Duane SwierczynskiBesprekingen

I didn't know what to make of 'California Bear' at first. I was a little dazed by how bizarre it was. The tone was somewhere between Don Winslow and early Carl Hiaasen. The story, told from the point of view of four characters, each of whom was going through a major change in their lives and none of whom are at the centre of the personality bell curve, was intriguing and original. I could see that the intent was to satirise the True Crime industry. There was definitely crime but very little interest in truth.

We followed an ex-cop who got a killer's conviction overturned on a technicality so that he could get a cut of the compensation payout, we have the California Bear, a 'retired' serial killer who was never caught but who, in his old age, wants to be given credit for his 'work' and we have a Hollywood documentary producer who wants to make a big sale to the streaming companies but who says all the right words about justice and truth and respecting the victims.

Moslty, I liked the dark humour but I was uncomfortable with being in the Bear's head. He wasn't one of Hiaassen's larger-than-life- but-not-as-nasty-as-they-seem villains. He was a sadistic misogynist who still hungered for the rush of the kill. That didn't seem very funny to me.

I kept reading the book because I wanted to hear more from The Girl Detective. She's the tween daughter of the man whose murder conviction has just been overturned. She's smart, organised and passionate about doing the research to find out the truth about the murder her father was jailed for. She's also in hospital undergoing chemotherapy for an aggressive form of leukaemia that is likely to kill her. She lifted the book for me. She was brave, bright and had a dry sense of humour.

Then the tone of the book changed. It became less of a satire and more of a love-letter to the bravery of The Girl Detective. The California Bear transformed in interesting and unexpected ways. The women in the story came to the fore and started to subvert the agendas of the men around them. The Girl Detective started to put together what had happened and what was going to happen and did what she could to bring order to the chaos.

I was able to settle into the humour then. I had no idea where the story was going but I was happy to be along for the ride. I liked the fast pace of the story, the convoluted twists in the plot that linked everyone together in unpredictable ways and the unabashed confidence of the larger-than-life characters.

I was sad to get to the end of the book because I started to like some of the characters by then. The ending was neat and tidy and perhaps just a little to happily-ever-after but it was done with style and heart and it made me smile.

I recommend the audiobook version of 'California Bear'. It's done with multiple narrators and delivered with energy. I also recommend listening to the author's afterword where he explains how his own daughter's illness affected the novel.

My rating is divided into two parts:

A. Design
The design of the book with the real clues is simply beautiful. It could hardly be better for a book (which should also remain affordable).
The designer and the printing company have done a very good job and it is simply a pleasure to hold it in your hand.

B. Riddle to guess along
Well - with a bit of good will you can figure something out, but not screaming.

Here are my SPOILERS that will lead you to the result.
1. the clues in the first half of the book are the important ones.
2. forget the two clues in the book. They are not important.
3. important are: Theater ticket, train ticket, postcard
4. what is the play about - it is in the newspaper, you can also find it out in a theater encyclopedia or on the Internet.
5 Which woman really appears as a character in the book?
6. well - it must have been her...
7. now you can gather together from the clues what points to this woman.

I could now write a rant about the fact that no real evidence of any kind has been shown here. "Judge, I'm innocent because I have this ticket to a play about an unhappy wife."

You can read this book for the shear joy of looking at the clues, but don't expect a logical mystery with clues that stand up in court.

My recommendation instead: Murder off Miami½

Good twist & turns, maybe tongue in cheek at times

Second collection finalizes the story-line from vol 1. After defeating the attackers from both inside and outside of Ku'n-Lun Iron Fist leads the Heavenly Cities Immortal Weapons to Earth to find out about the mysterious 8th City.

Book is full of fights, exotic locales and mystical kung fu powers and remains loyal to its pulp novel roots. For all means and purposes this is good ol' action adventure that does not try much to flesh out the characters but to take reader for one truly interesting ride.

Art is more diverse than in first volume and (for me) it oscillates between awesome work (Danny Rand's return to K'un-Lun) to extremely simplistic (Lei Kung showing the secret army to Danny). Overall not bad but for me art in first volume was much better.

If you like pulp fiction novels like Mask, Phantom and likes give this one a chance. I am sure you will enjoy it.

Barely alive after attack on PRS base, Bloodshot and children he saved are on the run. Unfortunately Kuretich (PRS scientist that used Bloodshot to save the children from PRS secret base) is trying to control and subdue Bloodshot. All of this opens new front - Toyo Harada and Hrbringer forces also move in as new adversary.

