Batman: The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Brian Bolland.... A Review

Batman: The Killing Joke, written by Allan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland Deluxe (New Edition) 2019...

Let me first say, I am not a superhero kind of girl. I Use to watch Batman and Superman on TV when I was very young, but I never read any of the comic books. I do like graphic novels and comic books though, so I will sit down and read one every now and then. But this one is different...

I kept hearing about Jaoquim Phoenix's awards for his outstanding performance of Joker in the movie by the same name. So I rented it to see what all the fuss was about. Let me tell you, it was depressing. Really depressing. BUT, what a performance by Jaoquin Phoenix! He was amazing as Joker. And the film was amazing too. Remember, I'm not really a superhero kind of girl, so what I was expecting was not what I got. The movie is not a superhero movie, but a human look at the man behind the Joker. Who was he? How did his circumstances make him into the Joker? All so very fascinating, which made me wonder about the comic it was based on.

Way back in 1988, DC comics ran a one-shot, basically a story that begins and ends with one comic book. It was about the origin of Joker written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland. Because of the release of the movie, based on this comic, DC reprinted a deluxe hardcover version with beautiful new coloring and some backstory of how the comic was created... and it is wonderful! There have been so many improvements on how these comics are produced that Brian Bolland went back and colored the story the way he always wanted to (along with a few fixes here and there in the illustrations that he always wanted to do too). And the coloring is beautiful.

Now the story was changed a little for the movie. In the comic, the Joker has a Fiance and he wants a better life for them and their future children. He left his job in the local chemical plant, is a failure as a comic, and is convinced to do something by some thugs to earn a little money. Things go terribly wrong though and the rest as they say, is history. This is a great story! The other thing the movie changed was the way the Joker looks. In the movie it's all grease paint, but in the comic it is something entirely different. (you need to read this to find out!) The comic has some aspects of violence, but humourous in other spots. The interaction between Batman and Joker is great too. And the end of the story puts a human side to the "relationship" between Batman and Joker. The book doesn't stop there though, because there are a few bonus stories and a section on how the story is put together with the first drawings and how the artist shows the writer the intent of the scenes. The back of the book is filled with Brian Bolland drawings, who is an award winning artist, some in full color, of Joker and Batman in various other projects that he's done. The original story is 53 pages, the book itself is 96 pages total. There is a 30th anniversary edition that has more of the original comic book included at twice the price as the Deluxe edition I read, but I am very satisfied with the edition I read.

Final Course... Great story! I thoroughtly enjoyed it and found it entertaining. The artwork is beautiful! Brian Bolland did an amazing job coloring it as well. I would recommend this to any comic book fan, movie fan, and for someone who really hasn't gotten into comic books, but would like to give comics a try. Now this is considered a graphic novel, but when I think of graphic novels I think of much longer and thicker works. Published by DC Comics in September of 2019.

The Sunday Salon and Breaking Up is Hard to Do... What to read after you break up with your book.

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! Winter is starting to settle in, in South Carolina. We started the week with 70 degrees and sunny and yesterday we couldn't get above 40 degrees! So, I grab two things to keep me warm in the winter... crocheting and a good book. Of course this is all done in front of a cozy fire going in the fireplace and possibly something interesting to drink.

This week I finished a great book! The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michel Richardson had all the things that hold your attention -- a great lead character, well developed minor characters, an interesting story (which in this case happens to be based on history), some interesting plot twists with a little romance thrown in for good measure. I'll be reviewing it later in the week, but trust me, if you enjoy historical fiction, write this one down for your TBR list!

But the thing with reading a great book is that sometimes you need an emotional break. I was getting so into the book that starting another book wasn't going to be easy. It's almost like breaking up with your book because sometimes you become so invested in the characters and story that when it ends you are just so... alone, lonely, spent.

How do you recover? Big breath and then I try to read something "light".  Maybe a graphic novel, some poetry, a funny book... I need to go thru a detox. So, here are some "inbetween" books or books to lighten your emotional load...


Strange Planet by Nathan Pyle...

