iZombie Repossession by Chris Roberson

Title: iZombie Repossession
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: Warner Bros
Rating: WORTHY!

Illustrated by Michael Allred
Colors by Laura Allred
Guest art by J Bone and Jim Rugg.

The morons at Barnes & Noble have this listed as iZombie Repossessed. Unless they changed the name for the ebook, it's actually 'Repossession'. I try to support B&N because they're one of the few large presences capable of standing up to Amazon, but they need to get their act together or even they will be going the way of the small independent book stores (remember those?). Amazon isn't any better in this case. They have it listed exactly the same way. They're morons, too. Its right there on the cover, guys; you know, the cover you're using to illustrate the book for sale? Maybe you should buy this from your local comic book store? Of course they don't have the ebook, but if the ebook is too small to read, then what's the point?

This one rips off so many things it's almost unreal. The band Ghost Dance is taken from real life band Hawkwind, and Adam Morlock is the novelist is Michael Morcock who had close ties to the band.

Strider is really nothing more than the Silver Surfer as depicted in the Fantastic Four movie Rise of the Silver Surfer. That said, this entire series has been an homage to fifties horror movies, and to golden age comic book culture, so no harm no foul here.

This volume is the fattest of the series and it brings all the story arcs to a conclusion. Again the art work and coloring are top notch. The story just flies (not 'lifes', as my spell-checker thinks my klutzy fingers were trying to type!). Spot meets Gavin, who is Gwen's brother, and the two fall in love, but Gavin is possessed, so there are issues there. the Dead Presidents are working with the corporation, and with whole of Eugene Oregon is under martial law.

Galatea's plan starts coming to fruition on top of a hill outside of town, while Ellie and her zombie/vampire boyfriend find and free Spot who Amon was trying to sacrifice to free the world from Galatea's plan. But what about the brain in the coffee maker and the Russian zombie?

So as Amon's once-a-year liaison with his were-leopard wife is passing before he can avail himself of it, (shades of the 1985 movie Ladyhawke) monsters start appearing all over town, coming from an ever enlarging rift, and Amon teaches Gwen that though her sacrifice, the rift can be healed and everyone saved. Maybe Gwen has her own ideas about that. I thoroughly recommend this series and I also recommend the TV version, which is very different from the series and in my opinion, better.

iZombie Six Feet Under and Rising by Chris Roberson

Title: iZombie Six Feet Under and Rising
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: Warner Bros
Rating: WORTHY!

Illustrated by Gilbert Hernandez and Michael Allred
Colors by Laura Allred.

Guest artist J Stephens.

I notice that B&N in its klutziness describes Gwen as a detective. No she isn't! She's a grave digger! B&N is referencing the TV show, not the graphic novel with that idea, and even in the TV show she isn't a detective per se. The TV show is great, but please don't confuse the two!

This comic picks up the slack left by volume two, which was less than stellar, but still a worthy read especially as part of this complete series with orange juice, eggs, bacon, toast, marmalade, coffee and that other thing which I always forget.

The vamps, having lost one of their number to Galatea, recruit a new member. Meanwhile, Lewis and Clark - or is it Horatio and Diogenes? - are separated because the latter has to go off somewhere and do something. Gwen starts to get the idea that Amon is up to something that's not exactly going to benefit her, and we meet the Dead Presidents, with names like Nixon, Ford, and Kennedy. Ford died relatively recently of course but Nixon has been dead since 1974.

It's not that these people look anything like their names. The names seem to be random, but these people are not your usual government agents. One of them, Madison, is a were something, who looks cool in both were and human form. Another, Kennedy, is a sentient zombie just like Gwen - which opens up another story arc - and the third is...I have no idea what Nixon is. He has some sort of ghost-being which comes out of his belly when he gets annoyed or feels threatened.

These people do not get along with Diogenes and Horatio or anyone from the private corporation for which they work. Meanwhile Claire, the vamp who is now working for Galatea, and who her old vamp friends think is dead, has fallen for the creature Galatea is creating for use in her own private project, thus opening-up an amusing love triangle with ghost Eleanor, who also likes him. Spot the were terrier gets trapped underground with a zombie hoard, and Dixie from the diner proves her mettle.

Once again the bizarre twists and takes on paranormal tropes in this series are what makes the series so specials. The art work and coloring are wonderful. I recommend this volume and the rest of the series.

iZombie U Vampire by Chris Roberson

Title: iZombie U Vampire
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: Warner Bros
Rating: WORTHY!

Illustrated by Michael Allred
Colors by Laura Allred.

This story felt a bit flat for me when it began. Scott, the were-terrier gives us a boring back story about his grandfather, who raised him. There was a falling out and then gramps died - your usual crap. The twist here is that gramps's over-soul comes back and ends up inside a chimpanzee, which Scott "liberates" from the zoo and then takes home with him. Gramps isn't appreciative. This particular story was boring and not even funny, but later it did take an interesting turn.

On the Gwendolyn side, Gwen starts dating one of the vampire hunters, which is also, as it happens, boring. The one interesting thread is the arrival of Galatea, from Amon's past! She takes control of the vampire babe she resurrected. Once Amon, the local mummy, discovers she's in town, he starts to get very, very nervous indeed. I liked Galatea. She's rather like the mad scientist here, with her vampire Igor assistant. That part was really quite entertaining.

