I used to read all day long when I was a kid. In high school, I could be seen walking down the hallways with my face buried in a book. I even cycled home one day while reading Harry Potter in the middle of traffic. Reading was my life, but that changed after I graduated high school. I was so stressed and tired that I couldn't stand the thought of reading while I was enrolled in a teacher training program. Whenever I picked up a book, a wave of guilt hit me. I couldn't justify spending even 10 minutes on reading while I still had papers to write and classes to teach. Those feelings slowly faded after I quite that program. Once I'd started university, I began to feel much better about reading again. Still, I wasn't exactly having fun. A lot of books I read were on the reading lists for my literature classes. I struggled through Pride and Prejudice. I hated every page of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace. Sylvia Plath's poetry wasn't exactly my thing either...

With the start of my second year at university came the freedom to read whatever I want. I quit the literature classes and focused on linguistics instead. Yet still, I didn't read the books I wanted to read. My parents have literal mountains of second-hand books just taking up space in their house, so they wanted to read away that mountain range in the spare bedroom. I did my part, but it took a lot of the fun of reading away. Last month, I decided to do a reading challenge to make reading fun for me again. I literally went with the first one I came across: Book Bingo.


God, I feel old and pathetic, admitting that I play and enjoy bingo. But if it works, it's not stupid; And it works. I drew inspiration from book bloggers that have shared their bingo cards online. I took a square here, borrowed a row there... The end result is a card that'll challenge me without making me read genres I really don't want to read, like picture books and historical fiction. I'll have to read in all the languages I'm fluent in. I'll have to pick up books I'll struggle with, books I never thought I'd like, books that'll change my perspective on the world. I literally can't wait.

As of right now, I've already checked five squares off with the three books I've read since making my card. In my version of the game, you're allowed to use one book to cross off multiple boxes as long as it fits the criteria. I've read a book with a female main character, a book written by a female author, a fiction book and a book that takes place in the USA. My required read for my Life Writing class at university took care of the autobiography and my current read will cross off "a book set in the past" and "a book that takes place in another country".


One thing I don't so is playing for prizes. Since I'm the one paying for it, it would be more of a reward than a prize anyway. So playing for rows is not the main objective here. It's a fun extra for which I'll happily read a fantasy book with a male main character written by a male author next. My goal, however, is to complete the entire card. I've put myself on a book-buying ban for new books until I finish the whole thing. I simply don't have the disposable income to keep spending money on random new books like I've done for years. From a sustainability point of view, it's better to buy books second-hand. The piles of second-hand books in our spare bedroom almost touch the ceiling anyway, so I literally have no valid reason to go out and buy brand new ones. So no new books until this entire field has been checked off. When that time comes, I'll go to the local bookstore to buy Slated by Teri Terry. That book has been on my wishlist since the summer of 2012 and Cora from Tea Party Princess recommended it to me recently as well. It's about time I get my hands on a copy.

Knowing I spend about an hour a day reading on the train to and from university, I don't think it'll take me too long to finish this card. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'll be making a new card the minute this one is completed. Of course, I'll need new challenges and a new reward for the next one. Leave those ideas down below! I need something interesting to tackle next.

Have you ever been so obsessed with something that even your best efforts to explain why it's so great end with "It's just so good okay!"?
I have. Plenty of times. Last time I went through such a phase was when The Hunger Games movies were in theatres. I thought I'd grown out of my obsessive personality. Until I came across Endzeit, by Olivia Vieweg. Now I'm back to that fangirling, rambling, nonsensical state of mind, ready to tell you all about my latest obsession. Because Endzeit is just that good okay!

I first came across Endzeit on my 22nd birthday, in a bookstore in Düsseldorf. The vivid colors on the cover of this graphic novel immediately caught my eye and I was sold the second I read the blurb. Endzeit is a zombie apocalypse story set in my own dear old Europe, in Germany to be exact. Thuringia, to be even more exact. Just that small fact got me all intrigued and excited. Almost all zombie content I've come across in my life was set in the US, which means that every character has at least one gun and bullets fly continuously through the air, along with zombie body parts. Not exactly relatable to a European audience. And let's be honest: a zombie apocalypse story is so much more interesting when the easy solution of a bullet through the head isn't readily available. Do you see the potential that a European setting adds to zombie stories? I just had to see it for myself. Just a few minutes after I'd first laid eyes on it, Endzeit was mine.

That night I started reading as soon as I was back at the hotel. The plot seemed basic, but swept me off my feet immediately. Like in most zombie apocalypse stories, a small group of people is still out there, trying to survive in a world full of zombies. In this case, the cities of Weimar and Jena managed to put up fences to keep the zombies out. The cities are connected by an automatic train. Riding the train is strictly forbidden. However, our protagonists Eva and Vivi do ride the train to Jena, both for their own reasons (which I won't spoil, don't worry). The train never makes it. It breaks down and Eva and Vivi decide to continue their way to Jena by foot. Simple plot, right? Don't be fooled though, because there's so much more to this story than meets the eye.

Long before Eva and Vivi start walking through zombie-infested Thuringia, we're confronted with much darker themes such as suicide and serious mental illnesses. Vivi actually starts the story locked away in a mental facility. I love how the story doesn't shy away from serious topics like these. They're definitely handled in a realistic and respectful manner. One small theme stood out to me especially, probably because it was just briefly mentioned once, in a very German way: even Germany's nazi-past is acknowledged in Endzeit when Eva mentions how lucky they are that the dead bodies buried around death camp Buchenwald didn't return as zombies. No American author would ever own up to such a dark part of the past in such a bad-ass way. In fact, I think Endzeit does a lot of things better than the average American zombie story. My problem with most of those it that they're so busy staging confrontations between zombies and humans that there's no time to show what an apocalypse would do to the human mind. We do get a sense of that in Endzeit, as we learn that Vivi's issues stem from traumatic experiences she went through when the apocalypse started (again, I'm not spoiling anything). She and Eva discuss what happened to them in those first days and it makes you question what you would have done in their place. Would you've saved yourself? Would you have sacrificed yourself to save others? What's right and wrong under such extreme circumstances as a zombie apocalypse anyway?


