Christmas & New Years - Comics and Graphic Novel Greatness

Greetings and and belated happy holidays to all my fellow travelers in The "Land of Blog." What Christmas and Happy New Years wishes would be complete without something really cool for free? Well my friend and extremely talented comic book guy Jay Piscopo has issued another free Commander X Holiday Special 2011/2012 that you can access free of charge HERE!!!!!

Also there is a new Commander X Action Figure I must have!!!!!! Great Comic and Pulp so check it out one and all. Recommended for all ages.

What about cool reads you ask? Well I'm glad you asked cause here they come:

The Suicide Squad: Trial By Fire by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, Bob Lewis, Karl Kessel, Dave Hunt and more - Now this Graphic Novel reprints the original first run of the Suicide Squad from way back in 1987. This GN collects issues 1-8 of the original comic plus Secret Origins #14. The premise of this great comic is that the U.S. Government has decided to take on dirty jobs out in the world, without political liability, that need to be addressed, that casualties are assured and chances of success are little. So who do you send on these missions? Well people that are damaged goods. That could mean they are criminals who if they survive the mission get reduced sentencing, heroes that have been forgotten and carry lot's of baggage around from from past deeds gone wrong, and those just plain crazy enough to do it. The Suicide Squad are as follows in this GN:

Amanda Waller - Secret Government Overseer of the team .
Rick Flag - Leader, a very troubled, scarred and driven top notch soldier.
Bronze Tiger - Second in Command, a master martial art expert with a checkered past.
Deadshot - A cold blooded, schizophrenic criminal with a death wish. An expert with guns he wears on his wrist.
Captain Boomerang - A member of the Flash Rouges. A criminal to the core who makes no apologises to anyone about his character. Boomerang is a major wild card and will always do what is in his best interest.
Nightshade - A government secret agent with the powers of Darkness Manipulation, can transform into living two-dimensional shadows, and Teleportation using the Land of Nightshades.
Black Orchid - A mysterious woman with the ability of flight, super-strength, and invulnerability to bullets, but her main power is a mastery of disguise.
There are more that I could list, but as you can probably already tell the list of characters is epic and that's cool because so are the stories.

The first story gives the reader background information on "The Suicide Squad." The second, "Baptism of Fire," has the squad taking on a group of super powered terrorist known as the Jihad. Not everyone makes it out alive and we see the personalities of some of the members of the team (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). The third story, "Mission to Moscow" has the squad taking on a mission with The Penguin in the middle of The Soviet Union were everything goes bad fast. The question the squad faces is how do you escape from deep within The Soviet Union in one piece when everyone is trying to kill you. The last story takes a look into the personal lives of some of the squad members and gives more insight into what makes them tick. This is really a great GN with beautiful storytelling and art that delivers a knockout punch. Highly recommended for those ages 13 and up.

Amulet, Book 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi - Emily and her motley crew have reached Cielis where they believe that all the questions she has about being a Stonekeeper will be revealed. Things get weird and strange as soon as they arrive. They are immediately separated from one another, the Elf Prince and his servant/friend are sent to jail, the few people who seem to populate the city are mean, scared, ill-tempered, or strangely indifferent.Emily is taken away from her mother and brother by her new acquaintance Max to the Academy where no one is allowed access except Stonekeepers. Also add in the mix that The Stonekeeper Guardian Council wants to add a member, but their are many who must compete to be the one. Also for some reason Max is among their numbers. Can Emily trust Max or not for he definitely is keeping secrets? Of course we have new and returning characters to the story:



Emily - The main character and the newest Stonekeeper.
Navin - Her loving and adventurous brother.
Karen - Their Mom.
Misket - A helper robot that appears as a rabbit.
Morrie and Cogsley - Two other robots helping the family with very distinct personalities.
Max -  Friend or Foe?
Lean Redbeard -  a Swashbuckling Fox.
Captain Enzo - (a cat) of The Luna Moth (a flying airship).
Rico - Captain Enzo' brother.
Prince Trellis - The Evil Elf King's Son.
Vigo Light - A mysterious old inventor and retired Stonekeeper who knew Emily and Navin's Grandfather, also an inventor and exiled Stonekeper, Silas.
More that I will let you find out about.

Is this the end of this great series, will there be a fifth, how does it end? Read and Find out. Highly recommended for readers 9 and older!!!!

Check out this video for the GN:




Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

Well until next time fellow comic and Graphic Novel Fans, have a great 2012!!!!!

