Showing posts with label graphic novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label graphic novel. Show all posts

Review: Nemi Vol. 3 by Lise Myhre

Nemi Vol. 3 by Lisa Myhre

Nemi written and illustrated by Lise Myhre
Volume 3, Graphic Novel 
Genre: Humor
Year: 2009 (November 3, 2009)
Format: Hardcover, 144 pages
ISBN: 978-1845766153 (Titan Books)
My Copy: From the publisher

Nemi Montoya, the vegetarian, cynical/romantic, hilariously honest twenty-something goth, returns in this brand new collection from artist Lise Myhre!

In this hilarious and beautifully illustrated third volume, Nemi and her blue-haired best friend Cyan tackle the big questions in life: what’s it all for? How can one find love and contentment? Why are men all so useless? And, most crucially of all... what time does the bar close?

A superstar in her native Norway thanks to the immense success of Nemi — also reprinted in the 1.35 million-circulation UK Metro newspaper — you too can enter Lise Myhre’s witty, wonderful world!

My Ramblings:

I found reading Nemi a fun, laugh out loud experience. I liked goth girl Nemi Montoya’s dark humor and refusal to be a responsible grown up. And I enjoyed her cynical outlook on life and how she rationalized her misadventures to herself and everyone else. Her misadventures include botched job interviews, bar hopping, disastrous dates, well pretty much any ordinary activity gone wrong or right, if your looking at it from Nemi’s point of view. Nemi is also honest to a comical fault. I felt I had so much in common with Nemi from her fascination with Lord of the Rings, to buying clothes in all shades of black and her choices in music. She’s my inner me, at least like I’d want to be if I didn’t have to be a responsible adult.

Nemi is written and drawn by Lise Myhre. Nemi was originally written in Norwegian then translated to English. I love the illustrations, they are simple and gorgeous. Nemi is gorgeous.

Even though I found the majority of the Nemi comic strips hilarious there were a few that didn’t make much sense to me. I think this was because the humor was most likely lost in translation. But there weren’t many of these strips to be a problem for me. I plan on looking for more Nemi comics in the future and finding copies of the previous volumes.

There is a quote on the back of the book by Tori Amos that I think sums up Nemi perfectly:
“There is a little of Nemi in all of us – this I believe to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

Here are a few comic strips I have dug up to give any idea of the type of humor you’ll find reading about Nemi Montoya. But they are just the tip of the iceberg…

nemi-4

nemi3

My Rating: Really Liked it

Nemi:

  1. Nemi Volume 1
  2. Nemi Volume 2
  3. Nemi Volume 3

Other Ramblings:

Lenore : Noogies Color Edition by Roman Dirge Giveaway ~*~ This giveaway is now closed ~*~

~*~*~*~*~*~* This giveaway is now closed ~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lenore : Noogies Color Edition by Roman Dirge is a newly released graphic novel, which is a collection of the original Lenore comics in color for the first time.

Thanks to Titan Books, I have three copies of Lenore : Noogies Color Edition (Hardcover) to giveaway. 

Giveaway:

  1. Leave a comment about Lenore Comics or tell me what book you think would make a good comic.
  2. For an extra entry, spread the word about this giveaway: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. - leave a link in the comments.
  3. Leave your email with your comment if it is NOT part of your profile.
  4. This giveaway is open to the US and Canada only.
  5. Contest ends on Saturday, October 24th at Midnight CST.
  6. Lenore : Noogies will be mailed from Titan Books to the winners.

From the Titan Books:

Take a trip into the dark, surreal world of a little dead girl with a knack for (often) unintentional mayhem in this remastered, gothic classic, newly-coloured and presented in glorious hardcover!

Lenore might only be small, but her talent for mischief — and occasional wanton destruction — is anything but. Featuring stories about limbless cannibals, clock monsters, cursed vampire dolls, taxidermied friends, an obssesed would-be lover and more fuzzy animal mutilations than should be legal, never has the term ‘something for everyone’ seemed more sinister and bizarre.

A massive cult hit on both sides of the Atlantic, Lenore is one of the funniest, darkest, cutest, creepiest characters on the marketplace today.

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository US | The Book Depository UK

About the Author

Roman Dirge created Lenore in 1992 for the San Diego alternative magazine Xenophobe. In 1997 he launched the Lenore comic in the US, which quickly became a publishing phenomenon. Currently Roman is working on new Lenore adventures, as well as new character Samurai Sloth.

Roman Dirge on Twitter.

Wow! He has over 75 tattoos. (from Roman's bio on his web site: Spookyland)


Video: The Return of Mr. Gosh





Review: Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence

Front cover: Dan Dos Santos

Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence, Illustrated by Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo
Graphic Novel
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Year: 2009
Pages: 112

My Ramblings:
I need to say upfront that I'm not a comic book connoisseur, so this review is strictly based on my thoughts as a Mercy Thompson fan.

Mercy Thompson: Homecoming is a compilation of the four comic book issues that give you four short stories on the beginnings of Mercy Thompson's life in Tri-Cities, a prequel to the Mercy Thompson series in comic book form. If you have already read the Mercy Thompson series, than you're in for a treat because throughout the graphic novel you get to see how Mercy met many of main characters. I enjoyed these first meetings between the characters.

I really liked the artwork. I loved getting a visual to a lot of the characters in the Mercy Thompson series, and comparing them to what I thought they looked liked in my imagination. You'll get to see Mercy (of course!), Zee, Tad as a boy, Stephan, Adam and several other characters. For the most part, I feel the artists were able to capture the characters as I pictured them, and even added a little to the visuals I already had.

I think Francis Tsai made Mercy look a lot sexier in the comics than what I was picturing, he was the illustrator for the first two comic books and all of the comic book covers. Amelia Woo illustrated the last two comic books, I prefer her rendition of Mercy much better. But I liked Tsai's portrayal of Adam better than Amelia's.

There is a bit a nudity in this, that I thought was done tastefully. It's in the scenes where the Mercy and the werewolves are shifting their forms. Since shapeshifting is a big part of who the characters are, the comics would've been remiss without them.

The dialogue is snappy and witty. I think it fell in line with characters as they are portrayed in the books in concise form, and had held the spirit of the books.

At the end of the graphic novel there is a short interview with Patricia Briggs by David Lawrence, that is very insightful on how they collaborated together and with other team members to pull together the comics for Homecoming. Patricia Briggs also plans on adapting the other books in the Mercy Thompson series to comics in the future.

I think this graphic novel is added plus to any Mercy Thompson collection and fans of Mercy Thompson will get a lot of enjoyment out of this graphic novel, especially those who are a fan of the graphic arts. It's money well spent!

Comic book covers by Francis Tsai


Comic Issue #1Comic Issue #2Comic Issue #3Comic Issue #4

Book Blurb from Amazon.com
Mercy Thompson is a walker, a magical being with the power to transform into a coyote. She lives on the fine line dividing the everyday world from a darker dimension, observing the supernatural community while standing apart.

When Mercy travels to the Tri-Cities of Washington for a job interview, she quickly finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a gang war between rival packs of werewolves. And as if fangs and fur weren’t bad enough, Mercy must deal with the scariest creature of all: her mother, who is convinced that Mercy is making a mess of her life and determined to set her daughter on the right course

Patricia Briggs's Web site | Francis Tsai's Web site | Information on Amelia Woo


Mercy Thompson Series - Reading Order:
  1. Moon Called - My Review
  2. Blood Bound - My Review
  3. Iron Kissed - My Review
  4. Bone Crossed - My Review
  5. Silver Borne - Feb. 2010

Other Reviews:


Free counters!
Flag Counter added on October 8, 2010