Amy Chu (1)Besprekingen

I thought this was an adaptation of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla, but it is actually a sequel of sorts in which LeFanu's story actually appears in book form while Carmilla appears in person.

Athena Lo is a social worker in 1996 in New York City, and she starts digging into the disappearances and deaths of young women who have come through her office seeking help. She's convinced Club Carmilla and its mysterious owner must be somehow involved, and while investigating she becomes entangled with the club's coat-check girl, Violet, much to the annoyance of Athena's girlfriend. Athena's grandfather, a Chinese American man who teaches tai chi in the park, pops in and out to offer help and advice.

The art is fine, but the writing suffers from an obvious plot and some herky-jerky and forced turns. I am intrigued enough by the characters though that I plan to check out the next volume due in July 2024.

DNF 60%

I adore the original novel and the idea of even more explicit lesbians and vampires sounded great on paper, but I just found this interminably boring with absolutely nothing happening. This can work with prose that can contain a voice and style that can make describing paint dry beautiful, but that much harder to do in a comic, especially with artwork that is occasionally gorgeous, but for the most part seems extremely workpersonlike.

I truly wanted to love this and I usually can brute force my way through graphic novels I'm not having good time with, but I just can't.

Beautiful illustrations accompanied by a quick, simple fantastical tale. I wish stopping war was that easy. I was so expecting Clia's mom to use military force anyway.

[rating from personal enjoyment]

A modern retelling of the Gothic novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, a vampire story that predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by 26 years, Amy Chu and Soo Lee's Carmilla: The First Vampire brings the story into 20th century NYC, and layers in aspects of Chinese myth and folklore. I have not read Carmilla, so I cannot comment on the faithfulness of this story to the original, but I did enjoy this for what it is: a queer murder mystery that is folded into a dark horror tale that is folded into a Sapphic love story.

Social worker Athena takes it on herself to investigate a series of murders of LGBTQ+ women, all occurring around the Chinatown nightclub Carmilla's. When she befriends the next likely victim of the killer, she finds herself not only falling for the mysterious Violet, but also finds that she's more tied to the mysterious Carmilla than she could ever believe.

Ending on something of a cliffhanger, I'll definitely be picking up the next installment. Amy Chu's writing is solid, and Soo Lee's art is perfectly dark and atmospheric. I found I enjoyed this a little more than I thought I would, to be honest, and it's piqued my interest in reading the original Carmilla to see how they compare. Recommended!

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Stunning art that melds art nouveau style with hyper-realistic faces. A modern undersea adventure with mermaids and coral snakes and fanciful repurposed trash balloons and a cat who enjoys surfing. Very imaginative, love that it calls back to L. Frank Baum, but that it's also grounded in a modern kid with a scurrilous cat and a forgetful grandfather. Neat!

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/3UKOVa1QZbI

Enjoy!½

This title is a sequel to Sea Sirens, the middle-grade graphic novel about a Vietnamese American surfer girl and her cantankerous talking cat.

Schools is out and Trot and Cap'n Bill were looking forward to a relaxing carefree summer of serving and fishing with her grandfather. However, trouble soon arises with merpeople needing Trot's help. On her trip under the see Trot, Cap'n Bill, and her grandfather met up with Celia, the Sea Siren princess, and Anko, King of the Sea Serpents. They learn that Merla, their Sea Siren friend, has been kidnapped by humans. Trot, her cat, and her grandfather join the rescue effort which takes them to an old abandoned amusement park island resort. Upon their investigation Trot has a good idea of who/what the owner of the amusement park has planned as his new main attraction. Can Trot free her friend Merla in time to save her from becoming the main attraction? This fast-paced graphic novel adventure is based on L. Frank Baum's novel Sky Island.

Interesting, Interesting. Hope my questions will be answered.

Maybe I would've enjoyed this more if that whole thing with the 'nice guy' didn't happen. I mean what's the point? He's a douche, thinks he's nice, she kills him.

