1. Devon Bamfield

2. This novel is a compilation of short stories. The author says her comics are based on the lives that her and her friends lead, however she says she twisted the stories into a more idealistic way. You can really see this theme come out in her stories. The comics themselves are filled with oodles of fantastic and strange characters many of which resemble something you would see in the Adam’s family. Mermaids, siamese twins, a wolf, and mad scientists just make up some of the outrageous characters in the book.  The novel follows a Victorian gothic theme with a strange yet interesting story. The stories have comedy and horror at the same time, which is a pretty strange combination. The story that stuck with me the most was the first one. I think this is because it was my first impression of the book. It is about a machine called The Juicing Machine that everyone wants a turn at. One man tries with everything he has to get his turn, but he does not succeed. While a family with twin girls (named Petussus and Rosechia) don’t even seem to try, but win a turn on The Juicing Machine. This gives you a better feel for her twisted sense of humor and crazy story lines. 

3. The artwork is extremely detailed. The medium used was pen and ink and she really takes advantage of the hatching and cross hatching technique. While the only colors used were black and white they were so detailed that they kept your attention. After reading for a while you did not even notice what color it was because it almost came to life in your mind. The pictures themselves were realistic however they were simplified. The novel is very imaginative and contains many things that are not real, such as the juicing machine and talking animals. 

4. The author explains in the Introduction that the story is inspired by her real life with some possible fantasies, wishes, or desires thrown in with it.  She mentions that many characters are loosely based on friends or people she knew. I think she does this as a way to fulfill her fantasies that she was not able to fulfill at that point in her life. Another possibility is that she wanted a way to document her life. So she can look back and read these stories and remember what events inspired them or how she felt at that moment in her life. 

5. I think one of the major strengths of this book are the pictures, or comics. They almost tell the story themselves and I would often catch myself going through without reading the words, but still understanding the story completely. I think this is something that many comic artists try to achieve, but not everyone can. There is minimal text, which I think allows you to kind of write your own story and imagine for yourself what else may be happening. Another thing I really liked was that it was a compilation of short stories. It is not a book that you have to sit down and take a lot of time to read. You can just flip it open whenever you have a free moment and read one of the short stories in just a few minutes. It was easy to follow and an enjoyable read.

6. Overall, I found this novel to be pretty well put together. If I had to choose a weakness it would be that some of the stories are not as strong as others. Some of them have a big impact on you while others leave you completely confused. I definitely think that the good ones outweighed the bad and that it was worth reading. 

7. This book would be good for anyone in high school up to someone in their mid 20’s. A lot of the stories in here geared more toward a younger generation and I do not know if others could relate if they are passed that age bracket. I also think it could be a little inappropriate for younger people since it is a sort of dark comic.

8. Dame Darcy has contributed and written many books and comics. Some of the most famous graphic novels she has done include Frightful Fairytales, Dame Darcy’s Meatcake Compilation, The Illustrated Jane Eyre, Dollerium, Comic Book Tattoo, and Gasoline.

9. I would give this novel 4 out of 5 stars, but don’t take my word for it. 

1. Rachel Bowen 
2. I Want You #2 by Lisa Hanawalt is a graphic novel that is somewhat confusing to grasp.  Hanawalt doesn’t include a specific story line, which made me wonder what she was thinking and wanted to get across.  She has this imagination that just doesn’t end.  It’s almost as if she thinks of the most repulsive things possible and includes them in this adult graphic novel to appear as a variety of comic strips.  Animals are used as characters quite a bit throughout this novel and given human characteristics.  Hanawalt’s novel is very unorganized and is hard to follow because of the random comic strips or stories that are placed throughout in no particular order, or one that I just don’t understand as a reader.  In the novel, she places different comics that have a “how to” theme to them.  For example, there are illustrations titled, “How To Get a Haircut and How To Ruin a Yoga Class.”  There are also illustrations that classify different things such as “Bad Pets”, “Things To Pack in Your Road Trip Toolbox” and then Hanawalt adds her creative and, as some would say, inappropriate spin on them. 
3.  This novel seems to be drawn by hand and in all black and white except for the front and back covers.  The illustrations look as if they were drawn in pen and most of them aren’t colored in.  This allows for the book to have a sort of coloring book feel to it.  However, there are a few illustrations that are filled in.  Although there is no color, there is quite a bit of a texture look added to the illustrations.  The author also seems to balance all of her illustrations out pretty well and use up as much space as possible.  
4.  I believe that Hanawalt wanted to take us on a journey through her crazy and crude mind and humor us.  She seems to want to make us feel like a kid again when reading this but that doesn’t quite work because of the explicit elements on every page.  Through that, Hanawalt definitely provides contrast.  She also seems to want to provoke discomfort because of the large amount of explicit stories and pictures displayed throughout the novel.  I feel as though many people could feel offended and/or get extremely uncomfortable when reading this book.
5.  I think that Hanawalt is extremely talented in her illustrations.  All are very precise and detailed.  This impresses me even without color in them.  She also, no doubt, has a crazy imagination.  I have no idea how or why she would come up with the things in this graphic novel.  I can say that I haven’t thought of most of these things and wouldn’t expect to be reading about them for a class.  My first gut reaction to this book was shock.  I wasn’t expecting from the description of this novel for it to be like this.  I also thought that it was extremely unorganized in the way that it was written and put together.  It’s very difficult to find a pattern and causes for a difficult read.
6. I feel as though this book could have been more appropriate.  I don’t get uncomfortable easily but this was just a little bit over the top in my opinion.  Her illustrations are amazing and some of the stories within the novel could be just as funny without the added explicit content.  I also think that it could be better organized so that a theme could be discovered.  I ended up flipping around a lot when reading this because of the lack of order in it. 
7. I would definitely recommend this book to people 18 years of age and up.  I would also recommend it to people with a big imagination and large sense of humor.  It’s a novel that some will find absolutely brilliant and hilarious, and some will be shocked and offended by it’s contents. 
8. Lisa Hanawalt also has a book called; I Want You, which preceded I Want You #2.  She also has a website, lisahanawalt.com, where she posts different comics, illustrations, and sells other short graphic novels as well. 
9. Finally, I would rate this book a 2/5 because of her drawing abilities but not for the content. 