The beautiful thing about the psychological damage in Endzeit is that it even affects the two-dimensional characters. Some barely speak, but still show how the apocalypse affected them. It's awesome to see flat characters that somehow still have a lot of dept, but Eva and Vivi are the ones who steal the show in every possible way. That's not just because they're the protagonists (which is an obvious reason if I ever saw any), but mostly because of the way they are portrayed. Between the two of them, just about every characteristic I like to see in a female lead is represented. Especially Eva is a strong person, quick to do whatever's necessary to survive or save a real friend (yes, this saving business totally include battling zombies without batting an eye). Back in Weimar, she had a huge responsibility as leader of a team the repaired the fence around the city. Stranded between the two cities, she's the one who takes the lead.
Vivi, on the other hand, is more childlike, one of the sweetest characters I've come across in a long time. She's strong in her own way, incredibly brave for continuously fighting the demons in her own mind. She does whatever she can to adjust to the harsh circumstances outside the fence and I admire Vivi so much for that. But my favorite thing about her is her caring nature. She can be seen swapping food even though that means her meal will be less tasty, or watering plants with so much love that you want to go off and hug a plant yourself.


Eva and Vivi aren't flawless though, which is exactly what makes them such memorable characters. Vivi is riddled with guilt and frequently loses touch with reality. Her judgment is clouded by hallucinations and being too nice is a huge problem when zombies have taken over the world. Eva compensates Vivi's endless kindness by being harsh. She doesn't seem to care about much and it takes a while for her to reveal her softer side. Eva's guard is way up, which makes her intimidating at first. So both she and Vivi are far from perfect. Just like everyone out here in the real world. It makes them perfect protagonists.

Of course I wouldn't be gushing as much about Endzeit as I am now if the art weren't awesome too. It looks slightly different from the comics and manga I usually read: it's much cuter. Especially Vivi looks very huggable. But what truly sets the art apart from that on other graphic novels is how expressionist it looks. You can see expressionist touch in most of the backgrounds. The vivid colors and how all the shapes look almost fluent on the page reminds me of The Scream (so yes, I added that little screaming guy to a few pages when I was bored one day).


Sometimes I find myself randomly flicking through the pages to look at some of the most colorful pages. The way the colors and shapes work together helps the story so much: you can almost feel the summer heat come of the page, you can almost see the sun sink behind the horizon. You become so emerged in the story that it's a shock to return to reality once it's over.

The full art pages make the reading experience even better. Of course they're beautiful, but they're also expertly used to create suspense and change the pace of the story. Art and storytelling came together so perfectly in Endzeit that it blew my mind.


I honestly can't get enough of this book. It's got everything I love: A great story, realistic characters, stunning art, and a post-apocalyptic society. I'd recommend this book to anyone, especially if you've just started to learn German. The language used in Endzeit is fairly easy, and you always have the images to makes more sense of what you're reading. Seriously, I'd let my students read this if I were still teaching German. But if you don't speak German at all, there's an English translation available online. So what are you waiting for? Go read my favorite graphic novel of all times! I need more people with whom I can fangirl about Endzeit. Because it's just that good okay!

I loved movies when I was a kid. Don't get me wrong, I still love movies, but back then movies were my life. I used to watch The Lion King and Lilo & Stitch on a daily basis. Sometimes my dad would leaf through the TV guide and mark movies I'd like. That's how I ended up watching Spirited Away at 8 years old. I had no idea what the story was about. I just liked that it wasn't in English or Dutch, so I insisted on watching the whole thing. 2 hours and 15 minutes later, which felt like 5 hours, I stumbled out of our living room, traumatized and scarred for life.

It took me a couple of years to learn about Studio Ghibli and Spirited Away's worldwide popularity - and that the movie wasn't really meant for 8-year-olds. The damage was already done though. I always had the plan to watch the movie again, but just thinking about it made me highly uncomfortable. I'm talking about the sweaty armpits and extreme jumpiness kind of uncomfortable. Even a gif could turn my stomach into a big ball of nerves - which is unfortunate, because a gif of No Face at a ridiculously large buffet is very popular among bloggers on Twitter.
I knew I needed to face this fear at some point, but I avoided it as long as possible. I probably would've put it off forever if my boyfriend hadn't had the DVD, still in plastic. When he said he hadn't watched it, I said something which still surprises me: "Let's watch it right now."

Even before we hit 'play', I regretted my decision. I didn't remember the main character Chihiro's name, but I did recall that her parents turned into pigs because they ate food in some mysterious place after taking a wrong turn. As a child, this seemed like something that could very well happen to my parents too. Silly as it may sound, that fear was still with me when I rewatched the opening scenes. While my boyfriend laughed and the dated and clumsy CGI, I became tense and quite paranoid. This fear had nothing to do with finding something a little unsettling, it was fear in its most primal form. It was fighting my fight-or-flight instinct with all my power. I kept reminding myself that the plot wasn't scary at all. In fact, I even remembered the end of the movie. Still I was feeling very uncomfortable as I watched Chihiro enter the spirit world. The dark shadow figures moving about in food stalls made me want to scream. Then the pig scene came and I wanted to scream even louder. And then, suddenly, the panic and fear were gone. Because honestly, Spirited Away isn't scary. It's weirdly interesting.

After Chihiro's parents turn into pigs, she finds her way to a bathhouse for spirits. A boy named Haku smuggles her inside, where humans aren't allowed to come. Chihiro manages to get a job in the bathhouse, bathing spirits. Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse, takes power over the girl by taking her name away. After this, she goes by Sen, and I lost all track of the main storyline. There are spirits jumping into the frame from all sides, there's an enormous baby that turns into a hamster and an evil twin who turns out not to be evil and the good twin was actually evil? Do you understand my confusion?


