90.
Title: [Bodies]
Author: Si Spencer, et al.
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: November 4, 2016
Rating: ***

At four points in time, but presumably the same space, a mutilated body is found, and an unusual murder investigation begins. Thrice, the detectives in charge demonstrate integrity which positively marks them, and once the very deviance of the detective generates strong interest in the reader. As the audience skips from point to point, seeing the parallels lost to the characters in the story, they are treated to sympathetic and interesting characters, fantastic and varied artwork, and an engaging pace which builds and threads from four corners all to a central point. Unfortunately, once that point is reached the strength of the text dissolves, along with any semblance of originality, and not even the compelling protagonists can pull it through. Taking strong cues from the ridiculous moves and conclusion of From Hell, which is similarly smart and interesting until taking this turn for the worst, the narrative dissolves into the ridiculous, and is so close to Alan Moore's take on Jack the Ripper that its adaptation walks the line of direct mimicry. Those who enjoyed the conclusion of From Hell would likely enjoy Bodies just as much, and I'd encourage them to do so. For others, I'd say that the early development and artwork are reason enough to pick it up, but would caution anyone from growing too invested in the book's conclusion.

85.
Title: [Dark Night]
Author: Paul Dini
Genre: Graphic memoir
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: purchased
Date Completed: October 2016
Rating: **

To call this a "True Batman Story" is figurative, and does the job of disguising the genre through the application of the author's profession. The book describes, as promised, a dark night, and the author's brutal and violent beating that left him physically devastated and emotionally crippled. The author, it happens, was a writer for the then-running Batman cartoon, and in his ennui he struggles with why his favorite fictional property "wasn't there." In his own mind, the author retreats to a society of cartoon and comic characters, using dialogue to try to work through his own psychological trauma and depression. The characters appear, but are not themselves, looming familiarly but unfamiliarity, as they are imagined by one of their authors, but represented for his sole purpose.

His experience is a terrible one, and the therapeutic power of the creation of the book is undeniable. He writes that he hopes his story may give others hope, who may identify with his life or experience. As a reader who does not, I felt badly for his experience, but found the book as a whole indulgent and of little personal value.

86.
Title: [Fashioning Gothic Bodies]
Author: Catherine Spooner
Genre: Fashion and Literary Theory
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library
Date Completed: October 2016
Rating: *****

As amazing as I find this book, I won't be able to properly review it until long after my comprehensive exam (in which it features heavily) ... which begins tomorrow.

87.
Title: [Dress Culture in Late Victorian Women's Fiction]
Author: Christine Bayles Kortsch
Genre: Fashion, Gender, and Literary Theory
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library
Date Completed: October 2016
Rating: *****

Equally as amazing as Spooner, equally as important, with the same looming deadline that leaves me unable to write anything but my exam answers.

88.
Title: [Hidden Destiny]
Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Supernatural Romance
Medium: Kindle E-book
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: November 2, 2016
Rating: ***

Still in social and intellectual recovery from October, I said to a friend on Wednesday that "what I really need is a smutty novel and a bath bomb."  And then I immediately looked up a series I had read once-upon-a-time, and had a relaxing soak.

 
89.
Title: [Tattered Loyalties]
Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Supernatural Romance
Medium: Kindle E-book
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: November 3, 2016
Rating: ***

And then, even though the last one wasn't really that great, I downloaded another, which kept me occupied while I stood in line for early voting.


Tonight I'm working on the introduction of my dissertation prospectus, and then plan to treat myself to [Bodies], which arrived today, and looks to be very promising.

Three more graphic novels bring me to my initial goal!

73.
Title: [The Saga of the Swamp Thing]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 8, 2016
Rating: ***

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing is a canonical graphic novel that breaks new ground and shepherds the genre into new themes and ideas, abandoning caped crusaders to follow philosophical conundrums posed by the creation and existence of the humanoid character now known as Swamp Thing. I know this, and I knew it going into the book, but ultimately the entire text felt like an unfortunate chore - how I'm sure some high school freshman unfortunately feel when forced to read Romeo and Juliet because "it's a classic." I have no intention of debating Moore's influence on the genre, nor his prolific, and often intriguing productions. His narratives don't click for me as a general rule, and this book is no exception. While it was suggested to me both for its cannonical status and for its narrative on Othering and villainy, I didn't find anything that isn't likewise represented in texts I find more enjoyable to work with. A good box to check, but not a favorite for me.

74.
Title: [300]
Author: Frank Miller
Genre: Comic
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 9, 2016
Rating: ***

I saw the film 300 long before I knew the story was based on a graphic novel, and snagged it off the library shelf on a whim just recently. What I found was a treat of a story, paced and illustrated much like the kind of mythology which inspires its tale, and brief in its development and execution. The art style is a strong voice in the overall telling of the Spartan warriors willing to sacrifice their lives for their king and his stand for autonomy against an arrogant but powerful imperialist interloper. I couldn't help but let my imagination and the film fill in the narrative holes left in the original story, and I'm not quite sure that's a bad thing - there's certainly more to be said, and more one wants to hear about this march of men.

75.
Title: [Catwoman: A Celebration of 75 Years]
Author: Frank Miller
Genre: Comic
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 9, 2016
Rating: ***

This collection of Catwoman stories is the second I've read of its kind, and the editors select largely different representative stories, which allows me a stronger understanding of where the character has been, and where she may be going. Most valuable, though, are the editor's own descriptive introductions, placing the comics and the character into a larger cultural narrative, the better to understand her full development and impact; they speak of shows and movies, trends and cultural artifacts, and work to illustrate how she is a product of her time, while also timeless. Though I haven't yet found what I'm looking for in terms of primary source material, I'd say that this anthology is a great introduction to a classic anti-hero/villain/opportunist nearly as old as Batman, and just as dark and compelling.

