Graphic Novel Review: What Does Consent Really Mean?

Title(s): What Does Consent Really Mean?
Author: Pete Wallis, Thalia Walls, +
Genre: contemporary / self-help
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 64 pages
Publication Date: November 21st, 2017

Review:
A comic about exactly what it says - What Does Consent Really Mean? It's a question brought up in the comic between three teenage girls - I think they're suppose to be high school age? probably 16-18 - about what consent really means, talking it out amongst themselves.

This is definitely super important and I feel like it covered a lot of bases very well - not all the bases, but there are so many layers I can't be surprised about that. I was a bit worried going in since the first person listed is a man - I know there are problems there as well but... - but I was honestly really pleasantly surprised.

To be fair, though, I knew nothing but that going in.

Pros:
- diversity (characters)
- covered different POV's
- educational
- no slut shaming (that isn't pushed against)

Cons:
- read like an afternoon TV special at a few points
- didn't feel like some of the guys really understood fully? (this might of just been me, but if you've read/end up picking up, let me know your thoughts)

That con isn't even that bad, but it is why I couldn't give it a full 5 stars. But I think this is a truly important comic and it's good it's finally out. Especially that we got to see the guys confronting their own toxic thought cycles - ahh, the way people want to seem cool, just making us hurt ourselves, really.

Overall, I'd recommend this for, well, anyone. For classrooms - even for middle school, to be honest, because there can already be those ideas forming about who they should/shouldn't be with people - and libraries, of course. But also just for people. If you've got a son or daughter, especially, I hope you borrow or buy this for them. Let me know that their wants matter, and that not saying yes is not consent.

Graphic Novel Review: The Preacher: Book One

Title: The Preacher: Book One
Author: Garth Ennis
Genre: Comic/Graphic Novel, Horror, Supernatural/Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 352 (Paperback)
Publication Date: June 18th, 2013 (this redone edition)
Original Pub Date: March 1st, 1996

Plot: (from Goodreads)
One of the most celebrated comics titles of the late 1990s, PREACHER is a modern American epic of life, death, love and redemption also packed with sex, booze, blood and bullets - not to mention angels, demons, God, vampires and deviants of all stripes.

At first glance, the Reverend Jesse Custer doesn't look like anyone special-just another small-town minister slowly losing his flock and his faith. But he's about to come face-to-face with proof that God does indeed exist. Merging with a bizarre spiritual force called Genesis, Jesse now possesses the power of "the Word," an ability to make people do whatever he utters. He begins a violent and riotous journey across the country in search of answers from the elusive deity.

Review:
Okay, first off, there's a few things you should probably know about this book. I saw someone comment that the reasons people hated and loved these books were the same, and I actually agree with that. Basically, if you can't read about, or just don't like, violence, gore, and are offended by religious things being twisted and turned then this isn't for you.

However, if that sounds awesome to you, like it did to me, then you're going to love this book. This book is full of those things and it is honestly pretty graphic at points, there's quite a bit of blood. And there were plot twists I just plainly didn't see coming. I didn't actually really know what to expect going into this book, except basically what I've told you (I didn't, actually, even read the plot synopsis), I just knew that it sounded like a lot of fun. If a very weird, bloody ride.

And it was.

This book has some great characters. There's a preacher from Texas, a kickass women from his past, and a vampire called Cassidy. Odd reading about someone with a same name, even though it wasn't my first, and I liked him - he was awesome (also, it's said he's Irish, so we'd be related somehow, if he wasn't, you know, fictional).

This graphic novel had twists and turns that I never saw coming, like I said. And it did really kept me on my toes, and that's something I really enjoyed, being so surprised. The plot to this is much more interesting then I expected and I'm sure it just gets more crazy as the books progress, and I can't wait to continue on with this series. (I hope it gets more crazy).

And, on how it looked, it looked really good, I enjoyed the art and the colors. It was pretty straight forward and the colors felt dark, it really fit the whole plot, at least in my opinion. As you can tell, I didn't really have really any problems with this book, but I do feel like at points it was a little pointlessly offensive and that one of the twists literally came out of nowhere. And I guess we weren't learning a lot until then to begin in, but it still felt like a very sudden full one eighty to what'd been going on.

I'd recommend this, specifically, to people who like Supernatural (though it twists angels and god even more then that did, which was so interesting), or just people who find angels and lore like that interesting. Or, plainly, if you like violence and gore, there's quite a bit of that like I've said already.