prismotron's reviews
42 reviews

Goodnight Punpun, Vol. 2 by Inio Asano

3.75

MW by Osamu Tezuka

4.0

gripping. when i say this one had me by the throat!!! phewww. i think this is a much better exploration of moral bankruptcy and abuse of power than ode to kirihito, and includes a sort of rise to power plot that enriched the other two. yuki could only get as far as he did because of his sociopathic behavior, it makes you think about the powerful people he associated with and how they came into their positions (the inclusion of the US military later on is especially pointed.) i feel like maybe i should take more issue with the male characters that exhibited male attraction being the morally reprehensible/ambiguous ones, but i dunno. realistically i am not reading this seeking good representation, so in writing this out i've decided i don't care. lmfao. i do care about the women being about as dynamic as a piece of printer paper once again though. tezuka for $5 name one thing a woman can do that does not involve a man. quickly.

Ode to Kirihito: New Omnibus Edition by Osamu Tezuka

3.25

looove medical drama (trauma center fan) and that's where this story absolutely sings. i felt exactly like urabe, having this need to know exactly how monmow disease works...which makes the fact that he's revealed to be a serial rapist kinda disappointing. granted, his first assault happens before any sort of character has been established for him, so maybe my own fault for becoming attached -- but to be fair, he functions like the audience surrogate throughout the plot: we want to know more about the disease. urabe is obsessed too! we want justice for what kirihito has had to go through. so does urabe! they're bffsies! he's the one doing the work to satisfy both of these needs! i don't know, i found it to be a misguided decision is all. especially considering the fact that he suffers from some sort of mental illness, so of course he's the rapist. lol. anyway while i'm bitching: female characters in this fell incredibly flat, save for sister helen whose religion-centered character arc touched me so deeply(??!) and reika, who probably was a bad character but was hilarious to me. human tempura circus performer murderer woman. incredible.

ultimately: equal + massive amounts of great and bad here. sad it didn't work as well as i wanted but glad i can move onto blackjack now.

Monica by Daniel Clowes

4.0

holy shit lmfao. absolutely insane. boyfriends leave candles leave but your hereditary self-destructive tendencies are forever! :)

Spiderland by Scott Tennent

4.0

seminal album of my latter-adolescence. the rotating cast of bands/characters/associations in the chapter about the formation of the band was entertaining (nice touch to have a table on the first page showing which indie band spawned the others and others and so on and so forth. had me crackin' one as a scenester. lol.) but the best part of this is 100% the breakdown of the songs on the album and every minute, obsessive decision that went into the sound. spiderland is an album of suffocating emotion, truly blown away at just how finely that effect was curated. i will never listen to this album the same way again. that rules.

additionally: learning PJ HARVEY applied to be the new lead singer post-split blasted my nuts CLEAN OFF. YELPED at my desk

Pulp's This Is Hardcore by Jane Savidge

4.25

i could easily make this review my own essay on this is hardcore, but i will refrain from doing so. i say easily because i did in fact do that, but a moment of clarity hit me like a train and i deleted this big fat paragraph i'd written in a daze. anyway.

i'd bought this the instant i was made aware of its release.  i usually wring my hands a little bit buying a book from this series blind, but as a chronic 33 1/3 collector and a chronic Cockhead (coining that) i'm not going to omit my second favorite pulp album from my collection. duhhh. thankfully pretending i'm carefree and dangerous paid off, this is absolutely one of my favorite entries yet. so many fantastic quotes, cultural insights from the author, and the perfect pulp-esque dry wit to carry the reader through the bleak history behind the album. i also didn't know savidge worked as one of their publicists going in, it makes her commentary that much better!!! especially the anecdotal chapter on one of The Greatest Album Openers of All Time, "The Fear." i absolutely devoured this one. i think the prelude and the postlude lost me a little though, they felt slightly hokey -- but thankfully not so offensive that it turned me off completely. pretty really good. phew.

Crush by Richard Siken

5.0

litany in which certain things are crossed out aghhhhhhhhhhhh 🛌🤣😕[laugh track]

The Fang - Weekend at Medusa's: Volume 2 by Marc Palm

3.5

lore... @_@

The Fang, vol 1: Moonlight Snack by Marc Palm

3.5

i wish this was 800 pages long.

Four Women by Sam Kieth

4.0

phewwww this rocks. the art captures the atmosphere so well, i'm fixated on cindy being drawn genuinely youthfully, not like... she's 19, so she's the doe-eyed sexy bimbo of the group. makes the horror of her particular experience that much more impactful. grounded and chilling but friendship will always prevail yay Ɛ> 🎉