70.
Title: [Batman: The City of Owls]
Author: Scott Snyder
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Comic Store
Date Completed: August 2, 2016
Rating: ***

A sequel to the incredible Court of Owls, The City of Owls follows Batman as he seeks revenge on the Court, penetrating their previously impervious boundaries and hunting for those in true control. Secondary stories follow Dr. Freeze and his "romantic" mission against Wayne Enterprises, the teenage electrician Harper Row, and Alfred's father's confrontation with the Court of Owls. Like teh second in many popular trilogies, The City of Owls feels most like a filler book, offering narrative and development without great engagement with developing plot points.

71.
Title: [The Joker: Endgame]
Author: Scott Snyder
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Comic Store
Date Completed: August 3, 2016
Rating: ******

This.  This. This book is a spectacular epic following the Joker's grand masterpiece of a final act, ultimately infecting over 90% of Gotham city and pushing Batman to his true limits. Woven throughout the book are teaser biographies of who the Joker "really is," whispered and shared by escaped Arkham Asylum inmates, their psychiatrist, and even boarding school students hiding from the madness of the chemical warfare beyond their school gates.  These biographies illustrate the reach and influence o Joker not just within the Batman canon, but in popular culture as a whole, demonstrating the hunger comic readers have for the "truth" behind the Joker's mystery, and the power of myth to grow and morph and promise and deny throughout telling.  As a whole, it is suspenseful and creepy, matching action with what amounts to ghost stories, and the ultimate twists are deeply satisfying and well written for such a spectacular character. Following the arc of Death of the Family I couldn't fathom what DC or Scott Snyder could do with the Clown Prince, and I for one am quite satisfied with their creative choices - and I'm thrilled for it analytic potential for my current research.

72.
Title: [Pretty Deadly]
Author: Deconnick, Brios, Bellaire, Cowles
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Comic Store
Date Completed: August 3, 2016
Rating: ***1/2

Pretty Deadly is a fictional Western in which a young girl, Sissy, travels with her adoptive paternal figure, performing the story of Deathface Ginny as her own mysterious past unfolds around her. When Death comes to release a Beauty from her Mason husband, who has jealously locked her away in a tower, Death himself falls in love with the young woman, and together they produce a daughter, whom Death names Ginny. This mythology is the clearest narrative in the entire book, which as a whole teasingly places Sissy in the story, and slowly reveals the truth of the fairy tale, and the parts played by the characters included. The artwork is lovely, but the story feels clumsy, especially after reading Monstress; had I read Pretty Deadly first I may have rated it more favorably, but after such a great book this one falls a bit flat.

65.
Title: Lost Girls: Volume 3
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Borrowed from Diss Adviser
Date Completed: July 14, 2016
Rating: ***1/2

66.
Title: [Hit List]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Probably Pre-ordered once upon a time
Date Completed: July 12, 2016
Rating: **

This may be the most hideous book cover ever used by a professional publisher. The ethos of the book is immediately destroyed by this visual presentation, and the book itself does nothing to recover.

67.
Title: [Kiss the Dead]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Probably Pre-ordered once upon a time
Date Completed: July 18, 2016
Rating: **

Neither of these books in the Anita Blake series is especially engaging, forgettable nearly as soon as they're put aside. I've missed Bullet in my straight-through attempt at a series, because a friend had my copy, and I'm currently deciding whether I want to go back to it, or skip it entirely; apparently I wasn't very impressed the first time around. I know the story picks up a bit in later books, so I'm tempted to just keep looking forward.

68.
Title: [Affliction]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Probably Pre-ordered once upon a time
Date Completed: July 25, 2016
Rating: ****

I enjoyed Affliction both for its character development (finally!), and for the balance of romance and action.  When Micah's sheriff father is struck with a strange disease in the line of duty, his mother calls Anita, and the principle menage-a-trois travels home so Micah can say goodbye.  Coming home for the first time since falling under the tyranny of Chimera, Micah's stress is increased by both his former efforts to alienate his family for their protection, and a fanatical family branch who literally has his worst interest at heart. Introducing himself as a functioning member of a polyamorous relationship is the icing on the social cake, and ultimately this introduction serves to further the otherwise stagnant personal relationships that run Anita's household.There's more than initially meets the eye in nearly every social interaction, and resolution is found.  Anita gets back to work, with Edward on board, and seeing her in the field helps re-center the character in her non-amorous life (though, as other readers said, the social tension she encounters in these professional situations is repetitive to the point of pointlessness, no longer offering useful tension but adding a layer of annoyance to the plot lines. Not every secondary or tertiary character should serve as a therapeutic revelation and positive assertion of self). As an urban fantasy/romance the story is reasonably engaging, and provided just the entertainment I hoped for.

I struggle with the series from a number of critical perspectives, particularly as it clashes with my own theoretical allegiances. However, I don't read these as objects of study - I read them to check out and indulge, and Affliction lead me back to doing just that.

