Gettin' Graphic With Grozz

Reviews of panel-based art, written by Art, with opinions by Art
Grozz's secret identity, Arthur Griswold

So, I bought this magazine the other day at B&N, the Top 100 Graphic Novels of all time.  And I decided to read my way through their list, starting at 100 and reading each book as they are ranked.

I’ll try to do one book a week, and the only spoilers given in this list will be the rankings from the magazine; I’ll do my very best to not give away anything from the selections themselves.

P

The Punisher: Born

S


==========
The Punisher: Born
Writer(s)Garth Ennis
Artist(s)Darick Robertson, Tom Palmer
2003 (4-issue limited series)
Read this in about 25 minutes or so; it flows very easily and is incredibly engaging. It draws the reader in immediately with narration from a soldier in Frank Castle's platoon in Vietnam, near the border of Cambodia. Be prepared for gore, bloody death, body parts, sexual tones, and heartbreak.

How this is not higher on the list is beyond me, although perhaps the magazine writer brought down the marks based on the forced ending sequence.

All in all, Castle is a very easy character to relate too, even with his penchant for killing; he is just addicted to war. Period.

Goodwin is the heart of the story, and it is his quest to come home that drives the undercurrents of the tale. Basically, this is a war story, telling the dirty bits of politics behind war and the useless leaders of the Vietnam conflict. I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

Keep in mind, this is a total prequel; there are only barely hints of the actual Punisher. This is Castle's early story, so go into it with that thought.

Quotable: “If you think payback's bad -- you haven't met Frank Castle.”

Magazine Rank#99
Review Order#2
Rating9.5

==========
==========
Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness
Writer(s)Bryan Lee O'Malley
Artist(s)Bryan Lee O'Malley
2006, 2013 (Color Edition), 2024 (20th Anniversary Edition)

This is actually book 3 of the Scott Pilgrim series, but it is the 100th entry in the list I am working on, so it is book #1 on my reading order.

Confused yet?

Anyway, I laughed a lot reading this; Scott is a kind of backdrop character in this volume with Envy and Ramona playing the more main roles as the sympathetic and not so sympathetic leads. I’ll leave it to other readers to decide for themselves which is which.

Todd is the big douche throughout and shows his true colors more than once. He was played way cooler in the movie than in the book (by Brandon Routh).

This is the tale of when Scott’s ex, Envy, shows back up with her band that includes one of the evil exes of Ramona’s that Scott must defeat in order to date Ramona. That’s it; there are fun things hidden all the way through, but that is the meat of the story.

Quotable: “You cocky cock!”

I’ll give this a 7.73 out of 10. It does a pretty good job of explaining the previous books, and so it can sort of stand on its own.

Magazine Rank#100
Review Order#1
Rating7.73

==========
==========

No comments:

Post a Comment