Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas, by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks

Primates:

The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas

Authors: Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks

Publisher: First Second

Publication Date: June 11, 2013

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I'm not even going to debate with myself about whether or not I would have loved this comic-book-style biography as a child. I know I would have. I had the Mother Theresa comic book as a child! I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed Primates as an adult though. It was like Persepolis with primates. (I feel like I've made that comparison before. Oh yeah, here. Can you tell I don't read a lot of comics?)

But seriously, y'all. Did you know about "Leaky's Angels"? I thought I knew a little about Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey but obviously I knew nothing because I didn't even realize that their entire careers with primates (chimpanzees for Goodall and gorillas for Fossey--I knew that much at least) started when they were hired by the famous Louis and Mary Leakey to do field work. They've been working on grants set up by the Leakeys all this time! Well, I'm sure Jane Goodall has her own funding now, and Dian Fossey is sadly dead.

And what about Birutė Galdikas? I hadn't even heard about her! Apparently she does the same thing, except with orangutans.

Point Your Face at This: Drawings, by Demetri Martin

Point Your Face at This:

Drawings

Author: Demetri Martin

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publication Date: March 19, 2013

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I think the copy I got from Net Galley must have been one of those "uncorrected proofs" that reviewers often get. Usually that just means there may or may not be a typo here or there, or the table of contents is blank or something like that. Rarely does it actually mean that the content of the book is vastly different from what the finished product will look like. But in this case, I can only assume that the final product will be quite different. Many of the drawings were repeated (sometimes more than once), some didn't have captions (and therefore made no sense), some were repeated with different captions. It was odd. But again, I can only assume that this was an uncorrected proof and that the final book won't be like this.

Having said that, the drawings that I did see were a little disappointing. I'm a fan of Demetri Martin (my partner Mike is a HUGE fan) and I've enjoyed his TV specials and his short-running show, "Important Things With Demetri Martin." He often does sketchpad humour, in which he draws simple line drawings and makes jokes, either by changing the sketches slightly or by making funny observations about them. He's a funny guy. That's why I thought I'd like this book.

And I did like it. Mostly. A lot of the jokes seemed a little bitter, like they were coming from someone who had just been through an ugly divorce. So that was weird.

Overall it was okay. But not more than that. Shame.

Double Fine Action Comics Vol. 1, by Scott C. (foreword by Tim Schafer)

Double Fine Action Comics Vol. 1

Author: Scott Campbell

Publisher: Oni Press

Publication Date: April 17, 2013

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For this review I enlisted the help of my partner, Mike. He's my resident comic book expert. His assessment? Double Fine Action Comics is just regular fine, not double fine. Just one fine would suffice. Here's the rest of what he had to say:

"Knight guy, Two headed baby, Muscleman, Captain and Thompson, cast of aliens and whatever...
   There’re a lot of comics where people are just talking and filling up the quiet.  Sometimes they are funny.  There’re a lot of comics where crazy impossible and theatre of the absurd sort of things happen.  Sometimes they are funny.  Sluggy Freelance is both.
   This isn’t either.
   The adventures are absurd, but not really funny.  The punchline panels are likewise not really funny.  I read the premise for this.  Someone created this at their job, writing/drawing other things, as a pastime/entertainment for friends and colleagues.  I feel if I was friends with the creator, I would say, “Dude, you should totally write that as a book.”
  I don’t know the writer, though.  This feels like a big “You had to be there” in joke."

So there you have it. I read it. Frankly, I wouldn't have been this generous. Thanks, Mike!

Double Fine Action Comics Vol. 2, by Scott C. (foreward by Erik Wolpaw)

Double Fine Action Comics Vol. 2

Author: Scott Campbell

Publisher: Oni Press

Publication Date: April 17, 2013

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Yesterday I posted a review of Double Fine Action Comics Vol. 1, with the help of my partner Mike. His basic assessment was that the collection would be great if you knew the author personally (as in, "Dude, that's so good. You should totally put that in a book!") but for everyone else...meh. Fine. Just fine, though, not "double fine."

Here's what he had to say about Volume Two:

"Same stuff.  I have not altered my perspective or assertion that this is definitely funny to the author’s friends."

There ya go. If you're not one of Scott Campbell's friends or family members, the appeal of this collection may be limited.

Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Volume II: Creation Myths, by Brain Froud (with Joshua Dysart, Alex Sheikman and Lizzy John)

Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Volume II: Creation Myths

Authors: Brian Froud, Joshua Dysart, Alex Sheikman, Lizzy John

Publisher: Archaia Entertainment 

Publication Date: March 12, 2013 

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Whenever I review a comic or graphic novel, I usually ask the opinion of my partner and resident comic book expert, Mike. I definitely did for this one, which I got mostly for his benefit anyway. Although the art was pretty, I'm not familiar with The Dark Crystal at all (I've never seen the movie) so this comic made no sense to me. So it's not a completely stand-alone book. Mike, on the other hand, is a huge fan of the Jim Henson movie. Here's what he had to say:

"Good stuff, definitely has the feel of the world of the movie, at an earlier time period.  Wouldn’t make sense to a reader who had not a) read the previous volume, or b) like me, watched the movie a bunch of times.  Pretty, and the illustrations of many of the animals and characters give a Henson creature feel of movement.  I liked it."

So if you're a fan of the movie and you like comics (or graphic novels or whatever) you'll probably like this. If not, you might be a little lost (like I was).

War Brothers: The Graphic Novel, by Sharon E. McKay (illustrated by Daniel LaFrance)

War Brothers: The Graphic Novel

Author: Sharon E. McKay

Illustrator: Daniel Lafrance

Publisher: Annick Press

Publication Date: February 7, 2013

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I have not read Sharon McKay's 2008 YA novel, War Brothers, so I can't compare the graphic novel version to the original. Like the original, War Brothers--The Graphic Novel tells the story of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, this time with illustrations by Daniel Lafrance to add a new dimension to the characters. 

I discussed this book with my partner Mike (he reads a lot of comic books and graphic novels). Here's what he had to say:

"A pretty good story.  A little safe – only one of the main characters has to kill, and they manage to escape together.  There’s even a little deus ex machina in the jungle. Not bad for younger readers – it wades into the horror of child soldiers and the LRA.  It’s fiction, and it feels that way.  Weird to say, but feels a bit “Feel good story”, even given the topic.  The feeling of guilt and belief that everyone was afraid of them as killers was well done."

He also mentioned how much he liked the fact that the illustrations were somewhere between typical graphic novel images and children's book illustrations. They were almost cute, or they would have been if the subject matter hadn't been so horrifying. It added to the feeling that these children's childhoods were being stolen from them by being forced into children's armies.

GRAPHIC: The Story of Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teenager shot in the head for attending school

This is an image from artist Gavin Aung's illustrated version of the story of Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for attending school. It's a one page comic book graphic showing her story, in her own words. It's all kinds of heartbreaking and inspiring and awful and...it's all of those things.

You can check out the full thing here or on the artist's site here.