Comic Book Day: July 10 Comic Book Reviews

I realize that I am a little behind with my reviews for the week. As most of my readers know I have been very busy with working for Vox Magazine and the Columbia Missourian, both of which cause me to spend most of my time during the week working on stories and articles. This week's pull was definitely smaller (since I didn't have to catch up on Hawkeye any more) and I didn't have the funds to get the last few issues of Avengers, Daredevil, or FF. With an extremely small pull this week I felt like I could focus more on what these latest issues of Young Avengers and Hawkeye had to offer than I normally could.

As always, I give readers warning to FULL SPOILERS ahead. Proceed with caution.

Young Avengers Vol. 2 Issue #7 "Breakfast Meat" 

Young Avengers #7 cover by
Jamie McKelvie
Image courtesy of Marvel Wiki

How does Kieron Gillen cover the 3 month jump in time from the end of issue #5 to issue #7? Through the use of social media of course! While the use of social media to cover the missing plot is fantastic, this book has the feeling of being stagnant since the action hasn't moved forward in terms of what happened at the end of issue #7. This book does offer plenty of character goodies that Gillen has proven to be very adept at inserting into the narrative. Particularly with Kate Bishop. In the scene with the diner when Prodigy finally catches up with the Young Avengers, we see Kate fully accept her role as the team leader. She's cautious, strong and dives head first into being there for her team. The nuances between the team members shows a level of comfortableness that they have definitely reached. And with the return of Jamie McKelvie after his brief absence, he fully emphasizes that dynamic between the characters.  McKelvie's art once again knocks it out of the park. The montage of Prodigy tracking down the Young Avengers is definitely my favorite design of a page to date. This book offers so many little details that even I didn't catch until reading Gillen's writer notes that explained his decisions behind the script. If you aren't following Gillen on tumblr for that insight into his mind, then you really are missing out on an excellent look into the details and crafting of a great comic book in the Marvel NOW! line up.

Verdict: 8 out of 10.  The book hasn't moved too far forward in terms of plot, but there is some fantastic character growth and dynamics going on here.

Hawkeye Issue #12

Hawkeye #12 cover by
Francesco Francavilla
Image courtesy of
fuckyeahavengingarcher.tumblr.com

While Francesco Francavilla brings a 180 switch in art style to this issue, Hawkeye #12 is still visually stunning. The lines are less blurry, the coloring is darker and the issue takes a step away from the light hearted, whimsical feel of David Aja's art. Overall, this issue offers an overarching narrative to Hawkeye's life that we haven't fully received in the past issues. We get to see the beginnings of what has made Clint Barton become the Clint Barton we know and love. Even with Clint taking a back seat in this issue, since he is only seen around the end of the book, the story adds another facet to Clint's life. Coming from a broken family with an abusive father, we see the trail that he has walked and how it ties into what he has become. While the issue can feel a bit removed from the rest of the series, we still have the continuity with the tracksuit mafia and even a short appearance from Lucky (AKA Pizza Dog). Without having direct interaction with Hawkeye in the book, these are the best ways that Fraction and Francavilla still keep the feel of the past issues going. I'm excited to see what comes next with Barney Barton and the back story that we are finally seeing on Hawkeye. Fraction keeps these stories coming and he continues to impress.



Verdict: 9 out of 10. I loved getting to see a book dedicated to where Hawkeye came from. As I always say with Matt Fraction... more please?

Reading Challenge: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I've finished the first book on my 2013 reading list, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Courtesy of Google Images. 

I wasn't surprised that I would finish this book pretty quickly, due to the fact that I had started reading this on the 21 of December, well before I got the idea to start the reading list as a portion of my blog.

In total it took me two weeks to read Larsson's novel that has been filled with intrigue and twists and turns. These past few nights reading the book I've stayed up until around 4 in the morning reading, simply because I couldn't put the book down. I also wanted to finish this book quickly because I have been itching to watch the movie for a while now, but I have been waiting until I had read the book. 

But more of that later, here is my review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 

This book follows Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative reporter who has recently been convicted of libel after he reported on a scandal that had to do with the CEO of one of Sweden's largest businesses. After this nasty debacle Blomkvist is approached by the wealthy captain of industry, Henrik Vanger, who asks Blomkvist to poke around his family and solve a 40-year-old mystery that still haunts him, the disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger. After some persuasion and a crazy amount of cash Blomkvist agrees and moves to the middle of nowhere to work on this mystery that seems impossible to solve. 

