Blogcritics Author: Adam Klin Oron

Graphic Novel Review: Kingdom Come by Alex Ross and Mark Waid

Adam Klin Oron — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:55:07 EST

Kingdom Come is a heady mix of action, mythology and multiple super-heroes.
Red Arrow, Aquaman II, The Whiz, Braniac's Daughter, Avia, Atom Smasher, Phoebus, Alloy, Magog, Pinwheel, Nightstar. These are just some of the new super-heroes introduced in the Kingdom Come miniseries (now collected as a trade paperback), saying nothing of virtually every important hero - and many villains - from the DC universe. Little...

Graphic Novel Review: Creature Tech by Doug TenNapel

Adam Klin Oron — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:22:22 EST

Creature Tech has humor, monsters, bargains with demons, space eels and theological debates. It seems to be too good to be true. Sadly, it is.
What makes for a good comic? I'd have to stay story comes first, but - unlike a regular book - art also comes into it. This is rather obvious, I know, but there's more: the pacing is crucial as well. It doesn't have to be fast - or slow - to be good, but it has to be right for the story. If it's an introspective exploration of human...

Graphic Novel Review: Usagi Yojimbo Book One: The Ronin by Stan Sakai

Adam Klin Oron — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 09:02:35 EDT

Usagi Yojimbo is a ronin, a masterless samurai, a bodyguard for hire. He's also a rabbit. The first book in Stan Sakai's classic series.
Usagi Yojimbo is the ongoing saga of a lone ronin (a masterless samurai) by the name of Myamoto Usagi. The story takes place in Edo period Japan, a feudal period of harsh realities: the shogunate has been established, but the lords of several clans undermine it; the land is governed by law but still overrun by brigands; the hard steel and hard...

Graphic Novel Review: Mr. Monster: His Books of Forbidden Knowledge, Volume One by Michael T. Gilbert et al

Adam Klin Oron — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:34:13 EDT

Michael T. Gilbert breaths life into an unlikely mixture of horror, humor and superheroes and gives us the wonderful Mister Monster.
It was a dark and stormy night when I stumbled into the mysterious shop in one of the city's winding side-alleys, seeking shelter from the pouring rain. The lights seemed to be out, but a sole candle was burning, its flickering flame sending shadows racing up and down the jumbled heaps of books."Yessss? What do you require"?Omitting a...

Graphic Novel Review: White Shaka Boy by Alan Brody

Adam Klin Oron — Thu, 4 Sep 2008 08:56:14 EDT

White Shaka Boy attempts to tell us about an American white rapper reclaiming his ancestor's Zulu kingdom, but falls short of the mark.
In the 19th century, John Dunn, a white South African hunter, became quite a sensation when he was declared a 'White chief of the Zulu': the British gave him the largest piece of land of all thirteen chiefs of Zululand, and The New York Herald ran a piece on him in 1881.Over a hundred years later, Alan Brody, another South African -...

Graphic Novel Review: Boneyard - Volume One by Richard Moore

Adam Klin Oron — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:25:25 EDT

Supernatural creatures infest the pages of Richard Moore's Boneyard, and, yet, it's a funny, fun read.
Michael Paris thought he had a lucky break when he inherited some land from his grandfather. It was located in the remote town of Raven's Hollow, but that was okay. The municipality was eager to purchase the plot from Paris, and he was just as eager to sell.However, upon arriving in Raven's Hollow, Prais finds out a pall hangs over the...

Graphic Novel Review: The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

Adam Klin Oron — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:04:29 EDT

Bryan Talbot tells the story of a sexual abuse victim's struggle for recovery.
Most of the comics series published today revolve around superheros, with the occasional divergence towards science fiction, fantasy or horror. As a result, the vast majority of trade paperback collections are in these genres. Most graphic novels, on the other hand, are either autobiographies (Stuck Rubber Baby, Blankets and even, in a sense,...

Graphic Novel Review: Whiteout by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber

Adam Klin Oron — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:11:22 EDT

Greg Rucka writes and Steve Lieber illustrates the story of a murder at the bottom of the world, in frozen Antarctica.
In 1998, Oni press started publishing novelist Greg Rucka's first attempt at writing comics. This was, it turned out, the beginning of a leap forward in Rucka's career: while he was fairly successful and respected as a novelist, he was tremendously well-received in the comics field. Since then, Rucka has written known characters for Marvel and...