1. Brian Jackson
2. In this story book the author went all over the place with different types of comics that each had their own unique story. There were things like advertisements for people to come chop of a males penis, to fictional history of sex holes and sex blimps. Throughout the book reoccurring characters would show up like, snake and bacon also another recurring character was cousin grandpa and Jesus half brother Pagus. throughout the whole book there really wasn’t any sense of plot or direction to me but the chapters were set up by adults only, kids only, and old people only. Some of the stories seemed to be serious while others seemed to be off the wall crazy.  At some points the author would start talking about the author which was interesting. there were males females, villains, super heroes, gum, bacon, cats dogs, every type of talking fruit you could think of in this book.
3. In this comic like drawing book the central idea seemed to be all over the place and it was any differnt with the art work featured. There were times when the artist would be very descriptive with his art work like in the advertisement for sidafexil, the product that gives you more side effects than the original problem. compared to pieces like Johnny Silhouette. whose who comics are a bunch of silhouettes bunching up together. All of the authors pieces was drawings in some way, but varied from realistic to abstract each story. Just as i said before the author wanted to seem all over the place and crazy and he didn’t fall short with his artwork.
4. The title off the book itself really sums up what the book is trying to accomplish, tales designed to thrizzle is exactly what it is. I feel that the author was trying to be amusing at some parts and other parts trying to push the boundaries of typical novels. I found my self laughing at some parts while others I was to impressed. sometimes it didn’t even make sense to me but I found my self laughing anyway. there were times the author was making fun of society and others where he was making fun of himself. I feel that this books importance is to not to take life so seriously, I feel that this book does that very well.
5. I think that the biggest strength of this book is its total randomness. I feel that because it was so random that it made myself want to read it more and more. I found myself laughing and wanting more at the end. I feel like this is a strength because i don’t think that i would have normally picked a book like this and i already had by presumptions, but once reading they all went out the door. the other strength that I like was the artistic abilities with some of the drawings. they were very descriptive and funny.
6. There were times that I wished the book had more of a plot to it and I seemed to be wanting more than there really was. some of the comics did not make sense to me and I may have been missing the point. I feel on some of the comics the author could have elaborated on topics but than again it may have taken away from everything.
7. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TO LITTLE KIDS! This book is generally for college kids and above. throughout the whole book the author uses phrases and gestures that are probably only suitable for older age groups. I don’t think that i would recommend to people over 38 just because the humor may be mistaken for stupidity and that is not whats going on in the book. I feel that this book would be good for any gender in that age groups, there is something for everyone. I think that is why I liked it some much.
8. One book that seemed intersesting to me after reading a book from this author would be,Your Disgusting Head: The Darkest, Most Offensive and Moist Secrets of Your Ears, Mouth and Nose, just becasue of the name of the the book. it seemed it could be funny and entertaining. who moved my soap also seems that it could be funny.
9. I give this book a 4.3/5 star rating.
10. look what i came across in the library! hahaha

1. Robert Lee Stih

2. A summary of the story is there is a man named Mr. Natural, he is said to be psychic because he can read what people are thinking and feeling. Mr. Natural meets with a man named Flankey Foont, He is a young man that lives in the city of San Francisco and he looks to Mr. Natural for advice about his problems. Throughout the book Mr. Natural plays pranks on Flankey that make him seem like a fool, and these pranks continue to happen to Flankey of which Flankey eventually gets Mr. Natural thrown into prison for being mentally unstable, but of course Mr. Natural escapes and surprises Flankey 10 years later to ‘cause more chaos in his life. In addition to Mr. Natural’s return Flankey falls in love with a women nicknamed “Devil Girl.”  An example of some topics that would be involved with the story to show the humor would be when Mr. Natural told Flankey Foont, in order to fix his problem he should take LSD, stand on his head, and shit. Another thing that happened throughout the book involving “Devil Girl” that made me think Crumb could be sexually unfair towards women because he took the devil girl, and stuffed her head inside her torso. Mr. Natural went on to tell Flankey he did this because he found another brain in her ass, and this brain was more understanding and agreeable with others, and doing so he assured Flankey that this would be better for the both of them so they would not have to hear the “Devil Girl” scream and yell at them any longer.

3. The artwork featured in the book is very graphic, showing nudity and sexual acts. The utensil used to make the artwork is an ink pen. Some of the pictures throughout the book are very abstract often guessing what some of the pictures are, in one scene there was a family of African Americans stealing money from a homeless man meditating, but what gets me is the artist makes the family look like monkeys. Which leads me to think throughout the story the artist could be a little racist. 

4. What I personally think the artist’s intention was towards the book is to get people not to listen to everything a psychic or therapist says to do because they can be very exaggerated and that can end up bad. Also, another action that was hinted throughout the book was not to take life to serious just live life to the fullest so you can look back in the future and be happy with what you accomplished.

5. The biggest strengths in book have to be the humor that is involved with the drawings. The humor is very dry and really makes you think about what point R. Crumb is trying to get across to the reader. Another interesting point that I enjoyed was the sexual references, whether it is through the text or in the pictures. An example of some humor would be how Mr. Natural instructs Flankey Foont to get out of his bathtub, because he has been there for weeks, and then Flankey turns his bath tub into a car and drives to Mr. Natural to surprise him. This is why this book was so interesting to me because of the dry humor that is involved.

6. Some weaknesses that I noticed with the book were sometimes the story really dragged on and repeated itself a lot. However, a way to improve on this would be to shorten some of the stories that are involved and to have a little more action in the drawings. 

7. I would recommend this book to college students, because of all the sexual references that come up throughout the book and the drawings. 

8. Anther book that was just released by R. Crumb is “White Man Meets Bigfoot.” After just reading the first 5 pages and seeing the cover it looks like it would be another great, funny read.

9.  I give this book a solid rating of 4.

1. Kaitlyn Pitre

2. This book is a dream diary. Over a period of time Jesse has collected multiple dreams from across the globe from strangers and he has taking those dreams and has created a four panel interpretation of each of those individual dreams.  All dreams in this book are interesting and unique. The point of view of the story is told by Jesse through his dream subjects.

3. The artwork featured in this book was subconscious roughage. All the material was subjected from the unique individuals that told their stories to Jesse. The media that was used to make these drawings was ink. The general style of the book are abstract, however, there is realistic qualities to the dreams. The characters themselves are simplified as well as their surroundings. The tones of the book ranged from light to dark. All these panels are dreamlike as they are interpreted from dreams. I think the most important element of these panel drawings is the line and the volume of each line, they tell a story.  The graphic novel is not in color there’s just the page and the ink on the page that makes the dream come alive. One of the most important elements of comic strips is “the gutter” the space in between the panels. The gutter does not contain writing or in image it just separates the moments. The way this book is written these gutters separate moments leaving out details in-between what is going on and I think the intention of Jesse was to have us create our own little moment to moment story in-between what was on the page. We take what we have learned through our experiences and form closure to the fragmented pictures and words contained in the story.

4. I think Jesse’s intention of this book was to create amusement that was both entertaining and humorous for the readers. The only intention of this book to create emotions was used to depict and capture the characters emotions as to what was going on with them and nothing more. There is no main idea to this book; all it is is a four panel dream story. If Jesse had any intention of challenging his readers the challenge would be on whose dream is the oddest, craziest and most unrealistic. To me this whole book is a parody of reality, that’s the point of dreams. If Jesse’s intention was to provide contrast then the only contrasting of the book would be reality verse dreams or to compare the various dreams that you will read in the 255 pages. I think the value of the book is for mere entertainment.

5. The biggest strengths of this book are Jesse’s supreme skills of artistry at capturing the facial expressions of his characters. As you are reading the book the facial expressions go along perfectly with the words and you will once or twice catch yourself with a similar facial expression. So I would say the drawings are the major influence and power of this book. This is defiantly a unique book! The stories are in four panels, just one page. Also each page is unique to its individual so you will be reading 255 pages of continuously new stories.  The form/ style of the book I would have to say does seem to synchronize well the content and meaning of the dreams. My first reaction to this book was disgust. I couldn’t understand how anybody could find these panels humorous or even intelligent.  The basic structure and transition of the book is all the same, four panels of a moment to moment scene, the dreams end leaving you thinking “well that was odd!” However, you remember that this book is filled with dreams and dreams are just fragments of your imagination and are unrealistic and usually don’t make sense so then you end up appreciating what just happened.

6. The biggest problem for me was the book was in four panels. When I read a book I want to read something that has substance to it and I felt that a story that is only a few words in a four panel transition does not give me the satisfaction that I would have if I was reading something other than a graphic novel. I am one to also like color. I think color is beauty and this book just seemed to lack the excitation that I would have if the book were in color. If I were to have created this book instead of making individuals dreams and creating them in only four panels, I would have made a collage of all the dreams and made it into one big story/ dream. 

