Reviews - The Graphic Library

beauty and the beast of paradise lost vol 4 by kaori yuki

9/18/2023

Cover of Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost volume 4. Belle is clinging to Beast with her arms around his neck. She is in a bright red dres. He is in his blue suit. They are both looking at us. She is sad while the Beast looks like he is about to fight someone.

The Beast and his Belle have been reunited, which is destroying our Belle's heart as she realizes more that she is in love with the Beast. What's worse is that the Princess Belle seems incredibly kind, and she also has lost the use of her legs. She requests our Belle's help in being her attending lady, helping her with her dresses and hair. Giselle finally can't take all of this any longer and leaves her room for the first time since the palace became cursed. She confides in Belle that the Princess Belle has actually entrapped the Beast in a relationship by guilt - Princess Belle betrayed her family in order to be with Prince Cyril before the curse happened, and now the Beast feels obligated to marry her. The Beast finds out that La Médium is in the court of The King and hatches a plan to confront her. He takes along a few people to help, including Belle, who hopes to finally rescue her maman.

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.

Lost Lad London vol 3 by shima shinya

8/1/2023

Cover of Lost Lad London volume 3. Al and Ellis are walking by each other in one corner of the cover. Al is wearing a yellow puffy jacket and blue pants. Ellis is wearing a grey jacket and black pants with a black shirt underneath. Behind them, the grey city scape is juxtaposed against a pink sky.

Detective Ellis is under pressure to as the lead investigator hints that he is going to bring Al in as the primary suspect in the murder of London's mayor. Ellis has no hard evidence that Al isn't the murderer, but he makes a couple of final moves to help those involved make some moves, some wiser than others. Al's bosses open up to him about being racially profiled by the policy when they were younger, and they offer Al guidance and free food, as well as a shoulder if he needs it. Finally, Al is contacted by his half brother and given and ultimatum.

Know your station by Sarah Gailey

5/29/2023

Cover of Know your Station. A skeleton stands atop a pile of gold coins. It's holding a martini glass in one hand, the other hand is perched on its hip bone. There is a space helmet around its skull.

Elise is, for all intents and purposes, the "law" on the most elite space station full of Earth's 1% who have escaped a dying planet below. There's hardly any crime aboard, so she feels ill-equipped when there are multiple murders to investigate! Someone is going after the station's Board of Directors, and they're not just dying quietly. Each body is made into a spectacle that would disgust even the most heartless of the working-class citizens. While she's trying to solve the murders, Elise is also trying to kick her habit of taking the highly addicting, hallucinogenic substance known as "Blue". Her paranoia is heightened when it seems like she might have had a hand in one of the murders in an intoxicated stupor, but she's determined to figure out what is really happening on her station.

Moon knight vols 1-2 by Max bemis

5/23/2023

Vol 1: Crazy Runs in the Family and Vol 2: Phases, illustrated by Jacen Burrows, Paul Davidson, Ty Templeton, Jeff Lemire, Bill Sienkiewicz, inked by Guillermo Ortego colored by Matt Milla, Mat Lopes, Keiren Smith, lettered by Cory Petit

We open yet again in a mental institution, this time in the company of a different patient than our familiar hero with dissociative identity disorder. Dr. Emmet tries to work out the key to her next patient, hoping that her previous patient might be used as a road map, but instead unleashes the villain, Sun King, champion of Ra and enemy of Khonshu. Sun King discovers something Marc has even hidden from himself - that he has a daughter and the potential for a normal life - but never count out Marc, Jake, and Steven when they’re backed into a corner! Marc also relives some of his childhood trauma and the reason he created Jake in the first place. A figure close with his family turns out to be a sadistic serial killer, and he's back in Marc's adult life hoping to recruit Moon Knight into his ranks of sadomasochistic supervillains. The cult goes after Moon Knight and his friends hoping to break his spirit, but Marc is already fractured enough!

Cover of Moon Knight Vol 1 by Max Bemis. Moon Knight is scaling a water tank while looking at the side of a building. It's burning in the shape of Ra's eye.

Cover of Moon Knight vol 2 by Ma Bemis. Moon knight's glowing white eyes are slits underneath his white cowl. He's holding one of his moon boomerangs. Behind him is what looks to be a maze.

Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost vol 3 by kaori yuki

1/30/2023

Cover of Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost volume 3. Belle is in a high-collared white button-up shirt that also extends all the way to her wrists. Her lilac hair is billowing all around her, and there is a sadness in her amber eyes. There are a few blue butterflies flying around her.