If we strip all the confusing elements away, we're looking at the story of a little girl who's fighting for her and her parents' freedom so they can go home. It's the most basic explanation I have to offer and it doesn't really do the movie justice. I think that the core of the story is what kept my fear going for so long. Like I said before, I was convinced this could happen to me too. Getting stuck in a bathhouse and having to save my parent's was too much for me. Strangely, that seems to be the only thing that really scared me about Spirited Away. Watching it now, I couldn't be bothered by the plot at all.

To be honest, I don't think the plot is the movie's strongest point. No Face seems to have little to do with Chihiro's mission. Neither does the stink spirit who's Sen's first customer. Watching Spirited Away feels like watching a TV series that has a little adventure for each episode and in the end the main issue gets resolved without any clear progress being shown in the middle of the season. So no, I don't think the plot makes the movie as great as many say it is. Something that made the movie extra terrifying to eight year old me does: the art and character design. Those pigs, I'm telling you, look pretty damn realistic. The spirits are based on Japanese yokai, the reason why a lot of them reference things my western brain doesn't understand. All the spirits are some kind of easter egg, which I don't understand, but I like them anyway for how realistic and mysterious they look. The classic Ghibli style works so well with these creatures. I could gush about this style for ages and I love to draw some yokai from the movie every now and then myself.


By the time the movie came to an end way sooner than I expected, I was surprised to find myself relaxed and happy. I knew I'd never become a Spirited Away fangirl though, because of the messy plot and the many references I didn't get. I like my plots to be clear, even when they're a chronological mess. There just has to be a clear goal and a path that leads to it. Spirited Away kind of shits on that concept, but it does other things really well. There are tons of easter eggs for people familiar with Japanese culture. I also absolutely loved reading up on all the theories and symbolism in the movie. I appreciate the character design more than ever. So despite my childhood trauma, I'm glad I've seen Spirited Away at two such different points in my life. It didn't just make my second time watching way more interesting, it also made me notice and appreciate the little details and subtleties I couldn't process at eight years old. Maybe I should watch the movie again in another 13 years for a proper review. For now I'm more than happy to end this mess of a blog post by saying that I've fallen in love with the Ghibli art style. Spirited Away inspired me to step outside of my comfort zone in both my art and my writing. I truly hope you enjoy my efforts, now and in the future.

Miss Marvel has a special place in my heart. The very first thing I bought with my very first paycheck just so happened to be the very first big Miss Marvel comic book. The pretty hardcover one with tons of extra pages. You might have seen my review back in the day. I loved everything about it, from the art to the story to the little bits of Pakistani culture that made the whole thing so great. Of course I bought the second installment as soon as possible. Again, I loved everything about it. But then, my entire life was turned upside down. Shit hit the fan last year and because of that, I didn't have the energy or motivation to keep reading. I lost track of the plot and all its little nuances. Recently though, I got back into the Miss Marvel world. I was extremely excited about this. I'd missed it. But two books into my return, I found myself putting my comic book down and feeling like I'd read something... mediocre?


It's difficult to flat-out call Miss Marvel mediocre. I'm not even sure if I can truly label it as such. It's complicated, so let me first get you up to date, or at least up to the point in the story where I am right now. Kamala Khan had her inhuman powers 'unlocked' by the Terrigen Mist. She can change the shape, size and look of her body any way she wants and became the new Miss Marvel. Her first fight was against the Inventor, who used millennials as a power recourse, because that's all my generation is good for, according to him. I wrote about all that in this post from early 2017. I never reviewed the second book, because I felt people wouldn't like me rambling on and on and on about this series instead of giving them the chance to discover it for themselves. Anyway, in the second hardcover book Kamala gets used to her powers, receives some help and training from the inhumans and meets Carol Denvers, the original Miss Marvel. The book ends with the biggest cliffhanger I've ever seen in my life - and I've read a lot of Rick Riordan books, so I know what I'm talking about.

Up to this point I was completely in love with the series. But then I took that involuntary break and when I returned, things were different...

There was one thing that made it difficult for me to pick the story up again: my local comic book store didn't have any more hardcover installments of the series, so I had to switch to paperback volumes. There was also a gap in my timeline: I couldn't get my hands on the volume that picked up where the cliffhanger had left me. As of writing this, I still have no idea what happened there. But let's be honest: that's no reason to suddenly call Miss Marvel mediocre, is it?


After more than half a year, I ended my comic book dry spell with Civil War II, volume 6 of the paperback volumes. This was extremely confusing because of the gap in my timeline. One moment the world was ending, now we're reading about a science fair project with the most adorable shark ever. Soon enough I was sucked right back into the story. Even though we don't see major events in the Marvel universe happen from up close, Kamala is always faced with the consequences while having her own great storylines. In Civil War II, we see Kamala struggle with her own sense of justice, how her decisions affect the lives of those around her and in the end, we see her return to her roots in Pakistan. Nothing mediocre about any of that. But then came Damage Per Second, the 7th volume...


I honestly didn't know what to expect, because there was no story continuing from volume 6 to volume 7. I sure didn't expect the first issue of the collection in this volume to be a bit of a patronizing thing on the importance of voting. The first issue is usually a filler between story arcs though, so I didn't care all that much about this issue not doing anything for me. The actual story arc, however... was even more nothingness. A tale of being safe and kind on the internet. That's literally it. Okay, as usual in superhero stories, this one event in the digital world has a huge effect on the real world, but it all comes down to being kind to others. And that's just a bit bland for Miss Marvel. There's no connection to the bigger Marvel picture, no character development. It's... dare I say it? A bit mediocre.

Honestly, this 7th volume barely left an impression. There was nothing that stood out to me. There are bits and pieces about kindness and acceptance that I liked, but those weren't as impressive as entire story arcs about the question whether or not an entire generation can be considered useless. The excellent storytelling that kept me not just entertained, but fascinated throughout the first few comic books was almost non-existent. The ball was dropped.

