blairecee's reviews
417 reviews

The Authority, Vol. 1: Relentless by Warren Ellis, Laura Martin, Paul Neary, Bryan Hitch

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

It’s pretty good for a superhero story. I don’t know. I don’t really read superhero comics anymore or have much interest in doing so, so I don’t know how much of this is a me problem. The art is gorgeous and some of the spectacle is exciting. But it feels like some of the thorny political context Stormwatch was at least trying to take on, if not succeeding, has pretty much disappeared in favour of the big sweeping action story. It presents an irritatingly uncomplicated vision of the world where are problems genuinely can be solved by incredibly overpowered heroes beating shit up and being borderline fascistic in their exercise of authority (even if it’s for the “right” reasons). I know Ellis often seems critical of authority in his other work, and perhaps there’s some criticism here I’m not seeing, but it just seems pretty simplistic and devoid of nuance. 

DV8: Neighborhood Threat by Warren Ellis
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.

hideous art, more bleak pointless nihilistic garbage

Ruins by Warren Ellis

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Big improvement from Hellstorm & Druid, maybe because it's more self-contained and that forces Ellis to have a bit of restraint. What I find most interesting about it is that even in this bleak dystopia, Ellis imagines the possibility for superheroes to be a truly revolutionary force - something that they would never be in the supposed best possible alternate reality, something that Stormwatch and Authority take on - the tedium of a superhero force that only exists to restore the status quo. So what we get reflected back to us is really a greater reflection of real history - a history of constant state repression of revolutionary forces. Unfortunately, the narrative form of this isn't very interesting. It's just a travelogue snapshot. Phil meets all these characters one by one and we see their dark mirrors,

then he dies.

It doesn't really build to anything and while the artwork is sometimes cool it is occasionally just murky or confusing on a storytelling level.

Hellstorm by Warren Ellis Omnibus by

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

proof you really do need more than just interesting mad ideas to make a good comic book

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

dark reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 2: Second Variety by Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinrad

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It may just be that these stories are from an older period of Dick's writing than the novels I have read and his prose is even clunkier, but the style bothers me more than it used to. He also really hammers his themes such that it's a lot to take all of this in at once because it covers the same ground over and over, and there is very little pleasure to be gained from the work beyond the ideas and 50s misogyny so virulent you have to laugh at it. There are themes I associate as typical of his work - what makes us human? robots evolving to the point humans are rendered irrelevant, mistaken identity, but also a focus on the ecological impact of humans on their environment and the inherently destructive trajectory of humanity that's really fascinating. That's the part I didn't expect, so much. While apocalypse via nuclear destruction seemed most plausible to Dick at the time, now it's simply an environmental apocalypse that we've brought upon ourself, but the end outcome is the same. Survey Team hits particularly hard as it involves a team sent to investigate the plausibility of human life existing on Mars after Earth's resources have been completely destroyed - a situation that is basically ripped right out of the newspapers today.

Favourite stories: Behind the Door, Second Variety, Progeny (divorce-core faildad), The Commuter, The Trouble with Bubbles, Human Is, Imposter, Survey Team, Prominent Author

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Rape

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I find LaValle's prose a bit too sparse to evoke a bygone era, but the storytelling is really solid and this was a great riff on a HP Lovecraft story I admittedly haven't read! Lovecraft's texts are fascinating and I really love seeing revisionist takes on them given the obvious repugnance of his worldview. Will definitely be checking out more of LaValle's work.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Honestly fucking awful. Has some great moments - particularly the opening chapters set in Dracula's castle, the stuff with Renfield in the insane asylum, the ship's log. The middle section as

Lucy slowly, agonizingly dies

is just an incredible slog to get to, and the pacing of the book is so slow as to ruin any horror or atmosphere that might be generated, especially since the characters are all wisp thin and half their dialogue is just congratulating each other. I do enjoy a good epistolary format although in this case I think it often weakens the tension of the novel - certainly it does in the shift from the early chapters to the interminable summer romance of Lucy. I'm glad I read it just to have experienced such a foundational text but I couldn't recommend this to anyone.

House of the Marionettes; あやつりの屋敷; Ayatsuri Yashiki by 伊藤潤二, Junji Ito

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Fun collection of Junji Ito short stories. Maybe the best of these so far? Couple clunkers but Clubhouse, Secondhand Record, and House of Puppets are all fantastic shorts.