Thought Train to Pusan

A fitting read for Canada Day weekend, huh? We Stand On Guard is the graphic novel of Brian K Vaughan, with art by Canadian artist Steve Skroce, and colouring by Matt Hollingsworth. Focused on a future after the bombing of the White House, Canada and America find themselves at war with one another. Canada is almost completely occupied by American forces, with most Canadian citizens working in labour camps for resources to be sent down south to the American people. But of course, there are those who will resist, and continue to resist in both subtle and overt ways to stop whatever injustices they see happening. This is where we meet a group of freedom fighters of the direct-action variety; their fight is the one the novel focuses on, and the whole thing plays out very much like what I’ve seen in many a post-apocalyptic anti-establishment movie. In all honesty, I can see why this graphic novel works for a lot of people, and the artwork has a definite polish to i...

--> Just as a number of readers before me have also done, I came to read Treasure Island after recently flying through the tv series Black Sails   (I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I quickly came around and loved it by the end), which is a prequel to the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Although, I didn’t realize this for quite an embarrassingly long time, but then, all my previous engagement with the story has been in the form of The Muppets adaptation or Disney’s Treasure Planet : I thought it was just generic and well-known pirate names being used in the show! I mean, real historical figures are included in there as well! But in any case I felt like a doofus when I finally figured out the relation to the novel that has endured over time in its portrayal of pirates and how their iconography continues to be identified and understood today. It is therefore, a credit to Treasure Island in how it has defined the notion of pirates and their genre through...

3.5 stars out of 5! Round 3 of my adventures in hockey romance this year, and Him has definitely been the best one so far! Am I going to read the sequel for it, titled Us ? Mmm, I'm not so sure yet. But potentially. Him is a m/m romance between two long-time hockey bros, Jamie and Wes, who became fast friends over the years, spending their summers at hockey camp together, until after an awkward interaction things suddenly went cold between them. A few years later back at camp though, with one of the boys out and gay, and the other questioning, they find themselves drawn together in ways they never thought they would be. The basic premise here is a story that I've read/watched a few times before, just in different circumstances (and usually in LGBT+ media, in fact). It's that of the good friends, one of whom develops feelings but doesn't think the other feels the same way, only to end up with them separating to meet again later and need to confront the dynamic once...

Including: Book 5 - “Conqueror Worm” Book 6 - “Strange Places” Book 7 - “The Troll Witch and Others” with art by P. Craig Russell and Richard Corben Book 8 - “Darkness Calls” with art by Duncan Fegredo Book 9 - “The Wild Hunt” with art by Duncan Fegredo A while ago I read the first 4 volumes of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy series and really liked a lot of aspects of it! I’m not sure why I ever stopped, but seeing as I was planning on making a Hellboy cosplay outfit for some expos/Halloween later this year, I figured I should get back into it! So these 5 volumes were the ones I managed to snag from my sister, and I have to say, I do still very much enjoy this character and his stories. For the most part, these volumes all follow one major arc for Hellboy, coming to terms with his identity and various prophecies or roles people want him to play in their grand scheme of the end of the world. Yet there are also little side quests and adventures thrown in t...

I’m a little late on boarding this train, aren’t I? So I’m sure most of you know the story already (mild spoilers abound in this review): I myself have seen the movie adaptation! But it was a conversation about said movie that made me want to actually read Gone Girl in the first place. Basically, the conversation boiled down to most people simply dismissing the character of Amy in the story as a “crazy bitch”. And while, no, I don’t agree with her actions and she does seem sociopathic, I thought… that’s so reductive: there’s so much more to it than that! Because while I do think she takes things too far and don’t agree with her actions, both after watching and reading, I felt like I understood why she as a character felt she should do the things she does. And so I thought, maybe the book will dive into this mindset more, because it sure is super intriguing, though completely unlikeable. Actually, neither protagonist of Nick nor Amy is likeable, but you really ...