69.
Title: [Dead Ice]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Pre-ordered
Date Completed: July 28, 2016
Rating: ***

Dead Ice, the Anita Blake installment of last summer, is a classic case of Laurell K. Hamilton's misdirection: promotional materials would have readers believe that the novel focuses on a case involving zombie porn, and the "apparent" (i.e. everyone can "tell") capturing and reinsertion of soul into the zombies being manipulation for the purposes of pornography. Smacking of a badie from before, Anita's anxiety spikes as she attempts to discern the identity of the animator, and just how he can accomplish this vile act once managed by only one priestess in the world.

Except ... the case barely registers.  As per usual, the circumstances of Anita's involvement in an FBI case are marginal to her personal confrontations, which in this book involves her ball-busting new guards and trying to do something with the disaster that is Asher (and Kane). The original case is a wonderful premise, and one worthy of development, but the novel completely fails this plot in favor of watching Anita stomp around the Circus asserting her big-doggedness and gaining even more metaphysical power.

I've come to realize that rereading the series in order was perhaps not the best decision if I wanted to maintain my casual fandom: these books are much more entertaining in isolated bursts of quick entertainment, and do not stand up to the test of extended development in synchronous reads. Though I love many of the characters, Anita is not one, and I'm finding myself more relieved than entertained that I've now finished the available series. I'm hanging on for the wedding, because it seems like the one true moment of progress I've seen, but I'm not nearly as excited as I was a year ago.

64. 
Title: [Monstress]
Author: Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Pre-ordered
Date Completed: July 12, 2016
Rating: *****
Monstress tells the tale of Maika Halfwolf, an Arcanic searching for answers to her own existence in the aftermath of a holy war which sees a tenuous peace between humans and Arcanics, which still allows for the slavery of the later by the former. Of curiously unknown half-human half-Ancient origin, Arcanics are fantastic humanoid characters of highly variable appearances, treated as beasts by humans, and literally consumed by witches who use their flesh for the production of illium, a magical solution.  Mysteriously more powerful than expected, and carrying a dark presence even she is unaware of at the first, Maika is driven by the death of her mother, the secrets the woman took with her, and a hunger that frightens both herself and the characters around her.  The narrative offers careful world and story-building, showing bits of history interspersed with the present to maintain the enjoyable uncertainty of the story without wholly confusing the reader. Complex characters with strong histories and motivations drive the story, and the fantasy of the time and place encourages immersion in a place that is entirely other, but eerily family and thus seemingly possible. The cover offers Neil Gaiman's critique that the book is "Remarkable: a beautifully told story of magic and fear," and I wholeheartedly agree.  Well done.

63.
Title: [Flirt]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Probably Pre-ordered once upon a time
Date Completed: July 10, 2016
Rating: **

Flirt, a novella in the Anita Blake series, loosely uses the premise of flirtation as a personality trait to direct a melodrama of love, desire, loss, and violence. Opening with two uncomfortable professional interviews, in which Anita has to deny each client their request for the animation of their deceased spouses, Anita contemplates the flirtatious drives of a handful of her loved ones before being unceremoniously kidnapped by mercenary werelions. When someone can't take no for an answer, things get ugly, with fairly predictable Anita Blake results. The book introduces a character I find exceptionally interesting - namely, Nicky - but in such a way that the conclusion is overly obvious from the very first.  The story is weak and poorly planned, rushing to the climax (pun intended) without joy or enthusiasm.  If you've missed this one you're not missing much, and experience has shown me that the character is better explored later in the series.

59-60.
Title: [Lost Girls: Volume 1] and [Lost Girls: Volume 2]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Borrowed from Diss Adviser
Date Completed: June 16-17, 2016
Rating: ****

Alan Moore's three-volume Lost Girls is a pornographic re-visitation of three familiar fairytale characters meeting, and enjoying clandestine affairs, in an unusual hotel.  Alice (of Wonderland) is a wealthy elderly lesbian who has been socially shunned from her family - not that she cares much; Wendy (Darling) is a meek and submissive wife still daydreaming of dalliances in the park with a fairy-like young man; Dorthy is a spunky American Westerner spinning yarns of frisky farm life for her European companions. Together, the women share their sexually deviant but fulfilling histories, while enjoying a casual intimacy which is represented as comfortable and engaging, asking nothing and giving everything: the stories known to us as children are represented as metaphors for sexual awakenings and adventures in a very adult world. Realistically, there are some power dynamics which show a tendency towards predatory consumption of  young women, and taboos are unapologetically represented as part of the characters histories. In the telling, though, Moore gives each of the characters agency, allowing them the pursuit of pleasure and interesting a way that would have been (and arguable still can be) denied young women, and negates any sense of shame or apology. In a first reading I'd then suggest that this is an intriguingly feminist text, at once acknowledging how society and social groups can take advantage of young women, and how those same young omen can find their own autonomy in the ownership of their sexuality. Moore's take on these traditional female figures captures and articulates the strange in-betweeness of Victorian sexuality - that which shouldn't be, but is undeniably there. It also expresses a keen understanding of intended audience and fairy tales, giving back to adults a space of fantasy and metaphor that the Victorians relinquished to children. The series was recommended to me by one of my dissertation advisers as I first approached a project on gender and Victorian novels and modern comics, and it's something to think about as I move forward with the project.