Belle has followed the Beast into the lair of la Médium, and she's come face to face with the villain who carted off her mother all those years ago. Belle learns more about the history between the Beast and la Médium, and the Beast denies none of it. He savagely asked la Médium to kill his parents so that he could ascend to the throne, but when la Médium found out he was just using her for her powers, she lashed out jealously and cured the Beast and his people. She then swore to find a face he could fall in love with so that he would finally reciprocate her feelings. Belle gets further entangled in the stand-off between the two, and the Beast discovers there is a spy amongst his subjects who has been feeding la Médium valuable information!

Poison Ivy vol 1 by G. Willow Wilson

12/27/2022

Cover of Poison Ivy volume 1. Iviy is cutting into a steak with a knife. She's wearing a black bra. All around her are flowers and plants. Her flaming red hair stands out against the green backdrop.

Vol 1: The Virtuous Cycle, illustrated by Marcio Takara, colored by Arif Prianto, lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Ivy feels betrayed by her partner and long-time friend, Harley Quinn, who recently helped save her life but diminished her powers. She's never been a fan of how humanity has run rampant over the earth, so she's taking matters into her own hands once again. Ivy has decided to take the poisonous spores of Lamia that are growing inside her and distribute them throughout the country as she journeys back to her hometown of Seattle. Ivy stops along the way at a diner and tries to infect as many people as possible, as well as at a packing plant where she can spread the spoors on the packages that are being mailed out across the country. She can feel the level of toxins rising in her, so she must hurry to get to Seattle if she's going to confront the Green Man before the lamia takes over her entirely.

Lost lad london vol 2 by Shinya Shima

11/22/2022

Cover of Lost Lad London volume 2. Ellis and Al are walking across a red landscape with three winter-bare trees in the background. Ellis has on his grey overcoat with black suit and white turtleneck, and he's using one crutch to supplement his leg in a boot. He has a foam neck brace on. Al is in a yellow jacket and blue jeans with high-top converse.

Al is now living with Detective Ellis since there's a killer on the loose and he's most likely going to come after Al next. The detective continues to search for clues while Al dives a bit more into his past. The politics of the police station also play a huge role in this volume as Ellis has to navigate the suspicions of another investigator who is certain Al is the prime suspect. Al also tries to go about his life as normal in going to his job, but the two aren't sure about how he's going to resume going to classes with the new semester starts.

Island in a puddle vol 2 by Kei Sanbe

10/14/2022

Cover of Island in a Puddle volume 2. Kuromatsu stands in front of a city scape with lit up windows. It's dark, and night time, and raining. Behind him is a discarded but open umbrella. He's standing in a puddle wearing all black.

It’s Nagisa’s birthday, but the killer Kuromatsu, in Minato’s body, doesn’t know that. Despite being a wanted man, Minato (trapped in the killer, Kuromatsu’s, body) leaves a cake for his sister and a hopeful note. Minato tries to figure out how he can keep his sister the safest, and he determines he has to stay away from her while trying to figure out what Kuromatsu may have done to warrant the police and monsters to be after him. Meanwhile, Kuromatsu struggles at school and navigating who is Minato’s friends. He also recognizes someone the kids know as “Detective,” someone who has worked criminal jobs with Kuromatsu.

Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost vol 2 by Kaori Yuki

10/6/2022

Cover of Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost volume 2. Cyril stands over Belle with his black tunic and pants, purple face with tons of exposed teeth, and his glowing red eyes. Belle looks up at him as he stands behind her, and she's clutching her hands to her breast. Her purple hair is flowing around her, and she's wearing a green dress with white flowing apron.

Belle is once again tricked by Giselle, who she finally discovers is the sister of the Breast, Prince Cyril. This time, she walks in on a private moment between Cyril and his fiancée, (old) Belle. The former Belle is slowly turning into crystal. Her heart was fragmented and used to make servitors for the terrible Madam La Medium, who cursed Cyril and the people who live in the castle. Belle realizes La Medium may also have her mother, but Cyril doesn't want to take her along in any confrontations because she's useless in a fight. (New) Belle also learns more about the castle's magic - one of Cyril's butlers is using his magic to slow time in the castle, and they are traveling between worlds to keep it ticking even slower in order to hopefully save (Old) Belle. (New) Belle also realizes that despite her better judgment, she is falling in love with Cyril.