Reviews - The Graphic Library

The woods vol 1 by james tynion iv

8/19/2023

Cover of The woods volume 1. The teens are mostly standing around in a group and looking back at us, arranged with their backpacks and ready to go off into the woods, which are purple and behind them. Behind the trees is a pink planet with a lighter pink ring.

Yearbook Edition vol 1, illustrated by Michael Dialynas

On a fateful day in 2013, students and staff at Bay Point Preparatory High are going about their normal days, when they are suddenly transported to an alien and hostile environment with violent monsters trying to eat them all, and strange glowing rocks. Several exceptional teens try to take some modicum of control and seek solutions. Several decide the answers they need lie in the woods, and they soon discover they are not the only humans who have been plucked from Earth! Some of them are abducted by warriors who look seem like Vikings, while others discover a Ziggurat full of writing from ancient civilizations, as well as more questions about why they were brought to . The Viking warriors, take the teens back to a civilization named New London, and they know English, but they are also keenly interested in what the rest of Bay Point might have to offer for their own continued survival.

clear by scott snyder

8/2/2023

Cover of Clear by Scott Snyder. A man in a black jacket with black tie and white shirt is holding a gun staring down at the ground. He has on a bike helmet with the visor down. The visor is bright yellow and has two red handprints on it. The background is very neon pink and has a lot of buildings stretching up towards the sky.

Illustrated by Francis Manapul

In a world full of filtered realities known as "veils", Sam Dunes is an ex-investigator who must take on a challenging case - figure out an apparent suicide of his ex-wife, which he believes could have been a murder in an altered reality. He receives a clue in the mail, and suddenly other entities are after him, wanting what he now possesses. Sam reconnects with many of his criminal underworld contacts to bring himself deeper into the twisted world of black veils, virtual realities deeper inside other realities, and the elite that manipulate everything others can see and believe about their worlds, all while staying just a bit ahead of the actual police who are investigating everyone involved.

Grim vol 2 by stephanie phillips

7/21/2023

Cover of Grim volume 2. Jess is kneeling on the ground with her hands touching the ground. Her head is exploding, with half of it already turned into a skull. It's mostly engulfed in a yellow and orange fire. The flames are also in her veins running down her arms into her elbows.

Illustrated by Flaviano, colored by Rico Renzi

Jessica, Eddie, and Marcel start off still trapped in Las Vegas, having learned some secrets to Jess’ lineage. Meanwhile, all over Earth, people aren’t dying like they’re supposed to, as the Reapers are not there to collect the newly departed and the Afterlife is thrown into chaos from Jess’ revelations. Despite not being able to return to the Afterlife, the three find some other figures straight out of Greek Mythology, including the Three Fates that tell Jess how she can fix everything by taking up the mantel she clearly doesn’t want. To make things a little more messy, an embodied form of Life gets entangled with Jess’ mom and tries to pay her a good deal of money for a special necklace in her possession.

Once upon a time at the end of the world vol 1 by jason aaron

7/17/2023

Cover of Once Upon a Time at the End of the World volume 1. The world is on fire. Two people sit in a small canoe on a fiery lake. They both have gas masks on, and the canoe is filled with stuff. They have an umbrella over them and there's a heart-shaped hole in it. The circular filter of the gas masks are pressed together as if the two people are kissing.

Illustrated by Alexandre Tefenkgi, colored by Lee Loughridge

In a time after the apocalypse, Mezzy is part of the Wasteland Rangers, a group that is part boy-scouts, part doomsday-preppers. She, however, is determined to find her way to the fabled Oasis where everything will be plentiful. Along the way, she takes refuge from pursuing Rangers in a giant tower, where she meets Maceo. Maceo is an inventive young person with tons of television entertainment options, a tape recorder where he records messages to his quarantined (and dead) parents, and loads of vending machines full of candy and treats. He tries to entice Mezzy to stay, but she refuses. Instead, Maceo packs up a giant pile of his belongings, gives one last message to his parents, and follows Mezzy out into the Wasteland, despite her refusal to travel together. Over the next few weeks, Mezzy constantly saves Maceo from wasteland disasters and reluctantly teaches him how to survive, but Maceo shares his hoard of treasures and helps Mezzy understand what it means to live.

Kaya vol 1 by wes craig

7/13/2023

Cover of Kaya volume 1. Kaya and Jin are standing on top of a tree stump. Kaya has a bow in one hand, her glowing mech arm holding onto the top of the tree stump. Jin is hunched over next to her. He has a red backpack on his back. Kaya has a black stripe across her eyes, while Jin has one eye surrounded by one black circle.Behind them is a large orange sun and a yellow sky.

