Veronica FishBesprekingen

Wow okay wait I enjoyed this so much! It’s a girl-powered slice of life roller derby story, and was super fun to read. I loved the characters, the energy of the sport, the celebration of the body, and the very real feeling look at how women balance their lives and friendships. I saw some other reviews saying the plot felt lacking, and I understand that argument, but for me personally it hit all the marks. SLAM is just really chill and realistic, and I want to be friends with the derby girls so bad now!

What attracted me originally to this graphic novel was the beautiful cover. I was walking down the aisle at a book conference and the colors just grabbed me. Throughout the book Veronica Fish uses color--bright vivid color such as you see on the cover--sparingly to illustrate the "real world" (in monochromatic grays, blacks and white) versus the world that when Wendy needs to escape from her grief. Its telling that when the story shifts to Neverland (later on) its a complete explosion of colors and when we come back to the real world those colors slowly introduce themselves into the comic as Wendy learns to accept her choices.

I felt for Wendy and I wondered how much was truly happening and how much was her need for closure. Sometimes, especially when grief is strong and the world seems so...hostile, its easy to believe something so fantastical is preferable. And the guilt she carried...

I've never made secret my intense dislike of Peter Pan. Finding out Barrie meant him to be the actual villain of the book originally made my day because he's always, always, come off that way to me (in the actual book, many versions of him paint him less creepy/malevolent and more careless/oblivious/selfish). Here...he's not the problem. Not really. Oh he's not helpful, but he does make several good points to Wendy that she doesn't want to believe and he does help her in the end.

This story is very much a handbook of what happens when you become so wrapped up in something it isolates you. Several times throughout Wendy neglects to think of the consequences of her actions in an effort to prove her belief right. She pushes people away and behaves self destructively. When she does realize how her actions have maybe not been the best for her brother John, she attempts to pull away...only to give in and go deeper.

At times the book was confusing - it never really answers whether this is all a delusion to comfort herself or if it really happens. There's some high school drama that gets in the way a little and her parents come off not very sympathetic for most of the book. As we see things from Wendy's point of view, their actions come off cold and abrupt, with little nuance into their own feelings until nearer the end when Wendy starts to recognize how much she's ignored.

I'm sooooo Team Betty, so I wasn't too excited to read about Archie and Veronica's romance. V starts off as a total snob, but as the book (and the series) progresses, she realizes who her true friends are and starts to make changes in her life.

This was a lot of fun.

Two women, Jen and Maisie, meet at a roller derby tryout and become fast friends. They end up being drafted onto different teams, which starts to put some cracks in their young but intense friendship. Jen flourishes on the track, but is struggling with her studies, while Maisie's skate skills take a while to improve, she starts a sweet relationship with a guy who adores her.

Jen and Maisie's friendship is really cute, if very homoerotic. It's the central relationship, with roller derby being both the means for their relationship to start and also the narrative device through which it's viewed.

I absolutely adored the Veronica Fish's art and Brittany Peer's colouring. Colouring is such an underrated aspect of comics and with roller derby being so colourful literally and metaphorically, it was a huge part of the overall story for me.

I wished that this book was about flat track instead of bank, and there were a few things normalized in here (ie, all derby parties are about drinking, skating without a helmet, glorifying injuries) that I didn't love. That said, I think this book really captures the roller derby feels and experience. I will definitely be on the lookout for volume 2.

This is a Peter Pan retelling with the journey to Neverland as a journey through the stages of grief, but it’s also beautifully and creatively illustrated and very accessible to younger readers.

I’m not sure I can say that I enjoyed it, since grief is not something to be enjoyed... but it was moving and emotionally resonant.

Easy breezy fun read

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Read Harder: book about sports

A fun book continuing the drama of Riverdale and its inhabitants. The art continues to be great, and I am interested to see how the story continues to develop.

Great comic that captures the spirit and feeling of roller derby.