61.
Title: [The Female Detective]
Author: Andrew Forrester
Genre: Detective Novel
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Beach Read
Date Completed: July 5, 2016
Rating: ***

Andrew Forrester's The Female Detective, published in 1864, is the first of its kind*, introducing a female protagonist in a relatively new genre. Using the name of Mrs. Gladden, although never actually recognizing this as her legal name, the female detective in question introduces the occupation to her readers in a series of narratives, both justifying her position and actions and relating the specifics of a series of "cases" in which she is involved.  As a whole, the novel is clumsy and unsure of itself, using bracketed asides and footnotes to try to direct and clarify and generally justify the text, characters, and occupation itself. Interestingly, a true organization of occupation familiar to modern readers (and anyone familiar with police procedurals!) is missing, and Mrs. G reads more like a busybody with police connections than a competent professional; for example, in one significant case she takes it upon herself to research the strange adoption of a young girl, whose household presence secures a financial legacy, ultimately revealing the results of her investigation because it is "required" of her position, though she was hired of no one and her investigation threatens to bring true harm to very good people. Her works seems more like that of cozy mystery protagonists than a professional detective, which has interesting gender implications for the genre itself.  Not good in its own right, Forrester's novel is nonetheless an interesting cultural object for the study of Victorian culture, and the evolution of the genre.

*Like many "firsts", this is a bit contentious. However, despite the existence of Ruth the Betrayer from 1862/3, I'll maintain for my own purposes that Forrester's novel is "first." My own personal justification for this is that Ellis' text is a serial penny dreadful, a different form of publication from Forrester's formal novel publication.  Therefore, Ellis' spy may be the first female detective in English, but Forrester's novel is the first female detective novel.

62.
Title: [Clean Room]
Author: Gail Simone
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Pre-ordered
Date Completed: July 6, 2016
Rating: *****

A well-written, strongly-illustrated, highly-compelling graphic novel. Clean Room takes a Scientology-esque institution and places it into productive action, revealing an alternative awareness of the world which both enlightens and terrifies those who know. Astrid Mueller is a horror writer turned self-help guru who has attracted a large umber of devoted followers, including nearly all of Hollywood, who attend weekly "readings" and espouse her wisdom. The organization is also cited in a number of suicides, calling into question Mueller's intentions and control, and whether or not her "help" is really positive. When a reporter's fiance falls under Mueller's spell, and kills himself suddenly, she makes it her mission to expose Mueller and take down the organization. Of course, there is far more to the story than she imagines, which she discovers after being allowed a rare glimpse into the "clean room" that is Astrid's true command center. The book is a creative take on alternative social communities and suggestive of a real horror that will leave readers on edge.  The character development is strong and largely believable, making the fantastic all the more possible.  Very well done.

47.
Title: The Astonishing X-Men
Author: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: By shop recommendation
Date Completed: 18 May 2016
Rating: ****

All I've ever known of the X-Men is the animated cartoon, which certainly did its job to hold my attention and spark a strong interest.  Though I've written two papers on a related subject - specifically, Storm cosplay - I've never read a comic proper, and so during our last comic book store trip I asked an employee to point out a good starter book. His suggestion was the Joss Whedon The Astonishing X-Men, both for the interesting premise of a "cure" for a mutation gene, and more generally for Joss Whedon's decision to parse down the field and focus on a select few characters.  After reading I appreciate the employee's care, as I can see how it would be easy to become overwhelmed by the thousands of mutants who appear throughout the lifetime of the property; focusing on a select team makes it easier to think about character development and interpersonal relationships.  With the very little knowledge I have of the title I found it easy to navigate the stories of Hope and Danger (and I'll leave my allusions at that, to avoid spoilers), even though a few characters were barely familiar.  Whedon does well to focus on quiet tension both within the team and in the world at large, and presents believable personal scenarios that, excuse the term, humanize the tensions and politics ad clearly reflect thematic issues introduced by the subject itself.  In short, I found it well done, if not the most compelling comic I've read.  Now that I have my foot in the door I feel more confident seeking out particular story lines that have come up in my research - specifically, when Storm steps up as a team leader, and her punk phase.  In the cartoon

44.
Title: [American Vampire]
Author: Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, and Stephen King
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: 12 May 2016
Rating: ***1/2

American Vampire is a fantasy of the Old West and silent film Hollywood, each dominated by tyrannical Old World vampires who own banks and studios, and treat humans ("humes." Yes, actually) as the cattle they are so often read to be within the genre.  The Old West sees the birth of Skinner Sweet, whose backstory is penned by Stephen King, and a new, distinctly American race of vampires. Skinner Sweet is no hero - his actions are fairly repugnant, and stereotypically outlaw: theft, rape, and countless murders, including the shooting of a toddler. When he gets into a physical altercation with a vampire whom his gang has robbed a drop of blood gives him new life, and the reader again meets him in 1920s California, acting the same sweets-guzzling creeper that he is in the late nineteenth-century.

While the characters are fairly stock, they're very well-executed, and Skinner Sweet has a ghastly charm that holds attention even as the reader understands that he has no redeeming qualities. Whatsoever. Truly.  Pearl shows promise, although she's given little room to be "new," and could develop into something wonderful if given half a chance. The story itself is likewise trite, but not so wooden that it wears thing, more like a familiar and comfortable sweater than a sodden mess, blending genres in a way that firmly grounds the story geographically and culturally, and leaning heavily on beautiful artwork to pull the book through.

