Tag: 2 Star Reviews

All 2 Star Reviews In One Place

“FCBD 2015 – Motorcycle Samurai” By Chris Sheridan Review

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Look hard into the storm clouds. You may yet see her, mounted on her electric steed, streaking past. The last hero of the West… THE MOTORCYCLE SAMURAI! It’s been called “the new benchmark for indie digital comics.” Now discover the mad genius of The Motorcycle Samurai for yourself, as Chris Sheridan does the brings his creation to print! Top Shelf celebrates FREE COMIC BOOK DAY with 24 pages of full-color action, whetting appetites around the world for the future release of The Motorcycle Samurai graphic novel. Now saddle up and let’s ride!

This comic book tires to give us an exciting blend of action and martial arts wrapped in a unique premise, but unfortunately, it falls short in execution. Which had really disappointed me a lot because I had some high hopes for this comic book because I have read some very good comic books recently.

The storyline in this book feels rushed and somewhat underdeveloped which had left me with more questions than answers and little emotional connection to the characters. Which had disappointed me a bit.

The pacing in this comic book is pretty uneven, with scenes that jump quickly without sufficient buildup or payoff.

The concept of this comic book has had some potential. But the narrative doesn’t do enough to fully explore it or create a compelling hook.

The artwork in this comic book is competent but overall lacks the detail and energy needed to elevate the story or make the action sequences truly engaging. Overall, the visuals feel generic and don’t leave a lasting impression.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Arcana Studio Presents 2016 FCBD Ed: Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom” By Sean Patrick O’Reilly Review

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Comic book legend Stan Lee’s newest creation, The Unknowns, makes it’s world debut on Free Comic Book Day! Two average teens help alien protectors disguise themselves as a touring rock group in order to take out undercover cells of invaders! Also included is the next chapter in the Howard Lovecraft series (just in time for the animated feature film, Howard Lovecraft & The Frozen Kingdom), as everyone’s favorite Cthulhu teams up with young H.P. Lovecraft in Howard Lovecraft & The Squid Kids! 32 pages of all-ages animated fun!

I need to admit here that the only reason why I read this comic book is because it has H.P Lovecraft as its main character. Which easily makes me read anything if the book or comic book has one of my favorite horror authors in them as the main character.

This comic book aims to introduce H.P Lovecraft and the monsters he created in his stories for a wider family-friendly audience which the parents would allow their young  kids to read. Which was a very unique approach to H.P Lovecraft and his satires. 

The Lovecraftian horror is very weak in this comic book because this comic book is supposed to be a kid friendly adventurous twist. But for me personally this comic book doesn’t quite hit the mark of being a good comic book.

The story in this comic book feels overly simplistic to me, and it lacks the depth or tension that could make the Lovecraftian themes truly compelling.

The narrative of this comic book is predictable and at times, feels rushed, which diminishes the potential for building suspense or emotional investment.

The artwork in this comic book is certainly unique and approachable. The artwork in this comic book clearly aims at younger readers, but it sometimes clashes with the darker tone the story attempts to convey. 

The artwork style in this comic book doesn’t fully capture the eerie atmosphere that Lovecraftian tales typically demand.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“We Shall Be Monsters” By Alyssa Wees Review

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Gemma lives with her mother in an isolated antique shop in Michigan, near a small patch of woods that conceals an enchanted gateway to fairyland. She knows she’s not supposed to go into the woods – her mother Virginia has warned her multiple times about the monsters that lurk there – and yet defiantly, curiously, she goes anyway.

I need to admit here that the only reason why I read this book is because I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book on Tik Tok. And after reading this book I gotta admit that this book doesn’t live up to the hype it has on the Tik Tok. 

The storyline in this book is very hard to get into because the storyline is very hard to get into. I personally found it to be very confusing because I didn’t know what was happening in this book as I was reading it because the storyline seemed all over the place in this book.

The pacing in this book was very very slow. The plot would take forever to go anywhere which really annoyed me because of how slow this book is. I don’t even know what the main plot in this book was, because the plot so slow and it kept switching directions very frequently.

In this book we get 2 different POVs which made me even more confused as I was reading this book. Because both of these POVs sounded very similar to me personally and because of it I had a really hard time telling the POVs apart.

The writing style here was very simple here. Almost too simple. As if it was meant for a elementary school student to read it. But it wouldn’t make sense but Goodreads ranks this book as “adult” category book.