Only the last issue of the volume managed to break the cycle of 'meh'. This one takes place in Wakanda, which I loved because I'd just been to Black Panther a couple of days earlier (yes, sometimes I'm that easy to please). It's also the only one that builds upon the foundation laid by previous issues, the only one that shows us a glimpse of what could be up ahead. It's sad that I can't be so positive about every issue in this volume. Without the Wakandan part, it'd be like reading an endless filler.


Leafing through Damage Per Second now, I get frustrated all over again. You see, apart from the plot problem, the quality is once again amazing. I'm a big fan of Takeshi Miyazawa's art, even though it can be a little too detailed in smaller frames sometimes. Most of the frames are pure perfection to me though. I guess it's because the style reminds me of my manga days. I also love the modern look of Andolfo's and Herring's work in the first and last issue of the volume, which are both gorgeous. Yet compared to the way the story switched between the art styles of Miyazawa and Alphona in a previous volume to show us flashbacks from the partition on the subcontinent. That was genius. A short dream sequence in Damage Per Second just felt bland after that. I guess that's the problem with the entire volume: it's a solid product, but lacks a certain something to rise above the crowds, a certain something that the other volumes did have.


Long story short: Miss Marvel had a good thing going. No, not just good. Great, it was great. The writers and artists were bringing their A-game to every single issue. The series brought us social commentary, diversity, and good old-fashioned superhero action. Until Damage Per Second didn't quite live up to the standard set by all the previous volumes. Still I don't want to keep calling Miss Marvel mediocre from now on: it was just the story that lost its edge. I honestly hope that this is just because volume 7 is the volume that gives us a breather between two major story arcs. And hey, as usual I'm a bit behind on the series, so maybe I'm whining too soon. Either way, Damage Per Second falls short, so let's all keep our fingers crossed and hope that volume 8 brings Kamala back to the level of awesome we're used to!

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July 17th is a very special day for me. Not only is it my birthday and do I get to post the cliche "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22" tweet this year, it also marks my 8th anniversary as a Fullmetal Alchemist fangirl. I grew up, graduated high school, went to college and quit college, all while reading the manga. When I finally finished the series last year, I wrote a blog post about every amazing little detail and I still talk about the franchise regularly. No one was surprised to see me turn into an overexcited mess when I heard there was going to be a live action movie adaptation. I literally counted down the days till the Japanese release date, then waited until someone would let me know how and where to watch a subtitled version. A few weeks ago that finally happened: Netflix announced they'd added Fullmetal Alchemist. Of course I watched it. And now I have things to say about it. A lot of things. So brace yourselves, it's going to be a long post.

A long time ago, I fell in love with the story of Edward and Alphonse Elric. These brothers try to resurrect their dead mother in an alchemical ritual, which goes horribly wrong. Ed loses an arm and a leg, Al becomes nothing more than a soul bound to a suit of armor. They set off on a quest to find the Philosopher's Stone, that will help them get their original bodies back. Along the way, they're confronted with homunculi named after the Seven Deadly Sins, corrupt army officials and the consequences of civil war and racial cleansing. This story in itself is so interesting and intricate enough to serve as an amazing movie plot. Because of that, the plot was the last thing I worried about when the live action movie was announced. It was the way things would look that worried me way more. The characters, the alchemy and most of all: Alphonse's armor.

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I honestly expected Al to look awfully fake, but his animation was on point. I couldn't have wished for anything more. The movements were realistic, as well as the overall look of the armor. The same went for the creatures attacking Ed at the start of the movie. The alchemical rituals, however, could look better. As long as it's stones and concrete flying around, or steel being transmutated, it all looks fine, but bigger things like the resurrection ritual looked awful. Maybe that's just because of the effect design, but it looked horribly fake and a little amateurish. I personally could look past this, because I know I'm terribly spoiled with Hollywood CGI. I heard that these effects were actually really good for Japanese standards, so they didn't make or break the movie. It was the characters and plot that did.

After all that's been said about the whitewashed movie adaptations of Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, I think a lot of people were happy to see a completely Japanese cast and crew working on Fullmetal Alchemist. I personally don't care much for an actor's skin color when it comes to manga adaptations, as long as the actor captures the spirit of the character they're portraying. And it's never a bad thing when they look very similar. The latter wasn't always the case. Don't get me wrong, casting made some great decisions. Maes Hughes looked uncannily similar to his manga counterpart, Roy Mustang was a great choice, and even though the internet disagrees with me, I think Gluttony looked as much as the manga character as humanly possible. But for every good casting decision, there was also a bad one. Lust looked really old to me, Shou Tucker was only recognizable because of his glasses and Hawkeye's actress couldn't carry the weight of such a strong character. But the worst by far was Winry Rockbell.

The first problem I had with Winry was that she broke the consistency. In the manga, both Ed and Winry are blond. In the movie, Ed is blond and Winry isn't. What's the logic in that? Either make both characters blond or give them both black hair. This little inconsistency ticked me off from the moment I saw the trailer. Of course something as little as hair color isn't enough to write an entire character off, but things did not get better in the movie. Winry wasn't Winry. Not enough drooling over automail, not as strong a female character as in the manga and she hit Ed and Al with a wrench a grand total of one time. Nothing that made Winry Winry was in the movie. And let's not talk about the overacting and anime mannerisms that just look ridiculous when displayed by a real human.

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Winry wasn't the only character that wasn't quite who she was supposed to be. Like I said before, Hawkeye was a shadow of her manga self. Envy, my namesake and favorite villain, was so boring that I only remember him because of his awful hair. But hey, at least he made it into the movie, unlike Greed, Sloth, Wrath and Pride. Those are just a few of the characters that didn't make it into the big screen. The list of missing characters could be a blog post of its own. Some of the most notable absences were those of Major Armstrong, Scar (yes, even Scar!) and my personal favorite: Barry the Chopper. Great work, guys.

