Two Graphic Novel Reviews

Boy, it's been a full decade since the last graphic novel I read, apart from webcomics that amount to such. Perhaps I'd internalized the notion that they were generally too dark for my taste. Or perhaps the fact that I was never big on the hardcopy comic book medium stopped me from thinking much about the purported classics within.

But after seeing the comic store near my office many times, I gained the initiative to ask about Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. The novice-friendly clerk advised me to start with volume 1, Preludes & Nocturnes. I then saw from the intro that Patrick Rothfuss, whose books I've liked, had had even less experience with the medium than I've had when he started on Sandman, and now he thinks it's better than Shakespeare. Still, the freaky cover told me I'd prefer the Bard.

( Review 1 )

For a palate cleanser, I returned to the store and bought something that the clerk might have found an odd follow-up, David Petersen's Mouse Guard: Winter 1152. This is the second volume in the series; the first was not on the shelves. The Internet assured me that I could read them out of order and not be lost.

( Review 2 )

Feeling up to another tome, I've grabbed The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Despite a gritty setup, it's tickling me more than either of those not-so-comic books.