Weekend Paperback pick up: 7/25/10

I had a fantastic evening of graphic novelling as you can see.....

ignore my sock tan lines

First up ...
from Beckett Publishing , republished in paperback by Image Comics is Fade from Grace by Gabriel Bensen , art by Jeff Amano.

NO SPOILERS

premise: Its hard to describe a book without giving up "spoilers". What I can say it involves a devoted husband (John) and wife(Grace) , and how one discovers special powers and how their relationship and lives are effected together.

  One critique is I felt it lacked dialogue  , I went through this book quickly. The pacing was a little abrupt and that could've been because of the lack of panel story telling/dialogue. The art was very intimate and soft with a classic touch it all , much like a young Meg Ryan before she went all Frankenstein. It had an overall 1950s retro feel to it.

My other critique is the stale use of the all american blond blue eyed couple ... it gets tiresome , its suppose to be modern indy , if you're going to do a modern indy comic then be indy and stray away the generic concepts like the all american blond blue eyed couple.

cut to the chase...buy/borrow/bury?:
    Its a borrow for sure. Definitely worth checking out , its a different perspective on the whole love/superpowers thing. 
    If you are going to buy this , cover price is $15.. definitely not a $15 book , I bought mine for 11 bucks , Im a little bleh about that.. I would say its a 8 buck book , buy it used if you can. 135 pages.
     Its far from junk and garbage so dont bury this if you have a chance to take it out from the Library , borrow from a buddy or buy from bargain bin.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

then I got to vol.9-10 for The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman , art by Charlie Adlard

 SPOILERS

vol.9 -

    After a chaotic vol.8 that shook the foundation of not only the book but my heart and soul I expected a 'calm after the storm' like volume. Just to recap , everybody is dead except; Rick , Carl , Glenn , Maggie , Sophia , Andrea , Dale , the twins , and Michionne.

    This volume was focused on Rick and Carl , bringing to light to where Rick is and where Carl is going in this series.Carl goes through the emotional gautlet with his comatosed father. He reassures Rick that he can care for himself , then he blames Rick for his mom and sister's death , he gets mad at Rick for patronizing him caz he's a kid , he feels he's ready to go on his own. It all comes crashing down when he realizes how much he needs his dad still , Rick woke up .. Carl wasnt sure if he was a zombie or not , nor did he care he was prepared to accept his fate at the hands of his zombie father but Rick was ok. It was a powerful moment for Carl , it was a spotlight volume for Carl , Carl stepped forth from the background and became a primary player in the Walking Dead in this chapter.

      Eventually Rick and Carl  meet up with Michionne , Glenn and Maggie , they regroup at Maggie's old farm. Once again they were planning on making this their permanent home. New visitors change all that in a hurry , a big brute  Abraham , a scientist and a couple tag along survivors on their way to DC. After the two groups butt heads , they all agree to head to DC to find answers to the plague and for better security.

vol.10 -

    This was a volume that some of the characters come to some revelations about themselves and others , time really shows its age in this volume and the world is clearly taking its toll on them as well.

     Early on Glenn finds Maggie hanging from a suicide attempt , this was fucking tragic for my homeboy. Abe wanted to bullet her head immediately but Glenn insisted there's still a chance to revive her... Rick puts a gun to Abe's head to prevent the execution... Maggie wakes up. This shakes up Abe but it also draws some battle lines between Abe and Rick which leaves you unsettled for the on coming chapters.

      While at the crossroads  Rick , Abe and Carl  head back to Rick's hometown since they were near to A) check out Morgan (from volume1) and B)his police station to restock supplies.. while the rest wait.  Whilst on their way they get ambushed by some Deliverance hillbilly raping tards... they keep Abe at gunpoint , one wrestles Rick to a face to face bear heg  and the other attempts to rape Carl ... Rick's instincts go all Wolverine berzerker rage , he bites into the guys neck and rips his neck apart.. bloodbath ensues with three dead hillbillies with Rick , Carl and Abe A-OK. Afterwards Abe and Rick with Carl laying on his lap open up heart to heart with each other about their zombie experiences .... seemingly finding a mutual peace with each other. Carl also speaks and you get the idea of where all three are at and how far they've come from the person they were.

     They do find Morgan alive but  mentally and physically unstable due to his boy being zombiefied. They think Morgan kills his kid but he secretly let him loose .. seemingly harmless but I gets the feeling this will re-emerge further down the road in the story. ON their way to the camp they lead back a huge herd of zombies , they lose the car and run back leading the herd back with them.. Dale was all set on staying with Andrea  so he can finally start fucking his young girlfriend like a rabbit but they gotta pick up and go again.. Dale's  frustration with Rick is over boiling at this point and his distrust with Rick elevates by the second ... is Dale and Rick heading for a lethal confrontation? and the what the hell is in DC? and most importantly , who's next?

SPOILERS OVER

Im almost caught up with Walking Dead. Two more volumes.