Beautifully rendered retelling of Peter Pan. Wendy crashes the car she is driving with her brothers as passengers, when Michael isn't found she is convinced she saw him fly away. Her therapist insists she keep a journal to draw her feelings. Since the worst has already happened, according to the therapist, what's the worst that could happen?

The drawings are black and white with color accents, until we are in Neverland, then they are full color. The book binding and shape is in the style of the journal Wendy is writing in--loved that.

Full review at Little Book Jockey. I loved this. It made me want to get into roller derby, even though the only time I’ve ever skated I had to hold onto someone’s shirt and still fell down a lot. And that was probably 10 years ago.

This is another great Riverdale saga! You cant beat the classics!

I used to love reading Ribon's descriptions of getting into roller derby on her blog, like, a million years ago. This was a really fun read with great colors and nuanced characters. I think it could work for teens (there's one mention of consensual sexy times, but it happens off page), depending on their curiosity about roller derby.

This book is good but suffers from being the book I read immediately after Patrick Ness' more powerful [book:A Monster Calls|8621462]. They are very similar in themes and structure, with fantasy elements being injected in a fuzzy way to help the main character cope with grief over the loss of a loved one. Peter Pan serves here in place of the large tree monster. Regardless, I like the way Osborne tweaks the Neverland mythos. I could have done without the circular old cliche of the book itself being the one a character in the book is creating throughout the story, but that's a small gripe.

Mostly, this reminds me that I have been eyeing an annotated edition of Peter Pan in my library for a while now, and I should just go ahead and read it so I finally get to know know the source of the hundreds of derivative works I have read in my lifetime. Peter and Wendy have to be up there with Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein, Dracula, Dorothy and Alice as the most referenced fictional characters of all time.

I picked this up at the library on a whim. I haven’t been reading many graphic novels lately and this looked interesting. It was a well done blend of contemporary, fantasy, and magical realism. I enjoyed it and especially loved the art style.

Wendy is in a horrible car crash while driving and the crash kills one of her brothers...or does it? Wendy and her other brother are convinced that the youngest brother isn’t dead but was taken by a mysterious flying boy. Now Wendy and her brother must figure out if their brother Michael is alive in a different world or dead.

This book is an interesting blend of fantasy and reality. Wendy is obviously undergoing a mental breakdown of sorts and her own confusion makes it hard to tell what’s fantasy and what’s reality. In her moments of fantasy she is convinced that Michael has become a lost boy (there are many Peter Pan references throughout). While the story is fairly melancholy, there are glimpses of hope throughout as well.

Overall this is a unique and creative story that I enjoyed. I really loved the illustration style and how it was put together. I would recommend to those who enjoy fairy tale retellings and stories where fantasy and reality are blurred.

The nostalgia train continues. Looking forward to Vol 3 of Archie.

(Not looking forward to Betty & Veronica though after reading its first issue, which was included at the end of this volume of Archie. I saw that both its writer and illustrator are dudes, and it shows. To me, it would have been an obvious choice to rope in some kick-ass ladies to lead a reboot of Betty & Veronica.)

not really my thing, but it was nice

The reboot of Archie and the gang in Riverdale continues. I really liked the Veronica Fish illustrations, which were the majority of the episodes in this compilation. Plenty of teen angst, garage bands, mayoral races and such ensue.½

Wonderful read.

Beautiful use of color. Great imagination.

I'm sort of surprised at how quickly I'm over the novelty of the updated, continuing soap-opera version of Archie. It's not bad, I just cannot find it in me to care.

The friendship is taking a hit and it's obvious why. I hope these two best friends will come together soon.

So much potential for greatness! Derby life is crazy to me but awesome. I'm liking the two MC's. I have a feeling they will either form a team or be in one together one way or another.

Very happy with how everything's going. I have a feeling that Knockout is going to switch teams because her friend'steam is more welcoming.

Beautiful illustrations and a very imaginative way to talk about grief, and how everyone experiences and deals with it differently.