billyjepma's reviews
624 reviews

As a lover of the movie adaptation and Miyazaki's storytelling, I've been excited and daunted to dive into the original manga for Nausicaä. I tore through the first few chapters, which cover the events from the film, and then deliberately took my time with the latter ones so I could fully absorb the dense, always-growing world-building and characterizations. It can be overwhelming, admittedly, and I can't help but feel that Miyazaki might've benefited from scaling the cast down ever so slightly since the number of characters is hard to keep track of. However, the sheer creativity and lush, decadent imagination on display in every panel and page is just dizzying—a true feat of narrative and artwork that I got thoroughly lost in.

The story is so big, so mythic, and deals with lofty topics around religion, war, environmentalism, fanaticism, and many more. As dizzying as it can feel, Miyazaki's integration of theme into the story feels wholly organic. You can see his vision pulsing as he gets further into the saga he's telling, and the orchestrated chaos he wields in the enormous war sequences is second to none. I love how his artwork is so fluid, too, constantly evolving to match the scale of the scene he's drawing. His action is fast, frantic, and shocking in its bloodshed—seriously, the violence is brutal in ways I was not expecting—but he balances it out with meditative moments of reflection that allow his characters to wrestle with their role(s) in the world around them. Some of the busier panels are hard to decipher, yet even those seem intentional in how they blur the line between the figures on the page and the ensuing effects of their violence—smoke, blood, and bodies pressed so close together you can't tell where one starts and the other ends.

And, of course, there are gorgeous images aplenty, especially with all the aerial combat and flight that Miyazaki is so fond of. I lost track of how often I called my spouse over to show her a panel of an airship disappearing into the cloud or the wind effects flying off of Nausicaä's glider as she whirls through the open air. This is my first real experience with manga, which seems like the equivalent of having Lawrence of Arabia be the first movie you ever watch. It is a true stunner that I feel very lucky to have another 500+ pages to look forward to.

I’m really enjoying this soft relaunch. It’s got a ton of superhero derring-do, it focuses on cool characters I’m only casually familiar with (seeing Cyclops kick ass rules so hard; I finally get why everyone loves the guy), and the story is told in a smartly serialized format that lets the team go in one-and-done missions while still fleshing out the world and bigger story around them. It’s nothing groundbreaking or iterative as Hickman’s run was, but it uses everything he did as a killer springboard. 

The art from Larraz is the not-so-secret star, too. His style lends itself perfectly to the classic superheroism Duggan’s scripts are enjoying. When Larraz does take a break from the art, Garcia’s colors make for an easy transition by ensuring the book maintains its visual identity. Really great, really enjoyable stuff! 

The continued emphasis on ensemble casts, specifically with characters I have little to no history with, is still hampering my general investment in this odyssey. But I also think that’s what makes it feel so fresh and exciting. It’s not often I find myself waist-deep in a series where it genuinely feels like anything can happen, and the density of the worldbuilding only reinforces how epic the scope of the whole thing is. I might not be resonating with the character-to-character dynamics the way I’d usually look for, but I am resonating with the grandiosity at play. Duggan takes the reins from Hickman without missing a beat, either. This “main” series gets off to a great start, keeps things exciting, establishes the status quo for this new team of heroes, and starts planting the seeds for what I assume will be the narrative undercurrent moving forward. It’s good stuff, and I’m eager to keep going, maybe more so than I was with Hickman’s stuff, which, as excellent as it is, could be difficult to parse through at times. 

Larraz’s artwork is perfect for the book, as well, capturing all the iconography and striking gravitas I want from my larger-than-life heroes. The stupendous coloring and inks elevate it further and give the pages a heft and vibrancy I’m very much vibing with.

After a generally blasé opinion toward most of this second phase for The High Republic, I’m glad it ended on its best note. This was a very solid read—good pacing, uncomfortable insight into what radicalizes a person, and a satisfying conclusion for the Path of the Open Hand storyline, which has always been the most intriguingly thorny aspect of this phase. It can feel a little bloated and probably would’ve benefited from slightly fewer characters since the core protagonists might’ve benefited from more of the spotlight. But Scott manages the ensemble well, finds a good tempo between the various POVs, and structures the chapters in a way that kept me eager for the next.

I still don’t love all of his writing choices, but his prose work continues to land much better for me than his comics do, a trend I’m glad continued here. Some of the characterizations are a bit trite, but only briefly annoying, thankfully, as the brisk pacing keeps things moving, so any moment that didn’t work for me was quickly replaced by one that did. I’m still not convinced that this phase of The High Republic needed the volume of material it got, especially since all the best stuff—and the stuff that seems most linked to the main timeline—is in these YA books. But I’m glad I stuck with it, especially with the development this particular book added to the Path. The portrayal of religious radicalism is painfully realistic, and both books—this one in particular—capture the mentality that allows such radicalization to fester and grow roots. I’m interested to see how/if we see these threads continue in the next Phase, but even if it’s minimal, these two YA books stand as a solid duology for the series.  

Okay, Ram V is really cooking with something now. The slow burn of the Gotham Nocturne story hasn't led to the most exciting read, but the thematic undertones and broader parallels Ram has been creating start to come into clearer focus in this outing, and the results are very, very promising. I still wish the art were more consistent issue-to-issue, but at least this series has maintained a solid baseline of quality. The most significant departure comes from Francavilla's turn at bat near the end, which is a jarring shift in art style that still works because I've always liked how expressive and dramatic his work is.