7. If I were to recommend this book to anyone I would recommend it to high-school and above. I think a child may not understand the four panel theme and I think some of the content in the book is for a more mature group. I think the book is gender neutral. I probably wouldn’t pass it along to a family or friend personally because I myself found no interest in the book; it’s not my kind of style. I can imagine people who would love to read about dreams or finding humor in the strangest things loving this book. For me I had a hard time connecting to the book or appreciating the content of the dreams, they were so strange and odd to me. I can imagine people who are more serious and do not pick out the little things that could be humorous objecting the book. I would not be surprised if anybody rejected the book the stories are so odd.

8. Other books by the author include, Dreamtoons.

9. 

1. Malcolm Bingham
2. This novel is a collection of comic strip works done by Chris Ware. The book spans from a 1994 introducing the focus of the book Jimmy Corrigan, to Ware’s 2010 comic Jordan Lint. Throughout this novel the reader is given a shameless look into Ware’s early life, experiences and problems. The book includes Jimmy Corrigan, Big Tex, Rocket Sam, Rusty Brown, Tales from the Future, Quimby the Mouse, Building Stories, Branford, and Jordan Lint.  While most of the works come from life experiences, I find the Jimmy Corrigan comics particularly interesting and insightful into Ware’s personal life. The collection in its entirety can be summed up as Wares thoughts into his life, his surrounding with a slight look into the future. I find it incredible the way Ware can describe his youth with out placing his own knowledge as an adult into the work. This allows the reader to view the event as he did, without the sometimes bias adult spin.
3. The book is filled with amazing artwork to visual describe his events. The art work is most comic strip, featuring drawings and what appears to be watercolor. The art in this book could be described as the main character due to the fact is vital to the book. Ware’s use of slightly abstricity allows the reader to feel how he felt, and view life as he was at the time. The artwork is mostly expressionistic and sometimes drifts from dreamlike to realistic. Overall Ware does a magnificient job using his artwork to convey to his audience his emotions, as well as envoke emotions in them
4. In my opinion the authors purpose for this collection was to show what made him the man he is today. The novel is somewhat biograhical in the sense that so much of it is from his experiences that I feel compelled to feel this way. I feel that each of his comics in this particular library is meant to give the reader a glimpse into the mind of Chris Ware and gain an understand of him in total. Another reason I feel the book was create was to invoke truth in the viewers. I feel the Chris Ware describes his sometimes embarrassing past in order to show that its ok to have problems.
5. I think the biggest strength of this novel is its artwork. The message is great, and it invokes thought, however I dont see this book being nearly as emotion-envoking without the great visual display of feelings. The art really allows the reader to get inside the mind of the reader, without being overly bias, which furthered my experiences with the book. The overall style of his artwork, from box to box, in combination with the artwork itself made this book a great read.
6. I think the problems with this book could be in the over personalization of the book. The book sticks to problems of Ware and gloomyness, without encompasssing any overall happy stories. This is not a problem to me, overall I felt the book was done well, however this could discourage some people from reading it. Also I feel that the book was rather short and could have included more Chris Ware works.
7. I would recommend this book to people of all size, races, and genders over the age of 15. I believe everyone can relate to the emotions enfused into this novel. Also the comic-book nature of it invites the younger audience to give it a read. Also I think for older readers it can take you back to a place once forgotten, and let you feel young again. I think everyone faces problems in life and this book would be great for anyone.
8. This book has insipired me to look into more critical thinking comic books. I think it would do any reader of this book great justice to check out more of the Acme Novelty Libraries, as this is #20 of the collection. Asside from finding Chris Ware’s indivual comic releases, I also think that The Comics of Chris Ware: Drawing is a Way of Thinking is another awesome visual collection of Chris Ware works.
9. I Rate this book a 4.6/5

1. Emmy Elliott

2. This graphic novel is about a mediocre, simple character, named Alex, who is heartbroken and in search of a more exciting life. His best friend Claude is an upbeat, likeable, and caring guy who wants to help Alex move on from his ex-girlfriend. Claude goes on a trip for two weeks and asks Alex to come by to his apartment and water his plants while he is away. While Alex is watering the plants he notices a dark and shadowy figure in a nearby apartment window.  He doesn’t think much of it until he meets up with Claude at his apartment later in the week.   When Alex arrives to welcome Claude home from his trip, he finds him murdered in his apartment. Alex is in complete shock. Why would someone murder his friend? Before he even has time to think about the reasons behind his friends abrupt and tragic death, the police arrive banging on the door.  Alex flees the scene of the crime, in an effort to protect himself from being accused of the murder. He isn’t captured but his picture is posted all over the town and news. He is now a convict on the run and is taken in by a complete stranger named Geraldine. Geraldine was abused and left by her husband; leaving her with her daughter, Sandra. Although Geraldine has been through much heartache, she is an unconditionally kind and caring person who only wants to help Alex through the chaotic situation that he found himself in. The two worked together to research the murder and found out that earlier in the week, someone had been murdered in the apartment across the street in an act of revenge. Alex connected the dots to realize that the man in the window he had seen while watering Claude’s plants was the murderer and that he was trying to get rid of any witnesses. He mistook Claude for Alex and Alex was left to clean up the pieces and clear his own record. The book reaches its climax when Sandra is held hostage with the murderer who demands to meet with Alex face to face. The ending takes a surprise twist that will leave you thinking of the message and the relation of the characters to your own life.  This book focuses on what it means to live and what you do in your life that defines who you are. Alex is constantly asking others “How many stories do you have to tell at parties?” He is focused on leading a life that is exciting not only to him, but the important people in his life as well. It is a common feeling that we as humans have of feeling incomplete and that where ever we are, we find ourselves looking out the window wishing we were somewhere else. It also focuses on the theme of loss; not just of physical things such as Alex losing his best friend and his girlfriend, Geraldine losing her husband, and Sandra losing her father, but also on losing memories and time. The title “Why Are You Doing This” relates back to Alex’s relationship with Geraldine. She knows that he is wanted for murder and she still takes him in and helps him in a way he never thought of asking for. He asks her “why are you doing this?” Geraldine responds “Isn’t that what people do?”  It is a universal truth that these acts of kindness are viewed as shocking which forces us to ask ourselves the question why is it so shocking when we come across someone who is nice just for the sake of it and doesn’t have other motives?

3. The artwork in this book is in ink and is Jason’s first full color graphic novel. He uses a dull color scheme that adds an air of somberness to the novel. He purposefully used a simple and elementary style of rendering to get his message across to the audience.  There is also use of silhouettes and an oversimplification of the characters themselves. The main characters are all a hybrid of a dog head and a human-like body. I think that he purposefully makes these figures in a way that we can relate to them and form an attachment, like we would with a human or dog.  These abstract creatures are also showed with little facial expressions and the only way we can tell who they are is by reading the text to go along with it. The overall artwork and scenery in the novel is minimalistic and simplified which makes the novel easy and enjoyable to read. Jason used some lines for the scenery but his characters were filled in with very little detail. In my opinion he does this to make the characters more relate-able and universal. The shapes he uses are basic shapes that appear to have been drawn with a quick hand in a manner that makes them look unfinished. There is no attempt made to make things look realistic- there is no depth being created and no use of overlapping to make objects recede or come forwards. This isn’t a bad thing because if Jason had made the drawings too ornate and detailed we would be distracted from the deeper message that he is trying to convey.  His drawings contain no volume and are very flat. There is no attempt being made to distinguish visual textures from one another; for example the grass is just a filled in green rectangle. All of the scenes and characters in this novel are very concrete which are harmonious with his message.

