Author: Gene Ambaum

738 results.

Graphic Novel Review: The Grande Odalisque and Olympia

By Gene Ambaum on February 4, 2020 at 11:27 am

The Grande Odalisque by Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vives, and Jérome Mulot. Europe Comics, 2018. 124pp. http://www.europecomics.com/album/the-grande-odalisque/ The Grande Odalisque: Olympia by Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vives, and Jérome Mulot. Europe Comics, 2018. 135pp. http://www.europecomics.com/album/2-olympia/ Carol and Alex are daring art thieves who bring on a third partner, Sam, to help them pull off their most daring job yet — stealing The Grande Odalisque (a painting) from the Louvre in broad daylight. The action sequences are some of the best you’ll see in comics, and Mulot and Ruppert add absurd touches that made me laugh. On of my favorites is in the opening pages of the first book, when Alex is distracted because she’s getting dumped while she’s supposed to be helping Carol escape from a museum. There’s also a lot of humorous dialogue, mostly about sex and relationships. Fun stuff. In the sequel, the thieves run into problems with a mafia boss who demands they steal three paintings in one night. […]

Alternate version of 675

By Gene Ambaum on February 3, 2020 at 10:06 am

Willow and I had a misunderstanding about 675. I thought it was about a guy who thought he heard the phone ringing (something that’s happening to me personally more and more often when I work the reference desk), she thought it was about a guy who was actually hearing ringing (and that Grant was just being a bit of a jerk, since there’s some precedent for that).  Here’s a link to the version I intended, and below is how Willow saw it. -Gene

Graphic Novel Review: The Man Who Came Down The Attic Stairs by Celine Loup

By Gene Ambaum on January 30, 2020 at 11:10 am

The Man Who Came Down The Attic Stairs by Celine Loup. Archaia, 2019. 9781684153527. 48pp. Publisher’s Rating: Suggested for Mature Readers. After moving into a new house and giving birth to Roslin, Emma is overwhelmed. Her daughter won’t stop screaming, and it’s not colic — she’s frightened. Emma’s husband Thomas never complains, but he has changed. Emma’s not sure who he is, and she’s afraid that he’s a danger to the baby. This horror story’s black and white images fully convey everything Emma feels and experiences. Highly recommended, but not for kids.

Graphic Novel Review: Creation by Sylvia Nickerson

By Gene Ambaum on January 28, 2020 at 12:15 pm

Creation by Sylvia Nickerson. Drawn & Quarterly, 2019. 9781770463776. 192pp. A new mother (an artist) reflects on living and creating in Hamilton, Ontario — “known as the armpit of Ontario…” — a city struggling through a transition from it’s industrial past. Gentrification is underway, there’s a lot of poverty, people are being displaced and excluded. Even though art is reinvigorating the neighborhood, the artist’s studio used to be cheap, substandard housing. Is she part of the problem? Motherhood isn’t quite the overwhelmingly hopeful, joy-filled time it’s normally presented as in the media, but it tilts toward joy. Somehow so does life in the imperfect city. Nickerson’s black, white and gray art suits the setting — it feels a bit hazy, like the pollution from the dead factories is still hanging about. She illustrates Hamilton’s neighborhoods with more detail than the people in it, though she’s able to invest everyone she draws, even when she uses only a few lines, with […]

Graphic Novel Review: Captive of Friendly Cove: Based on the Secret Journals of John Jewett by Rebecca Goldfield and Mike Short

By Gene Ambaum on January 23, 2020 at 11:13 am

Captive of Friendly Cove: Based on the Secret Journals of John Jewett by Rebecca Goldfield and Mike Short. Fulcrum, 2015. 9781936218110. 162pp including a list of commonly spoken words in the Nootkan language. This graphic novel is based on the experience of sailor and blacksmith John Jewett, who lived for years as a captive of the Mowachaht people on Vancouver Island between 1803 and 1805. After the ship he was on, the Boston, arrived to trade in Friendly Cove, the ship’s captain insulted the local chief, Maquinna. His men later returned and slaughtered the crew, sparing the lives of Jewett because of his skills, and Thompson, because Jewett claimed he was Jewett’s father. After the ship’s goods were distributed at a potlatch and the ship burned, the men’s hope for rescue faded and they make a life for themselves, with Jewett creating jewelry, tools, and weapons. Overall they lived as well as their captors, and they come to understand how […]