The characters in this book seemed to me like the same character but split into multiple characters instead of being one good character.

All the characters in this book seemed very similar, and for the most part had the same thoughts and opinions which made it very hard for me to tell them apart from each other.

To be very honest here, this book didn’t feel like a fantasy book. It felt more like a fiction book because of how little fantasy elements this book had. Actually this book had none fantasy elements to make it a “fantasy” book.

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Neelakshi: The Quest for Amrit Preview” By Ryan Foley Review

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21-Page Preview! Neela, or Neil as she prefers to be called, is transported to the land of the demons where she is Neelakshi, the blue-eyed dark maiden of an ancient prophecy. Her quest is to obtain Amrit, the nectar of immortality and give it to the demons, who are not the evil creatures of myth. On the contrary, the demigods appear to lust for power more than the demons. Will Neelakshi obtain Amrit? And will she hand it over to the demons

Let me start this review by saying that this one is just a preview for the entire comic book. And I read it because I wanted to see if the full comic book was worth the money and time I would spend on it. And I’m gonna give you the answer for that at the end of this review.

This preview tries to introduce us to a rich, mythologically inspired world. But in doing so it struggles to make a strong first impression. Or even to make it memorable or interesting for people like me who’s this preview is first introduction to this comic book series.

This preview shows a promise and potential for this preview to could have been a good preview which would get me interested into continuing reading this series.

This preview feels rushed and somewhat confusing. At the same time this preview leaves key elements underdeveloped or unexplored which really annoyed me because I couldn’t get a clear picture if this series was good enough for me to get into.

The story in this preview tries to blend fantasy and adventure with cultural motifs, but the pacing hampers the build-up of tension and character depth.

At the same time the main character in this preview feels pretty underdeveloped. And the protagonist’s motivations are unclear.

The world-building in this preview is very weak. And I felt like this preview lacked a lot of context to fully engage me personally.

The artwork in this preview is competent but inconsistent, occasionally lacking the clarity and detail necessary to bring the narrative to life.

So will I buy and read the full version of this comic book ? I don’t think I will. The main reason behind this is how poorly this preview was very uninteresting for me personally.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The New Atlantis” By Francis Bacon Review

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In New Atlantis, Bacon portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humankind. The novel depicts the creation of a utopian land where “generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendour, piety and public spirit” are the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of the mythical Bensalem. The plan and organisation of his ideal college, Salomon’s House (or Solomon’s House), envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure sciences.

This book is a utopia themed book which really surprised me a lot in how bad it is. I tend to like utopia books like The Hunger Games and Ready Player One. So when I got to this book I had some high expectations for this book which it didn’t live up to.

The vision this book has for a future society is very ridiculous. Because the way this book describes a utopian society made me think “I don’t need to be Nostradamus to know that this shit will never happen”. 

The reason why I say this book is ridiculous is because the characters in this book considers the Africans to be the ‘little foul ugly Spirits of Fornication’, the American Indians super ‘savage’ and the Chinese ‘foolish’. As you can notice that book throws into the plot very wide generalizations about people with different ethnicities.

The plot in this book seems very stereotypical and like it was written as orthodox christian propaganda. Which really made me like this book less than I already did.

The writing style in this book is pretty weak. Because it felt like the author of this book didn’t know what he was doing. And even the writing style in this book feels like a pure orthodox christian propaganda. Which I personally hate the most in books when the book turns out to be an religious propaganda book.

However this book had some good moments throughout this book, but those moments were pretty rare. Because most of the time this book felt like reading a torture device in literature form.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Motorcycle Samurai: A Very White Bolt Christmas” By Chris Sheridan Review

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On one dark and blustery night, the townspeople of Nowhere, nestled all snug in their beds, dream of soft fluffy things wrapped in bows. In this strange land, The Stranger, dressed all in red, comes calling with eight tiny minions in tow, The Stranger swoops to the rooftops, and readies to descend down the stove-pipes. But White Bolt, awake and at the ready, is perched to say, ‘Howdy’. In the vein as the holiday specials of childhood, Chris Sheridan, Top Shelf brings you this amazing Guided View Native title just in time for a long winter’s solstice in the high desert.

