Book Review: Dream Daddy: A Dating Dad Simulator

Title(s): Dream Daddy: A Dating Dad Simulator
Author: Leighton Gray, Vernon Shaw, Wendy Xu, + many more
Genre: contemporary, romance, queer, graphic novel
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 128
Publication Date: May 14th, 2019

Synopsis (from goodreads):
Oni Press presents Dream Daddy, a comics series based on the acclaimed Game Grumps visual novel video game!

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator invites the player to Maple Bay, where they play as a single Dad new to town and eager to romance other hot Dads. The comic series tells five standalone stories, each focused on different Maple Bay Dads, their kids, and their relationships with one another. Dive into entirely new stories featuring the backstories and adventures of your favorite Dads, told by game co-creators Leighton Gray and Vernon Shaw, along with the comic industry's top indie talent like C. Spike Trotman, Josh Trujillo, and Kris Anka!

Review:
Disclaimer: received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I have to first say that I have no played the Dream Daddy game personally, though I have seen quite a few people playing it and I do own it. It looks amazing - just a bunch of queer dads living their best life - but normally when I set down to play a game I end up opening Stardew Valley or Sims 4 because I am nothing if not consistent (with games).

I've been watching Game Grumps for years, though, and still can't quite believe that these things are connected? Either way - this was something that I was so hyped about and excited about it.

To finally talk about this specific related content, however - I fucking loved it. It was amazing, so much fun and so... just so fun, I think that's the main thing about it. Even before I finished the first issue I knew I was going to love it.

This gives like an extra level to the characters and is just... honestly, it's just a bunch of queer people living life and that's something I always love to read/watch/anything.

I don't have much to say about this because, honestly, you need to just read it - even if you haven't played the game or even have knowledge of the game. I'd suggest reading this anyway - the whole plot of the game isn't important to know, just the basic plot and such would be helpful, and then you can enjoy these weird queer dudes getting up to nonsense.

If you've read this, please let me know. Also - if you've played the game, did you enjoy it as much as everyone else seems to have?

Happy reading!

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 Little Red Wolf

Title: The Little Red Wolf
Author: Amélie Fléchais
Genre: Fairy Tale (graphic novel, childrens)
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 80 pages
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2017*

Plot (from goodreads):
Lose yourself in in the dark forests of Amelie Flechais' spectacular artwork. A young wolf, on a journey to bring his grandmother a rabbit, is charmed by the nice little girl who offers to help him... but nice is not the same as good. A haunting fairy tale for children and adults alike.






Review:
Disclaimer: received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

First of all, the art in this is completely gorgeous, it's got a very unique style to and I loved it. I would probably buy a print of a few of the scenes. And I also loved the little wolf - he's adorable and so naive but in such a sweet way. It's definitely a fantastic twist on the classic Little Red Riding hood tale, which I need to read more of considering how much I love wolves.

Will probably end up picking up a copy of this for myself because it's adorable and the art is so good. It's too short, for my liking, but that is always always the case with graphic novels, they go by so fast.

To sum up: incredible art, adorable story (with an adorable tiny wolf), and check it out if you're into flipped Little Red Riding Hood stories.

Happy Reading!

*Goodreads has a lot of differing opinions, but I received it today in the mail (which is why this is going up later in the day then normal cause had it scheduled for later in the week) (NetGalley also has October 3rd, but *shrugs*)

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Comic Review: The Tea Dragon Society

Title(s): The Tea Dragon Society
Author: Emily O'Neill
Genre: Fantasy - Graphic Novel
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 72
Publication Date: October 31st, 2017

Disclaimer: ecopy provided in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.

Plot:
This is less then 80 pages, so I'm not going to say much, but I will say: tiny tea dragons, who get very attached to their owners. And are adorable.

Why can't I have a tea dragon?

Review:
I read the authors first graphic novel, Princess Princess Ever After, in 2016 I believe. And I loved the art, and the story, and it was just overall adorable. (it's f/f, and there's also a dragon but a bigger one).

This one I didn't read anything about before I picked it up. I saw someone post about reading it and thought the art style was familiar - alas, that's because it was - and ended up seeing when it came out, and then heading to NetGalley to see if I could snag it to read.

