Last weekend, I hopped on a train down to London to visit the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) at London Film and Comic Con - and to also meet my best friend there as well, but that's a whole other story. Obviously, while I was there, I bought some books. And then I bought some more books when we were at the train station waiting to come home. And now here I am, sharing them with you.
Overall, it was a good weekend for books - I even got Rock War: The Audition and The Young World for free. I got this copy of Fangirl, as well as my original copy, signed by Rainbow Rowell (she's really nice, too!) and they gave out free tote bags with Cath on them, which I thought was a really nice thing to do, seeing as we'd been queueing for about two hours. At the Foyles shop in St Pancras I found Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight and I just had to snatch them up because I adored them when I borrowed them from the library. I've also read Rock War: The Audition, We Were Liars - which didn't really live up too all the hype surrounding it. It was good, don't get me wrong, but not great - and Lyra's Oxford and I can't wait to work my way through the rest of these.
Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you thought about them, or if you plan on reading them soon!
Wolverine: Season One
Ben Acker, Ben Blacker and Salvador Espin
Genre(s): Graphic Novels, Comics, Superheroes
Published: June 25th 2013
Pages: 136
Rating: 4 stars
“Discovered as a feral mutant prowling the wilds! Recruited as a covert operative by a secretive government agency! Destined to pursue a dream of peaceful coexistence between man and mutant! Witness the birth of the Wolverine as the man called Logan makes his journey from animalistic wildling to beloved X-Man. Including Logan's first blockbuster battle with the Hulk, as well as pivotal appearances by Sabretooth and Wendigo, this blood-splattered tale features a contemporary retelling of the Clawed Canuck's formative years!”
I wasn't sure what I'd be getting into with Wolverine: Season One. Thankfully, I know about Wolverine and his mutation, and how he came to be 'Wolverine' and his involvement with the X-Men (in the films, at least) etc. I feel without a lot of that knowledge I'd have been left stranding, as this graphic novel wastes no time in jumping straight into things.
The story was interesting and I did like the majority of the characters. I didn't really care for the Hulk in this, but then I generally have no interest in him anyway. I did, however, like the Wendigo and how the fight with it led Wolverine to James and Heather.
The art was okay. I liked the colouring of things but I wasn't keen on how Wolverine himself was drawn. I understand that he was starting out more animal than man in this volume and I felt that the way he was drawn reflected that, but I didn't like the style, personally. Overall, though, there was talent in the art so I can't complain too much, and it didn't detract or put me off from the story.
That being said, I did like Wolverine as a character and the way he acted. I found it realistic, given the situation, and I just generally like him as a character anyway.
All in all, I did enjoy this first volume and will carry on with any more that follow it.
Gambit: Once a Thief
James Asmus, Clay Mann and Diogenes Neves
Genre(s): Graphic Novels, Comics, Superheroes
Published: April 2nd 2013
Pages: 152
Rating: 4 stars
“When Marvel's premiere thief sets his sights on his biggest score yet, he may just end up over his head.
Desperately searching for a means to destroy the pilfered artifact that's cursed him, Gambit journeys deep into the Guatemalan jungles in search of a lost temple - but finds an ancient god-monster accidentally loosed on Earth! It's going to take more than just playing cards and southern charm to get out of this one!
Then, coerced by a criminal mastermind, Gambit is sent to the United Kingdom to heist the greatest weapon in the history of man: Excalibur! How will Marvel's premiere thief manage to dupe his extortionist while also escaping with a clear name? Be here as the X-Men's ragin' cajun kicks off his all-new solo career!”
After marathoning all of the X-Men films, I really wanted to jump into some of the comics. Once A Thief seemed like a good place to start, as not only is it from the Marvel NOW! line of comics, it also collects the first seven issues of Gambit's comics, a character I have very limited knowledge of. I often find that comic collections are confusing and offer little to know prior information of characters, so the fact that this starts from the very beginning of his story line had me very excited to pick it up.
For starters, I really like the artwork. Just having a quick flip through it showed me that it was crisp and clean, with lots of lovely colour schemes in the panels. Marvel really does some to know what it's doing when to comes to artists, and I really cannot fault the talent of all the pencilers and inkers involved.
I did like Gambit as a character, and I was interested to read about him and his abilities. He seemed very well prepared and equipped for everything, and not just because of his mutation. He seemed to give off that kind of 'I know what I'm doing' vibe, and his costume was really cool. I also really liked his mysterious partner in crime. She was independent and headstrong and I was interested to see what she was up to. The way she and Gambit interacted and worked together, even though she didn't want his help, was nice too.
I did like the plot, it was fun, even if it was a bit of a typical thief plot. But then again, the title of this volume is Once a Thief, so I shouldn't really have expected anything different.
Overall, I did really enjoy this graphic novel, and I think I'll definitely be carrying on with the series.