This comic book tries to give us a good blend of holiday themes with action-packed storytelling. But in reality this comic book falls short of delivering a memorable or engaging read which would have been good enough for me to give it a good rating.

This comic book has a concept that had potential for being quirky, fun and interesting. But the way it is presented to us feels uneven and lacks the depth needed to hold the interested of the reader. Which happened to be while reading this comic book.

The pacing in this comic book is pretty uneven and awkward. Some of the scenes in this comic book are dragging with no end without much purpose and others rushing past key moments that could have added emotional weight or humor. 

The characters in this comic book come across as one-dimensional, making it very hard for me to connect or care about their journey. Which for me means a low rating, because if I cant connect or care about the characters’s journey I wont like the comic book / book. 

The artwork is in my opinion the best part of this comic book, but in the end the artwork doesn’t add much to elevate the story. Which again isnt a good thing for me personally.

There’s a sense that the issue leans too heavily on novelty without developing a strong narrative or meaningful themes.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Charismagic PRIMER Vol. 2018 #1” By Vince Hernandez Review

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New readers and fans alike can find everything they need to know about Charismagic in this debut Charismagic Primer issue! Revisit volumes one, two and the The Death Princess mini-series, as well as key character highlights, hidden secrets of magic, a timeline of key moments to know for Volume 3 and so much more…All for less than a quarter! These Aspen Anniversary edition primer issues are the perfect compliment to discover more about Aspen’s upcoming slate of returning titles!

This comic book aims to introduces people like me who hasn’t read this series before, to this comic book series. I gotta admit that this comic book has a very unique blend of magic and charisma which really gave a lot of expectations for this comic book. 

In reality this comic book struggles a lot to deliver a compelling experience and a good story which would get people like me hocked into this comic book series which I never read before.

This comic book gives us a concept for this comic book which had a lot of potential to be very good and to get me very interested in this series. But the way this concept was presented to us, really falls flat due to uneven pacing and a lack of clear direction in the storytelling. 

At the same time the narrative which this comic book has feels very scattered and it makes it really for me difficult to fully engage with the characters in this comic book or story this comic book tries to give us.

The artwork in this comic book has some very good moments and has good visuals. But at the same time the artwork in this comic book lacks the polish and details which would have elevated the overall presentation if the details and the feeling of being polished was present in the artwork in this comic book.

Some panels in the artwork in this comic book feel very rushed and underdeveloped, which had pretty much distracted me from the immersion which the artwork tries to give us.

The dialogues in this comic book occasionally comes across as awkward or forced, which made the emotional part of this comic book diminishing in a way.

At the same time this comic book gives us glimpses of interesting ideas which the creators maybe had which could have been used to make this comic book better. But in reality this comic book doesn’t use does glimpses of interesting ideas it has, which really makes this comic book lose its potential that it had.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Quantum and Woody! #0.0001½” By Daniel Kibblesmith & Kano Review

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Don’t worry – it’s not really blank! (Well, kind of…) Before the world’s worst superheroes explode back into stores in December, get a “look” at the superpower mayhem that rising star Daniel Kibblesmith (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and eye-popping artist Kano (Daredevil) are cooking up right here – plus a special surprise guest appearance by Eisner Award-nominated artist Joe Eisma (Archie)!

I need to admit here that this comic book had a potential to bring a fresh and quirky twist to the beloved dysfunctional superhero duo. But unfortunately this comic book didnt use the potential it had.

This comic book starts very good and gives us a lot of expectations for it, but the deeper we get into this comic book the more the expectations begin to go out in the flames which really disappointed me a lot personally.

The writing of this comic book has a playful tone which paints this comic book is a good and fun way which made me give this comic book some extra points for doing.

The storyline of this comic book in a way lacks the sharp wit and engaging chemistry which would make this comic book actually good beyond only having a potential to have a good story.

The pacing in this comic book is pretty uneven, because some scenes in this comic book are dragging unnecessarily while others race by without enough development.

The artwork in this comic book is pretty vibrant and energetic. Which was the best aspect of this comic book in my opinion.

The artwork in this comic book, is capturing the chaotic spirit of the characters very well and which is the reason why I say that the artwork was the best aspect of this comic book. 

But there are times where the artwork struggles with clarity in action sequences, making it harder to follow the flow of the story.