Stephen King's introduction nearly ruins the experience before it begins.  He opens by saying, "Here's what vampires shouldn't be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and only work at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes. What should they be? Killers, honey. Stone killers who never get enough of that tasty Type-A. Bad boys, and girls. Hunters. In other words, Midnight America." In typical King fashion he thus demonstrates his blinder-version of genre and characters, asserting his "rightness" over the "wrongs" of other authors in a brazen display of ignorance. Clearly, King is not a fan of Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Interview With a Vampire, or ... one I haven't heard of. Nor will I say he should be - each have their targeted audience, and readers like King are not among them. What King here asserts is exactly what this books is - an assertive rewriting of an ageless figure against overly aggressive American archetypes. Essentially, King is arguing for a distinctly masculine American vampire - a violent and twisted creature that runs parallel with a culture of physical violence as old as our first war of Independence. Vampires begin as sexual creatures, which then evolves into romance - their true origins are as spectral figures raping dreamers and strangling children. In their Victorian hey-day they are feared for their sensuality and sexuality more than their physical violence; they are consumptive figures standing in for the tuberculosis that becomes an epidemic in the nineteenth-century, stealing away beautiful young women and supporting the romantic cult of mourning and death in Victorian England.  They are representatives of deviance and inversion - feared for social transgressions rather than outright slaughter. Historically, and personal taste aside, Edward Cullen's theft of Bella is more historically grounded than Skinner Sweet's murderous rampages.  But American horror generally doesn't go for subtlety, and the King I've read hasn't ever struck me as slow, creeping horror. For a good, junky, American punch in the gut, King's vampires will do; to suggest what vampires should and shouldn't be is to artificially limit a tradition that has gone on long before, and will thankfully outlast her abusers.

45.
Title: [Wytches]
Author: Scott Snyder, Joch, Hollingsworth, Robins
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: 13 May 2016
Rating: *****

Pledged is pledged.

Scott Snyder's Wytches is a stunning and horrific graphic novel perfect for a Friday the 13th, or any day one is looking for a creep. Snyder slowly builds a narrative to come back full circle, drawing on pathos and looming shadows to engage readers as they follow Sailor, and the difficult times she's had. Sailor is an adored only child, and when she is involved in a traumatic incident her family decides to move, hoping a fresh start will give her the peace she needs to recover.  In a typical-but-still-enjoyable fashion the new house proves to be less of a fresh start than they believe, and Sailor soon comes face-to-face with a horror story much bigger than she, in which she is enmeshed by the actions of others. It's difficult to be much more clear without ruining the plot, which I certainly don't wish to do - the build and resolution are much better with a veil of uncertainty. I will say that the story is well-paced and fantastically executed, and the dark, sketchy artwork adds perfectly to the tension and the horror.  A sure hit for horror fans - I'll even agree with King on this one, as he says on the cover "It's fabulous. A triumph."


46.
Title: [Coffin Hill] Volume 1: Forest of the Night
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: 13 May 2016
Rating: ***1/2

Moving back and forth through time in a series of exposes, Caitlin Kittredge's first volume of Coffin Hill tells the story of Eve Coffin, the youngest in a line of wealthy witches dating back to Salem. Notoriously selfish, and not balking at evil, Coffin women (Coffin Witches) unapologetically pursue black magic, and when Eve "rebels" she goes straight to the family tradition, leading to a catastrophe that builds for a decade.  Eve is a compelling protagonist, deeply flawed but essentially good, with a hand in both worlds that allows her to function in a series of supernatural conflicts. There is a strong suggestion that there is far more to the story than the first volume relates, establishing enjoyable tension and a drive to the second volume. The epilogue seemingly confuses its own genealogy, which is unfortunate, but Eve's narrative itself is compelling. Though less of a thrill than Snyder's Wytches, it's an enjoyable book with a well-paced narrative and attractive art.

25.
Title: [From Hell]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Comics
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: IS Primary Source
Date Completed: April 8, 2016
Rating: ***

I am of two minds about this Ripper conspiracy theory from comics behemoth Alan Moore, and my rating reflects only half of that mind.  The divide comes from its purpose and use-value: as a popular text intended to entertain, titillate, and thrill, and as a cultural object of study that reflects and forwards theories and perspectives useful for a continuing discourse on social, political, and values.

From Hell is Moore's foray into what is (actually!) known as Ripperology - the study of Jack the Ripper and the infamous Whitechapel murders of 1888, which remain officially unsolved to this day.  From the time of their act to now the spectacular case has drawn a great deal of interest, and serves as a modern whodunnit which holds the real-world promise of a spectacular resolution, if only someone finds, reads, and understands the right clues. The brutality of the crimes, the development of modern detection, and the sensationalism of nineteenth-century newspapers all add to the fervor, and from these real brutal slayings has come mountains of scholarship of varying levels of credibility, performance, art, and literature.

Moore's book forwards one particular conspiracy theory, based on his own reading of Ripperologists and historical research.  The solution offered defies nearly all logic and reason, but such is often the case with conspiracy theories, and this isn't something I hold against Moore.* Ultimately, however, I did not find the book to be entertaining.  Despite the sensational subject material, the plot is plodding, and long chapters seem extraneous to the movement of the narrative; though I understand why the author may have included such prolonged ravings and devoted espousals, they weigh down the text as opposed to building tension and anxious incredulity or curiosity.  In short, I found Ripper himself to be exceptionally dull, as are nearly all of the characters revolving around him, and the actions at hand.  An observation contrary to this criticism: one consistent trope in Moore's books, which seemed particularly successful in this text, is his explicit illustration of sex and sexuality. While I've found it unnecessarily gratuitous in other works (i.e. external to the plot), I thought the attention to human intimacy and sex to be compelling and forthright, and very well represented.