Now I've already done a whole lot of complaining and I haven't even discussed the plot yet. Can you feel my pain? I'm serious, I need a quick break to eat some cookies and recharge before I tackle the monstrosity that is the Fullmetal Alchemist movie plot.

Okay, I'm not sure I can do this, but let's go. Remember when I said I thought the movie had an amazing plot for the taking thanks to the manga? I really did, but for some reason the people behind this adaptation decided to leave some key elements, just like some key characters, completely out of it. And that caused a whole lot of problems.
In the movie, Ed and Al are searching for the Philosopher's Stone for the same reason as in the manga. So far so good. They don't travel around as much though: most of the movie takes place in East City, a small part is set in Reole. Scenes in both locations were shot in similar-looking places in Italy, and because of this and the lack of travel scenes, it feels like the entire thing takes place in only one location. I feel like I'm already getting sidetracked here...

The movie tries to stay true to the plot of the manga, resulting in unnecessary info dumps about alchemy and homunculi right at the start of the movie, but also a lot of iconic scenes. The chimera scene is there, Mustang and Lust do their thing and some stills from the movie are literally manga pages brought to life.

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Those scenes were nice and enjoyable as a fan of the franchise, but the haphazard way everything is connected overshadows these positive snippets. The military and the Ishbalan civil war were major factors in the source material. They give characters an extra dimension, they provide motivation, they're the pillars of this story in my opinion. For some reason these factors were nowhere to be found in the movie. With Scar and King Bradley missing, the Ishbalan civil war and the military were not properly represented, meaning that other characters had to fill the gaps. This led to Shou Tucker having a huge role, but being nothing more than an evil scientist with no reason d'être. There's also the movie-only character called General Hakuro, who is just evil and wants more power, I guess?
So we get a story about Ed, homunculi and the military wanting the Philosopher's Stone, though the villains have no real motives or history without the Ishbalan civil war, and characters like Mustang becoming two-dimensional. I didn't understand why Tucker was evil and in the end, Hakuro just wanted the Stone to create an army of homunculi dolls. Because he likes that idea. Or something like that. It never becomes clear.
Hughes and Ed do the things they did in the manga, and they do have a reason behind their actions. I didn't mention Al because he's barely on screen - probably because he was too expensive to animate into every scene. So were Hughes and Ed able to save the entire plot? Definitely not. The movie tried to be a more compact version of the manga, but ended up cutting out the most important parts. We were left with a whole lot of pointless stuff.

I hated this empty shell of a plot. Characters need motivation, reasons for acting the way they do. There's almost none of that in this movie, which paled in comparison to the manga. I understand you can't put every plotline and character from 27 volumes into a 2-hour movie. But with the amount of information being poured out over the audience in those short hours, only to see an open ending so a sequel could be made, I wish they'd kept more manga elements and set the story up more carefully. Now we didn't get to see Scar, Barry the Chopper, Izumi Curtis and many more. We didn't see the position of the military in the country's society, we didn't see villains with a good raison d'être. And for what? To see a rushed, decapitated shadow of the original plot come to full fruition. Which leaves me with the question: what the hell do they want to show us in a hypothetical sequel?

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The people behind this movie tried to make it interesting and accessible for people who are unfamiliar with the franchise, but ended up making a product that's so rushed and full of not-so-logical plot progressions that only existing fans will be able to keep up with the story. The pace is ridiculously high, key elements are missing and as a result, it's really hard to build a connection with the characters on your screen. The CGI wasn't always the best and some characters could have been cast better. But it's this weird, rushed things of a plot that made me dislike the live action Fullmetal Alchemist movie. Let's stop complaining about Hollywood ruining anime/manga adaptations, because the Japanese don't do it too well either. But maybe things will get better if the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise is continued on the big screen.

But I'll never forgive them for cutting out Barry the Chopper.

Do I talk about Deadpool too much? I feel like I talk about him a lot, but I don't think there's such a thing as too much Deadpool. At least that's what I thought after finishing Dead Presidents, the first installment in Deadpool's Marvel Now relaunch. It's fast-paced, pretty illogical and 100% awesome in pure Deadpool style. Let me tell you why.

First of all this is the perfect place to start for anyone who's new to Marvel comics and liked the Deadpool movie (which features a lot less insanity than the comics by the way). It's the first book in the new series, so you get a quick into to the Deadpool character and his powers and you're good to go. No references you'll miss, just an epic killing spree for you to read. You see, in this comic the US has gone to shit because of politics and such dividing the people. As this originally came out in 2013 I believe Marvel has predictive powers when it comes to the Trump situation.
Anyway, in this story a true American patriot in a kilt decides to resurrect America's dead presidents and let them fix the situation. This doesn't work out, as the resurrected presidents are evil. For no apparent reason. Because they needed some kind of plot, probably. So these dead presidents go on a rampage and SHIELD needs someone to stop them, i.e. make them dead again. Sending American heroes like Captain America won't go down well with the public, so agent Preston hires Deadpool, who's Canadian (fun trivia for your next wannabe geeky pub quiz). Deadpool goes after all these presidents to end their life once again and that's really all there is to this book. Perfect pick if you want to read something but don't want to think about it too much.


Even though I liked Dead Presidents a lot and it's a good starting point, I think a few warnings wouldn't be out of place her.
If you're squeamish, this is not the comic for you. You get some wonderful views of Deadpool's insides when they're no longer inside of him. There are a lot of bloody deaths and flying body parts. A few dead animals and one burning elephant as well. And let's be honest, Deadpool's skin has never been a pretty sight.
As for the presidents... If you're not American or haven't spent a decent part of your life in the US, you'll have no idea which presidents are getting killed. In my Dutch high school I was that weird kid who could name all the American presidents from the past century, including nicknames, and still I didn't recognize half of the presidents. At some point I started mentally referring to them as 'fat guy in bath tub', 'old guy in ugly suit', 'old guy with ugly beard' and such. The more obscure presidents are introduced and the presidents that get some real screen time are the more well-known ones. Still, if you're not into US history you'll miss some jokes, not to mention the significance of certain settings and actions.