This comic book, tries to be humanistic and funny at times. But the humor in this comic book feels very forced which makes the humor miss the mark of being funny and overall makes the humor very cringy.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Star Wars: The Living Force” By John Jackson Miller Review

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The Jedi have always traveled the stars, defending peace and justice across the galaxy. But, the galaxy is changing, and along with it, the Jedi Order. More and more, the Order finds itself focused on the future of the Republic, secluded on Coruscant, where the twelve members of the Jedi Council weigh crises on a galactic scale.

I gotta admit that this star wars books has to be the weakest star wars book I’ve read so far. But of course I’m gonna explain everything in this review, so if you are interested than keep reading.

The storyline in this book takes place in pre-Phantom Menace era, and as we all know by now it means that this book have all the OG star wars characters in it like Obi-wan, Yoda, Mace Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn amongst others. 

I fully expected to love this book because it has a all the characters which I already love. But in reality I found this book to be boring and dragging out the plot for far too long than the plot was made to be.

The storyline in this book was okay for the most part, but there were a lot of times in this book where the plot was going on and on forever without anything happening. Those moments were stretching the plot into forever which really made me very bored and uninterested at times in this book. Because of how the plot seemed to not have an ending in this book.

The characters in this book are pretty solid and just as good as they were in the movies. But there were times where I wished that we got to see more of those characters in this book. We didn’t get to see a lot of them, because this book focused more on the action rather than the characters and developing them further than what the movies did.

But I need to admit here that the characters in this book, was the best part of this book in my opinion. Because I already loved the majority of the characters we get in this book. So of course I would still love them in this book if the author didn’t completely ruin them and thankfully the author didn’t ruin them.

The action in this book is pretty much all over the place because we get different perspectives in this book. And this book doesn’t make it easy for us as readers to keep track of when the perspective changes. So I personally was left kind of confused a lot while reading this book.

The writing style in this book is pretty decent here, its not the best I’ve seen in star wars books in my time. But its neither the worst. I wish that the writing style would have been better because it would have been improved the plot and the entire book.

The opening chapters of this book were very interest, and they have caught my attention. But the longer I got into this book the more it became very stretched thin and became uninteresting. Which really sucked because I have a lot of expectations for star wars books I read because I expect them to love them such as much as I loved star wars movies when I first watched them as a kid.

This book has to easily be the most disappointing book I’ve read in the star wars universe and I really hope this is the last one. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Greyman: Preview” By Glenn Arseneau & Andy Gray Review

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10-Page Preview! For Adam Grey, dying in a car crash is only the beginning of his nightmare. Stranded on the Dead Highway with only a strange homeless man for guidance, separated from his beloved fiance, Sarah, and hunted by motorcycle-riding demons intent on feeding on his human memories, Adam soon discovers that there are, in fact, fates much worse than death. Confronted by a mysterious and powerful astral entity, Adam has only one choice Allow the entity to use him as a vehicle through which it can wreak havoc on the living world, or never see Sarah again!

Let me start this review by saying that this one is just a preview for the entire comic book. And I read it because I wanted to see if the full comic book was worth the money and time I would spend on it. And I’m gonna give you the answer for that at the end of this review.

This preview introduces to us a mysterious and shadowy world with potential for depth and intrigue. Which in a end this preview doesn’t live up to.

The concept in this preview is promising. But it was like the creators of this preview didn’t know how to make this preview good and live up to the promising concept it has.

The narration of this preview lacks clarity and cohesion, making it difficult for me to fully grasp the plot or its direction. Which made it very hard for me to like this preview or be interested in buying and reading the full version of this comic book.

The characters in this preview have some hints of complexity but for the majority of this preview the characters remain very underdeveloped. Which for me is a big “no no”.

The protagonist’s motivations and background are not sufficiently explored which left me not caring about the protagonist or get investment in his journey.

The artwork in this preview effectively captures the dark and atmospheric tone of the story which is the only good thing I have to say about this preview.

The illustrations alone cannot compensate for the disjointed narrative. The style aligns with the mood but doesn’t enhance the storytelling clarity.

This preview tries to give us the themes of mystery and morality are suggested but they aren’t thoroughly explored in this preview. The potential for thematic richness exists, yet the lack of narrative focus prevents these elements from resonating effectively with me personally.

So will I buy and read the full version of this comic book ? I don’t think I will. The main reason behind this is how poorly this preview was very uninteresting for me personally.

I Give This Book 2 / 5