4. Jason’s purpose for writing this novel is to shed light on the simple man who is in search for a better life. It is a universal story that everyone can relate to in some aspect. The message that stuck out to me was simply the title “Why Are You Doing This?” which relates back to a scene in the book where Geraldine is helping Alex hide out from the police and recollect his life.  Jason wants us to think about the main feelings that drive us as humans; why do we help others? Why do we have to experience loss? Why do we cope with loss by seeking revenge? How does this affect others around us? Jason’s modern and classic tale is one that we can relate to now and that we can think about later.

5. This novel is strong in its presentation and is easy to read. This story has surprising aspects and turns.  It is a very cleanly written mystery that takes you by surprise (especially the ending!) I looked at the book before I read it and upon first examination I thought it looked very plain and that it was going to be a juvenile message. I was surprised at the maturity and impressed of the combination of the somber and melancholy message mixed with the child-like drawings. I have to admit that I had to read the novel twice to get the full appreciation and understanding of it but it was well worth it and is a quick read.  The more I paid attention to the subtle irony and humor that poked fun at some stereotypes, the more I enjoyed it and had a few good laughs. The flow of the novel is excellent and easy to comprehend. The scenery transition and minimal use of text makes it even more powerful. The story and setting is believable and familiar.

6. This novel was very short; I would like to see him flesh the story out a bit more. The climax of the novel occurred at the very end and only lasted a few pages. He could’ve made the story a bit more gripping by adding more time for the reader to anticipate what was to happen to the characters. I also enjoyed his sense of humor and wish he added more humor into the novel- maybe he could’ve played up the character’s expressions more? This is his first graphic novel with the use of color; it will be interesting to see how his use of color develops, or if it will even change at all. I enjoyed how he used sad and simple colors that went with the context of the novel.

7. This book is for college students and older. It isn’t inappropriate or vulgar by any means, but there is a certain level of maturity that you need to have when viewing this novel and a respect for the work that I think a younger person wouldn’t be able to understand or pick up on. I think that it is a novel that you either “get” or don’t get. It has some indie and quirky qualities to it which appeal to the youth and to someone with an open mind. It is appealing to both sexes and isn’t bias in any cultural categories. It is a very safe novel for someone exploring graphic novels to read. I also think that people who frequently read graphic novels would enjoy this novel. My sister is really trendy and has a bit of an indie vibe to her and I know she would love this novel. I can imagine Urban Outfitters selling this novel in their book section of the store, and not to be stereotypical I think it would appeal to the demographic that shop there.  I am not a graphic novel reader, I had always ignorantly assumed that graphic novels were superman or Spiderman and just for boys. After reading this I definitely would read more graphic novels and enjoy them.

8.  Jason has also written:

“Hey, Wait….”

“Sshhhh!”

“The Iron Wagon”

“Tell Me Something”

“You Can’t Get There From Here 0”

“Why Are You Doing This?”

“Meow, Baby!”

“The Left Bank Gang”

“The Living and the Dead”

“I Killed Adolf Hitler”

“The Last Musketeer”

“Pocket Full of Rain”

“Low Moon”

“Almost Silent”

“Werewolves of Montpellier”

“What I Did”

“Isle of 100,000 Graves”

“Athos in America”

9. I give this book a 4/5. 

1. Mitch Redder

2. The PS Comics have many different stories all looped into one big comic book. In all of his different stories he seems to have a trending theme throughout his stories when it comes to characters. His characters are often some type of animal or object that he personifies and creates a human feel to the animal or object, such as a talking dog, or a talking salt and pepper shaker. His genre throughout the different stories sometimes changes, but one thing stays constant throughout. He always seems to have some sort of life lesson that is incorporated into the story. Such as, in one story, there is a dog who wants to go to his friends house to play. His mom wont let him, and he gets upset and storms off to his room. The next day his mom decides to let him go over to his friends house, and the friend ends up being crazy and scares him into calling his mom and leaving. He then thanks his mom for picking him up and apologizes for the way he acted the day before. Although this may not always be relevant it shows that even when you get upset with your parents sometimes they really do know whats best for you and they are just trying to protect you. In another story salt and sugar fall in love and start dating, but then everything goes wrong because they are polar opposites and the relationship doesn’t last. The life lesson in this is that although sometimes it might seem fun to date different people it is sometimes smarter to stay within your means and be with people who are like you. Lewis does a great job throughout the book as a whole of demonstrating life lessons, and these are just a couple of examples.

3. The comic book is all hand drawn in ink with a great use of the author’s creativity and stylistic ability. The book is exclusively in black and white. The medium is strictly ink and paper, the author was not very creative in choosing the medium of the book as a whole. The line would be considered very thin and well drawn. The shape of the comic is generally rounded off and the lines are consistently well drawn throughout the book. The style of the book is very realistic. Everything looks like real life, besides the fact that the animals and different objects can talk, but the characters and the setting definitely appears to be very real. The artwork is also very refined and polished, it looks very professional and well put together. For a comic there is not much motion throughout the book, such as lines to show movement or speed, there is nothing like that throughout the book.

4. The author could have written these comics for many different reasons, but I think she had a great purpose for what she wrote in her comics. Throughout the book in her many different comics she displays many different life lessons that are very useful to anyone. She could have had past experiences that led her to display these life lessons through her comic writing. If this is the case, it is crazy to think about how her life may have affected the lives of many of her readers. This is a great opportunity for Lewis to change the lives of many people by letting her past experiences influence others lives. These stories could also be completely made up life lessons by the author. If this is the case, the author has great creativity in order to have created these stories to display these life lessons.

5. This comic book stood out to me in a very unique way. It was not the drawings, nor the amazingly creative characters, not even the specific storylines throughout the book. What really stood out to me were the many different life lessons that could have been learned if you paid attention to the stories you were reading. The author does a great job of coming up with creative storylines in order to complete her final goal of teaching life lessons to all of her many readers. The life lessons that are to be taught are very useful lessons for anyone no matter how young or old they might be. These comics are also very well drawn. The pictures are very precise and realistic looking. The author has done a great job drawing her pictures to create an image in her readers heads that coincides directly with the thoughts she had while creating her story.

6. This book was a great find, and I don’t really have much at all to complain about or anything that I strongly disliked. However, if I had to pick out one thing that I might possibly change it would be the way the book is directed at a young age group. The comic was great and had life lessons throughout that everyone should get the chance to learn, but the way the book is directed at the youth, everyone might not get the opportunity to hear some of these life lessons. The comic is directed at younger kids because of the many different animals and objects that are personified throughout the book. It is in no way a flaw in the book itself, but it is something that I would consider changing in order to broaden the audience of the comics.

7. On an artistic point of view I would recommend this comic book to younger children perhaps into the middle school years of their life. The comics contain many different oddly personified characters that younger kids and some teens might find very interesting; whereas an older adult may not find the personified objects as humoring. However, on a storyline basis I would recommend this comic to people of all ages. Like I have said many times before, this book has many different life lessons that would be worth reading for anyone, at any age for that matter.

8. The Lady, The Work and Secret Acres were two other books written by Minty Lewis that you might want to check out. I sure might be checking them out myself after reading this great comic.