Library Ninja Bill

The Iron Guy's Top Five for 2011

Greetings, all you rocking and reading guys! I hope you all had a great Christmas and are enjoying the holiday break. This is the time of year the grownups make Best Of or Top Ten lists for the year, so I'm going to present my Top Five books of 2011. (click on the titles to see the original reviews)

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. Not only is it the top book of this year, it's one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. It starts off sort of slowly but once the adventure starts, it's one wild ride!! I've rarely felt such suspense or danger in any book.



Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by the terrific Alan Silberberg. Another remarkable and extraordinary book. You've got humor, a very touching story, and some good lessons about life. I can't say enough good things about this book---and it's way better than the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books! (at least, I think so--go back and check out The Great Greg Heffley Debate from this year)



The Lost Hero. Another winner from the great Rick Riordan. Although The Son of Neptune had more humor, this one had more action and heroics. Jason is a hero worthy to be included in the Percy Jackson series.




Vespers Rising by various authors. The 39 Clues continues with new and even deadlier villains! This one gives the background on the Chaill/Vespers conflict. Lots of action and some real people from history.



How Football Works by Keltie Thomas. An informative and entertaining book. It's got enough information to satisfy new or long-time football fans.

OK, guys, what are your favorite books this year? And, Library Ninja Bill, what did you like the best? Click on that Comment tab under this post and let us know!

Isle of Blood, The Avengers and Sidekicks!!!!!

Hi once again all my fellow wanders in "The Land of Blog." Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving (lots of  Turkey and the good stuff that goes along with it). Library Ninja Bill has been very busy lately but has just finished some really awesome reads. So let's get straight to it:

The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancy - Okay this is the third book in the Monstrumologist Series by Mr. Yancy and it just keeps getting better. If you have not read the prior books in this series, just click here. This books starts off with Dr. Warthrop and his young assistant Will Henry receiving a most mysterious package brought to them by one Mr. Kendall on behalf of the very complex, charismatic and certainly evil  Jack Kearnes. The package is a nest made of human remains that infects anyone who comes into contact with it turning them into monsters so vicious that not only will they kill all those around them, but will eventually turn on themselves and literally devour the monster they have become. The master of these monsters is said to be a creature that swoops out of the sky and rips the victims to pieces, letting the remain fall like rain to the earth. This book is full of horrific finds  and discoveries made by The Doctor and Will and many times their futures look very bleak indeed. This book is also great in that we see the relationship between Dr. Walthrop and Will Henry develop in deeper ways as they act as anchors of sanity for each other. We learn more of what drives Dr. Walthrop and we see the toll of being his assistant takes and changes Will Henry. Also we get a glimpse into the dark psyche that exist hidden away, in most cases, in all human souls to different degrees. This is a great book with, horror, plot twists and a mystery that is just too big to describe here (and if I did what fun would that be) and will keep you turning pages. Recommended for ages 14 and up.

The Avengers, Volume1 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. - Well the Avenger are back together in this Graphic Novel and kicking butt and taking names. This Graphic Novel which collects the most recent reboot of the Avenger (Issues 1 - 6) and features on the team: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America (Bucky Barnes), Wolverine, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Marvel Boy, Hawkeye and former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill. Kang the Conqueror has really messed up the timeline and things are going weird and bad not only in the present, but the future also. Well when things get bad on this scale, it's time to bring in The Avengers. This story is a wild ride and brings in cool guest appearances galore such as Ultron, Wonder Man (hero or villain?), Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen, the future children of The Avengers, Galactus, Dinosaurs and I could go on and on believe it or not. The Avengers have to deal with all this and fix the timeline or every things over. When things are at their worst you bring in the best. You bring in the Avengers!!!!!  Recommended for ages 12 and up.


Sidekicks by Dan Santat - This great all ages Graphic Novel is about Captain Amazing and his pets. In his early days Captain Amazing had as his sidekick Static Cat, also his real pet cat Manny. Well time goes by and Manny is ready to retire and tries to train The Captain's new puppy Roscoe, who unknown to the Captain has the ability to turn into Steel (Roscoe calls himself Metal Mutt). Roscoe and Manny have a big falling out resulting in Manny leaving and the Captain never replacing Static Cat because he does not know about Roscoe's powers. Time passes and one of the Captain's most powerful villains gets released from jail, Dr. Havoc. The Captain is in real trouble and needs a tried and true sidekick to help him triumph over Dr. Havoc. Well the pet scene at the Captain's house has grown and all his pets want to be his new sidekick, if they can keep from killing each other while trying to work as a unit to take down the bad guys, until the Captain is ready for action after a run in with the evil Doctor. In addition to Static Cat returning and Metal Mutt still wanting to strut his stuff we now also have Fluffy the Hamster and Shifty the Chameleon all vying to be his newest sidekick. This Graphic Novel is great fun and full of laughs and heroics. Highly recommended for ages 9 and up.