I don't normally do a full review for graphic novels - just because they're so short, so there isn't much to say before spoiling it - but this one was just so good, and so cute. First off, the art is gorgeous, as is the coloring. And I teared up at one point, because this is very much about loosing art forms because they take time. 

It's, also, however about tiny tea dragons. We start off with our main character rescuing one from dogs and bringing the poor thing back to it's owner, who offers to teach her the art of it since she's so enthralled with them. (have I mentioned tiny tea dragons? how couldn't you be enthralled with tiny tea dragons. I'm actually upset that I can't one day have one as a companion).

There's more I want to talk about, but I don't want to spoil anything. Like her first, this is also a queer book with an m/m couple, and the girls are young but I think it could be read as a crush or whatever (which is how I read it, just realized typing this that everyone might not read it that way).

Overall - I'd highly recommend checking this graphic novel out, along with her first one. They're gorgeous and heartwarming, but not in a pure fluff kind of way. 

2015 Favorites | Graphic Novels & Trades & Misc.

Part two, kind of, of my favorite books of 2015. Because, yes, I could definitely not choose just ten from all of the different categories. So I kind of split them up. The first post - fiction and non-fiction - this one with Trades and such, and then I'm planning on doing on about the single issues/running series I found or continued to love through out 2015. Now, let's just jump right in.

Trades

Trees, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, Jason Howard
I read this pretty early in 2015 and I'm still thinking about it, and also still excited about getting volume 2. I don't know what it is about this story or anything, but I just fucking loved it. I didn't know anything going into it, just the gorgeous cover, and that I'd liked something Ellis had written before. He's now an auto read/buy author, which is not a common thing for comic writers for me. To the point - this trade is incredible, and diverse, and I just can't recommend it enough.

Sex Criminals, Volume 2: Two Worlds, One Cup by Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky
These two. This comic. These two. If you haven't heard of Sex Criminals, basically it's about two people who, all their lives, have stopped time when they orgasmed. And then they meet each other and realize that each other can do the same thing. And then they decide to rob a bank. And then things get really fucking crazy. I so recommend this comic series, and the team of Fraction/Zdarsky does it so damn well. Definitely NSFW or kids, though, most of these aren't, honestly.

Locke and Key, Volumes 1 - 6 by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez
I am not technically including rereads in these favorites list - and volumes 1 to 3 in this series were this year - however this whole series was just so damn good I think it's fair to include all six. This is a story about a family that has a lot of problems, focusing on the three kids, and it's just damn amazing. You get so attached to the characters, and the world is one that you'd kind of want to be in, because of the keys. Highly, highly recommended.

Velvet, Volumes 1 + 2 by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Bettie Breitweiser
I'm not going to lie, I saw this was Brubaker and Epting, and bought volume one. I didn't know much about it going in, and was kind of blown away. I'm not sure why I loved both of these so damn much, it must just be a person taste kind of thing. They're about a women in the cold war who is a secretary at a government agency - I want to say CIA, but I don't think they say or I don't remember - but she isn't just a secretary. And she's badass and it's awesome, it's just so good. Probably not for everyone, but I was a fan.

Lady Killer, Volume 1 by Joëlle Jones, Jamie S. Rich
I saw this one too late to grab issue one, so I had to wait for the trade. It was definitely worth the wait, though. This is about a women in the sixties whose a housewife, a perfect one with the two kids and everything. However, she is also an assassin. (female assassins is just one of my things, apparently). This is so well done, though, the main character is fantastic, though I'm still not sure I like her. The art is gorgeous, especially how the blood is done. Also so damn highly recommended, all of these are.

Ms. Marvel, Volume Two: Generation Why & Volume Three: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona
I read volume 1 in 2014 - and I can't praise highly enough for this series, though I've sure you've heard about it. It's been everywhere, really, been spread far and wide on the bookternet. And it's just so damn good, I love Kamala so much as a character, and I just feel for her so much - even though her life is in no way the same as mine, but I just want good things for her. She's so great as a character.