Sad truth is... women encounter lots of these men. And it's not like he helped the story along or something... It only reinforce a stereotype while doing nothing to disperse it. Good thing the pink haired dude is there.

If he was put in the comic to show how Poison Ivy is still not really reformed the whole thins with the pitbulls owner did a much better job, while satisfying everybody's love for dogs.

Mhuhu I grinned when Thorn transformed that man's hand.

On to the next issue!

*whispers* I love catwomen's outfit.

Confession time: I like all the catwomen. Every one. And all their outfits. Which is weird for me because I'm always going on and on about the sexualization of females in comics. Maybe because to me catwomen is so damn feline.
We all know cats don't give a fuck what you do as long if you don't hurt them and feed them. When you don't... well it's comfortable in the neighbours house. See ya mofo! I'm kidding but we had a cat who had two houses, the cuddle house and the food house. Took us years to find out where he kept disappearing to.

Oh and I liked this issue better than his predecessors! Should have started with that...

Something strikes me as so... American. (I'm sorry but I do think it's something cultural here)

Poison Ivy walks all day long on high heels while she does science stuff. Totally believable *kuch kuch* not *kuch kuch*. I think because she is hot stuff and hot woman have to wear heels.

But then...

She gets home and being somebody who loves plants/is part plant she takes her clothes of. This I actually got. I was thinking about that earlier, when I saw her shoes, why not take them of and walk barefoot around the lab, just as unbelievable but more believable because of what she is. Plants don't wear clothes.

But then.... Everything is covered... *facepalm*. Dude. Why not just uncover everything?

It's this contradiction that feels utterly american to me. Woman have to be sexy but the moment they are comfortable naked it has to be covered up because more sexy that way?... Wait that's not really a contradiction...

Gah just show me the nipples and what her natural hair colour is. I promise I won't gasp in outrage because reasons.

I know I know. Laws and whatnot are different over there... Still.. Pff

Summit -- or Valentina Resnick-Baker, the hero of this book -- is sort of Firestorm shoved into an Iron Man costume. Like Ronnie Raymond she talks to people inside her head between blasts of plasma fusion from her hands. There's a confusing and vague backstory about her being the sole survivor of a mission to space to destroy an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. There's a dull and predictable present day story about her trying to save the daughter of a friend who has been killed as part of a big conspiracy.

On the plus side, Valentina Resnick-Baker is a strong and intelligent LGBTQ+ character. On the minus side, she's emotionally withdrawn due to her many traumas and hard to warm up to for most of the book.

It's all b-level superhero fare, but I might give the second volume a shot to see what direction they go after this origin arc. Maybe.

diverse middlegrade graphic novel (Vietnamese American with grandfather suffering from dementia/forgetfulness has underwater adventure/dream after a surfing accident with her sidekick cat with one good eye, Cap'n Bill)

absolutely beautiful illustrations; love the flowy blouses/dresses and the rest of the siren costumes. Love the representation of minority and differently abled characters, love the strong personality of the cat.
Though the main character is in middle school, this book would also be appropriate for younger kids (2nd grade or even younger, if they can read it/have it read to them, especially if they have aging grandparents)

When I found this in the comic shop I was really interested and a bit excited. I'd never seen a short story collection in graphic novel form before. Reading it has been both exhilarating and disappointing, as the stories and art are a real mix. They range from incredibly poignant to depressingly shit. Read it for the few gems, but you will have to wade through a fair bit of crap and mediocrity.

In particular i found the story 'Black Death in America' very moving and thoughtful. You can read it online here if you can't be arsed getting the whole collection:
http://www.johnpaulleon.com/black-death-in-america.htm
it's superb

Amazing artwork, the storyline was ok, but lacked something....

I received a copy through Netgalley.

Another great installment in the series. Out of the volumes I've read so far (this one, Noble 1 and Kino 1), this is probably my most favourite so far. I'm definately curious for the rest!

