? More importantly, what the hell is Josephine?
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Josephine doesn't know the answer to that question, either. But in these issues, you get a glimpse of her past life/lives and you kind of get a feel for a bit more of the scope of her story if nothing else.
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Wacky stuff happens. <--it's a wacky concept, so what do you expect? You do get some answers, but not really, because you get even more questions to go along with them.
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I'm just on the edge of my seat and ready to go wherever Brubaker and Philips are taking me. Recommended!...more
I only had the 1st issue of The Fade Out, but it was enough to really get me excited about reading the rest of this volume. Big Thank You!Mike for gifI only had the 1st issue of The Fade Out, but it was enough to really get me excited about reading the rest of this volume. Big Thank You!Mike for gifting me with this one!
So this takes place in the early days of Hollywood, and focuses on a guy who works for the movies studio as (I think?) a writer or something. At any rate, he's not a actor. He wakes up from a drunken blackout, only to find himself in the home of a starlet. And she's dead.
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Now, admittedly, this is basically the opening of almost every noir story out there. But somehow Brubaker still made it interesting. How?! How do you do that, Ed?!
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Good stuff! Give it a try, if you get the chance....more
Tentacle Monster Alert! [image] If I were going to start worshiping a demon, he'd have to be the sexy kind. Not some Also reviewed for .
Tentacle Monster Alert! [image] If I were going to start worshiping a demon, he'd have to be the sexy kind. Not some gruesome bastard with bad teeth, you know? Also, I'd want to get some decent perks out of it. Some sort of useful power would be nice, robes made out of that soft jersey cotton, and (most importantly) I'd like a nice insurance package. Maybe even toss in a 401k and some retirement benefits? I'm just throwing that out there for any of you who are considering joining a cult. Don't sell your soul to the first one that comes along. Negotiate for the best deal. What I wouldn't want, for example, is for the highlight of the whole thing to be my head turning into some kind of an octopus butt...complete with tentacles. Some of you probably think I'm too picky about which monsters I devote myself to, but I like to think of it as being selective with my time. Devil worship can take a huge chunk out of your day from what I've heard, and I've got a lot going on right now. That means, in all likelihood, I won't be joining a satanic sect anytime soon. Although, I'm seriously thinking about giving the PTA a shot, and I'm pretty sure some of those ladies sacrifice animals in their spare time...
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That being said, this was a pretty cool little graphic novel. I thought (because I didn't read the blurb) that this was going to be a straight-up crime noirish thing. I also thought it might be set near the ocean since the folks on the cover look like they are being caressed by a squid. Shockingly, I was wrong about that, as well. This story falls into the horror/noir/mystery/paranormal crime/graphic novel category. I think. [image] The plot goes a little something like this: There's a guy who meets an irresistible girl, who used to be his godfather's lover (there's a story there), but for now she's in a weird relationship with a crooked cop who love/hates her (which is another story), and the original guy wants to save her...sort of. Oh, yeah. And she's immortal or something. Plus, there's a group of Octopus-Demon worshipers who need to sacrifice Sexy Girl to their deity in order to get rewarded with the Power of a Thousand Architeuthis (that means squids, by the way).
The art isn't what I prefer to look at since it's all dark and pulpy, but it kind of grew on me by the end. I doubt this one is for everybody, but I enjoyed it....more
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