9. I would give this comic a 4/5. This comic was a great find and I definitely enjoyed reading it.

1. Troy Root

2. This book consists of a bunch of different comic strips of birds that the author had previously made and decided to add all of his comics of about twelve years together to make into the book called Big Questions.  There are several issues of this book and have changed a little amount each time a new one is released.  His newest edition was about a more philosophical flock of birds, where each bird looks the same, but all have different jobs and roles.  The birds talk about ways of if they change their behaviors if their behaviors could affect world history.  There are many events of birds dying and a bird being kidnapped by a snake and how each of the birds has to deal with the situation and how to do it.  The novel itself is very graphic as some of the pictures are extremely gruesome.  Humans are eventually introduced into the book an older woman (Bayle) and her mute and mentally challenged grandson known as “The Idiot.”  One of the biggest plots of the book is the relationship between man and nature.  The other big plot of the book is when a bomb drops near the birds tree and the birds have to change their view of the world and around this metallic egg and its origin.  Then there are some large-scale political context about an event that happens in the book that you will have to find out when you read it! It leaves Big Questions with a well voiced and much needed human element as someone struggles in the book.  The more interpreting you do of the book, the deeper you can go into the book.  Have to have a creative mind to take this book to the next level of interest.

3. The style of artwork is very interesting to say the least. It is a large comic book just full of comics.  Early on in the book the pictures are more cartoonish and as the story progresses you can see Anders improving his artwork, as the pictures are becoming more real looking.  The pictures become more realistic looking, but are not realism by any means.  The birds might look real, but some of the stuff done in the images is not realistic at all.  He uses more expressionism in his pictures by using birds and snakes to send a message across and let the reader interpret it.  Some of the pictures are graphic, gruesome, some with a little bit of abstraction in them, but most of the pictures you can tell what they are. 

4. Nilson I think wrote this comic for a purpose, to get a point across and to do it in a creative way.  His book is a lot about life and questions to life and events and about our everyday world, and how to cope with some of these questions.  He doesn’t necessarily give you the answer right in the text, but he lets you interpret the images and text and figure out the answers to some of his questions.  He uses a lot of philosophy in the book and the philosophy of life and history.  He wanted to get a point about past events, points about life and questions unanswered about both history and life across to people in a unique way.

5. I believe that this novel has a lot of strengths going for it.  When first getting this book and looking at it and flipping through the pages, I thought to myself “oh great.”   After reading it and looking through it and interpreting the book itself, it actually was not near as bad as I originally thought it was going to be.  I am glad I read it and actually has a couple of parts that really talked to me individually and interpreted in a different way.  I think the biggest strength of this book is all of the different meanings it has.  Not that the book has a ton of different meanings, but it has a lot of meanings depending on how each person interprets it, that’s why it has a lot of different meanings.  Very strong reading and very strong points and parts in the book.

6. I believe the book has a good message in it and I think that some of the pictures don’t need to be so out there and so gruesome.  This book does have a very good plot and point to it, but I believe it doesn’t need such crazy pictures.  I guess at some points it does amplify the story and make it more interesting.  Other than that I believe the book is very well constructed and there is not too much I would change about it.

7. I would recommend this book to college age kids where it has an important lesson in it and questions that you can think about at a younger age.  I would also recommend this book to young adlults between the 20-30 age where it also has a lesson that you can learn at a young age and lets you think about things that you may have never thought about, if you did read the book.  I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone younger that because the message may not be perceived by high school aged kids and for kids younger than that, the pictures are a little to far out there for kids that young.  The book was interesting don’t get me wrong, but it was not interesting enough to get me involved in the subject matter.

8. Some other books Anders Neilson has wrote are, Dogs & Water, Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow and 15 editions of Big Questions.

9. I would give the book itself 2.5/5 Stars.

1. Kaessi Torres

2. This book is a series of small stories broken up into chapters. Chapter One is called Woman In My Window, and it is about a man who sees a magnificent woman outside his window. She proceeds into his room and begins sucking his blood, and right then he is drawn to her. The climax of this short story is when he is turned into a vampire as well. Chapter Two is called The Librarian and is about a man who works at a jail. He notices the new woman on the row who is called the librarian because of all of the books she reads. He gets close to her through some time. A little too close, to say the least. Then there is Chapter Three called The End of the World. It’s about an artist and a man who owns a sandwich shop. These two meet and become close on this day. The day the world ends. He wanted to go away to space in the ships, and she wants to stay and paint the end, but he stays for her. Love at its finest. Then there is Chapter Four which is called The Captive. This story is about a young woman who gets kidnapped and is forced to convert to a new, Native American, culture. Once converted, she is to marry a man, one of her kidnappers at that. Then in the end she has to choose if she wants to go back to her old ways with the white men or stay with the Native Americans. In the end she has to choose who she wants to stay with and her choice is shocking. Then there is Chapter 5 called The Accelerated Man. This story takes place in Germany in 1930 and is about Dr. Graven a scientist, Miss Hess, and Manfred who is Dr. Graven’s son. Miss Hess goes to see Dr. Graven about his big experiment. The climax of this story is when the experiment breaks loose and attacks Dr. Graven. Although he is gone the story goes on and ends in a shocking way between Manfred and Miss Hesse.

3. As for the art work in this book, it is very dark. Not just because it is black and white, but because the style of each and every picture is gloomy and serious. Yes people in the stories do smile and have expressions but minimal differentiation between serious and happy or excited. The pictures look as if they were hand drawn by Mr. Myrick, possibly by marker, solid black paint or possibly cut outs of black paper. These abstract images of people and the world around us shows Myrick’s unique style of art. Thick and thin black lines show depth and shadows and what a possible texture might be. All of the images in Myrick’s book are positives and negatives in the sense that negatives are solids and positives are open area or walls and backgrounds. On a count of Chapter 5 about the Experiment, it does show Myrick’s side of disgusting and/or disturbing art because of the tubes coming out of several places of the Experiments body. This shows Myrick’s darker side of art.

4. Although Myrick’s stories are dark and serious they all have a good ending. All of the stories are about unexpected love. Which is a perfect story all its own. Each of the stories seem to have a higher power sense in them. By that I mean other worldly or just not human. In Chapter One about the woman in the window, she is a vampire. Or in Chapter Four about the end of the world. The higher power in this scenario would be the “ships” leaving into space or possibly the cause of the end of the world. Myrick’s stories all give us a sense to enjoy what we have and enjoy the beauty in the smaller things in this world.

5. Compared to other graphic novels I have read, Myrick’s style can be compared to Tim Burton’s, meaning they are alike in how they write. It is for all ages and has a secret meaning behind it. Also you can tell from the way Myrick draws to the words put into his stories, he has his own sense of style. Therefore his writing and drawing correlate each other in this book. With the words and pictures, you can see little emotion in both but a good thought process between the two. It is very interesting on how his dark negative pictures give a positive message.

6. Although this is a well written short story book, it does have its down sides. There is disturbing and disgusting art in the world and Myrick has showed a small portion of it. As I have stated before, in Chapter Five called The Experiment there is a scene where it shows the Experiment in the growing tank. As he is in the tank, there are tubes coming from his forehead, heart, and both hands. That can be disgusting to some people and possibly be a controversial topic if children were to read this book. Other then that small detail in this interesting book, the book has great art.

7. To whom I would recommend this book would be all ages 13 and up. This book is like a PG13 movie in theaters; it has some images that could bring up a problem. But there is no nudity or vulgar/inadequate word choice in this book which is why I believe it could be compared to being a “PG13 book.” Anyone 13 and up could read this book to get the background idea of each short story which I see as “seeing the beauty in the smaller things in this world.” This piece of literature could be also good for an art student to see how a simple black and white series of pictures can give elaborate detail in such a fine way.

8. Mr Leland Myrick is a great graphic novel author. Some of his other books that would be a good choice to look into would be his book called The Ten. Myrick was called “New York Times #1 Bestselling Graphic Novelist,” which shows that he has talent to get into the New York Times. Two other books of Myrick’s is his books “Flight” as well as “The Collector.”

9. I would give this book a 4/5 = I really like it quite a bit.

1. Nicole Kulha

2. This comic book by Keiko Tobe is a story about a boy named Hikaru who is raised by a mother named Sachiko and a father named Masato. This comic book goes through chapters of Hikaru’s life and the episode that he establishes for his family.  Hikaru was not a normal boy as he was growing up.  He never responded to his name, never looked people in the eye, always cried, was never happy, didn’t learn how to walk at the right age, and he never was able to say mama or daddy at the proper age.  Sachiko his mother was very worried about him and had no idea what to do.  One day they went to the doctor and the doctor told Sachiko that they that Hikuru was autistic.  Sachiko had no idea what autistic meant and did not want to believe her child had this so called “disease”.  She had no intentions of telling her husband because her husband would think it was all her fault just like her mother-in-law thought.  As time went on the coupled had many issues with the boy.  He was always crying and disrupting peoples peace and as Masato said he needed his sleep because he was trying to provide for the family.  They finally split up after Masato found out what Sachiko was hiding from him.  That there son had autism and she didn’t know what to do about it.  This freaked Masato out and he told them to leave so he could get his peace and focus on his work.  Sachiko took her child and went to her moms house and tried to get help for her son.  He was put into a help group where he was suppose to learn how to deal with his autism and Sachiko was suppose to learn how to help him out.  This help group had many other children who were also autistic and Sachiko had a support system she needed to help her son. This whole time she thought it was her fault and the way she raised him thats why he turned out like that.  The doctor told her differently, and it was just the way he was born and it happens to the best of us.  As time went, Hikaru was getting better and learning to make his mom smile and make her realize he does love her even though he can’t show it like a child who doesn’t have autism.  That is just a short summary of what the book is about i do not want to give it all away.  This comic book is in Japanese and is written in episode of Hikaru life.  From when he was born, to when they found out he had autism, to getting help and going to the doctors, and ending up with being in elementary school.  It goes through the process of what an autistic child goes through and the emotions and hard times the family has to help this child get better.  No one said it was easy to raise a child with autism, but with great support system you can make it easier for the child. 

3. This book is a comic book. It has 510 pages in it, and it is written with caption bubbles and it tends to use a lot of phonetic transcription of sounds, instead of actual words.  Many of these words do not actually have a meaning in the English language but i simplify have to use my common knowledge about basic reading and connect the sound effect to what is happening within the comic book. You do have to do a lot of abstract thinking because you have to think out of the box and understand what the author is trying to make you understand. This comic book has no color, all in black and white.  You read this book right to left as opposed to left to right as in the English language.  Each page in the book has about four different sub categories to it and about three or two people per page are talking.   At first I’m not going to lie, it was very hard to get used to reading it but after awhile i just got into the stories momentum and got into it.  It has great pictures, and not just simple stick figures.  These people have fine detail that the author used and also had some shading that was used in this comic book. 

4. The authors purpose in this comic book was to expose the early childhood of an autistic kid.  She wanted people to understand the hardships that the child goes through and also the parents.  It is not easy growing up with a child who has a disease.  You are embarrassed, ashamed, remorseful; your emotions all over the place and you do not know how to handle yourself let alone raise a child.  Raising a child without autism is hard enough, now you have to adapt to the life of that child.  Staying awake while your child cries, going to get help, understanding the symptoms yourself, and making sure people don’t judge is always hard.  People are always going to give there input on how to raise a child, but you have to do you and be confident with the parent you are.  Sachiko had a hard time at first dealing with it and letting people get to her.  Her mother in law always telling her it was her fault that her son ended up this way, in fact it had nothing to do with her.  People are always going to judge, but this book shows the steps in how to get over it and how to get help for a parent and the person who has autism.  Also, this book shows that there are great support out there and people who do care.  They will help  that child with autism out and also educate the parent so they know what they are getting themselves into.  Never once did i feel discomfort about learning about this subject, i for one do not know much about autism but it opened my eyes to another view on how people are.  Not everyone is perfect, and it just shows there are people out there who are going threw harder chapters in life and we should appreciate the good in our life.  Maybe the author had a child who was autistic and decided to get her story out there so other people can learn what she went through so they won’t make the same mistake.  She wanted to let people know it is not going to be easy, but in the end if you get help and understand what your child is going through to see them smile in the end is worth it. 

5. There are many strengths in this book i like, but if i could pick two it would be the fact that it is a comic book, and the story itself.  The comic book is a great idea! It shows pictures so we do not have to imagine everything on our own.  Also, it makes it way easier to read.  If this were a novel without the comic it would be one long novel to read.  I would get bored of it, with 510 pages in the book.  But the fact that it is a comic book i am interested in each picture and i am getting the complete understanding from what the author is trying to get at. The pictures were the best part of the book and the noises that the author put on each page.  I actually did the noises in my head every time i read them and i do not think i notice i did that until now.  I got into the book and what each character looked like and sounded like. My first reaction when i saw it was a comic book was not good.  It was not what i expected at all, i thought i was actually going to be reading a book.  I told my friends how dumb i thought this was going to be, but the second i started reading it i was so happy it was a comic! Definitely a good pick on my part :) Also, the story line was amazing! When i saw this on the list i do not know why but my eyes went straight towards it.  For some reason hearing about and learning about autism interested me.  I never read anything educational so i thought it was a good chance to learn more about something i didn’t know about. The story was amazing and it touched my heart knowing that people actually go through this.  My life is easy compared to his, and i should learn to appreciate it.  Also, another thing is i loved that it was Japanese it was awesome reading it right to left instead of the opposite.  It was something i have never done before and it was cool to understand how different cultures do different things.  It was an enjoyable book and i got to learn more about the culture. A win win for me :)

6. There were not many things to hate about this book at all but if i could improve it i would probably print it out in color and maybe maybe his childhood story a tad bit shorter and introduce his high school life.  I understand that it would be a lot of work to do color, but for me it would be so much interesting to see the book in color and see the color that the culture uses.  It is not that it is boring in black and white but a little color would perk it up and spark it up a bit.  Also, this whole book basically talks about growing up with Hikaru and his early life and the stages he went through as a child.  If the author included his high school life i feel like we would get a much better understanding of what a person goes through with autism.  In high school you get kids who tease you, understand you, and ones who don’t even care your alive.  It would be way more emotional and we can see how he acts when he gets older and if he comes to realize what autism is.  It would also be lovely to his parents and how they grew with experience.  It also made them stronger so it would be cool to see where they were when he got older.  Maybe they were helping other kids with autism or still just helping there son.  Those are the two things i would like to see improve with this comic book. 

7. People who have a child with autism should defiantly check out this book! It would be a very helpful tool and resource to use so they know what is going on.  It may not tell every detail but it shows the emotions and fear that people go through when they find out some thing like this has happened to them.  It is not the end of the world, you can get help and you will get help with doctors and support groups. I would also recommend high school students to read this book.  Not a lot of people know the insides of having autism and this book can teach them a little bit about it.  It will teach them not to judge people and that everyone has there problems and if we all help each other out it will be much easier for that person who is having a hard time. I can imagine an older couple reading this book and loving it because they would appreciate the little details and emotions and they would tell there grandchildren stories and spread the word about autism. Im so glad i read this book, it gave me a new outlook and i should expand my horizons and not be so closed off. 

8. The author Keiko Tobe was a Japanese manga artist who wrote josei manga.  She won an Excellent Prize for With the Lights.  She also inspired a television drama.  She made The Three Ghost.  She didn’t have many books or anything else but what she did was quite good and she made her name known with the book i just read. 

9. 4/5 :) 

1. Michael Tremberth

2. The book about Hutch Owen covers a modernistic view of 21st century in the city of New York. This Comic inspired Hutch is the main character and plays as a mad bohemian homeless man that speaks his mind about the corporate world. On his first adventure he is running his regular routine of showing up at his local coffee shop. After getting caught stealing day old coffee by the owner of the store, he is offered some sort of a part time job that leads him to begin working for items like a recorded he wants. Once Hutch starts working for the coffee shop as a store front mascot he has a lot of free-time. The views of how he feels about Aristotle come out to the public. During his shift, a big wig corporate guy named Dennis Worner shows up at the cafe and finds that Hutch is the person that he needs to amp up his dominating market schemes. In reality Hutch hates Worner and his business ethics, but he is forced to work because Dennis Worner technically owns the coffee shop now. The book then takes an epic action scene in which a helicopter explodes over a creativity camp were Dennis sent his mindless employees to search for one hit wonder ideas. The next section of the book concludes the disaster site of 911. Hutch once again gets forced into working as a public relations blind fold to market people without jobs in hopes of boosting up the job market and making wealthy people like Worner riches. The main overall theme of the plot from the comic condones both sides of the current world economic problems we face today. Owen expresses the future and present tense ideas with the current rise of American issues dealing with the big brother greedy executives and lower class citizens. 

3. The comic art composed on the pages looks to be done in   black marker. The art constructed in the book is realistic in all ways. When I was reading from start to finish;Tom Hart posted a sketched image on one of the pages showing the  9/11 site without out actually telling you exactly that it was a drawing of that . To be able to describe by sketching the place and location by using  imagery Tom Hart give to you is astonishing. The cartoon characters seemed minimalist because of the dark with white colors used along with the lack of not enough detail. Space and volume seemed constant but there was times where sketched pictures were randomly larger than most. One of the highlighted artistic attributes with Tom Hart was his use of motion. In one scene Hart depicts the image movement very well.From the section of the roof in which one the golf balls was shot by Worner is shown visibly bouncing from building to building and then eventually landing in a change bucket.

4. I believe Tom Hart wanted us to picture the skepticism of working and living in the heart of the stressful city which we all know as New York. Hutch Owen was meant to convey the  side of the lower class struggling man that was fed up with working for big time bosses. Worner was correlated as greedy man that used people for ideas to make himself richer. Mean while many people like Hutch still struggle with try to survive and pay for basic living expenses. Yet, this comic book covers drastic motifs of monopoly corporations having to much control, the declining shops of mom and pops stores, and also events that can occur by speaking for what you fully believe in. For example in the book, Hutch ends up speaking on the stage of a radio contest event because he had won a raffle. Hutch was deeply disgusted by the grand prize being bird burgers and that they had been giving them out for free already to the people that were way to fortunate in line. The author obviously wanted people to know that homeless people deserved the food more.This was done by Hutch screaming out at a large crowd of wealthy radio spectators with curse words about how selfish they were for not holding a organized rally for the poor instead.

5. This is my first time ever reading a comic book besides in newspaper clippings. I think Hutch Owen: Unmarketable had highly interesting topics that were relevant to my life currently. This book stands out against typical newspaper comics that have random topics and that are sometimes hard to understand. Overall, the one thing that kept me reading was the humor Tom Hart put inside the book. It was not filled with dull jokes or something that anyone wouldn’t want to laugh at. The author feels to me like he put a good comical perspective on what it is really like to live in New York. Today, thousands of people are searching for jobs in American and competing by sucking up to the bosses like Hutchs friend Blumer. Blumer is so stressed out from all the work he gets put to do in the Public Relations part. He insist on helping though because hes making money and says “someone finely respects me for what i do”.

6. The bad thoughts towards the book included the third section where it changed to a totally different design style than the one that originated throughout the first 140 pages. The artist should also maybe add more colors to it because plain cartoons after awhile get pretty boring. Tom Hart could of used a better choice of the title name to attract more readers attentions too.

7. This type of comic book is good for audiences in the adult age group because of the use of mild language. I would pass this book on to people that want to be informed about the down sides of america in a comical way. I would advise people who take things way to serious to not read it because they might get offended by some of the realistic art depictions of 9/11.

8. You may also want to check out Tom Harts website at WWW.TOMHART.net for some of his other comic books like “Lets Get Furious”.

