Review of "X-O Manowar Issue 1," Matt Kindt, Tomas Giorello and Diego Rodriguez

 Review of

X-O Manowar Issue 1, Matt Kindt, Tomas Giorello and Diego Rodriguez

Five out of five stars

Setting the context for super soldier adventures

Aric is an Earthman that has somehow been relocated to the planet Gorin. He works as a farmer and has a blue-skinned female companion. From the opening dialog, it is clear that he has known war while on Earth. Yet, Gorin is also a planet where war is common and even though he is missing his left hand, he is forcibly impressed into an army in revolt against the Cadmiums. When he shows his left arm and says that he is missing a sword hand, he is told that he can still serve as a target for the enemy soldiers. There is also the introduction of some form of magic sphere that gives him as yet unknown powers for battle.

 When the war action begins, Aric demonstrates that he is indeed a super soldier, mowing down the opposition and taking physical punishment that would have killed most others. A natural leader of men in battle, Aric presses forward, demonstrating that he is a very experienced combat veteran.

 The first issue in any series must provide a sufficient background to the upcoming story, yet not so much that there is no uncertainty. That is done well in this first issue of the series. While Aric is successful in his exploits, the reader is not completely exposed to precisely what is the extent of his powers. Once I completed this issue, I quickly acquired the next in the series. There can be no greater compliment than that.

Review of "Dork Tower #18 Understanding Gamers," Dork Storm comics

 Review of

Dork Tower #18 Understanding Gamers, Dork Storm comics

Five out of five stars

Parody of gamers with a lot of truth

 True hard-core gamers form a significant fraction of modern society. The games range from role-playing board games to online with wild graphic action. The desire for more graphics has been one of the driving forces behind the development of even faster and more efficient graphics engines. This new power has led to the development of the new form of challenging entertainment called esports. There are leagues with some professional players.

 This comic drops into the past a bit and lampoons gamers as creatures that find the world outside games to be difficult to cope with. Gamers are portrayed as nerds with limited skills outside gaming, the cliches about such people abound. Yet, it is humorous and all in good fun, most gamers admit their addiction to the challenges of faster and better games with against more skilled competition.

 While overstated most of the time, this is still a reasonably accurate portrayal of the gamers of years ago. When people played for fun and challenges before it became a billion-dollar business with a professional class.

Review of "The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip," by George Saunders

 Review of

The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, by George Saunders ISBN 9780812989632

Five out of five stars

Retelling of the help others to help yourself story

 This is a very creative rendition of the classic story of how you help yourself when you help others. Three families live in the tiny seaside village of Frip. All three of them have goats and they earn their living by selling their milk.

 Gappers are creatures that crawl out of the sea and attach themselves to the goats. When they do, milk productions drops. The “solution” for some time has been to remove the gappers from the goats, carry them to a cliff and drop them into the sea. Since this does not harm the gappers and they have memory, they crawl out of the sea and go back to attach to the goats. Therefore, the removal of the gappers is a daily event.

 When the gappers begin concentrating on the goats of Capable’s family and leaving the others alone, she asks the others for assistance, and they ignore her pleas. In desperation, Capable sells their goats and takes up the lost art of fishing. This causes the gappers to attach to the other goats and the others are now facing the loss of income. It becomes so bad that the others reach the point that they must sell their goats and they beg Capable for help in learning how to fish. Able to forgive their previous transgressions, Capable teaches them and now they can live on the fish they catch and ignore the gappers. All three families now live better than they ever did, they don’t have to fight the gappers, so they have more food and energy for living.

 This is another iteration of the classic story of self-centeredness being a long-term disaster and how helping others is a way to help yourself. The many creative and original aspects of the story make it a fun book to read.

Review of "The Mad Tea-Party and Other Festival Skits," by Alan Lance Andersen

 Review of

The Mad Tea-Party and Other Festival Skits, by Alan Lance Andersen ISBN 9780557040032

Four out of five stars

Three short humorous skits/plays

 Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. mathematician/logician Charles Dodgson, wrote the “Alice in Wonderland” books, arguably the best fiction books ever written in the English language. The title work in this collection of three dramatic works is based on the tea-party scene from “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland.”

 Since modern readers are unfamiliar with some of the tenets of Victorian England, the Mad Tea-Party is narrated by Carroll. The play is humorous, the interjection of Carroll’s commentary lightens the heartedness of the skit. He is very much an active character in the action.