The one thing which really stands out for me in this series, and which I appreciated very much, was the oddball interactions between the different supernatural characters. I think you can really do well writing if you invent some really cool characters, especially if they're supernatural, give them their own life, back-story and motivations, and then place them randomly together and see how they play off each other. If you do that well enough, you won't need a plot because one will blossom out of these interactions.

It's worth keeping that in mind if you're trying to come up with a plot for your novel. Come up with characters instead, and the hell with a plot. Make the characters real (that is, real within their own context), make them interact in real-life situations (again for their own context), and you'll get your story. Think about it - no one plots life, yet when people from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of personalities get together and beginning playing off each other, life happens and goes to totally unexpected places. Your novel will, too, graphic or otherwise.

Another character I really liked in this volume was Eleanor, the ghost. Ellie had a lot of independence. Before, it seemed like she was almost Gwen's shadow, not even having an existence apart from her zombie friend, but here, she starts to get a life, plus we get some back story from her which is a lot more interesting than Scott's. Although I started this not very much moved by it, I left it really looking forward to reading the next volume.

iZombie Dead to the World by Chris Roberson

Title: iZombie Dead to the World
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: Warner Bros
Rating: WORTHY!

Illustrated by Michael Allred
Colors by Laura Allred.

This novel is gorgeously illustrated by Michael Allred with awesome coloring by Laura Allred. At the Comic Vine website, Laura is listed as the wife of Michael in the lead-in blurb. Michael isn't listed as the husband of Laura. Shame of comic vine for their genderism in indicating that Laura is really a chattel. I think I am going to have to quit using those guys as a link for writers and artists in graphic novels.

This is the first of four in a series that was pretty awesome. I am not typically a fan of series, but I got into reading this because I first watched the TV show, which is completely awesome. I was initially disappointed in the comic because they changed a heck of a lot for the TV show and I really liked that, but the comic grew on me as I read it and now I am a fan of this, too. Volume two dropped a bit and was not quite up to par for me, but three and four came roaring back so I recommend the whole thing.

There were some issues with it, nevertheless. For example, in this series, Gwen (who is Olivia in the TV show) is not a doctor who conveniently now works the medical examiner's office, but is working on a crew of grave diggers. She doesn't live with a room mate, but in a crypt in the graveyard, and she isn't in touch with her family or her old boyfriend. Nor does she work with a cop pretending to be a psychic to solve murders.

Everyone she knew in her old life thinks she's dead. Her grave is right there in the graveyard. For me the TV scenario was smarter. It's highly unlikely they would have four people working in a cemetery digging graves full time. Don't they have one guy with a little backhoe working part time these days? The expense of having four people would be way too high. OTOH, this is comic book fiction, so I guess we shouldn't expect too much realism.

There are two detectives (after a fashion) in this novel, though. They work for a private corporation, and are pursuing an investigation into certain mysterious events in this city (Eugene, Oregon), and at one crime scene, one of them takes Polaroid pictures. The image shows him waving the picture back and forth to "dry" it, but unless it's a really antique black and white original Polaroid, there's nothing to dry. The newer Polaroid pictures were sealed, so shaking one of those doesn't do anything except maybe risk damaging the developing picture. It certainly won't dry it, but maybe this guy spends so much time sitting on his ass that he got a bad case of Polaroids?

I noted the phrase, "To meet whom?" which is grammatically correct, but once again I have to say I think this form is antique and should be abolished. No one uses it in speech any more unless they're trying to be pretentious, or unless they're an English teacher, and even then I suspect it's rarely used. If it's not part of modern, everyday speech, which this isn't, it's time to let it go in our writing, too. Authors tend to make the mistake of not only writing it in their narrative to show how educated and accomplished they are, but they also put it into the mouths of their characters and make them unrealistic by doing so. BTW, did you know it's The Whom's 50th touring anniversary this year...?

On the good side (and purely in the context of the novel), they had this really interesting explanation for ghosts and other supernatural creatures which was rooted in Egyptian mythology. I don't know if this is true of the ancient Egyptians or not, but the narrator in the story was talking about how they believed in several different kinds of soul. They believed in what he termed an over-soul, which resided in the mind and was more rational and analytical, and an under-soul which resided in the heart, and was much more emotional.

The character said that when the over-soul is freed from the corporeal body, it becomes a ghost, but when the under-soul is so freed, it becomes a poltergeist. When the body dies, but the over-soul remains, it becomes a vampire, and when the same thing happens but the under-soul remains, it becomes a zombie. I thought that was pretty cool.

The character, Amon, goes on to explain that when the over-soul gets into someone else's body, they're deemed to be possessed. If an animal under-soul gets into your body, then you become a werewolf or were-whatever-the-animal-was. If you die but both souls remain in your body, you become a revenant, and he was telling Gwen, that this is what she is, so she's not actually a true zombie. This begs the question as to why Gwen is behaving like a zombie, craving brains, and worrying about losing her memories if she doesn't eat brains routinely.

