I backed this Kickstarter project several years ago, when a comic about Mormonism felt like it was right in the center of the Venn diagram of my interests. That’s still not far from the truth, but my relationship with Mormonism—and my experience as a Latter-day Saint missionary—is a lot more complicated than it was then.

In fact, I’ve been thinking about rereading this for ages but have bounced off of it a few times. I have big theological disagreements with some comics in the anthology, and I’m not a huge fan of the implicit queerphobia in at least two comics.

There are a few IDW comics that I got in a summer Humble Bundle but couldn’t bring myself to read over the summer. I’m glad I gave this one a try. I figures that after reading so much Ice Cream Man, I might be more open to a horror comic than I thought, and I think I was right. There is a lot of interesting character work, ethical reflection, and even heist plot in this one, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

I feel like I should like this series more than I am. I’m caught between liking the general vibe of the comic and not really relating to the characters (and some stuff from the 2000s really not aging well). I’m committed to finishing the whole series, but I am also wondering if it’s going to reach out and grab me more.

Ça faisait des années que j’avais l’intention de lire cette bande dessinée, et j’ai enfin trouvé un exemplaire en français il y a quelques semaines, grâce à mon beau-frère.

On a tellement l’habitude de diaboliser l’Iran aux États-Unis qu’il est même facile d’oublier qu’il y a de quoi diaboliser ! L’histoire personnelle de Satrapi est très émouvante, et je suis bien content de l’avoir lu. Je vois pourquoi c’est une classique parmi les bd.

I can’t remember if I’ve read the color editions before, but I know I haven’t read paper copies before, so this is fun. I have never seen the movie, but I’ve seen enough YouTube clips to know it’s my style. After watching enough of those clips, and knowing that I’m not likely to watch the movie (since it’s not my wife’s style, and I don’t watch a lot of movies on my own), I say “I ought to just read the books.” This is my second time doing so, I think?

Bon, ce tome-ci a été moins intéressant pour moi que le précédent, mais ma fille l’a beaucoup aimé. J’ai trouvé qu’il se passait trop, qu’on n’explorait pas trop la magie dans la série, etc. Pourtant, c’est mignon. En plus, le prochain tome a lieu en Alsace, ce qui sera fort intéressant !

I remembered liking this book a lot when I first read it five or so years ago, so it was actually kind of disappointing to reread it now. There was a lot of it that didn’t feel relevant to me or that I felt I disagreed with. That said, I appreciate Spencer’s work a lot, and there are some great observations in here, so I’m trying to give it some grace in my rating.

Still good! Not the most life-changing of the series, but enjoyable. I have heard good things about some of the issues in Volume Eleven, so I’m really looking forward to getting that.

Another good book in the series. It’s impossible to read these without comparing them to their TV adaptations. I think the adaptation of this one made a number of wise choices in what it cut, what it changed, etc., but there are a couple of original bits that I would have liked to see preserved.

This continues to be unexpectedly good. I enjoy how self-referential it’s becoming with time—not the indulgent kind but the rewards you for paying attention kind. This is my second-to-last TPB I have out, and I’m already feeling like I need to reserve some more.

This volume wasn’t life-changing, but I’m hooked on the series now, and I’m enjoying even the bits that aren’t what won me over.

The Watchman parody in this volume is as good as the Superman one in the last. The self-references are also good, and I’m interested in the “maybe I don’t need to do this” theme (even if I didn’t put the book down myself when challenged to).

This is good! It’s another book that I took too long to read, so it’s hard to review when I took breaks for other books between sections.

It’s a very Doctorow book. I mean this in three ways: First, it makes an impassioned plea for a niche-but-important tech cause. Second, it overlaps with his fiction writing in really obvious ways. Third, it reads like an extended blog post (which I mostly mean as a compliment).

This volume wasn’t as hopeful as the last collection I read, and I have mixed feelings on the level of creepiness in these stories. The palindrome comic and the one happy story kept me going, but I’m not as keen on this series as I was a few days ago. Let’s see how things go in the next TPB.

Kiddo was off school yesterday, so we took a trip to the library, where I saw the first 7-8 TPBs of this series on the shelf. I nearly checked out the first four, but on second thought, I put them back. This series shouldn’t work for me. It’s not my preferred style of art, it’s full of body and existential horror, and one of the reasons I put those TPBs back is because I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I tried reading them.

I dragged this season out over too long to fully appreciate it, but it was a fun sendoff for the series. It’s the only Star Trek series I’ve watched in its entirety, and I think it might be my favorite!

I remembered this book being overly complicated and the TV adaptation being far superior. Revisiting it, though, is shifting my opinion. I think the TV adaptation does a good job of streamlining the story and connecting it to the broader franchise, but even if the original plot is convoluted, I think it’s better than I first gave it credit for. I also continue to appreciate Herron’s writing tics and what they add to the story that you couldn’t so in television.

I definitely read this one too fast, but if I hadn’t, I probably would have gotten hung up more on the continued blood and gore, which I continue not to like.

As with the rest of the series, though, there’s plenty that kept me coming back, and even the stuff I don’t like is consistent(ish) with the universe that these creators have established. The happy ending is satisfying, the big swings are still interesting, and Eve gets treated better in the final arcs than in earlier stories (though I think they could have done even better by her). It’s a good series, despite my reservations, and I hope it never gets rebooted.

I didn’t realize how quickly I made it through this! I wrote something in my review of the first compendium about the interesting things that Kirkman can do without being bogged down by a broader continuity, and that certainly applies here. I appreciate the big swings he takes and his willingness to shake up the story and leave it shaken up rather than a creep back to the status quo.

I really like the first novella, and this one isn’t bad, it’s just hard to live up to the strong first start. I’d like to continue working on the series, since I know it’s all well regarded, but I don’t remember many of the details from the first time I tried this, so let’s hope it sticks more this time.

I have some mixed feelings about Invincible, though they obviously are positive enough for me to start a full series reread. In college, I used to own a hardcover collection regrouping the first several TPBs, but I gave it away when moving to grad school. I was bothered by the violence and gore then, and now I can add to that the casual homophobia and ableism of the early 2000s and the low-level objectification and misogyny that are in most superhero comics. There’s some not to like in this series.

I love this story, and the radio production is excellent. I like the supporting cast of oddball characters (especially Connie and Toby), and the idea of George’s struggle with his age and his morals is compelling. Maybe it’s still being torn about Honourable Schoolboy, but it just didn’t land as well this time as it has in the past.

I mostly skimmed this book, and I would have some quibbles with it if I got more into the details, but I found it really good. Musical theater is far, faaaar outside of my research interests, but this book articulates a fascinating “theology of voice” within Mormonism that will be helpful as I look to write something on Ellul and Mormon Studies.

This book isn’t the best of the anarchist fiction I’ve read—it feels a bit stilted or maybe even too didactic at points—but it grew on me, and I enjoyed the story a lot. (It’s also not the worst anarchist fiction I’ve read—looking at you, V for Vendetta). Cory Doctorow mentioned Killjoy’s most recent book on his blog, so I’m giving some of her older stuff a try, and so far, I think it’s pretty good.

I feel kind of weird rating this above any of the Earthdivers volumes, but hey. The art feels a bit off sometimes, and there were some bits that I didn’t quite follow. The character designs and worldbuilding were great—weird sometimes but stronger for it. The plot was interesting, with some good twists that kept me hooked.