"Nathan Pyle fills the pages of his new book Strange Planet with big eyed, bright blue aliens from a planet that shares a lot in common with Earth. These aliens sunbathe, sneeze and even wish each other sweet dreams like us, but they describe these practices with deadpan technical terminology like "sun damage" and "face fluid explosions." The lifegiver aliens even implore their offspring to "imagine pleasant nonsense" as they tuck them in for the night."...NPR's Liz Metzger.

A friend of mine recently shared this graphic novel that he received as a Christmas present. He's not really the graphic novel kind of guy, but he loves humor and that is exactly what Nathan Pyle dishes out in 144 pages. Nathan started drawing Strange Planet and sharing it on Instagram, where he has his aliens exploring all of our human emotions and explaining them in their own "alien" terms. Follow the link to his Instagram page and check it out. Little tidbits of human wisdom on each page. I love reading them! This book is on its way to me! Published by MorrowGift.

Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen... These casually drawn, perfectly on-point comics by the hugely popular young Brooklyn-based artist Sarah Andersen are for the rest of us. They document the wasting of entire beautiful weekends on the internet, the unbearable agony of holding hands on the street with a gorgeous guy, and dreaming all day of getting home and back into pajamas. In other words, the horrors and awkwardnesses of young modern life. Oh and they are totally not autobiographical. At all.

Another artist who posted her comics on social media before releasing her  popular humorous books. She really hits the nail on the head sometimes with her poignant funny cartoons. She has a big following too. Lighten up with Sarah's Scribbles! Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy... Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book based on his famous quartet of characters. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse explores their unlikely friendship and the poignant, universal lessons they learn together.

This book won Barnes & Noble's Best Book of the Year 2019 award! It has rave reviews and there is and was a lot of buzz about it after it was published in October by HarperOne. Sit down and relax with this one and slowly take it in. A great book to reset your mindset with. And this book is on it's way to me also. Published by HarperOne.

Now those were some sweet, fun reads to enjoy while getting back to the business of serious literary reading, but what if you wanted a little bit more to sink your teeth into? Well, my last recommendation is a 180 from these others...

Batman: The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Brian Bolland... "For the first time the Joker's origin is revealed in this tale of insanity and human perseverance"

I started reading this after I watched the movie Joker starring Jaoquin Pheonix. Have you seen that movie yet? I am not really a superhero kind of girl, but this movie had gotten so much buzz (and a few awards) about the performance Jaoquin Pheonix did that I just had to rent it. I have to say it is depressing. Really depressing and sad. And it's not really a superhero movie. This movie is really about the person the Joker was before becoming notorious and how his circumstances created the crazy evil guy that we know today. This is the comic book that the movie is based on and it really is a great story. Read the deluxe hardcover edition, the artwork is amazing and the story is so interesting. This edition also shares the process of story boarding and developing the actual drawing of the story. I really only knew the Joker based on the Batman series on TV. This graphic novel really puts a human face to the criminal we all thought we knew. Not a "light" read, but not a complex literary tomb either. Published by DC Comics.

Weekly Update...
Memoir Monday... highlighted Hill Women by Cassie Chambers and tells the story of the strong Kentucky women who helped shape her and how she left her humble beginnings to find a different way of life

First Lines Friday... highlighted Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kreuger, and his beautiful opening lines for Ordinary Grace.

Saturday I shared my Book Bingo Card for 2020! Ever play Book Bingo? Every year I create a Bingo Card with bookish squares that my reading group tries to fill in during the year. The squares range from reading a MYSTERY to Read a Book Whose Author's Last Name Starts with the First Letter of Your Name. Want to play along?? Follow the link and print out the Bingo Card!

Do you need a break after reading a really good book? 

...or do you dive right into your next read?

I've got quite a few books to choose from to get back to "literary" reading this week. One of which is a WWII tale of a girl and her mother hiding from German soldiers in a barn... and there is a Barbara Delinsky eBook I just got from the publishers too. I always love reading Barbara Delinsky! and this one will be released May 2020. (I also love Barbara Delinsky because she was also sweet enough to Skype with my reading group once).... What are your plans this week? What great books have you been reading?! Share in the comments because I would love to know!! 

Happy Reading... Suzanne

DC Entertainment Graphic Novel Essentials and Chronology 2014… a Review

DC Entertainment Graphic Novel Essentials and Chronology 2014… Isn't that a mouthful?! What it is, is a catalog of all DC comics, from the earliest superhero's, such as Superman and Batman, to the current such as Fables. And DC Entertainment also includes Vertigo and MAD.