Illustrated by Wes Craig, colored by Jason Wordie, lettered by Tom Napolitano

After their village and civilization is destroyed, Kaya is tasked by her dying uncle to take her half-brother, Jin, across the world to Monk Islands. There, he will be safe and be able to communicate with the gods and gain his promised powers. Once he comes into his own, he will be powerful enough to destroy the evil Atrian Empire and restore humanity to glory. But along the way, Kaya reunites with a childhood friend and supposed betrothed, Seth of the Lizard Riders. They’ve been tasked with killing a fierce beast, the Magron, and could use Kaya’s strength and magical arm. Jin despises the detour, but the money could bring them much needed supplies, as long as they survive the fight and aren't betrayed along the way.

Specs by David M. Booher

7/11/2023

Cover of Specs. Kenny is holding the specs down on his nose so that we can see his wide eye behind it. Reflected off the glass of the lens a skeleton with its mouth wide open. It has beady, red eyes.

Illustrated by Chris Shehan

Best friends Kenny and Ted live in a small town in Ohio in the 1980s. Ted plays on the baseball team, and Kenny is trying to hide the fact that he's gay and has a crush on his best friend. One day, they find an advertisement for wish-granting glasses in the back of an old comicbook. They think nothing more of it until the specs arrive, un-summoned. When they decide to use a wish to make the town bully disappear, they start down a dark path of wishes as they try to fix their mistake, and as Kenny tries to make life better for himself and Ted. Rarely does any wish turn out without unintended consequences, so Kenny descends into an out-of-control spiral of wishes and ramifications.

Norse mythology vol 3 by neil gaiman

7/7/2023

Cover of Norse Mythology volume 3. Norse gods are assembled with their weapons, some on horses, while a fiery serpent comes towards them from the top right corner.

Adapted by P. Craig Russell, illustrated by David Rubin, Colleen Doran, Galen Showman, P. Craig Russell, colored by David Rubin, Colleen Doran, and Lovern Kindzierski

In this third and final volume, Gaiman gets into the end times of the gods of the Norsemen. We learn about Thor’s vendetta with the Midgard Serpent, which comes up again later in Ragnarok. We also see the death of beloved Balder and brave Hermod’s journey to try and bring him back from Hel. Later, Loki finally ticks off the entire pantheon, so they devise a terrible torture for him that he will only escape as the earth crumbles during Ragnarok. And to finish it all off, we see the end times for the gods, the destruction of the world and all of their fighting deaths.

Eight billion genies by charles soule

7/3/2023

Cover of Eight Billion Genies. A blue, shiny genie floats in the middle of the picture with a cloud of blue sparkles above him that hold the title and creator names. Behind the genie are a couple of enthusiastic people all smilling. There's a middle-aged lady with her hair piled high on top of her head, a child, an older man who is looking grim, and a couple more people who are smaller behind them.

Illustrated by Ryan Browne

The population of the planet Earth reaches eight billion, and out of thin air pop in genies - one for each person. For the group in the bar, a quick wish to keep the building and its inhabitants safe means they are spared some of the horrors of what happens in the first eight seconds. For a few years, they’re fine being inside and letting the people destroy themselves, but soon, some start to venture out into the world. They find a few mega-cities at war with one another, a few safe havens, like for artists or families, and slowly, the group start to use their wishes to find a place for themselves in all the chaos.

Strange vol 2 by jed mackay

6/25/2023

Cover of Strange volume 2. Clea is wrapped in the Cloak of Levitation, which has silhouettes of Wong, Bats the dog, and tentacles. In her outstretched hand is red smoke rising. She is looking over her shoulder with a deadly stare.

Vol 2: The Doctor Strange of Death, illustrated by Lee Garbett and Stefano Landini, pencilled by Marcelo Ferreira, inked by Roberto Poggi, colored by Java Tartaglia, lettered by Cory Petit

Wong has discovered that pieces of his memory have been stolen, so he seeks out some help from the Scarlet Witch in order to recover what he has lost. Some of what is lost could help uncover what the Blasphemy Cartel is and what they've been up to. Clea and The Harvestman must work together to stop the scheme of the Cartel, but Death, who the Harvestman answers to, has a thing or two to say about this team-up.

Die vol 4 by kieron gillen

6/22/2023

Cover of Die volume 4. We see Ash's blood red eye wide open, and her pupil is shaped like a 6-sided die. There are drops of blood around, and a mostly black cover obscures the rest of her face.

Vol 4: Bleed, illustrated by Stephanie Hans, lettered by Clayton Cowles

The group has to come to terms with what they have done to this world and still somehow get home. Ash and Izzy discover much of the secrets of how the world of Die came to be, and what toll it exacted from Sol. They create a plan to reunite with the others in order to go home, but first Ash must make a choice about who to use her Voice on. The reunited party They race to the center of Die to try to stop the vicious cycle between Earth and Die. There, they find more questions and more answers as to how this world came to be.