Despite my boredom with the graphic novel as a work of entertainment, I believe it is a useful, compelling, and thoughtful artifact which clearly articulates cultural values and systems worthy (and in need of ) deeper introspection.  For my present purpose, I found From Hell to represent a constant negotiation of gender, particularly masculinities, illustrating conventions, beliefs, and ramifications, both as these definitions are upheld and as they are challenged.  It promises to be a fascinating object of study, and so I am actually very excited to continue working with it.




* I don't really wish to spoil anything, but the fact that certain people would feel themselves completely powerless against the person who is Ripper is literally inconceivable; the ultimate end the murderer finds could have been implemented after the first death, with similar success.  That the instigator would not recall commands goes against all historical demonstration and documentation of character, decision, and action, and the final conclusion that it doesn't really work shows the frivolity of it all.

24.
Title: Batman/Houdini: [The Devil's Workshop]
Author: Howard Chaykin
Genre: Comics
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: April 7, 2016
Rating: **

The only thing redeeming this ridiculous comic is the visual representation of a Joker-like character, which happens to be beautiful and eerie.  The story is flat, the characters are useless, and the whole thing was really a dud.  It doesn't in any way live up to the legends of Houdini or Batman.

Great cover, though.

23.

Title: [Batman Detective Comics: Faces of Death]

Author: Tony S. Daniel

Genre: Comics

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Primary Source for IS

Date Completed: April 2, 2016

Rating: *****

This is the comic I was looking for - the pivotal moment when Joker has his face removed by the Dollmaker at which point they both proclaim they are "reborn."  Though the Joker himself plays a minimal active role in the book, this specific moment is a catalyst for the arc to come, and for my own reading of his masculinity.  The artwork is stunning.  

22.

Title: [The Hobbit]

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy

Medium: Paperback

Acquisition: Teaching Text

Date Completed: April 5, 2016

Rating: *****

4.
Title: [The Missionary]
Author: Sydney (Lady Mary) Owenson
Genre: Victorian Novel
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Independent Study
Date Completed: January 13, 2016
Rating: *

Early Gothic novels rely on a consistent series of tropes in order to relate horror and excitement in readers, without challenging their own identities or standard morals.  In order to protect the British sense of propriety, Gothic tales are most often set in foreign environments (allowing for the assertion that such nefariousness could never happen "here"), historically (to protect a sense of progress), and often draw on themes of religious extremity or superstition - evil monks, threatening monasteries, and the Devil himself.  Sydney Owenson's The Missionary pulls heavily on these traditions, placing a Portuguese Franciscan by the name of Hilarion in India in the seventeenth-century, where he seeks to save the poor pagans from their heretical beliefs. Ownenson's work is not intended as a Gothic, however, and where the later will draw on long descriptive passages to increase tension and enjoyable anxiety in the reader, Owenson saturates page after page with purple prose of the missionary's piety and divine dedication, preaching a perfection of soul and religious fervor which rankles the modern sense of imperialism, racism, and intolerance.  It is, in a word, abysmal.

Hilarion meets his match in the Brahmian prophetess and priestess Luxima, whose perfection in her own faith and culture is a match for the missionary's; as such, an Indian guide suggests to Hilarion that her conversion to Christianity will be the ultimate conquest, and through her the missionary may reach multitudes who otherwise placate the monk with polite smiles and nothing more.  Taking this advice, Hilarion engages in what I'll describe a series of tactical assaults on the young woman, challenging her not just philosophically, but directly violating the tenants of her religion by touching her and seeking her out in the place of her most intimate worship.  Luxima's challenges to Hilarion are the only passages I found engaging, as Owenson captures Luxima's own sense of certainty in the face of Christian assurances, allowing the "rude pagan" the same eloquence and superiority of her would-be converter.

Though I did not enjoy the novel, and would only recommend it to scholars interested in studying Orientalism and Victorian imperialism, I managed to tease a potential thread related to my own research, and potentially a final project - the fetishization of the priestess, most notably her hair and her veil.

5.
Title: [Through the Woods]
Author: Emily Carroll
Genre: Graphic
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: January 14, 2016
Rating: ****

I have extremely vivid memories of reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark when I was eight years old.  I checked out the books from our school library, and devoured them.  I can trace much of who I am today to those books, as they inspired a love and fascination with the macabre and the frightening (and also a fear of the dark).  Like many, I'd wager, what has stuck with me through the years is less the narrative than the dripping India-ink illustrations made of nightmares and dark whispers.  Today, when I picked up Emily Carroll's Through the Woods I was brought back to that first viewing of Schwartz's ghost stories, and gleefully devoured the entire thing in one sitting.

This is not to say that Carroll's illustrations are the same - far from it, Carroll's art is more similar to the graphic genre in which she writes. But like Scary Stories, Through the Woods often relies on imagery which draws from a sense of Freudian uncanny- the familiar becoming unfamiliar, and thus horrific. The stories are beautifully executed and precisely constructed, and it was a sweet joy to read.

3.
Title: [Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama]
Author: Alison Bechdel
Genre: Autobiography
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library book
Date Completed: January 12, 2016
Rating: ****

Alison Bechdel is a compelling American comic artist known for her strip "Dykes to Watch Out For", and whose 2006 graphic memoir Fun Home, describing her relationship with her father before his suicide, was produced as a wonderfully successful Broadway musical in 2013. The show has won fifteen awards to date, including five Tony awards in 2015. The complexity and spirit of Fun Home is moving and engaging, drawing a parallel course between the author's own coming out as a lesbian and her closeted father's attempts to pass and remain buried in one of the ornate closets of his painstakingly-restored Victorian house. There's a tension in Bechdel's writing, given the highly personal content of her work, and an awareness of the potential conflict which will arise when she succinctly outs her father, whose life is successfully secreted until her book.  There's much to say, but not here, because this is a review of her second parental examination, and not a return to Bechdel's father.