As you open the pages, it begins with the 25 essential (DC) graphic novels, with short summaries of each, and goes on to "The New 52", which are new beginnings to their favorite line of characters, with new #1 issues so newbies can have a place to begin. Then there is more in-depth coverage of the top superhero's and their graphic novels; next is coverage of the essential Vertigo graphic novels, including The Sandman and Fables, with some coverage of MAD magazine and DC Comics: All Ages. The tome ends with a full backlist and suggested reading order.

154 pages front to back, with full color graphics, this is a nice reference guide to DC graphic novels. I had collected a few of the graphic novels listed (The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1, Promethea, vol.1 & 2) and it's nice to see how many more volumes in a series there are, for my own reference, if I did want to complete the collections. For the more serious collector, I would say this is an invaluable resource. For the person just getting their feet wet in graphic novels, who enjoy the superhero genre, this would be a great resource as well, to learn about the different superhero's and their story lines. Remember though, this is ONLY for DC graphic novels. It's available in eBook only, but it's also FREE! You can download The Kindle Version or The Nook Version with these links.  I rate this 4 Wonder Women!

*BTW, I received an eGalley of this book from DC comics in exchange for an honest review.

iZombies: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson & Michael Allred... A Review

iZombie Written by Chris Roberson, Drawn by Michael Allred

What's a girl to do?! Gwen Dylan digs graves for a living, her best friend Ellie is a girl from the 60's who happens to be a ghost, and her other friend Scott is of the furrier persuasion, a.k.a Were-Terrier... kind of an off shoot of a Were-Wolf. Add to that mix one "hot" Mummy, a pack of Vampire ladies who run a paint ball game in the woods, and a pair of Vampire Hunters. Wow! Oh, I forgot... Gwen is a Zombie, but a kind of Zombie hybrid. She's not all stiff and stumbling around with her hands out stretched, but she does needs to eat human brains once a month to maintain her "being normal".

iZombie: Dead to the World is the trade paperback of the first 5 issues of the comic iZombie plus House Of Mystery Halloween Annual #1. It's 144 pages of a great story, published by DC Comics and Vertigo. First the artwork though... Michael Allred is talented! The characters are well drawn with wonderful nuances to really bring the characters to life; expressive and detailed. Not only are the characters drawn well, but the backgrounds are fully fleshed out, making the whole scene interesting to look at. And all of this adds to the great story, which is both complex and well developed.

The story centers around Gwen, who we learn early on is a Zombie and who works during the day as a grave digger. In these first 5 stories that make up the first tpb, iZombie: Dead to the World, we don't learn Gwen's background, but we learn of her anguish as she must eat a human brain once a month to keep her memories alive and be "normal". She chooses her "victims" as the recently departed that she happens to bury the morning before. What happens when she does "eat", besides her utter revulsion to it, is that she becomes possessed with the last thoughts of the dead person, and must fulfill their last wishes; which may mean "righting a wrong" or solving their murder as is the case in Gwen's first "possession" in Dead to the World." The other stories that are woven together are those of "the murderer", the vampire ladies who are seductive looking as well as deadly as they run a paintball game deep in the woods outside the city, the handsome and aloof mummy who wants to teach Gwen more about her "new" self, and his leopard companion, and finally the good guys who know about the vampires terrorizing the city and aim to rid the area of them. There is some dead-pan humor, romance and mystery layered within the story, which keeps you turning the pages. It's an intelligent take on the whole zombie scene and I really enjoyed it. I loved the story with all the different subplots that are all inter-related, and as I previously said, the artwork was great.

I don't mind a zombie or two on my reading plate, or a vampire here and there either. This is the start to what I hope is a fun series. If you enjoy graphic novels, enjoy a host of fun, "flawed" but engaging characters living out their lives in a great story, give iZombie a try! It's a step up from your everyday zombie novel, and you'll be dying for more! And if you are, iZombie: Dead to the World collects the first five individual issues of iZombie, but as far as individual issues are concerned, issue #12 is due to come out April 6th.