Thor, Volume One: Goddess of Thunder & Thor, Volume Two: Who Holds the Hammer? by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman
As soon as I heard that this was happening, I wanted it, so much. I haven't read any pervious Thor stories, though I'm thinking of doing so before my Marvel Unlimited year runs out. This story line is so interesting, though - female Thor and what that means. And who she is. No spoilers, and don't go looking, because it is so worth not knowing.

Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick, David Lopez, Mario Takara
I read these a little out of order by accident - I read Volume One: Higher, Further, Faster, More (And Volume Two, Stay Fly) without realizing that there'd been series that DeConnick had been writing before it, but I did go back and read that (Volume One, In Pursuit of Flight). Regardless - I cannot recommend this series highly enough. DeConnick is a fantastic writer and Carol is such a fantastic character. The whole this is amazing, all of it. Read Captain Marvel.

Honorable mentions: Batgirl, Volume One: The Batgirl of Burnside, Brubaker's Cap run from Winter Soldier through Red Menace, Runaways, Complete Collection: Volume One, and Virgil

Miscellaneous

So I'm kind of cheating here - but these are some books that I just felt didn't fit on the general fiction/non-fiction list.

Above the Dreamless Dead: World War 1 in Poetry and Comics edited by Chris Duffy
I had never read any World War 1 poetry until this collection, and I'm not entirely sure why I decided to pick it up. I remember hearing some good things about it, and being intrigued, and then I had it and was reading it. It's gorgeously put together. It's also heart-wrenching and beautiful - the art aside for right now, the words are beautiful and horrible. I kind of want to reread it just talking about it, because it's been about a year now, and I also want to read more trench poetry, some of those were my favorites.

Mostrous Affections edited by Kelly Link
My first Kelly Link short story collection! This is some kind of monumental thing, right? I'm not sure what it was about this that I loved so much, but I did. I wrote up a full thing on Goodreads, and I definitely want to reread this one, and read more of Kelly's collections - just her and others.

No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay
Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet, so reading her poems was a little strange - though, I did end up reading them out loud to myself. Either way, I highly suggest her in general. I did a whole post about spoken word and slam poetry, but you can also just type her name into youtube.

The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente
My first book by this wonderful author and I just loved the whole thing. I'm not entirely sure why, but I did, it was just plain incredible. Magical realism but also so much more then that, highly recommended if you're into that kind of thing. So damn good.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
To be honest, I was just going to put this in with the fiction, but it just didn't feel like it went with the other things over there. And I want back and forth, but it's here now. This book hurt, I'm not entirely sure why, but it did. It was incredible, but it also just hurt and was hard to read. And I already want to reread it.

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink, Jeffery Cranor
I've been listening to the podcast since... 2012? That's when it started, so I guess it couldn't of been earlier then that. I think just a few episodes after it started. And there's been multiple points when I've fallen behind, but it's just so damn good, I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend this book, because it's so different then what the podcast is, though there's the same atmosphere and feeling, also small tastes of what the podcast episode would be. Highly recommended - book and podcast.

And I think that's it - would love to hear your thoughts. Your favorites or if you've read any of these, or would like to. Let me know!

2015 Favorites | General Fiction and Non-Fiction

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.

Graphic Novel Review: The Lightning Thief

Book: The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure (middle-grade)
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 128
Favorite Character: uh, well, Percy, obviously. And Grover, love Grover, and Annabeth.

Plot: (From Goodreads)
After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

Review:
This was obviously a very popular book series, and the whole series is out and I've loved the whole thing. I was surprised when I saw this in the bookstore, I hadn't known about any graphic novel activity, but I had to pick it up, it looked too good not to.

And it was really good. I loved the images for some of the places, though, some stuff was cut out of it. It was extremely important, stuff, I guess but I still loved some of those scenes. I was just glad it was better then the movie. Some of the people looked off, like Clarisse looked a little too big like she was on steroids, an Annabeth's face looked off and her hair looked like a wig.

It was good overall, though. I'd recommend it if you've read the books. I loved this series and I love seeing anything else surrounding it. The Heroes of Olympus series has already become one of my favorites. (According to Goodreads The Sea of Monsters: The Graphic Novel comes out September 4th! I can't wait, these are so much fun).