Now we've got that out of the way I can talk to you about the art. This is what I refer to as solid art. It's good, but nothing extremely mind-blowing. Way better than Deadpool vs Thanos though, but that's probably because I just don't like that artist's style. Tony Moore's style however is one I do appreciate. Very detailed, which does make the comic look a little bit disturbing at times. Especially when it comes to some guts hanging out of a certain anti-hero or a fat president in a bath tub. But hey, making things look seriously disgusting requires quite a lot of talent too.
The entire book was drawn by Moore, so the artwork and style is consistent. It always confuses me when a different artist does one or two issues in the middle of a collected edition comic, like in Miss Marvel, so I was glad that didn't happen here. Moore gave us high quality art and quite a few full-page images which are just a bit better than the regular pages.

The full-page images were a big plus for me in this case. Okay, they always are, but this time my artsy side needed them because there weren't that many extras at the end of the book. And I just need my visual extras. Instead of loads of visual extras you get a few pages of fan mail this time, which Deadpool answers. That's already a hilarious concept, but it gets even better when Deadpool rips the complaining fanboys apart. I believe that's the kind of stuff I live for.


Usually I also like to use some fancy words on character development at this point of the review, but not this time. As this is the first book after the relaunch, it mostly focuses on establishing the main characters. So we mainly see Deadpool being a bit of an ass, but a funny one. Doctor Strange also makes an appearance, but didn't stick around long enough to impress me. Keep an eye out for agent Preston though; she'll be around for much longer than you'd expect and is one of the female characters I can't help but admire. There isn't much more to say about the characters for now though. I guess character development will happen at some point in the next issues.

So I've come to the end of this review and realized I have no rating system or anything. Quite unprofessional. To finish this in Deadpool style, I'll give Dead Presidents three out of five chimichangas. Enjoyable, great if you're a newbie with a strong stomach, but not for you if you're looking for a comic with just that little bit extra.

When I was 13 years old I was completely and utterly obsessed with everything Japanese. Except sushi. Other than that every hint of Japanese culture sent me into fangirling hysterics. That's why my friends decided to give me a manga for my 14th birthday. The manga they chose: Fullmetal Alchemist. Little did any of us know that this manga would be the one consistent factor in my life for many years to come. With 27 volumes at €10 a piece, I had quite an expensive journey ahead of me. A journey that ended last May with loads of tears streaming down my almost 21-year-old face. I'd spent a third of my life reading about Edward and Alphonse Elric. It's the only manga I've read from start to finish. Fullmetal Alchemist set the bar pretty damn high on all levels. I tried different mangas, but they never lived up to the fullmetal standard. I doubt I'll ever find a manga that will. I've spent seven years of my life reading Fullmetal Alchemist, and now I'll spend a few more hours of my time explaining why you should give the manga love of my life a chance too.


For those of you who don't know Fullmetal Alchemist and haven't seen the anime (which was apparently a big deal in every country except mine), here's the story: after their mom dies Edward and Alphonse Elric try to resurrect her through an alchemical ritual. Their attempt fails, Ed loses an arm and a leg, Al becomes nothing more than a soul in a suit of armor, Now they travel their country Amestris in search of a philosopher's stone, which could give them their original bodies back.
Sounds simple, doesn't it? That's what I thought at first too. Trust me when I say it's not. All this takes place in a world so similar to our own, yet so different. There's automail, highly developed prosthetics that function just like real limbs would. There's alchemy, in this story a mix of European medieval alchemy, modern science and magic. There's the role of the military, recruiting alchemists as human weapons and fighting endless battles both in and outside of Amestris' borders. There are cars, radios and modern firearms, but no computers, which makes Amestris look like a formerly impoverished country that's just found its feet. In that chaotic environment villains with names like Lust, Gluttony and Envy (no you know where I got the idea to use a biblical sin as a name) work on their evil plan which I won't spoil for you. The whole set-up is epic, but that's not the only epic thing about Fullmetal Alchemist. The story itself is epic on a Harry Potter level. There are all these storylines intertwining, touching and not making sense until you get more information and see the bigger picture. Warning: if you take 7 years to read it, all these little things and connections will be lost on you and at times the story may not seem to go anywhere. If you read it in one week all the pieces of the puzzle come together perfectly, everything will be crystal clear and your mind will be blown. And it's not just the way everything is connected that makes the story so damn good, oh no. The story also touched on topics such as racism, civil war, religion and morality. It makes the story thought-provoking, but not too heavy to be enjoyable.
That last thing I mentioned, the story still being enjoyable, is mostly because of the characters. There's a mostly clear line between good and bad, accentuated by a few characters that are in the grey area between darkness and light. No matter which side a character you relate to is on, they'll have realistic motives. That's why you're relating to them in the first place: their actions are products of feelings and instincts that every human experiences in life, such as fear of death or the love for friends and family. This speaks to the most basic version of ourselves, our very core or soul if you like that word better. It makes you feel everything Ed and Al go through as if you're there with them. It's intense and awesome.
The characters are also undoubtedly Japanese, despite their Amestrian passport. Japanese culture shines through in their words and actions, for example when Ed, usually hot-headed and reckless, says things like: "Let's work hard to get stronger!". That struck me, a western girl, as weird. No one here would ever say that, fictional or not. It's a little difference in culture that I can appreciate and it doesn't irritate while reading Fullmetal Alchemist.


Now on to my favorite part of every review: the art. It's not for nothing that I compare every manga I see to Fullmetal Alchemist. This art is on a whole different level. Every line serves a purpose. Even in the fight scenes the images remain very readable, with one look you know exactly what's going on (unlike the action scenes from a certain Deadpool comic). What impressed me the most were the way the characters visibly aged throughout the manga. Arakawa uses the most subtle details I've ever seen to show Ed and Al growing up. She has an amazing talent for giving each character unique facial features, even the ones with a more generic manga-look. Different ethnicities actually have different looks, not just different skin tones. Put these characters in the realistic and detailed backdrops Amestris provides and you've got something you'll want to hang on your wall.


