Enigmatic Wonton Reviews
Apr. 8th, 2011 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHey,
So I've been reading stuff. Let me tell you about it.
First up, I picked up the graphic novel collection Wonton Soup Vols. 1 and 2 by James Stokoe. Mr. Stokoe is the artist/writer for Orc Stain, one of my favorite on-going comics right now. Wonton Soup was an earlier work of his, but there's still that wild Tank Girl/Manga melange going on. Although Wonton Soup isn't in glorious color, his attention to detail is fantastic and so it's a treat for the eyes.
The story also stems from a Tank Girl/Manga inspired place so it's not the most compelling thing in the world, but it's enjoyable fluff. You've got Johnny Boyo, one time master chef turned space trucker and his libertine partner Deke. They bum around having adventures both culinary and otherwise. Again, nothing too serious, but a fun read.
I also picked up a copy of Enigmatic Pilot by Kris Saknussemm. It's...well, it'll probably get lumped in as Steampunk, but it's really not that. It's sort of a mythological Americana tale. It was...odd.
So you've got Hephaestus, a clubfoot blacksmith/inventor and his wife Rapture and their son, the protagonist of the bookk, Lloyd. Although a young boy, Lloyd is a genius and constantly building and inventing new things, although his ideas often outstrip his means. They live in Zanesville, Ohio, or at least they did until the family's outsider-nature (not helped by Lloyd's mechanical beaver prank) make them pariahs. Salvation arrives in the form of a letter from Hephaestus's brother who invites them down to Texas to live with him and investigate some strange happenings.
The family packs their things and heads out on a bumpy voyage that takes Lloyd down the Mississippi river where he falls in with a gambler, to St. Louis where he falls in with a medicine show and uncovers the Duelling Occult Forces Vying For the Soul of Humanity, and then up the Missouri to Independence and the gateway to the West.
This book...it really bogged down for me in St. Louis. Then it got good again. Then I went "hey, they're only to Independence and they book is getting close to--ah, now it's over". The ending was kinda rushed or forced. Sure, it's probably supposed to be a bit opaque, not at all surprising given how the book was picking up. But I feel like the book just has a number of really well formed scenes that are badly strung together and then the author punted near the end.
But those well formed scenes just about make up for the slow bits. Possibly worth getting from the library if the premise interests you.
later
Tom
So I've been reading stuff. Let me tell you about it.
First up, I picked up the graphic novel collection Wonton Soup Vols. 1 and 2 by James Stokoe. Mr. Stokoe is the artist/writer for Orc Stain, one of my favorite on-going comics right now. Wonton Soup was an earlier work of his, but there's still that wild Tank Girl/Manga melange going on. Although Wonton Soup isn't in glorious color, his attention to detail is fantastic and so it's a treat for the eyes.
The story also stems from a Tank Girl/Manga inspired place so it's not the most compelling thing in the world, but it's enjoyable fluff. You've got Johnny Boyo, one time master chef turned space trucker and his libertine partner Deke. They bum around having adventures both culinary and otherwise. Again, nothing too serious, but a fun read.
I also picked up a copy of Enigmatic Pilot by Kris Saknussemm. It's...well, it'll probably get lumped in as Steampunk, but it's really not that. It's sort of a mythological Americana tale. It was...odd.
So you've got Hephaestus, a clubfoot blacksmith/inventor and his wife Rapture and their son, the protagonist of the bookk, Lloyd. Although a young boy, Lloyd is a genius and constantly building and inventing new things, although his ideas often outstrip his means. They live in Zanesville, Ohio, or at least they did until the family's outsider-nature (not helped by Lloyd's mechanical beaver prank) make them pariahs. Salvation arrives in the form of a letter from Hephaestus's brother who invites them down to Texas to live with him and investigate some strange happenings.
The family packs their things and heads out on a bumpy voyage that takes Lloyd down the Mississippi river where he falls in with a gambler, to St. Louis where he falls in with a medicine show and uncovers the Duelling Occult Forces Vying For the Soul of Humanity, and then up the Missouri to Independence and the gateway to the West.
This book...it really bogged down for me in St. Louis. Then it got good again. Then I went "hey, they're only to Independence and they book is getting close to--ah, now it's over". The ending was kinda rushed or forced. Sure, it's probably supposed to be a bit opaque, not at all surprising given how the book was picking up. But I feel like the book just has a number of really well formed scenes that are badly strung together and then the author punted near the end.
But those well formed scenes just about make up for the slow bits. Possibly worth getting from the library if the premise interests you.
later
Tom