The other protagonist is Lisbeth Salander, who is a genius computer hacker working for a security company in Stockholm. She is originally hired to do the background check on Blomkvist, and eventually, much later in the book, is asked by Blomkvist to become his research assistant. The two characters work together and eventually solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. Uncovering the truth does come at an insane cost, and the plot twist and revelation of who was behind the disappearance of Harriet is one of the most exciting parts of the book. 

One of the main themes behind the book is violence against women, and how that is handle in Swedish society. And this book is not wanting of rape scenes, women being murdered and deplorable cases of women being quieted against their attackers. Larsson does a good job of highlighting rape culture in Sweden and how it plays such an important role in the book. Larsson even highlights some of the statistics surrounding violence toward women in Sweden. 

Overall, the book was enjoyable to read, however, I felt that it took too much time in getting into the mystery and the discovery of the clues that would lead Blomkvist and Salander to the discovery of the villain. The beginning is a little slow, and I felt like I had to push to get through to the part when Blomkvist actually starts working on the mystery. Once he starts discovering the clues, the book becomes much more exciting, which of course led to multiple nights of staying up til 2 or 3 reading quickly so I could discover what the next step in the mystery was. 

The book is not lacking for content, however. There are many twists and turns that the reader doesn't see coming and take the reader by surprise. When the villain is finally revealed and Blomkvist and Salander have their confrontation with the villain is the part of the book when the pages start to fly past because you're reading at hyper speed, totally engrossed in the story. Once the mystery is solved and the conflict is resolved, however, the book slows down a bit, as is to be expected. With a heart warming finale, the book comes to an end exactly how the reader would want it to end. 

While there is no lack for content in the book, I felt the writing style was a bit behind. Throughout the book, I felt as if I were actually reading a news article, with the way that Larsson approached the characters. This is understandable because Larsson had been a journalist, however, the style of prose gets jumbled and simplistic in many places throughout the novel. There were many times where I would have to go back and reread a paragraph because it had been written in a confusing way and I hadn't understood what was actually being said. Also, the novel is riddled with financial and technical jargon that I, being unversed in the world of finance and only somewhat versed in the tech world, had a difficulty following. 

All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an exciting and entertaining read that will keep you up to the early hours of the morning. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Now that that's out of the way, be on the lookout for my next reading challenge post, The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling! 

2013 Reading List Challenge

To begin, I am an avid reader. Reading a book is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon when you have nothing else to do. And since I love writing as much as I love reading, I have decided that for 2013 I am going to write about it!

Yes, this is my New Year's resolution. I plan on reading 12 books in 12 months. I don't think this will be too hard, but who knows, school and work can always make things much harder. The second part of this resolution includes me writing more on this blog, hopefully a couple times a week.

I am compiling a book list of novels and such that I plan on reading all through 2013. The goal is to finish the books and then write and blog about what I think of them. These posts will be mingled in with the rest of the content on this blog, and I feel that it's a great way to get myself back into the swing of reading which I've been lacking in for the past few months. 

I'm not limiting myself to any genre of books but I am keeping my focus on fiction. This is mainly due to the fact that the books on the list are books I have wanted to read for a long time and haven't had the chance.

 I realize that this challenge isn't going to be difficult mainly because I have never had a problem with finding time to read before. This coming semester will be busy obviously because of school and work and the new internship that I'm starting in January, however. But I am determined to read this next year, more often than I did this past year. And with this personal challenge I will be able to do two things that I thoroughly enjoy.

I am also fully aware that I will be reading more than 12 books this coming year, but these 12 are just the guidelines for the beginning of the resolution, in order to keep a concise list of what I'm reading. 

So without further ado, my 2013 reading list: 

1.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (I already started this one.. WOOPS) 
2. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
3. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 
4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre 
5. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 
6. Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin 
7. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 
8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 
9. Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov 
10. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo 
11. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan 
12. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The way that I am going to work this challenge is that there will be no specific order for which to read the books. Also there is no set time that I have to finish each book, so it won't be a-book-a-month type deal. I can take my time with reading them. After finishing each book I will write a post reviewing the book and talking about my general feelings while reading. If I somehow finish all twelve books before December 2013 I will be able to add more books on to the list. 

I have decided that in order to keep up with this challenge I will be making a Goodreads account which people will be able to follow my progress on. 

And so, with nothing left to say about the challenge, I will immerse myself into a year of good literature!