Apart from the actual manga, the art at the start and end of each chapter will blow you away as well. My favorites have always been the character studies in negative space. They're so simple yet so gorgeous. I've spent many hours in high school trying to draw these characters, but nothing ever came close to Arakawa's amazing art. She's a master.


Now I've sat here for a while writing this review and I feel like I'm forgetting about something. No worries, that happens literally every single time I get to the artsy part of my reviews. It takes just a quick leaf-through of one volume to remember I was going to obsess over the extras. I think this is how my love for extra pages came into existence, because Fullmetal Alchemist has the best. The funniest inside jokes can be found on the last pages of each volume, sometimes there's a comic about Arakawa's life as a mangaka or little insights into Japanese culture. During some slower periods in the story (they're there, like in every story) I couldn't wait to see the funny little quips on the story at the end. And sometimes, because the volumes are printed Japanese style and should be read from right to left and I opened it the western way... I spoiled part of the Fullmetal Alchemist awesomeness for myself. I'm not sharing any images of those today, because I don't want to spoil the ending of any of the 27 volumes. And speaking of endings: don't worry you'll end up disappointed at the end of volume 27. The ending is glorious, everything I hoped for as a little 14-year-old came true. It made me cry happy tears. Twice.

Now if all this doesn't convince you to start reading Fullmetal Alchemist, there's only one more thing I can say: just pick up the first volume. Just do it. You won't regret it, I promise.

Last month Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit theatres and I was too busy losing my mind in college to realize it was the perfect opportunity to review my only Guardians of the Galaxy comic book. Sad, very sad indeed. Almost a month later I returned to my drafts for the review and realized I didn't just let the opportunity slide. I'd made a somewhat concious decision. Everyone was excited about the movie and I didn't want to rain on the parade. I think that already says a lot about how I feel about this comic. Let's just get into it, shall we?


I bought Guardians of the Galaxy: New Watch because it had 'New Watch' in the title. I thought that'd mean a new start to the series, not too much knowledge of its history required. I thought wrong. By buying this one I shot myself in the foot. You see, New Watch starts where the previous series ended, which meant two things for me. First of all, I had no idea what kind of shit went down between the characters and why their relationships were so different now. Second, the book gave away some spoilers for the storyline that the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are currently exploring. Great. Awesome. Good job, Envy.
So confused as I was I kept on reading. Now before I continue this review, there's one thing you need to know: I read all the comic books I review twice, once to enjoy it with a clear mind and once to review it with a more critical eye. After the first read I could summarize the plot as 'beating up two bad guys'. That's all, and that's not much of a plot.
I don't want to spoil anything for anyone since I'm already annoyed enough that I spoilt Guardians of the Galaxy for myself, so explaining the plot in more detail than I just did is a bit difficult. It comes down to the Guardians coming face to face with two villains who still have a bone to pick with ma favorite space heroes. Oh, and there's a villain called Annihilus at the very start and end, who apparently has a plan to take over the universe, but since everything happening inbetween seems to be one unrelated fight scene, you'll finish the book feeling like you've made no progress in the storyline at all.


Okay Envy, deep breaths. Don't get swept away by your annoyance at the lack of a plot. Let's focus on the good things about this comic book instead.
First up, the characters. No idea what happened between all of them and Quill, but there's a new dynamic and it works. Venom and the Thing were added to the gang. Rocket is awesome as usual. I don't know how I feel about Groot's freen dreadlocks, but apart from that he's the Groot I got to know in 2014. There isn't much character development yet, but we do get a good introduction to the Guardians and their powers, both the old and newer members.


Then there's the art. If you've read any of my other reviews, you probably know I'm a sucker for good comic book art. And my god did this book deliver just that.
Usually the cover of a comic book is absolutely stunning, while the pages are on a slightly lower level than that because of the smaller size of the drawings and time pressure. That rule didn't apply here at all. All of the two-page spreads were so breath-taking that I'd drame them and hang them on my wall right now if I could. They're detailed, beautifully drawn and colored, and the art style blew me away. But it's not just the double pages, no, all the other pages are amazing as well. They're not all on the same level of greatness, but the level of beauty in the art work is so far above average and consistent in that, that I spent at least half my time reading with staring at panels, marvelling at how mind-blowing beautiful they are. I don't usually name artists or writers in my review, but this time I'm making an exception: Valerio Schiti, you are my hero!


The last awesome thing I want to mention are the extras. If you ever want to make me love your (web)comic, make sure there are extras because they make me love a comic so much more. This one didn't just have a few alternative covers, but also loads of detailed character sheets. Different outfits, the color palette, it's all there. It's a little piece of perfection right at the end of the book.


Yet if I take the art and extras out of the equation, it doesn't look all that great for Guardians of the Galaxy. the typical Marvel humor was a bit snowed-under because of all the fight scenes. There's a difference between fight scenes to further the plot and a continous series of fight scenes as a plot. Still I couldn't get upset about this while actually reading the book, since every fight scene was beautifully depicted and nothing felt rushed.

All in all I have mixed feelings about this New Watch. It's hard to decide whether or not to continue a series if you don't see a clear plot unfolding for which you'd want to follow the series. It's also not the best place to start your comic book career. Yet the art makes up for so, so, so many of its flaws that I'm torn. Continue this one or not? I think I'll let you gues decide in the comments.

No Marvel or DC on the blog today. No, I decided to throw something new in the mix. You see, I'm Dutch and no matter how American I may sound when I speak English, Dutch is what I am and I am freaking proud of that. So instead of verbally freaking out over some big shot American comic like I usually do, I thought I'd introduce you to one of my favorite Dutch comics ever: Dating for Geeks.