That's all for now all you cool cats. Until next time, Peace Out,

Library Ninja Bill

Rock and Roll, Not Reading and Kung Foo Action Grips

Hi all,

Hope you have all been well. Without any of my amusing introductions (this time), I will get straight to talking about some recent great reads:

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide To Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald - First and foremost Charlie Joe Jackson does not like to read. He is renowned around school for getting reading assignments done without actually reading the materials he is assigned. Charlie has skated through school on reading by using the following method. Read the first chapter of the book and then the last. Next find someone to read the rest for you. What's so funny is that all the reading Charlie puts into reading other people's summaries of what happens in between the first and last chapters and presenting it is more work on Charlie than if he actually read the book. Unfortunately for Charlie all that is about to change because Charlie is found out by his English Teacher and his parents (not a pretty scene). Charlie tells you his story along with his harrowing experiences with this whole not reading thing that really just wants to make you laugh because, well it's just funny. What will Charlie do now that everyone is on to him. Read this extremely funny book and find out. Recommended for ages 9 and up.

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie...Sigh.

Beat The Band by Don Calame - This book is a follow-up to the extremely funny Young Adult (YA) Book "Swim The Fly" (click here to see my review of that book). As in "Swim The Fly" this book focus on the extremely comical events that three friends - Matt, Coop and Sean - experience as they traverse the treacherous waters of High School and their raging teenage hormones as it goes for the opposite sex. In this book instead of Matt being the narrator, the gross out king and sex obsessed Coop tells the story of what happens to him and his friends in their sophomore year of high school. The trouble starts for Coop when in his Health Class he is teamed, by drawing names, with the infamous "Hot Dog" Hellen for a semester long project. Coop has dreams of scoring big with such hot girls as Prudence Nash and the awful reputation that Hellen has obtained threatens to ruin his chances in scoring with any popular girls. So to combat this situation he gets his buds Matt and Sean to join a "Battle of The Bands" Contest assuring coolness for him and his friends if they win. Only problem though is that they stink and their chances of winning are little to none. How does Coop save his reputation after becoming associated with Helen and his band's little to no chance to win the contest? Read this extremely funny book to find out!!!!! Because of some language and subject matter, I recommend this book for older teen readers (15 years old and up).

The Immortal Iron Fist: The Last Iron Fist Story by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, et. all - This story is about the Marvel Superhero Iron Fist (a mystical martial artist who has no peer) collecting the first 6 issues of the comic. For time immortal there have existed seven mystical realms each with an immortal weapon. Now when I say immortal here the person is not immortal but the power. The Immortal Weapon from the mysterious city of K'un-Lun is Daniel Rand and he is known as "The Iron Fist." For ages beyond tale the city of K'un-Lun has had an "Iron Fist" as it's champion. The only release for all the "Iron Fist" has been in death (usually in battle), except for one. Orson Randall, the "Iron Fist" before Daniel Rand, saw to much death, to much human suffering and walked away from his duties as "The Iron Fist." The power of the "Iron Fist" has given him long life and an endless run to escape those who would have vengeance upon him for many different reasons. Now fate has set Daniel Rand and Orson Randall, two very different people, on a head-on collision and if they are to survive they must learn to trust one another against the coming storm. This is a fantastic GN with both excellent storytelling and artwork!!!! Suggested for those 13 and up. 

Peace all and keep reading,

Library Ninja Bill

Taking Flight, X-Force and The Wimpy Kid Debate

Hi all my fellow travelers in "The Land of Blog." It is good to talk to you once again and I hope you are all doing well. Well let's get down to business. First off, I want to hear from some of you out there in defense of Greg H of "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" Fame. Yes, as I stated before Greg is not the nicest guy in the world, but look at his crazy family. Can you really blame him? An older brother whose sole purpose in life seems to be to make him miserable. A younger brother who gets everything he wants. Parents who just don't understand him. His life and surrounding are at the very least strangely interesting. Plus tell me which gets more laughs kindness or naughtiness. I have not read "Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze" by the terrific Alan Silberberg yet, but I will make sure it is the next book I pick up. Love ya Greg and The Wimpy Kid series!!!! Rock on!!!!!!!!!!

                   Funny!!!!!!!!!!

                           Pretty funny too!!!!!!

You make the call!!!!!

