Sunday, November 30, 2014

The Sunday Post Meme (8)









Hey everybody! I am participating in a book meme called the Sunday Post which is being hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer! The goal of this meme is to share news you have on various books and things you've read or received and also talk about what is coming up for your blog!  Book hauls can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books and you can share these finds with other book bloggers!
















 
 
Well, that’s the Sunday News for today and I will have more news for the various books I’ve read in the near future!
 
 
 
Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2014

Saturday, November 29, 2014

[BOOK REVIEW] Garfield Will Eat for Food by Jim Davis







Title:  Garfield Will Eat for Food

Author:  Jim Davis

Genre:  Humor / Animals / Relationships 

Year Published:  2009

Year Read: 11/29/2014

Series:  Garfield #48

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Mischievous Behavior)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads




Introduction:

Now, I have been reading many “Garfield” comics lately (and why not, I am a huge fan of the lovable yet rude and sarcastic orange fur ball after all) and so far, I have been enjoying every one of those comics!  So, I finally just recently read “Garfield Will Eat for Food,” which is the forty-eighth volume of the “Garfield” comics and man, Jim Davis just continues to deliver even more witty humor than ever before!

What is this story about?

Basically, this volume still details the adventures of Garfield, Odie and Jon as we still see Garfield making snarky remarks about Jon and Odie’s odd behaviors.  But as an added bonus, this volume also details Jon’s futile efforts in trying to find a date when he finally lands one with an unsuspecting woman!

What I loved about this story:

Jim Davis’ writing: As usual, Jim Davis’ writing is the pure perfection of this comic book series as Garfield continues to be just as witty and sarcastic in his remarks towards Jon and Odie’s bizarre mannerisms as he had in his previous comics!  I loved the fact that we continue to see Garfield making witty observations on his weird life as it is amusing and hilarious to look at!  But, what I really loved about this volume was the fact that Jim Davis focused most of the volume on Jon trying to find the right girl for him and it was interesting seeing how Jon keeps on being put down by various women throughout this volume as I did felt a bit sorry for Jon not being able to find a girlfriend who can handle his weird habits.  I also enjoyed Liz the veterinarian’s appearance in this volume as she turns things around for Garfield, Jon and Odie, when she meets Jon and it was great seeing that Liz was one of the few women who can handle Jon’s weird personality and I loved seeing that chemistry between Jon and Liz.

Jim Davis’ artwork:  As usual, Jim Davis’ artwork is hilarious and creative to look at and Garfield continues to be a truly unique and iconic character in newspaper comics due to his appearance.  I always loved how Garfield is always drawn as a fat orange cat as it makes him look so unique and I always loved the scenes where he is either sleeping, jumping around or running across the pages as it is hilarious watching him perform all of those activities despite how lazy he can get.




 Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Garfield Will Eat for Food” is a fantastic collection of some of Garfield’s best adventures and anyone who is a huge fan of Jim Davis’ “Garfield” comics should definitely pick this volume up!



[BOOK REVIEW] Fatale: Death Chases Me Volume 1 by Ed Brubaker






Title:  Fatale:  Death Chases Me Volume 1



Author:  Ed Brubaker



Artist:  Sean Phillips




Genre:  Suspense / Horror / Noir / Crime / Supernatural



Year Published:  2012



Year Read: 11/23/2014



Series:  Fatale #1



Publisher: Image Comics



Source:  Library



Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language and Gory Violence)




Introduction:

Now, I will admit that I have not read much of Ed Brubaker’s works, other than one of his stories from his brief “X-Men” run, “Divided We Stand” which I kind of liked.  So when I found out that Ed Brubaker had produced some well-acclaimed independent works, I just had to check them out!  So, I guess you could say that the first comic book of Ed Brubaker’s independent works I had checked out was none other than “Fatale: Death Chases Me Book One” and man, was I blown away by this volume!

What is this story about?

The story starts off with a young man named Nicolas Lash going to the funeral of Dominic H. Raines and it was there that he meets up with a mysterious beautiful woman named Josephine who also happened to know Dominic Raines.  Later on, Nicolas decides to explore Dominic’s old house and he finds an unpublished manuscript that detailed Dominic’s life back in the 1950s.  It was then that Nicolas discovers that Dominic was harboring a dark secret back then that involved Josephine and a corrupted cop named Walter Booker and Josephine seemed to be connected to the tragic events of Dominic’s past life.

Who is this mysterious Josephine woman and what kind of secrets is she keeping from the men who are mesmerized by her great beauty?

What I loved about this story:

Ed Brubaker’s writing: Now even though I had read plenty of comic books that were either horror or noir themed, I had never read a comic book that managed to combine both noir and supernatural horror into one story before and I enjoyed it immensely! Ed Brubaker had done a brilliant job at making this story both horrifying and exciting at the same time and I loved the way that the story first started off as a mystery noir as we are trying to figure out what was going on between Dominic Raines and Josephine to supernatural horror as demons suddenly start popping up midway through the story, when Josephine’s mysterious nature starts overtaking the story.  I was really into the mystery element of this story as I was trying to figure out throughout the entire story about what Josephine’s true motives are and why do men suddenly fall in love with her as I was wondering to myself about whether or not Josephine is even human or a demon in some way.

Sean Phillips’ artwork:  Sean Phillips’ artwork is just amazing in this volume as the characters are drawn in a truly realistic way and I really loved the scenes where the characters are in dark places at night and you can see the shadowing around the characters’ bodies.  I also loved the way that Sean Phillips gives the artwork a creepy atmosphere with the majority of the stories taking place during the night as it really provides a scary mood to this story.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

For anyone who does not like strong language and gory violence in a comic book, this volume does contain some strong violence, which includes characters getting cut in half and blood spraying everywhere.  Also, there is some strong language including several instances of the “f” and “s” words being dropped throughout the volume.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Fatale: Death Chases Me Book One” is definitely one volume that fans of both crime noir and horror should check out immediately and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of this series!