Beautiful illustrations accompanied by a quick, simple fantastical tale. I wish stopping war was that easy. I was so expecting Clia's mom to use military force anyway.

[rating from personal enjoyment]

Super cute illustrations but the story and characters are dry. Ana needs to be disqualified because both her love interests keep saving her butt, which is why she's inadvertently winning, and she has a whole other person with her helping cheat. -__-

A cute middle grade novel about a Vietnamese American surfer girl named Trot who is accidentally engulfed in a big wave and cast underseas with her trusty cats. What she discovers is a fantastical palace ruled by mermaids, when her trusty kitty, Cap'n Bill, fends off some dastardly serpents, the mermaids welcome the unlikely duo. At first Trot is apprehensive about staying underwater too long, she cant leave her grandfather alone for too long and her mother is at work, but soon she is having too much fun with her new friends. That is until disaster strikes! Cap'n Trot's services will once again be needed to take care of the serpents that threaten the realm. Cute, whimsical, but not terribly action packed. It's fun and I think younger teens will be intrigued.

I am an unrepentant Oz fan, so I was really excited to see a graphic novel inspired by one of his lesser-known characters, Trot, and her adventure The Sea Fairies. I thoroughly enjoyed it but... I find it very difficult to decide how to review it, especially for non-Oz fans.

So, in the original story, Trot (it's a nickname) is a little girl who lives by the ocean with her mother and a retired sea captain, Cap'n Bill. She has several adventures in strange places, sometimes accompanied by a little boy from Philadelphia named Button Bright, and eventually she and Cap'n Bill become citizens of Oz (her mother kind of fades out of the picture). In The Sea Fairies, she and Cap'n Bill are caught in a storm and think they will drown, but are rescued by mermaids, or sea fairies, who introduce them to the wonders of the ocean, including the marvelous sea serpent King Anko and the wicked Zog the Magician, whom they eventually defeat, leaving a human boy who's been adapted to live underwater and Cap'n Bill's long-lost brother to take over his kingdom.

In the graphic novel, Trot is a thoroughly modern Vietnamese-American girl who, with her cat Cap'n Bill, loves to surf. When her grandfather, who is suffering from dementia, has an accident, her busy mother restricts them both to the house but Trot sneaks out anyways and she and Cap'n Bill are caught up in a massive wave. They are saved from drowning by the Sea Sirens, who are in a great battle with the wicked Serpents, led by King Anko. After many small adventures, some sympathetic discussions with the Siren princess who also has difficulties with her mother, and the discovery of her grandfather who is also underwater, Trot and Cap'n Bill (who can talk thanks to the Sea Sirens) discover that the evil King Anko is actually just a boy, saved from drowning long ago and taking over from the original King Anko. He's not trying to attack the mermaids, he just wants games and interesting artifacts from the surface world. Having reconciled the two nations, Trot, Cap'n Bill, and her grandfather are rescued and, after reassuring her mother, imagine the future adventures they might have.

The art is lush and lovely, a thoroughly modern take that still pays homage to John R. Neill's work with elaborate hairdos, rich undersea life, and plump-cheeked children exploring the underwater world. The whole book retains the flavor of the original, with the slightly didactic air of Oz titles, the richly imagined fantasy worlds, and the cheerful optimism of the characters, even when things seem at their worst. The question is, will kids appreciate this? Or will they even notice? My guess is that, unless they know the original, they will miss pretty much all the references to it and, while they may find the book as a whole slightly odd, since it retains that 19th century flavor, the gorgeous art, humor, and interesting characters will hold their interest.

Verdict: I'd say to purchase if you have Oz fans, but it's unlikely that you do; rather, purchase for mermaid and graphic novel fans. This may not be an absolute necessity, but it's sure to find an audience and I look forward to additional titles in what promises to be a series.

ISBN: 9780451480163; Published June 2019 by Viking Children's Books; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

the bits where they are jerky academics about nothing being as good as MIT - too real