Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "volume-1"

The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 1: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus by Hergé

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collect three Tin Tin graphic novels from the 1930s featuring everyone's favorite European boy and his dog Snowy as he battles mobsters in America before investigating the curse of the Pharaohs and taking on opium dealers the Far East.

The stories are simple, but fast paced. It's astounding how far Tin Tin can go in the course of sixty-four pages and how incredibly complex these adventures can get with numerous sidetrails he can take in a sixty-four page story.

For those of us who watched the Tin Tin cartoons growing up there are some key highlights. A big one is the introduction of the comical detectives Thomson and Thompson in the second of the three adventures, Cigars of the Pharaoh. There are also some key differences such as Tin Tin packing gun and Snowy talking.

These books are pioneering. These don't have all the thrills of modern comic books, but reading them you can see how they've inspired comic artists and creators for decades since their first publication. They're adventurous, exciting, and fast-paced.

Some aspects of the book are politically incorrect for our time, but there are also some attempts to clarify misunderstandings about how the Chinese people live as well as slams as the U.S. Government's mistreatment of native Americans.

Still, all things considered, these books hold up pretty well as some exciting and fun comic stories peppered with bits of social commentary. Overall, a very fun read.



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Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: Best of the Best by Brian Reed

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the first five issues of Brian Reeds run on Ms. Marvel.

The first story opens with Carol Danvers trying to right her life. When she fights Stilt Man and he has no clue who she is. It confirms for her that she's wasted a lot of her life and talent what with her alcoholism as well as general goofing off. She says, "I can do more, I know I can. I can be the person other people strive to be...I can be the best." That's a solid goal. Though her move of hiring a publicist is an iffy way to do that.

However, by the end of Issue into Issue 3, she's facing off against the Brood and another alien creature known as the Cru and she's the only one who can save the Planet. We get a well-paced action story that shows what Carol can be and feeds into her character arc.

Issues 4 and 5, we get a story with a sorcerer coming after Carol while she's trying to do an interview with a Superhero news magazine show. This is a follow up to House of M guest starring Doctor Strange. This isn't a bad story, it's okay, but Doctor Strange is the real star as he tends to be in any story featuring a non-magical character dealing with magic.

Overall, the book is pretty good. The book sets up Carol Danvers' character arc and has a nice three-issue story but gets bogged down by Marvel's mandated never-ending crossovers and that may be the first time that happens in this series, but it'll be far from the last.



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