Abel by William Harms and Mark Bloodworth.
Have I mentioned before that I really prefer coming into reading a book, any book, without knowing anything about it ahead of time? I hate spoilers, and I prefer reading something "cold". So if you hand me a stack of books and say, "These are good." I'm likely to enjoy the experience of reading them far more than if I have to pick out the books from Previews. The only saving grace of Previews is that it takes two months for the books to arrive, so I've generally forgotten what the books are about before they get to me. Anyway, with that in mind, I picked up abel.
The cover doesn't tell me anything... except that it's maybe set in the midwest. I don't read back cover blurbs before reading the book, so the first impression I got of this one is the sepia tones and the opening panel of a boy looking horrified down at a dead dog. The story doesn't really rise much from there, although it gives the reader hope. The thing about comic books, something that noticed before but didn't appreciate until reading this, is that because a fantasy genre like superheroes dominates the market there is an expectation when reading a comic book that good will always win. When it doesn't, like in this book, you get a shock. I'm not sure whether it's a let-down, or something more profound. A smashing of my preconceived notions, perhaps. Whatever it is, I thought I saw where the book was going, and was both surprised and satisfied when it turned out I was wrong. This is not a pleasant book. It doesn't make me happy. But it is a good book, and it's worth reading.
And I'm just going to note now that I don't intend to go into the significance of the title. That's for better reviewers than me to explain and discuss. I will say that I think I "get" it, but I'm not confident enough in my reading of it to share. Go read it for yourself.
Electric Girl Vol 2, and issue 10 by Mike Brennan. As you may have been able to tell from my review of the first volume, I already like the character and especially Blammo (who sits on my printer and stares happily at me while I work, now). I loved the first story of a cousin's harmless prank gone wrong. It sure seems that anything Virginia gets involved in is bound to go wrong at some point. There was a great bit with a comic convention, and another great "silent" story with Blammo the wonder pup. This is a generally fun book, so go out and get yourself a copy or two. I know I'll be loaning mine out to folks.
I also read the single issue of Electric Girl that managed to get into the box:
Electric Girl #10: This one was entirely a flashback, and set at Halloween. We've already seen Virginia's cousin, who likes picking on the Electric Girl, but the fight that Virginia walks in on was a little beyond the pale. It's a good thing Heather made it up to her. The costume was great, and the explanation of the magic being cast was also quite enjoyable. In short, this was a fun book. Now, I need to get any that I've missed...
I'll also note that I loaned the first volume of Electric Girl to my sister Lisa, who also enjoyed it. Now that I've reviewed the second volume, I need to loan it to her. Lisa also has done something that I haven't... she's loaned my comic books to various people who happened to be around. When I went up to Western with her a week or so ago, she introduced me as "the owner of the comic books" to a number of people. I've been thanked by a complete stranger (to me) for letting him read my comics. That's pretty cool, all things considered.
Wow... I think I'm nearly through the box...
I've also sent out my four issues of Scurvy Dogs to their new owner, who has promised some words about them once he's had time to sit and read them. Again, thank you Larry, for sending me these books. I've had fun reading and reviewing them, and the way the comics blogosphere has been pumped up by reading the books and sharing opinions on them has also been great fun to see. More publishers ought to follow your lead. And I'm not just saying that to get free comics, though that would certainly be a nice side effect.