9. I would rate this a 4/5 out of 5 Stars.

1. Dane Woody
2. The story is set in Ancient India, at and around the Himalayas. The story begins with two parts, and throughout the story brings the characters together. The central conflict in the story is the search to find the man who possesses the answer to a riddle passed down by the Brahmin (monks). The man who possesses this answer is considered a god and has the power to rule the world.The major players in the story are Chapra, Tatta, Naradatta, Moms (Chapra’s mother), General Budai, King Suddhodana, his wife (Maya) and newly born son (Siddhartha). Chapra is the son of a slave woman, he is courageous, motivated to better himself, and loving. Tatta is a Pariah boy that is viewed as lower than slaves. He is rebellious, stubborn, and possesses the ability to take over any kind of animal’s body. Chapra’s mother is a very loving, concerned parent that wants the most for her son. General Budai is the general of the opposing army. He is ruthless and has no remorse for anyone or anything. He begins to elicit feelings of love towards Chapra. King Suddhodana is the king of the Shakya Empire. He and his wife are expecting what is to be Buddha, and are a young, energetic couple.There is a very fluid plot in the story, resulting in many events that come together throughout the story. The story begins with Naradatta being told a riddle and sent in search of a man that can solve it. He discovers that he must find a boy named Tatta. While this is happening, Chapra has had his master’s goods stolen by Tatta, resulting in the selling of Chapra’s mother if he can’t produce the goods. Chapra finds Tatta and after a slight quarrel, they befriend each other and decide to save Chapra’s mom. After saving her they realize that Tatta’s family is under attack and almost everyone he knows, family and friends is killed. Using trickery, they surprise the soldiers and launch an attack on them. Failing, they are tied to a pole, to be killed. Luckily being saved by a locust attack, they escape. Chapra wanting to become a soldier rides to the city on a horse that Tatta takes over; and on the way saves General Budai from being eaten by crocodiles. The General repays him by making him his son and bringing him into royalty. King Suddhodana and Maya continue to see omens of great things for their son as the due date draws near. Chapra trains and becomes a great warrior, and by winning a tournament becomes the greatest soldier in the kingdom and also develops a love interest in a noble’s daughter. The baby, Siddhartha is born on the way to Maya’s hometown, and it is greeted with many animals coming to the birth site. Maya passes shortly after returning due to complications with the pregnancy. A soldier from another kingdom challenges Chaska to a duel, resulting in Chaska suffering a critical injury. His fate looking grim, the monk sends Tatta far away to find Master Asita as a horse. Tatta results in using many animals to point of their deaths. Upon finding Master Asita, the monk is told the antidote through telekinesis, momentarily helping the boy…The story is a fictional telling of the story of Buddha with brief hints at what Buddhism teaches regarding life and respect for others, animal or human. It also brings a comedic satire to the story of Buddha, such as, having the author draw himself and having things drawn like cigarettes, pocket watches. Also, using dialogue involving “New York”, “Coca-cola” creates a different environment for the reader.The book is written in a comic book style format, at times breaking from the geometric comic book style to a radical, sporadic use of lines and angles to separate scenes.
3. The artwork throughout was hand drawn by the artist. It is black and white,combining both bold with a more crude, sketchy style. The characters are drawn with a minimalism and simplification that captures only the necessary elements of the scene. The war and action scenes are portrayed with sharp lines and impact points crashing with stars. The characters themselves are two-dimensional flat shapes. The artist uses location and size to perceive depth. The objects do not change scale and are proportionate. The sense of time goes by fairly quickly. The story begins before the conception of the child and ends soon after the birth, all of it occurring in nine months. You have a jump in time in the middle of the story, just after Chapra leaves to become a soldier. The transition is easy; the reader has no issue transitioning.
4. The purpose of this book was to give a refreshing and different spin to the story of what was to be Buddha. It provided comedic satire and modern day style to create a new view that appeals more to the younger generations, not just in the Buddhist practice. It was a way of changing the representation but still bringing to mind the teachings of Buddha. The author also creates a caste system in the story, with oppression and slavery being shown throughout the entire piece. This could relate to the hierarchy at the time of the story. It could also possibly relate to the difficult path it is to overcome boundaries and achieve what the Buddhists call enlightenment. The author elicits both a shock factor and a status symbol by drawing that.
5. When I began reading I was apprehensive about the interest I would have in it, but was pleasantly surprised to find myself drawn into the story. The use of laugh breaks and slipped in one-liners had me cracking a smile and laughing. The panel, at times, was difficult to follow and I was occasionally unsure whether to follow left-right or up-down. This could also be due to my lack of comic book experiences. The artist does very well at incorporating the action with the text. The text creates the thoughts of sound and background noise, such as cheers from the stadium. I also liked the curveball plot the author chose, it created for a very good read.
6. I think the main weakness of the book was the lack of color. If the artist would have incorporated some colors it would have made the book much more vivid and visually engaging. I would include color in my comics. It creates a more body form, portraying volume using shading and shadows. It creates more personable characters, giving them a stronger message and meaning.
7. I would definitely recommend this book at the high school level and up, mature grade school kids would almost be pushing it. It will most likely correlate most the male population, seeing as it includes urination and boobs. I would hesitate to give it to a different religion or a person who does not have the openness to view it. The drawings can be offensive and to some gruesome. While the idea of sharing another belief system with someone of strong faith could also cause some issues.
8. The rest of the series is something I am considering finishing. I really enjoyed this one and want to follow the story and maybe open myself up to a thing or two.
9. 4/5- I really enjoyed it.

1. Allie White
2. The graphic novel, Unlikely by Jeffrey Brown, is a story about the author’s experience of having a relationship with a girl and losing his virginity to her. The main character, Allisyn, is Brown’s first real love and the entire book goes into great detail about the long journey of their relationship. Brown and Allisyn come from two very different backgrounds. Brown is more innocent and has not really experienced a whole lot. He isn’t very comfortable in his own skin and is often unsure of how to handle Allisyn and how to satisfy her. Allisyn however, is more on the wild side. She comes from a history of drugs and alcohol and is very sexually experienced. She is the dominant one in the relationship and is not as serious about Brown as he is about her. Due to their different personalities and interests, the relationship has many ups and downs as the book progresses. Brown goes into a lot of detail about the problems they have in the bedroom because he lacks experience and is a little awkward  going about it. That was probably the most surprising and interesting part of the novel because most men would never admit that they are not good in bed. The story is told in the 1st person and the majority of the novel is dialogue between Brown and Allisyn. The novel takes place somewhere between 1998 and 1999 when Brown was 24 years old. Brown never does specify exactly where the story takes place. The format of the book is pretty straight forward. The plot and story line is all in chronological order from beginning to end. There are no mini comics or any sort of different plot along the side.
3. The illustrations that Brown has drawn are very simple and look really choppy. The media he uses appears to be ink. He uses very little detail in each drawing. Most of the artwork in the book has a lot of lines in it. The lines however are very sketchy and he uses a great amount of these lines during the more sexual parts of the novel. All the drawings are very realistic instead of being abstract. There is also not a lot of volume to them nor color. In some parts, the artwork has a darker contrast to it, but that is as far as it goes color wise. In some frames, there is a lot of empty space as well.
4. In my opinion, the author wrote the book simply because most every can relate to it. The main them of the book is heartbreak and most people have felt that feeling before. Brown’s purpose for this book was to simply get all of his emotions out in the open about how he felt about his relationship and to come to terms with it in a positive way. Another reason why I thought the author may have written this book is to show how now that he is older and looking back upon it, the relationship was completely unlikely to ever succeed and Brown has found it humorous that he ever thought it would. Brown’s main point was to show that all though heartbreak can seem like the end of the world at the time, but everyone can get through it one way or another.
5. Since I have never read any other graphic novel, I don’t have anything to compare this book to. However, I still thought the novel had many strengths. I think one of the biggest strengths that the book has is that it grabs your attention as soon as you start reading. It jumps right into the plot which makes you not want to put the book down. The book also has a linear storyline which makes it really easy to follow along and not get confused as to what is going on. Another strength Unlikely has is the character development. The more you continue to read, the more you feel like you know Brown and Allisyn on a personal level. The author makes you feel sympathy for his character and it is really easy to relate to his situation as well.
6. Although the book as many strengths, it did have some weaknesses as well. The biggest one that I found was that the book became a little repetitive. The author could of maybe taken some parts out and still would have got his point across the same way. Another weakness I found was that the author drew himself and Allisyn looking a little too similiar. The only difference between the two characters is that Brown has a small beard and Allisyn has a little bit of curves in her chest to show that she has breasts. Sometimes it got a little confusing to decipher which one was who. The author could of done a better job of identifying them. Those two factors were really the only part of the book I would change. Reading this book has changed my opinion of how I can look at a failed relationship. Not every relationship is going to work out and after reading what Brown went through in his situation, I learned that I can make the most out of a bad situation by learning from my mistakes and focusing on moving forward.
7. I would recommend this book to men and women at the college age to young adults. I would personally have my younger brother read this book so he knows what kind of relationship to stay away from. I would hate to have him in the same situation that Brown was in. I would not recommend this book to middle aged adults with children or kids in high school and younger just because of all the references to drugs and all the sex scenes that are involved with the novel. Some of the language is also pretty vulgar. My best friend, Kelsey, would love this book. She reminds me a lot of the main character Allisyn, but minus the drugs. To anyone who may object to this book, I would just tell them to keep an open mind and try to see the deeper meaning of what the author is trying to say rather than focusing on the profanities of some of the content. Nothing in this book made me feel uncomfortable, but I was surprised at how much detail the author put into the sex scenes. This book has lead me to question my first serious relationship because I can easily relate to what Brown went through with his. I found it really interesting to know that even guys get emotionally attached to the first person they sleep with, not just girls.
8. Jeffrey Brown has written several other graphic novels. Some  popular ones include Clumsy, Bighead, Incredible Change-Bots, and Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me. Many of his novels have to do with his past relationships.
9. I would give Unlikely five out of five stars. I honestly really enjoyed reading this book.  
10.