Pretty Deadly

Pretty Deadly: A Penny Dreadful Review

            The Wild West is an excellent setting for a showdown of supernatural proportions. The sweeping landscapes lend themselves well to titanic struggles. The creators of Pretty Deadly, from Image comics, understand this well. I’ve read this comic twice through, and I still haven’t grasped everything that is going on, but the images stick with me, like a stubborn dream. Pretty Deadly is surreal. It’s morbid. It’s gorgeous.

            Death’s daughter roams the land in a tale told by a rabbit skeleton to a butterfly. Death’s agents pursue a young girl and her blind guardian across an epic, sparse desert landscape.

The script by Kelly Sue Deconnick reads like a folk tale. The art by Emma Rios has an eerie, flowing quality. The colors by Jordie Bellaire have an almost sepia tone, giving this strange work a mythological feel, as if the events within are a well-loved tale that happened long ago, when it is in fact only a couple of years old.

            I give this strange and eerie comic four gears out of five. It is beautiful and harsh, and definitely something to seek out.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Peter And The Starcatchers

Peter And The Starcatchers: A Penny Dreadful Review

            Have you every wondered how Peter Pan got to Neverland? Ever wondered how he met Captain Hook? Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson know. They wrote a book about it and called it Peter And The Starcatchers.

            Peter is an orphan bound for servitude to the evil King Zarboff the Third. Sailing on the same ship as Peter, a ship which is called the Never Land, is ambassador’s daughter Molly Aster, and a mysterious trunk. A terrifying pirate called Black Stache, after his gorgeous facial hair,  has heard of the great treasure in the trunk, and will stop at nothing to obtain it.

This book also features some excellent illustrations by Greg Call. I dearly love an illustrated book. I feel pictures add so much. Here, they are exciting and beautiful. I think Black Stache’s luxurious facial hair grows longer and sleeker with each illustration.

This book is intended for a young adult audience, but it is so clever and magical that anyone can enjoy it. It would also be an excellent choice for reading aloud, so parents could share it with children who might struggle with a tale of this length. There’s a lot of humor and much potential for silly voices.

I highly recommend this new take on an old story. Peter And The Starcatchers is a great book. I rate it at five gears out of five. I shall treasure and reread my copy forever.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Brunel, The Man Who Built The World

Brunel, The Man Who Built The World: A Penny Dreadful Review

            As I traveled by train the other day, I perused the biography of a man known for his bridges and railroads. He’s honored by monuments across England, and many of his viaducts and bridges still stand. He designed several of the routes that trains still travel, elegant stations that are still in use. Responsible for countless inventions and innovations, Isambard Kingdom Brunel truly built the world. Or at least, he shaped modern Britain.

            The book is Brunel: The Man Who Built The World. The author is Steven Brindle. The prose is accessible and fascinating. The man was a genius and a workaholic.

            Steven Brindle’s work is organized by accomplishment category (trains, bridges, ships, and so on) rather than strictly chronological. Indeed, as Brunel worked on several projects at once, it would be easy for the reader to lose track of them all if they were presented in such an order. I did not understand some of the technical aspects of bridge-making, but Mr. Brindle explained it as plainly as possible. A more mathematically-minded reader would doubtless understand everything.

            Isambard Kingdom Brunel shaped the Victorian world. He created much of the landscape Steampunk inhabits. Surely investigating such a figure is a worthwhile pursuit, and Brunel: The Man Who Built The World is a worthwhile book. I highly recommend this quick biography and award it four gears out of five.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather