Y: The Last Man

I discovered this series around the same time I first picked up the Walking Dead. Y: The Last Man is an epic tale about the last two males on the entire earth after a plague knocked out every other organism with a Y chromosome. Twenty something escape artist Yorick Brown and his pet Capuchin monkey Ampersand are some how spared and are left alone in a world that is now (almost) 100% female. At first blush, that may not sound so bad, but for Yorick, more often than not he is fighting for his life. This story has everything from epic action, to a terrific love story and amazing humor. The characters are terrifically fleshed out and incredibly awesome. Without giving too much of the plot away, it involves a cross country trip from Boston to California so a doctor that is accompanying Yorick can conduct research at her lab to discover the cause of the plague. A lot happens along the way, to say the least. The best comic series of all time? I say possibly yes. I could not recommend this book enough. I've made people read this that were not interested in comics prior, and now have become avid comic/graphic novel readers.

The Walking Dead Volume 1: Days Gone Bye

With the immense popularity of the Walking Dead TV show, I figured it would be fitting to review the first book. The way the story starts is a familiar one: man wakes up from a coma in a hospital to find out that the world has gone to shit. Now what sets this book apart from other horror/zombie funny books is the focus not being on the gore and the undead, but on the human characters. Rick Grimes, our protagonist, from the get go is a very likeable character. He is a police officer, he's assertive, he makes the hard decisions, and he has heart. The book starts with him setting out on a quest to find his family in hopes that they're still alive. The character development is excellent, with a colorful cast of characters, some loveable, and others not so much. And often times the people behave in ways that are even more frightening than the walking dead. That is what makes The Walking Dead such a compelling read. It is filled with characters that you grow to love and care about, and it also has awesome zombie action.

Local

Local, written by Brian Wood and illustrated by Ryan Kelly, is a collection of twelve stories about a young drifter named Megan McKeenan. Each story focuses on period of time in her life living in a different city across North America. Not only is the location different in each chapter of her life, but Megan herself appears to be different as she not only tries to find a place to call home, but tries to find herself. Though as a character, Megan makes some questionable decisions, lies, and often gets herself into trouble, she always remains likeable. You really feel for the character and want to travel from place to place with the her and share her with her her journey of personal discovery. The book simply looks beautiful, and the artwork is stunning. The writing itself is arguably the best of Wood's career (having already found success with other great comics such as DMZ, Demo and Northlanders). While certainly not an amazing read, due to the quickness of some stories, lack of substance and lack of any other character development save for the main protagonist, it was an enjoyable one.

Blankets

Blankets is an intimate and touching memoir written and illustrated by Craig Thompson. The bits and pieces of his life that he chose to illustrate in this novel depict a familiar story. At its core it is a love story. An achingly real one that is told so simply, and so truthfully that at first blush it almost comes off as vapid and perhaps a tad juvenile. But when one looks to define young love, I suppose that description would not be far off. So in that sense the story felt all the more real. The sting of a first love that breaks your heart is sort of silly when you think back and reminisce of all your romantic endeavors since the first time you fell in and out of love. And I believe that is the point Thompson tried make. What surprised me about this story was the amount of time spent on dealing with his family's extreme fundamentalist christian beliefs. In a sense, yes it was a love story, dealing with a first girlfriend, family life, but it was also a story about his love of God and falling in and out of love with him. So much time was devoted to his struggles with religion, and so much of his life was shaped by it, it almost became a distraction for me while trying to enjoy the novel. At times I felt it became too preachy in regards to how people should lean whether it be one way or another on their religious beliefs. Nevertheless, it was so well written and beautifully illustrated that the over saturation of religious themes only served as a minor distraction, as the novel flowed wonderfully and made for quite an enjoyable read.