Now on to some recent Graphic Novel reads:


Flight, Volume 7 edited by Kazu Kibuishi - The entire Flight series, I believe there are 8 volumes out as of this date, are just an incredible breathtaking collection of stories by many different authors and illustrators. My favorites in this addition are many, but I will mention just a few for brevity's sake. "Kenneth Shuri and The Big Sweep" by J P Ahonen I think is my absolute favorite. In this instalment Kenneth, an unemployed Ninja, has taken a job as a janitor to make ends meet for his family (his daughter named Jess and wife named Barbara). Everything is going fine until Jess takes down the big bully at school with extreme prejudice with nine forks thrown into his abdomen followed by a brutal kick to the head. It seems that Kenneth has been telling Jess fairy tale stories at bedtime that are a bit violent to say the lease (lots of Kung Foo Action). His wife is furious at him and to make matters worse, the bully's farther hires an evil ninja to take out Kenneth. Not a good situation all around for Kenneth. Read the rest to see how everything turns out. Some of my other favorites are "King of Beast: What's Yours is Mine!" by Paul Harmon. This one is about a bounty hunter named Naga and her pet/friend Kala, who happens to be an escaped snake formerly the property of one Medusa. Naga is after the terrifying monster known as the King of Beast and Medusa is after her to get Kala back. Really great art work and a great story. The GN also has a Jellyaby story by Kean Soo that really rocks. Like I said earlier, I could go on and on about this GN so check it out. This GN has stories appropriate for a wide age range. Some are all ages, while others are not. Because of this I recommend this GN for those 13 years old and up.

                 Jellyaby!!!!!

Naga from King of Beast!!!!!

X-Force: Angels and Demons by Kyle, Yost and Crain - Okay this is The X-Men taken up a notch in intensity and ugliness.  The mutant population has dwindled to below 200 worldwide. Desperate times call for desperate measure. Cyclops is tired of waiting for the newest threat to attack mutants and he wants these threats stopped before they can occur and the bad guys taken out of the game permanently. So of course he goes to Wolverine to lead a secret group, secret even from the X-Men to deal with these threats. He recruits, much to Logan's chagrin X-23, Warpath, Wolfsbane and Elixir. Wolverine agrees in principle but does not want these others involved because of the emotional toll he knows it will take on them as they all become stone cold killers doing whatever is needed to get the job done. Their first mission is against the fanatical Purifiers, responsible for killing more mutants than any other organization in history, lead by Brother Mathew Risman. If this were not bad enough Risman brings another major threat to all mutants into play with the restoring of of the ultimate sentinel Bastion. Things get even worse when Wolfsbane is kidnapped by the Purifiers and put into the fanatical hands of her father who believes she is a demon that needs to be destroyed and the X-Man Angel is attacked, his wings removed and he transforms back into the very dangerous Archangel. It's a wild ride all. This book is labeled with a Parental Advisory for language and violence, so I would recommend it for older teens 15 or 16 years old.

That's all for now people.

Peace all,

Library Ninja Bill

Ha Like That! A Grownup Agrees With Me!

All right! The Iron Guy does not back down from a debate but he's always glad of some backup. And he's got some from Mr. S, who runs the TMC Guys Read club blog. Mr. S has taken my side in The Great Greg Heffley Debate. (go here to see that post)Well, actually, he didn't know he was supporting me. He sent in a comment on my review of Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain on the Boys Rule Boys Read! blog. That review was what started this Great Debate when I said that Milo was a whole lot better than the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Mr. S wrote a comment on that review sums up my thinking about Greg Heffley and Milo:

Mr. S said...

I agree, IGC. I describe Milo as the "good" version of DoaWK. The main thing I dislike about DoaWK is that Greg is completely unlikeable. He's a jerk, he's rude, lazy, careless. And for no reason! He has little to no remorse. Blah blah blah...adults are no fun, eh?

However! Milo is a lot of those things, too, but he's had traumas in his life that cause him to act certain ways. The book is full of great humor, with deep meaning and sadness. Alan did a great job.

Yes, indeed, Mr. S!! You are right on the money! Greg H is a jerk. Well, I've been one too but I hope I've outgrown most of it. GH doesn't look like he will. But what do I know--as Mr. S said, "adults are no fun, eh?"

I will quote Mr. S one more time, though, because he's absolutley right about the difference between Milo and the DofaWK books. Milo is a "book of great humor, with deep meaning and sadness." That, for me, is what makes Milo so much better. Not only does it have lots of humor, it's got some depth and real feeling. DofaWk doesn't; at least, not for me. It's like the difference between watching a really good movie or 90 minutes of Cartoon Network. The second one will make you laugh but then you do something else and forget about it. A really good movie will stay with you and get you to think about it after it's over.

So what do YOU think, Ninja Librarian Bill?? And what do YOU think, all you readin' and rockin' guys? Am I right or totally whacked out?? Send in your comments and join The Great Greg Heffley Debate!!

