Bloody Chester by JT Petty

The end of this graphic novel left me feeling unfulfilled so it’s hard to write this review.

The story is of “Bloody” Chester who starts off as a scrawny loser locked in the jail of a wild west town.  He’s offered a job – burn down plague afflicted Whale so the railroad can pass through the area.  Not thinking much of it, Chester goes to Whale.  There are 2 survivors and 1 man dying of the plague left.  All he has to do is convince them to leave and burn the whole place down – not a problem especially since the survivors are basically kids.

However, nothing is as it seems and soon Chester begins to unravel the origin of the plague and finds his job a lot more difficult than he thought.  At first, this story has a supernatural feel but everything is explained in “normal” terms.  That’s not the problem, I actually liked that it turned out not to be supernatural.  To tell you why the ending bothers me would ruin the story.  That may not be necessarily true – I just felt that the story ended in a weird place.  I needed a tiny bit more.  There may be an upcoming sequel which would explain why the strange ending but I don’t know.

The art is pleasing, muted but still colorful.  It reminds me of manga in the style.  I felt the art painted a full picture and gave me a real feeling of the life they were living.  There’s slight humor that made this book really enjoyable.  There is a small amount of violence that might disturb a sensitive reader.  The language is slightly more adult with some swearing making it not appropriate for a young reader.  I do see this appealing to teens and anything that gets them reading is a good choice.

Serenity: The Shepard's Tale by Joss and Zack Whedon

I had plans to post a book a day this week since I've got a pile of graphic novels but this one couldn't wait. Not only is it a great book but I didn't want to forget anything so I could share it.
This is a book for fans of the television show Firefly. There's not a lot of development in this graphic novel. It's all backstory about Shepard Book who was a mysterious character through the entire series.
The graphic novel starts with the scene that lead to Book's death in the movie Serenity. It's then told in snippets, each a few year before the previous one. It's an amazing story. There's not a lot of detail but you get a real sense of what happened to him.
Because of the nature of this particular story, there's not a lot I can share without giving away some secrets. I do have to say that the way Joss and Zach wrote this story is perfect. I don't think it would have the same impact if they would have started with his childhood and worked up to his death. The best part of this is not understanding his motivation while you watch the results. It just goes to show you that even great men can have dark pasts and still be great men. I like that God doesn't forsake and even the most humble beginnings can find peace.

The Dark Tower - Fall of Gilead by Robin Furth

*note, The Dark Tower is a Stephen King series but apparently he is not actively writing these graphic novels.

I loved this book. It just moved so well. I did find I had missed the previous book when I was finished but I didn't feel like I was missing anything (helps that it was November when I read the first two).
This is all action. Gilead is preparing for war which concludes at the end of this book. For those who are familiar with the Dark Tower books - you know that the war never really ended but the big battle happens in this story.
This is the core battle that leads to Gilead being destroyed. It's been long enough since I read the actual books that I don't remember when (or if it was mentioned) certain characters die. I had sort of expected Roland to be standing alone in a pile of rubble at the end of this book. That's not the case but the battle will break your heart. Good people die and the bad guys are worse than you can imagine. Some wonderful characters die in horrible ways. It's not for the faint of heart.

Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale

Even though this book is the sequel to Rapunzel's Revenge, it holds up on it's own. There are a lot of reasons why I like these books. The fairy tales are retold in the Old West giving it a completely new lease but more importantly they are full of the action we expect from Westerns.
Calamity Jack begins shortly where Rapunzel's Revenge ends. Jack and Rapunzel are travelling to the city where Jack lived. His golden goose has now laid eggs and he has enough money to repair the damage done to his family's home and business after the beanstalk (and giant falling) destroyed them.
The city he returns to is not the same that he left. There is a war between the Ant People and the Giants and it's destroying the entire city. Jack's mother is now the giant's baker and locked in the giant's tower.
Joining Jack and Rapunzel are Prudence, a pixie, and Freddie Sparksmith, a reporter. Their journey to saving the city is action packed and fully entertaining.
This book is a fairly easy read and not too scary for those younger readers.

Serenity - Better Days

Fans of the show Firefly will love this graphic novel based on the show. It's a good addition to the story except for one thing. This is a tiny part of the book (2 squares) but Wash and his wife (who's name escapes me at the moment) have a baby in this story. The reason that's a problem is Wash died in the Serenity movie and they hadn't had a child at that point in the story.
Aside from that the story is good. The crew scores big and thinks about retiring in style at a resort. As it always goes, they are being chased by a man on a mission to destroy them.
The dialogue is witty and accurate to the characters.
The introduction, by Adam Baldwin, is humorous and gives more depth to the phenom that is Firefly.

The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger Born/The Long Road Home

I was looking forward to The Dark Tower graphic novel series. The original books are quite good (The Gunslinger is a little dry for me but had some great passages). This story is right out of Wizard and Glass when Roland tells his ka-tet about his beginning as a gunslinger and his great love Susan Delgado. This is that story. If you have read Wizard and Glass then there will be no surprise. However, the pictures are worth the time to re-read the story. This graphic novel gives Roland's story more depth and humanity.
For those not familiar with the Dark Tower books, this story is about an ambitious 14 year old boy, Roland Dechain. He is training to be a gunslinger. In this world, time has passed and reverted to a strange time of kingdoms where knights are gunslingers. Relics of the old world include tanks and oil fields. There is a great war going on between the Affiliation and John Farson. John Farson is a great and evil man who appears to be a tool for the Crimson King. Through this story, all this is hinted at. You learn about John Farson but the real story behind the war is fairly muttled.
Roland is goated into testing to be a gunslinger by his mother's lover. Her lover is no other than the Man in Black who will be Roland's nemesis through the entire series. The plan was that Roland would be killed or exiled, allowing the bad guys to have one up on the good guys. Instead Roland is successful, so much so that his father worries he will be killed and sends him and his friends on an errand to count horses in a neighboring kingdom. This is not a fools errand but is suppose to be seen as such - the boys are there to see if John Farson is tapping into the oilfield there.
It's a good introduction into this world. It's quite different from the books which start sort of in the middle and work both ways. The graphic novels are suppose to be the back story that is only hinted at.
This story is continued in The Long Road Home. I found myself struggling to remember this story only to find that this part of the tale was never told in the books. I like this. As I said these novels are the back story (I didn't know that until I read the second book and the really interesting commentary from those involved). These back stories can only add depth to an already deep character. Roland comes across as heartless in the books only to surprise the reader with his compassion. These graphic novels will tell the reader why Roland is so hard and how he came to be on the journey he is on.