I've been waiting and hoping that Ram V had something in mind for the Orghams, and again, I'm starting to see what he's building with them and their role in Batman and Gotham's story. It's not the most original approach, yet the parallels pack a wallop and have the potential to strike a real nerve if the series can keep up the momentum. I'm also a sucker for a Batman book that isn't afraid to get introspective and interrogative toward Batman, his motivations, his role in Gotham, and the fragile nature of the things that hold him together. We'll see how Ram V's story unfolds in the next chapters, but I'm very into the concepts he's been laying down and will be eager to see where they go next.

I also continue to love the series' backup stories, with this collection having some of the best so far. Unlike other books in DC's catalog, the backups are arguably essential to the main story the series is crafting. They enrich supporting characters, add dimensions to backstories, and generally help the story Ram V is bringing us into feel like a proper odyssey.

I wanted a breezy beach read with an air of adventure, and this fit the bill perfectly. I described it to my spouse as a mixture of Netflix's Bridgerton and the obvious comparison of Indiana Jones. It's not as "sexy" as the former or as gritty as the latter, but it occupies a pleasant, socially aware, and easily accessible spot between them. Mileage will vary based on how willing you are (or aren't) to roll with the book's various cliches and genre dabbling, but it rarely overstayed its welcome in any one spot, and I found the cliches to be more charming than annoying in most cases. I can't say it's a book that will stick with me, but considering I finished this in what ultimately amounted to two (and a half) sittings, I clearly had fun with it! 

The pacing of this series is still a little odd, as each volume seems to end without the usual period I’ve come to expect from a mainline hero book. But that’s part of why it’s working for me so well, and I like how Ram V is using the Detective Comics title to tell a broader story about Gotham and its protector. Even the deeper lore at play and its slants toward a “destiny” angle—which usually isn’t my favorite approach, admittedly—has my interest. I appreciate how Ram V is developing a symbolic, fated tie between Gotham and Batman. I’m not sold on the villains yet, but I’m willing to wait and see where they go from here. Two-Face’s and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Freeze's involvement is great, though. I love how the backup stories from Si Spurrier—who is always reliable—add to their roles with additional context and insight. Solid stuff!

My only major gripe is the art, which is often great but, like most books these days, has so many guest artists that it never settles on a satisfyingly cohesive look. I like the elements at play—a gritty, almost noir-like style with fantastical flourishes—yet lack the linchpin I usually prefer. I can’t fault the book too hard, though, since it’s increasingly become the standard, and the pages are usually in the “good” category, if not above that. 

A very solid 3.5-star read. It's just as fun and wild as the first book, and to Eames' credit, he can write a helluva action scene, which is good since this book is almost entirely made of action. It won't stick with me like the first book did, though, as this follow-up lacks that one's weary heroism and classic "getting the band back together" schtick, which was executed so well.

I like the new band of characters here and appreciate how different their defining characteristics are from those who came before. Eames makes great use of everyone's different battle styles and is clearly enjoying the challenge of creating new and colorful ways to decapitate and disembowel hideous beasties. That's where the book's easy readability and all-around entertaining qualities come from, and it was plenty enough to keep me turning the page. There's enough ingenuity in the staging and details of the action that I (almost) don't mind how Eames is riffing off (or outright copying) the final season of Game of Thrones. It does get a bit much by the end, though, as the battles become so large and frantic that they teeter on white noise. It doesn't completely undercut the stakes, but it comes close.

Admittedly, the characterizations are a mixed bag, especially the women in the book. I was worried it would be worse, but the titular character is held back by shallow motivations and conflicts that do fit the vibe of "a white man wrote this." There is solid diversity to be seen, which I appreciate, and Eames' heart is in the right place, making the limited nature of his characters a somewhat easier flaw to accept. But it is disappointing when his first book enjoyed such rich, familiar-but-layered relationships between its characters, and the follow-up comes up short. The romance is also half-baked and lacks the chemistry and believability I need to feel invested.

I still had a great time overall and will read a third book if/when it comes out. Eames has created a great world with these books, and even though his affinity for classic fantasy motifs can be a double-edged sword, it is infectious.

Not a bad read—the art is quite nice, with big colors and great lighting, but it’s also story-light, as there’s very little momentum before a cliffhanger teasing the next volume. The translation from webtoon to physical book isn’t seamless, either, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to feel like I missed something between panels or pages. The physical book itself is very good, though, so shoutout to DC for giving a webtoon a nice physical version with crisp pages that retain the vibrancy of the story within.

I also don’t love Zatanna’s characterization, which is more naive and helpless than I would expect from the character. She’s 21, and parts of the book reflect that age nicely, but for the most part, both the character and her book read younger. I’ll probably read more, but I can’t say it’s off to the best start.

A totally captivating, often hypnotic, and always transportive reading experience that makes me more embarrassed than ever over how little non-fiction I read. McFarlane’s book is about the act of walking, but it’s also about the history of those who walk and the paths that they traverse. His writing is gorgeous, almost to a fault, at times, but is so melodic in its tempo and descriptions that once I tapped into the proper wavelength, I became fully enmeshed in the words on the page. 

I love how biographical the book is, too, with each chapter functioning as a snapshot of a particular person and/or place that also works alongside the broader biographies (of time, location, people, concepts) the book is sketching. I’m very glad I took my time reading this, and I’m equally glad to have another of Macfarlane’s books waiting for me on my shelf.