Robots, X-Men, Thunder Gods - Too Freaking Cool!!!!

Heyo all you cool cats out zig zagging around the blogosphere. Got some good stuff for ya this time, so lets get the show on the road.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson - First off this book is a little different from most that I review for this Blog in that it is an Adult Title, but as I read it I found that it had a heavy octane infusion of Teen Appeal ( 16 and up)!!!! This book is basically about an Artificial Intelligence, in the not so distant future, taking over all things run by computers all over the world to eliminate the human race. The Artificial Intelligence is named Archos and once activated it slowly but effectively starts to destroy humans through the all so many things we utilize that require computers to operate. Smart Cars run down people in the streets, elevators drop people to their deaths and these are the simple electronic/basic computer controlled items that are used to start the War. Soon afterward simple, yet as we find complicated, human looking domestic robots used by civilians to those used by the military as pacification units start to turn on humans also. Next complex weaponry, missiles and humanities most wicked of weapons of war are being used against them. In the later stages of the game, Archos devises frightening mechanical horrors of all shapes and sizes to use in it's war. Thankfully all is not lost, as the human race adapts for survival purposes (as it has been known to do). Humanities strongest weapon against Archos  is it's inventiveness and wit, it's determination to keep going when all looks to be lost.

This story is told in chapters from different characters and machines point's of view. There are the Wallace brothers, The Gray Horse Army and the all so important to the cause Perez family in the United States. In Japan there is Mr. Takeo Numura who learns to set machines/computers free from Archos control. In Afghanistan there are American Soldier Paul Blanton and Afghan Freedom Fighter Jabar who find Archos secret location. In England there is Lurker, a hacker, who helps free communications from Archos so humanity can talk and coordinate to survive. There are even "Free Born" Robots that gain sentience and fight with humanity against Archos. Oh man, this book is just to cool and I feel I may have talked about it too much. So if you want to read a great book with surprises around ever corner and great characters (that hopefully I have not spilled too much of the beans on) you have to read this book. Two Thumbs Up!!!!!!!!


A short promo to wet your appetite:







And now bring on the thunder and lightning!!!!!!!


Marvel Adventures Thor: Bringers of The Storm by Various - This all ages Graphic Novel brings together some really great Thor adventures from Marvel Adventure Avengers #5 and #16 and Marvel Adventures Superheroes featuring Thor #7 and #11. The first story while not really having every ones favorite God of Thunder does feature the Avengers (Captain America, Storm, The Hulk, Spiderman, Iron Man and Wolverine) taking on Thor's trickster brother Loki and his super powered minion The Wrecker. The second story has the Avengers traveling to Asgard to help Thor and his fellow Asgardians take on one of my favorite Thor villain's Malekith, The Dark Elf, and his legion of followers. The third story is a classic one of Thor matching wits with his evil brother Loki and features lots of poisonous reptiles. The last story and my favorite has Thor initially battling a young Frost Giant that has been tricked by Loki. The Frost Giant named Bragmir upon learning he has been tricked surprises Thor in help him take down an evil demon from fiery Muspelhelm. Thor learns a valuable in lesson in that not all Frost Giants are evil and may even share things in common with his people.

And finally a Graphic Novel Opus!!!!!!

X-Men Second Coming by Various -  Talk about epic, this Graphic Novel (collecting Second Coming: Prepare, X-Men: Second Coming #1, Uncanny X-Men 523 - 525, New Mutants 12 - 14, X-Men Legacy 235 - 237, X-Force 26 - 28 and X-Men Second Coming #2) is a well crafted collaborative effort between many fine writers and artist. The story begins with the mutant Hope (the first mutant having been born since the Scarlet Witch cursed the mutant race with no more births) and her protector Cable returning from the future where he has been protecting her. All heck breaks loose as soon as they hit the ground running. The X-Men, Hope and Cable take on enemies led by by the the fanatical Bastion who is in hot pursuit of Hope and Cable along with attempting to destroy the remaining mutants living on the island refuge of Utopia. Almost every X-Man around appears in this story in varying levels of importance. Cyclops and Wolverine are leading the X-Men to not only save themselves but what hope lies for the future of all mutants. Sentinels and Nimrod Units along with other nasty surprises push the X-Men to the limits of their endurance. Thrill in epic battles featuring Namor, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Angel, Nightcrawler, X-23, Colossus, Cannonball, Legion among many others. Some will live and some will not. The stakes are high and so are the cost that must be paid in this highly recommended GN. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

Whelp cowpokes, gotta mosey on down that dusty trail.

Peace,

Bill