In this one Bloodshot is truly overpowered - while he manages to subdue PRS and their cybernetic mercenaries, Harada and his cohorts prove to be too powerful.

I can only say great volume, I especially like the realism of the conflict - it does not matter if one is a cyborg or civilian, when caught in the crossfire it is usually only Bloodshot who manages to recuperate. Others remain down.

One of the reviews said that it is weird that the paramedic that followed Bloodshot from vol 1 leave Bloodshot and children at the mercy of the PRS and Harbringer corporation.
Well, considering she could only die heroically (but die nevertheless) it is understandable why she was told to move out - Bloodshot gave her new start in life and by moving her from the board freed himself to do what is necessary (considering that children are not defenseless in any way). This enabled him to attack Harada with all he has without risking his friends as possible hostages.

Highly recommended to all fans of action comics.

Second volume starts with the big-bang. Led by former PRS scientist Bloodshot is seeking information on himself - when he is told information is kept in secret PRS desert base Bloodshot moves in and hits it hard.

But what waits for him there is great surprise - he will learn more about himself, sure, but it is not information he expected and he definitely wont like what he finds.

I truly like Bloodshot - he is like Wolverine without memory but so apt at warfare and predicting all the moves enemy can make he always has the initiative (ability to soak up unprecedented levels of damage only helps here :) ). What might be considered as a down side is that unfortunately he cannot trust anybody - it seems everyone is out to use him for their own purposes. Including his own nanites.

Excellent action story and great art. Highly recommended.
Keep in mind that without vol. 1 you will be scratching your head trying to figure out what is going on :) so read this in order.

Well this was tour de force. Bloodshot, our main hero is like a child from marriage between Punisher and Wolverine. Constantly reprogrammed by ruthless corporation he is capable of performing nonhuman feats when it comes to combat - he does not know about fatigue or losses and when he is pointed toward the enemy, like claymore mine, he is relentless.

I had this one for along time on my TBR pile but only after seeing trailer for the movie based on this comic I decided to finally read it. And I was not disappointed. I truly hope they keep the pace in follow up TPBs.

Recommended to all fans of action,thriller, SF and more ... grounded I think would be the word, super hero comics.

Modern, noirish heist-gone-wrong mystery. Had some good moments, but felt rather over long. Seemed to be convoluted for convolution's sake; surprising for the sake of surprise. A few too many twists out of nowhere, motivations seemed to serve the plot rather than the characters... In the end it just didn't hang together very well. On the positive side, it was a quick read.

Great book, couldn't put it down. Hope it's a series.

First-rate crime novel, told from multiple viewpoints, about the aftermath of a crime gone wrong.

Fun stuff

A wide variety of stories, all of them great.

This book is an outline for a better book in which the characters are interesting, the gags well-written, and the narrative voice more skillfully wrought.

I enjoyed several of the story elements, and the amusing way that the characters are put through the wringer, but there's an amateurish feel to the whole thing.

I could almost give it three stars just for the cartoonish, over the top violence and willful messiness of events, but ... nah.

1411

1500

4,0
Crítica: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-deadpool-a-guerra-de-wade-wilson/

4,0
Crítica: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-deadpool-a-guerra-de-wade-wilson/

4,0
Crítica: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-deadpool-a-guerra-de-wade-wilson/

4,0
Crítica: http://www.planocritico.com/critica-deadpool-a-guerra-de-wade-wilson/

Bloodshot getting his ass kicked is actually pretty entertaining.

Predictable, but not in a bad way. Feels like what you'd get with The Prisoner wrapped up in a Punisher shell.

Not essential but helps to round out the showdown in Vegas.

I didn't have any intention of reading this given my preconception of Bloodshot as another Punisher/Wolverine clone. I was wrong, the story isn't by the numbers and the exposition on what's really going on is more cinematic than plodding.

My only complaint is the colours. I just have such a poor reaction to a style that eschews inking for gradient skin tones. It just looks... off. I can't quite put my finger to it, but there's something to be said for old-school inks and colours conveying more dynamism than the uncanny valley of heavily saturated panels.

It's an anthology by authors who were born starting in the 60s, and then get older and older as the book goes on. Not surprisingly, the stories get better as the authors get older. I liked Colin Colerill's story about a forensic doctor in Laos who solves mysteries. Gonna read more about Dr. Siri.

A solid, fun, quick read.