Dating for Geeks is different than all the other comic books I've reviewed, and that's not just because it's Dutch. This one is different because it's published every day in a newspaper. What you see here is the compilation of all the comics that were published in the Metro from January 2014 to, well, a few months later. I'm really bad with dates and that kind of stuff, but it comes down to this: Single Players is were it all started.
There is no one storyline to follow here. Instead, you get about four of them. We see Jasper try to find a date with help from Yvon, who works at a dating agency. We follow Jeff, who tries to pick up women with the worst pick-up lines ever. Then there's Edward and Renee, a geeky couple who just moved in together at the start of Single Players. Towards the end we meet Claire, who has way too much in common with this blogger and can't seem to find a guy. But the most surprising character of all is this one: the author and artist himself, Kenny Rubenis! It's a slice of life comic, and a good one too! All of these characters are huge geeks, so you'll see plenty of jokes about whatever fandom floats your boat. If you're a geek, you'll love them. If you're not a geek, you'll still love them.  Okay, Jeff is kinda icky, but you can't like them all.

True love is giving her full control over the remote control on Valentine's day!

My favorite characters have also become my favorite geek couple of all times: Edward and Renee. If I ever get a boyfriend again, this is what our future will most probably look like. #GeekRelationshipGoals and all that stuff, though I'm in reality much more like Claire, sadly forever alone and dateless.

"He hasn't seen the new episode of Game of Thrones yet." "Renee, where are you? It's dark and full of spoilers here!"

One of the comics strongest points is how relatable it is. I'm not just saying that because I'm a geek who fails miserably at dating. I'm saying it because this one, right here, this scenario literally happened to me when I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier in theatres - around the same time as this comic was published in the paper!

Translation: "Pffff, why do superheroes always have to take off their masks?" "Yeah, they never do that in the comic books! Why do it in the movies then?" Fangirling is universal I think ;P "Oh yeah. That's why".

The cool thing about this first book is that you can see the artist's style develop. You see characters change a little here and there, you see them turn into the characters you know so well now. It's like getting to know a good friend even better.

The artist has a very cartoony style, which I like. It's simple and clean. Simple and effective. It's also a unique style - you'll recognize these characters anywhere!

Apart from the comics that have been published in the paper, there are also a few extra illustrations here and there to break things up. Some are cute, some are funny, all of them are awesome.


I've read many comics in many papers, but none of them have ever been able to convince me to actually buy the book. Dating for Geeks has, for the simple reason that it's never failed to make me smile. I like the art, simple and pretty much perfect as it is. I like the jokes and I definitely like how it celebrates geek culture in my tiny country that's not always big on showing your geeky side. I see a lot of myself in this comic, and it makes me happy.

Dating for Geeks will always have a special place in my heart for one more reason: I started reading the comic when I started college. Every morning I'd pick up a paper when I arrived at the subway station and pretended to read it on the train to college, though all I really paid attention to was this tiny three-panel comic. Happy memories right there. I hope the comic book will make you happy too if you ever get the chance to read it.

Sadly the title of my blog post wasn't catchy enough to become the actual title of the comic book I'm obsessing over this time. Instead, they simply called it 'Deadpool vs Thanos'. Simple, yet effective. The plot isn't that simple though. Neither is the art. But let me start at the beginning. I'm going to try and explain you the plot. It's not as easy as it sounds.

The nice thing about Deadpool vs Thanos is that it's a stand-alone story with a start and an end. You don't need to know every little detail about the characters and that's a good thing, because you'll need every bit of brain capacity to keep up with the plot. You see, the physical manifestation of Death has been kidnapped, so nothing in any universe can die. Sounds great if you've ever lost someone, but it has its downsides too. That pepperoni pizza you love so much? Not an option anymore, because you can't produce pepperoni if the meat won't stay dead. For those of you who prefer a more serious example: if your planet explodes you'll be in total agony flying through space, not being able to die and escape that ish.
Back to the plot: this physical manifestation of Death is in a relationship with Deadpool, but Thanos loves her too and so it's love triangle all the way. Easy, right? Now comes to more complicated part: after Thanos blaming Deadpool for Death's disappearance and discovering he's not to blame, they decide to go searching for her together by Thanos repeatedly beating Deadpool nearly to death, a state in which he can communicate with Death. Then they go on a search all throughout the galaxy, meet Ajax, the Guardians of the Galaxy, weirdos from a death cult and I think this already counts as a spoiler... Let me just say it's their goal to free Death and they beat up everyone and everything along the way.


I have to admit that the first two times I read this comic book I was too distracted by the art to pay attention to all the ins and outs of the plot. I have very mixed feelings about the art though. I'm not extremely impressed, but it speaks to me. I like it. Quite a lot. It's very graphic though and something it's even difficult to discern different panels due to the graphicness of certain scenes. Hats off for those details though.


Once I'd started rereading Deadpool vs Thanos I also started appreciating it more and more. The story that is. Like I said, you don't need a whole lot of background. Just take things as they come. Enjoy the ride. And believe me when I say you will enjoy the ride. The writing on this one is great. Dialogue on point, but most important of all: perfect jokes. As always, Deadpool is pretty much aware of being a comic book hero and that gives awesome opportunities to make fun of some comic book tropes and other characters.

After all I'm pretty proud of myself for picking this one as my introduction to the Marvel Universe. You see, Deadpool vs Thanos will always have a special place inside my heart. It was the first comic book I bought at my local comic book store without being ashamed of my geekiness. I read it at college, surrounded by classmates who threw me weird looks whenever I giggled over the chicken man, excuse me, Black Talon. And when I reached the extra pages, with all the variant covers and extra art work, I knew I'd taken the right decision by buying this comic book.


So in case you want to get into the Marvel Universe, this is a good place to start. The art is solid, you'll get the Marvel humor you probably already know from the movies and Deadpool is just one of the best characters ever. Don't worry about cliffhangers or backgrounds, this story has a clear start and end. Do pick it up. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.