Are You My Mother? claims to be the companion of Bechdel's earlier memoir, illuminating her mother where she once examined her father.  Frequently claims to be, I'll emphasize, as Bechdel repeatedly reminds the reader that she is writing this "book about [her] mother," and even finishes the text with her mother claiming subjectivity.  This constant reminder is required, though, because the book is not truly about Bechdel's mother - indeed, she is physically and subjectively absent for much of the story, perhaps reflecting her ornamental role in the false narrative of her deceased husband. What Bechdel shares of her mother is both a repetition of what is shared in Fun Home, and almost completely overshadowed by Bechdel's psychoanalytic readings of why her relationship with her mother is so emotionally difficult for the comic.  The book isn't about Bechdel's mother - it's about Bechdel herself, and her attempts to find a spiritual mother, to come to terms with her decision to not be a mother, to make peace with her sense of failing in the eyes of her mother. It begs for approval much like Bechdel herself seeks her mother's approval, but it makes no space for the purported subject of her narrative - her mother is influential, but peripheral. The psychoanalytic saturation of the content is burdensome, distracting from the humanity of the story, and distancing the text from the actual relationships - a distance that I think Bechdel may feel she needs, whether or not she does this purposefully. Whereas the house of Fun Home stands as a foreboding and constant symbol of Bechdel's father, whose stoic face is nearly constantly present, the dominant image of Are You My Mother? is Bechdel's own profile as she seeks reassurance from other women in her life - most frequently her therapists, but also her mother, heard most often over the phone. The pages are saturated in an eerie orange-red, the tangee lipstick of her mother forecasting the turmoil and aggressive potential of the story, the color rendering even the most ordinary of scenes slightly ominous.  Though Bechdel's father is described as having the temper in her childhood home, her mother's red suggests she is a far greater threat to the developing artist, and literally and figuratively colors each of their interactions, succinctly marking them as aggressive and hostile.

So why four stars? I enjoy reading about Bechdel as much as I would have enjoyed actually reading about her mother, and found the book engaging and entertaining, even with its endless citations of Virginia Woolf and Winicott. This may not be for everyone, but it was still for me, and I'm looking forward to going into the details in the not-too-distant future.

Homework

57.
Title: [Catwoman: Volume 1]
Author: Ed Brubaker
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

58.
Title: [Catwoman: Volume 2]
Author: Ed Brubaker
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

59.
Title: [Sweet Life: Erotic Fantasies for Couples]
Author: Violet Blue
Genre: Erotica
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition:
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

60.
Title: [Batman: Nightfall Volume 1]
Author: "Various"
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

61. 
Title: [Hero]
Author: Perry Moore
Genre: YA Superhero
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating: ***1/2

An interesting take on the assumed binary between superheroes and "othering" as applied to other marginalized groups; here, Thom has to "come out" as both a superhero and a gay man to his bigoted father.  The story has a great deal of potential, but the gendered implications of Thom's powers (both his initial, and then the shift at the conclusion) ruins its power. I can't really say more without spoiling, so there you have it.

62.
Title: [Ultra: Seven Days]
Author: Jonathan Luna
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating: *

I really wanted this to be a satire, but I don't think it's intended to be. Hideous art, and terrible characterization.

63.
Title: [Watchmen]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

64.
Title: [Wanted]
Author: Mark Millar
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

65.
Title: [Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days]
Author: Ed Brubaker
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

66.
Title: [Daredevil: Born Again]
Author: Frank Miller
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

67.
Title: [Cage]
Author: Brian Azzarello
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

68.
Title: [Superman: Red Son]
Author: Mark Millar
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating: **

I am not a fan of The Boyscout, and making him Russian did not elicit any further sympathy.

69.
Title: [Batwoman: Elegy]
Author: Greg Rucka
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

70.
Title: Rhetoric articles - approximately 1,500 pages
Author: Various
Genre: History
Medium: .PDF, various books
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:

71.
Title: Superhero and US Media articles - approximately 450 pages (so far)
Author: Various
Genre: History
Medium: .PDF, various books
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2014
Rating:


I'm missing plenty, I didn't log partial reads, and I'm low-balling the articles. I'm going to be so glad I did this, and I'm very ready for things to settle down ... just in time for another semester to begin.

Hello, grad school - I missed you.

Summer Classes Begin

54.
Title: [Catwoman: Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale]
Author: Ed Brubaker
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: for Superheroes and US Media
Date Completed: June 28, 2014
Rating: ****1/2

Purchased to give me a background on my selected super"hero," Brubaker's collection provides vignettes of Catwoman in nine iterations. For each generation she is a different character, each fraught with a number of cultural and intellectual problems. She's as complicated as I hoped, and this book was a great introduction to the comics that create her. 

55.
Title: [Superman vs. Lex Luther]
Author: Various
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: .PDF
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: June 30, 2014
Rating:

Collection assembled by my professor to illustrate the different faces of Lex Luther through the years.

56.
Title: [The Death of Superman]
Author: Dan Jurgens
Genre: Graphic Novel
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Class Text
Date Completed: July 2, 2014
Rating:


With all of my other reading and writing I don't think I'll be able to review all of these graphic novels.  It was interesting to read a whole Superman book for once, but I'll save my observations for class.

53.
Title: [My Friend Dahmer]
Author: Derf Backderf
Genre: Nonfiction/Graphic Novel
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library
Date Completed: June 26, 2014
Rating: ****1/2

Jeffrey Dahmer was once a child, and an awkward teenager. He once hiked through the woods around his house, and went to school.  There, he remained on the fringes of the adolescent teenage social hierarchy, where he gained a kind of acceptance by a few, thanks to his tendency to fake seizures and spasms, which his classmates found hilarious.  This acceptance did not mean the others saw him as a friend - just that they did not actively torment him, as others were wont to do. Backderf's assertion that Dahmer was once his "friend" is a very loose, and generally careless, assertion - he frequently relates how he would avoid socializing with the young man, even as he would at times seek out his diversions. But hindsight is much clearer than foresight, and it's likely that Backderf's present analysis that he "always knew" that something was wrong with Dahmer - that he could sense a kind of threat - is a reaction to the reality that he once sat next to a serial killer in class, snuck him into school pictures where he didn't belong, and called himself a member of the "Dahmer Fan Club."

The title aside, Backderf's well-drawn and well-paced graphic novel provides an interesting perspective to true crime studies. The text generates a level of sympathy for the reviled man, without begging for leniency or arguing that Dahmer has been misunderstood.  Instead, Backderf frequently and consistently recognizes his "friend's" crimes, and looks for roots of his later desires in an ugly and complicated childhood. Backderf asks specifically "where were the adults?" when Dahmer's strange behaviors (such as skinning roadkill and killing small animals) escalate, or his daily binge drinking on school grounds goes unchecked. There's a sense of anxiety in Backderf's history as he tries to alleviate a sense of guilt, which he then projects on to the missing authority figures in Dahmer's life.   

If the honesty of the book is at times drawn into question, the interest of the text remains, and My Friend Dahmer is successful in drawing a portrait of the young man who would become a famous serial killer. 

47.
Title: [Out]
Author: Natsuo Kirino
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Pages Read: 150
Reason Abandoned:  Lifeless characters, and a general sense of drudgery. 

48.
Title: [Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth]
Author: Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou
Genre: Graphic Nonfiction
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Pages Read: 151
Reason Abandoned: Greater responsibilities.  Logicomix, a graphic account of the life of Bertrand Russell and the "search for absolute truth," has great promise.  The art is well-suited to the subject, and the authors carefully balance reader expectations to provide significant information and necessary explanations, while respecting a general sense of intelligence.  This is of the sort of graphic text to which I gravitate, and I hope to return to it once my summer classes have completed.  But for now it must go back to the library. 

49.
Title: [Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End]
Author: Jennifer Worth
Genre: Memoir
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: June 17, 2014
Rating: ***

This text marks the end of memoir and the beginning of fiction, as far as the PBS show is concerned.  What I appreciate most about this volume is the finality it provides - here, Worth not only tells of her patients, but of the future lives of the nuns, Trixie, Chummy, and the rest.  This kind of resolution is often unavailable for memoirs, and is all the more satisfactory for it.  If for nothing else, I'd recommend this book for just those ends. 

50.
Title: [Zine]
Author: Pagan Kennedy
Genre: Memoir
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Early Review
Date Completed: June 20, 2014
Rating: **

You had to be there, I think.  To a reader greatly removed from the culture which first inspires Pagan Kennedy's 'zine, and suffering from the blog over-saturation which can be attributed to this kind of self-publishing, the text seems shallow.  The reprint includes the original introduction, in which Kennedy cites a few years of "growing up" and growing away from her 'zine, which of course leads her to publish a response and a collection.  As an artifact, it is interesting - I've known of the phenomenon, but only ever witnessed the tail-end, so I did appreciate the opportunity to see the reproductions of one such self-publication.  The content, however, held no interest, and it became a great chore to wade through the original publications to get to her later responses and self evaluations.  Kennedy's memoir is interesting, but I'd far prefer her current reflections than her past work.

All of that being said, I think this would be a wonderful text for someone more invested in this particular cultural movement, the history of social texts, or the recent history of self-publishing.  

51.
Title: [The Dark is Rising]
Author: Susan Cooper
Genre: YA Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Pages Read: 100


52.
Title: [The Private Letters of Countess Erzsébet Báthory]
Author: Kimberly L. Craft
Genre: Nonfiction/History
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Purchased
Date Completed: June 15, 2014
Rating: **

Craft herself, in her introduction, states that this collection of letters is intended to serve as a supplement to her text Infamous Lady.  For those, like myself, who have not read her book, Craft provides a brief synopsis, and then jumps into the translated letters of Countess Báthory. I purchased the book in the interest of gaining insight into a feared historical figure, but with no preconceived notions - I was not looking for a gory confession, but had an inkling that a sympathetic scholar may try to salvage her reputation in some way.  The body of material Craft has to work with is distressingly small, which is no fault to her - most of Countess Báthory's letters have been lost or destroyed, so the body of evidence is slim. 

Ultimately, though, this volume is less a text of Báthory's, and more a text of Craft's; the points of interpretations and analysis suffocate the letters, and casts shadows of doubt on the translations themselves.  The text does not well represent Báthory's voice, but rather uses the voice Craft has constructed for the historical figure.  Craft's presence in the text detracts from the interest, and ultimately the book fails to be truly a collection of private letters, and is instead another analysis of Countess Erzsébet Báthory.