Like I said, I recommend this novel and the following three.

Sharkboy And Lavagirl by Robert Rodriguez And Chris Roberson

Title: Sharkboy And Lavagirl
Author: Robert Rodriguez And Chris Roberson
Publisher: Troublemaker Publishing
Rating: WORTHY!

Illustrated by Alex Toader.

This illustrated novel began as a movie and later was transformed into a short novel by Rodriguez, who concocted the movie from stories his kids invented, and Chris Roberson - yes, he of iZombie and Cinderella graphic novel fame. The basis of the story is very much a rip-off of the novel The Neverending Story (which was then made into several movies). In that, a savior has to rescue the world of stories before darkness overtakes it. In the novel I review here, three saviors have to rescue a dream world before darkness overtakes it.

The rip-off doesn’t end there. Max, the main human character, long ago dreamed up a robot which he named Tobor ('robot' backwards). Tobor is ripped off from a 1954 movie titled Tobor the Great.

That aside, the novel is very entertaining and inventive with its amusing naming conventions. It’s well written for the most part with no great spelling or grammatical gaffs, except for page 62, where the paragraph which appears in the middle of the page is repeatedly word for word immediately afterwards, at the bottom of the page.

The novel is written for a juvenile audience without any effort made to appeal to more mature readers, but aside from that it’s written quite well. Shark Boy (rendered as one word: Sharkboy in the novel's title, but consistently rendered in the book itself as two words) wakes up on a cold beach not knowing who he is or where he came from. He quickly meets Lava Girl (again rendered as one word: Lavagirl in the novel's title, but as two words in the story) who is suffering the same amnesia. They discover their super powers quickly - she can literally produce lava and he can breathe underwater.

The novel differs from the movie in some ways. For example the movie begins with Max, the boy who dreams, describing how Shark Boy (S) came to be. We get no similar information on Lava Girl (L). This story is, Max assures his classmates, a true story, but Linus, the class bad boy makes fun of him.

In the novel this is omitted completely, and we first meet L & S on the beach where L saves his life by returning him to the sea. Immediately afterwards, a professor shows up who tells them very little but warns them they must save dream land, aka Planet Drool, by finding the dreamer, who is on Earth. He disappears from the story immediately after that, but in response to his advice, they take a rocket to a point where they can interact with the real world, and they contact young Max, a daydreamer in middle school, who can fix the world known as Planet Drool. Meanwhile, Mr Electric, with his cable beasts and electrical powers, is trying to thwart their every effort.

In an afterschool playground incident Linus steals Max's dream book, via which he has inadvertently created Planet Drool and L & S, but this back story isn't so clear in the novel. However, the end result is the same in that Max joins them on Planet Drool, transported there via S's shark rocket, and slowly starts putting things right.

They encounter the same cable beasts, and Mr Electricity, and eventually figure out who has distorted Max's dreams - it's Linus, using Max's own dream book. After almost losing L & S - she once again saves him after Mr Electricity has tossed electric eels into the water where he's swimming. Unfortunately, the water has a very negative effect on L and she's pretty much dead until S runs at super-speed to deliver her to the volcano which can restore her. After this, she realizes that she's a girl of light, and she can restore the light and banish the dark which has beset Planet Drool.

Linus and Max become friends when Linus realizes he should not be killing dreams, and Max realizes he needs to dream with his eyes open. Now he has no evil overlord, Mr Electricity rebels completely and becomes the villain, but he's subdued by Max.

The book carries no mention of the ice princess (in the move she's a classmate of Max's who also appears on Planet Drool) and is rather short, but the illustrations - comic book style line drawings - are very good. I recommend this novel for an age appropriate audience.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Dust to Dust by Chris Roberson

Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Dust to Dust
Author: Chris Roberson
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Rating: WORTHY!

Illustrated by Robert Adler

I picked this up, in my sweet, blind innocence, thinking it was simply the graphic version of Philip Dick's novel. It isn't (hence the 'dust to dust' subtitle!), and I was actually glad I made the mistake because I might not have checked it out of the library had I realized it, and then i would have missed a really entertaining read.

This is actually a prequel to the novel, and while I realize that that might sound like sacrilege to Dick purists, I had no problem with it. It features an android partnered with an empath, trying to track down rogue androids, believe it or not! Malcolm Reed (shades of Star Trek Enterprise!) is the empath, and the CV version of the android has the totally uninspired name of Charlie Victor. seriosuly? Did nobody in his acquaintance actually notice that?!

One of the main characters is a really interesting Asian girl who is a scientist, and who ahs the equally uninspired name of Samantha Wu, but how cool is it that we have a female scientist? She's studying issues related to why animals, but not human animals, are slowly but surely becoming extinct. She's unaware that her assistant is an android, and despite her impressive scientific credentials, she cannot fathom why this female android would want to kidnap her....

I can't tell you any more because this was only volume one! I decided to pick up volume 2 and follow up on this story, but it turned out to be a bust - nowhere near as entertaining as the first volume, so I guess I'm done here. I do recommend volume one, though. Maybe you'll like the follow-ups better than I did.