Book Review - Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander

I remember the first time I discovered 300. I had walked into a comic shop, and they had a short bookshelf with graphic novels and comic book trade paperbacks on it. I was instantly drawn to a book that looked like a children's storybook but for adults. It was by Frank Miller, someone who I knew from his run on DareDevil. I was instantly a fan. I had never seen a more beautifully rendered comic book story.

Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander by Frank Miller and Alex Sinclair is a collection of 5 comic book issues that were always meant to be collected in a widescreen hardback. It is available in Hardcover and digital formats.

The Good

The Art. The art is some of Frank's loosest, but it is still really beautiful, especially with Alex Sinclair's colors making it look painted.

Narration. This story is mostly narration, a storyteller telling the overall story of Darius, Xerxes, and Alexander with pauses for a few specific events. The narration is some of Frank's best. It's quick, it's clean, it's clever, and it includes the Greek gods in a really clever way.

Color. The colors in the first issue are a little overdone, but by issue three they just sing.

The Bad

Disjointed Story. Frank began this story years ago completing two issues before moving on to other projects and then finally returning to complete it, and the story shows. The first two issues are a completely different style and story than the last three. They read like comic books telling a sequel to 300 while the last three issues feel like a storybook that gives a brief overview of the events from Darius to Alexandre.

Large Brush strokes. 300 told a tale that lasted a little over 3 days. This one covers decades and so tells the story with large brush strokes leaving out so many of the smaller stories and characters and character developments fans fo the first story were expecting.

Loose/Shaky Art. Frank's art has always been loose and shaky, but it's gotten near intelligible in some parts. His sense of design isn't as strong as it used to be, but it still light years ahead of most current comic book artists.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the story had continued like the first two issues to tell a story instead of a broad overview of history the last three issues painted. I also wish the art in the first two issues had been as strong as the last three.

Overall

Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander by Frank Miller and colors by Alex Sinclair is a visual delight with epic narration. The art is some of Frank's loosest and ranges from nearly indecipherable images to gorgeous designs. The story is a bit disjointed with the first two issues reading like a comic book sequel to 300 while the last three issues feel like a storybook that gives a brief overview of the events from Darius to Alexandre. While not as good as the first, it's still a beautiful volume to look at and a lot of fun to read. I give this book 4 out of 5 eReaders.

   

Book Review - The Mask: School Spirits by Rick Geary

I never saw The Mask movie until nearly two decades after it came out, but I watched the cartoon every Saturday and thought it was great.

The Mask: School Spirits by Rick Geary is a story of The Mask disguised as a children's storybook appropriate for all ages (even adults will enjoy it). It is available in Hardcover and is one of three volumes.

The Good

The Art. Rick Geary isn't the best artist, but he perfectly captures the look and feel of The Mask and his zany adventures.

Fun This story isn't the most original, but it sure is a lot of fun.

Characters. The characters will remind you of people you've met and probably went to school with. While they aren't super original or fully fleshed out, they are developed enough that you get into the story

The Bad

Obvious. From the plot to the concept to the twists, this is not the cleverest nor the most original story I've read. Everything I saw coming from the beginning, and nothing surprised me.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the story had been more clever and The Mask had done more zany things that would have been fun to read about and look at.

Overall

The Mask: School Spirits by Rick Geary is a graphic novel disguised as a children's storybook from Dark Horse Comics. It's a lot of fun with solid art and a solid story that is appropriate for all ages. Even adults will find something to like in it. It's not the most original story, and the twist at the end is very obvious. The Mask also isn't as zany and one would like. But it's still an enjoyable read. I give this book 4 out of 5 eReaders.

   

Book Review - Will Eisner's The Spirit: The New Adventures HC

I was late boarding The Spirit train. I was aware of the character, but never had any real interest in him until the Frank Miller film. Despite popular opinion, I loved it and have watched it dozens of times. I purchased a trade paperback of Spirit stories and loved those. That lead me to purchase one of DC's Archive Editions. I was so disappointed by it, I didn't pick up another Spirit story. Until Things From Another World had an incredible sale...

Will Eisner's The Spirit: The New Adventures is a collection of Spirit stories published by Kitchen Sink Press that weren't written or illustrated by Will Eisner. It is available in Hardcover.

The Good

The Most Important Meal. This takes place during the last supper of one of The Spirit's greatest foes talking to another of his greatest foes. It's an interesting variation on the origin of the characters. It's by Allan Moore and Dave Gibbons, two people whose work I don't normally enjoy, but they knocked this trilogy of stories out of the ballpark.

Force of Arms. This is another story that plays with the origins of the characters, especially the Spirit's archfoe.

Gossip and Gertrude Granch. This is the third in a trilogy of origin stories that explores the fate of a minor character.

The Return of Mink Stole. This is very meta about screenwriting for movies.

Sunday in the Park with St. George. The art is atrocious, but the story is a lot of fun if not a little too convenient.

Sphinx the Jinx in The Game of Life. This is a high concept story that feels like it came from Will Eisner's newspaper work. Probably the most "classic" of the collection.

Ellen's Stalker. This feels very much like The Spirit newspaper strips, but not as concise and clever.

Dr. Broca Von Bitelbaum. This wasn't great, but kind of fun.

Cursed Beauty. This had an interesting twist, but the way it dealt with racism was very bland and overdone. It didn't feel like the writer really understood what he was talking about.

Swami Vashtibubu. The art was lousy, but the twist was interesting.

The Pacifist. The story was fine, but the concept was pretty strong, and reminded me a lot of the Rat-a-Tat story from the newspaper comics.

Sweetheart. This was one of the strongest stories from an original concept to strong art, to a tight plot, to a twist I didn't see coming.

Black Opal. This story wasn't in the original comic book series (probably because it was cancelled) but has great art and a pretty decent story.

The Bad

Last Night I Dreamed of Dr. Cobra. This is clever, but miserable to read. It reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey--it's a wonder of technical achievement but a complete failure in entertainment.

The Samovar of Shooshinpoor. This isn't a bad story, but the art is amateurish and the story very ordinary.

The Weapon. This was really boring, generic, and obvious.

Baby Eichbergh. The concept wasn't bad, but it was so dully executed I just couldn't care about the baby and what happened to him.

Golf Anyone? The concept wasn't that strong, and the execution did nothing to help it out.

The Ghost of Tiger Traps. The concept and plot were both really weak. And the art by Paul Pope was nowhere near his usual level.

Binding. This book looks beautiful, but started to fall apart on my second read thru.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

Better binding.

Overall

Will Eisner's The Spirit: The New Adventures is a mixed bag that contains classic stories I have read and reread numerous times as well as stories I can't believe they wasted paper to draw and then print. But despite the less than stelar stories, each one was so different and unique and most attempted something pretty wonderful, so I give this book 5 out of 5 eReaders.