 The second skit is called “Oliver’s Birthday Picnic” and it is based on the famous comedy duo of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The two comedians are having a picnic in an area where there is a sign stating, “Keep off the grass.” Ever resourceful, the two picnickers use the sign as a makeshift table. An office comes along to shoo them away and the actions becomes classic slapstick with a concluding pie in the face. The dialog and action is very much Laurel and Hardy with a hint of The Three Stooges.  

 The third skit is called “Barcelona” and is based on a nonsensical premise with very exaggerated pseudo-Italian dialog. An officer encounters a crying woman that claims that her husband Luigi was grabbed and carried off by a large dragon. Her first major lines are, “What’s dat-a you say? He ask-a me ifa dere’s-a somathin’ wrong?? Somathin’ wrong!!” While there are times when the dialog breaks into the normal, most of the lines by the female character have this form. There is some humor, but it is weak as the dialog is simply too exaggerated.

 Properly acted while not being taken too seriously, these plays will be entertaining and fun to produce. A list of the needed props for each play is given. They are few and easily obtained.

Review of "The Greatest of All: A Japanese Folktale," by Eric A. Kimmel

 Review of

The Greatest of All: A Japanese Folktale, by Eric A. Kimmel ISBN 0153073268

Five out of five stars

Classic tale of looking elsewhere for what is already there

 There are many stories of people searching for the prize elsewhere when it is already nearby. The classic “Wizard of OZ” is the best known. This book for children is another rendition of this tale, this time the main characters are rodents, and the location is Japan.

 A  family of mice live in a corner of the Emperor’s palace and one day pretty daughter Chuko came to her father and told him that a field mouse named Ko Nezumi has expressed a desire to marry her. Since he lives in the Emperor’s palace and eats crumbs for the royal plates, her father considers himself the mouse equivalent of royalty. Therefore, he forbids his daughter from marrying a commoner.

 In an attempt to find a much better husband, the father consults the Emperor and asks that the Emperor marry her, for he is the best possible match. The Emperor declines, saying that the sun is greater. This begins a chain of “better thans” that goes through the clouds, wind and a stone wall. The end result is that the father discovers that the common field mouse is the best match of all.

 This is a great story for children and is a lesson in multicultural studies as well. Although the plot is classic and has been used many times, it never ages or loses relevance.

Review of "Flash Gordon: Treachery on Mongo!" by Bill Pearson and Ric Estrada

 Review of

Flash Gordon: Treachery on Mongo! by Bill Pearson and Ric Estrada

Five out of five stars

 The original Flash Gordon of the 1930’s

 Two of my favorite serial comic strips since my youth are Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond and Mandrake the Magician by Lee Falk. Even though they have been modernized, I still enjoy the original creations of the 1930’s. While the storylines are a bit corny to modern readers, they are a look back into the escapist comics of the Great Depression.

 As the title implies, Flash, Zarkov and Dale are on Mongo and are facing threats from the tyrant Ming the Merciless. Once thought dead, Ming still lives and is sending his proxy forces in an attempt to kill Flash. The first threat is from the Lizardmen, the second is from the massive Monolith and the third is the Beastmen.

 The comics provide creative people with a literal canvas to create creatures and situations far removed from reality. Which is the point, especially at a time when a large percentage of the country was destitute. This book of Flash Gordon adventures that mimics the strip of the thirties is both entertaining and was suitably escapist for the times.

Review of "303 Issue 1," comic by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows

 Review of

303 Issue 1, comic by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows

Five out of five stars

Search for downed prize hardware in Afghanistan

 This creators of this comic did a superb job of setting the context for an engaging story. A small group of what appear to be international mercenaries is being guided through the wilds of Afghanistan. They are being led a large Russian man carrying a Lee-Enfield rifle. Some of the history of that weapon is given, from the use in Europe in 1914 to the mountains of Afghanistan when is was used by the Afghans to chase out the Soviet army.

 At this time, the group are being guided by a local Afghan man and they are searching for a crashed American transport that contains very valuable cargo. They are not the only team searching, there is an American search effort as well as a British one. An unusual feature of the scenario is that the British offered to assist the Americans and that offer was rebuffed.

 The leader of the mercenary group is a very wise and experienced old soldier. He served in Afghanistan, so he knows the terrain as well as how the locals will react. It is a tactical game of military chess, as each side makes their decisions based on the cold calculations of the advantages of wounding one of the other side.

 This comic ends with a cliffhanger that injects a desire in the reader to read the subsequent issues. It is a great story that is a bit more topical, given the recent events in Afghanistan.