Graphic Novel Review: Taxi!: Stories from the Back Seat by Aimée de Jongh

By Gene Ambaum on January 21, 2020 at 10:48 am

Taxi!: Stories from the Back Seat by Aimée de Jongh. Conundrum, 2019. 9781772620399. 96pp. Taxi rides in four cities (Paris, Jakarta, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.) give de Jongh the chance to learn something about her drivers and to reveal a bit about herself. All of the rides are fascinating in their own way, though my favorites are probably the one in L.A. (it begins badly, but she manages to save it) and her ride in Jakarta, which starts out very out of control but ends with a deep, unexpected connection of the sort that I’ve only ever experienced far from home. This memoir is the result of de Jongh’s graphic novel The Return of the Honey Buzzard having led to a lot of international travel. ( Blossoms in Autumn is excellent, too.) This is a simple, somewhat indirect and brilliant memoir. De Jongh’s art is, as always, stunning.

Guest Review: Tiger vs Nightmare by Emily Tetri

By Gene Ambaum on January 18, 2020 at 10:55 am

Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri. First Second, 2018. 978-1626725355. 65 pp. In this graphic novel for children, readers learn Tiger is lucky, so lucky that she has loving parents who dote on their only cub, a warm house, and any and all of the food she desires — not just raw meat- but exotic, homemade dishes. She also has a monster for her best friend. Monster lives in her bedroom,  eats dinner with Tiger, and stays up all night to combat any and all of the nightmares Tiger may have. Most of the time, Monster has no issue keeping watch so Tiger sleeps safely.  Unfortunately,  Tiger has “one of those days” that ensures a restless night. Monster vows to take his guard duties even more seriously than usual. When Nightmare shows up, Monster cannot scare him off. The two friends will have to work together to defeat Nightmare. This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel for kids that even […]

Graphic Novel Review: Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes & Zosia Dzierzawska

By Gene Ambaum on January 16, 2020 at 10:36 am

Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes & Zosia Dzierzawska. Nobrow, 2019. 9781910620434. 155pp. including biographies of everyone involved and a bibliography. Eileen Gray was an artist, designer, and the architect best known for the now-famous house she created for her lover, architect Jean Badovici, on the coast in the South of France in the 1920s and early 1930s. This graphic novel is a biographical sketch centered around her work on that house, known as E-1027. It also includes scenes of her childhood, of her studying lacquerwork, and of other friendships, but her relationship with Badovici is at the center of the narrative. It’s clear he doesn’t understand her, and that costs him their relationship after he allows another architect to ruin E-1027 for Gray. I have a minor interest in architecture and had never heard of Gray. I picked up this book because everything Nobrow publishes deserves a look, and I’m so glad I did. This […]

Graphic Novel Review: Bezkamp by Samuel Sattin and Jen Hickman

By Gene Ambaum on January 14, 2020 at 10:49 am

Bezkamp by Samuel Sattin and Jen Hickman. Lion Forge / ROAR, 2019. 9781549304040. 251pp. In one of the narratives of this graphic novel, a teenage girl, Janny, survives with the help/companionship of a small, winged alien. Giant, fanged and thorny creatures abound, and she soothes some of them with music. On another part of the alien planet, near the village of Bezkamp, Nem collects forbidden technological artifacts. The land and its people are threatened by corruption, a kind of poison or sickness which is dealt with by Nem’s father and aunts, warriors who also keep the village safe from the monsters beyond their borders. Nem is no warrior, and after his father blames him for another’s death, things heat up between them. Nem lacks rage and fire, doesn’t follow the rules of Bezkamp, and doesn’t want to be a warrior. After his father finds Nem’s collection of artifacts, he takes Nem out beyond Bezkamp’s borders to test him. Nem will […]

Book Review: The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds

By Gene Ambaum on January 9, 2020 at 12:02 pm

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds. Gollancz, 2007. 9780575078185. 410pp. I’ve been looking for a go-to space opera series since Iain M. Banks died, and I think I finally found it with the help of JB at BLMF books. (This bookstore is hidden in the bowels of Seattle’s Pike Place Market, but so worth finding if you’re looking for something to read.) JB said that where Banks is whimsical, Reynolds is brutal. Music to my ears. The book did not disappoint. Ten thousand human habitats (the Glitter Band) orbit a star far from Earth. They’re utopian societies of a sort (some are disastrous) that participate in a democracy maintained by agents of the Panoply, a kind of military/police force. At the beginning of the book, Prefect Tom Dreyfus, with the help of his deputies, is investigating a subversion of the democratic process, but soon he has bigger problems to investigate — a habitat has been destroyed. Evidence points to it having […]