This, that, and the other...

I'm still processing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Between that and the fact that First Among Sequels: A Thursday Next Novel is currently sitting on my doorstep (well, Dan's probably home from work and I sure he moved it into the house) AND! I'm seeing Jasper Fforde tomorrow at Politics and Prose the book part of my brain is more than a little... preoccupied.

Anywho... this spring, DC Comics launched the Minx line of comics. Unlike most of DCs other stuff-- which tends to be the serialized comic book (DC's imprint Vertigo publishes Fables which regular readers know I love. Also ooo! New Jack of Fables available for pre-order!) But I digress.

Back on Topic. Minx is a series of one-off graphic novels, aimed at teenage girls (although there are a surprising few number of girls writing and illustrating these books.) These aren't the 'high literature' type of graphic novel I tend to associate with one-offs (think Maus or American Born Chinese) but they're still very good-- the art is more "comic booky" than "manga-y" and there's no color. Color would be nice.

The first one published was The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg.

Jane's parents move her from Metro City to Surburbia after she was injured in a terrorist bombing. As the country becomes more and more scared by more and more frequent attacks in large cities, Jane tries to fit into her new small town life. The cool girls want to be her friend, and once upon a time, before, she would have accepted. This time though, she eschews them to form a band with the other Janes, social misfits with a common name. They're not overly eager to accept her either.

Once they do, they form a group called PLAIN (People Loving Art in Neighborhoods) that do random art attacks. But then these art attacks (like putting hats on parking meters) are deemed terrorist attacks and things unravel... (no pun intended.)

At the same time, Jane is writing letters to a John Doe coma victim from the terrorist bombing she was a victim of. Writing to him becomes her way of processing every thing that has happened to her.

This received generally rave reviews from the blog world. What Mary's Reading, Pink Ray Gun, The Last Book I Read, Big A little a for a mere spattering...

I really enjoyed it, but I agree most with Emily Reads's Haiku... I wanted more to the story and more to the characters-- I think the story was too much for the format and would have worked better in a more standard novel setting.

That said, I can't wait to read the rumored sequel.

Next up in Minx's August offering (out August 1st) is Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm's Good as Lily. Kim has written graphic novel's before, so his story is a better fit.

On Grace Kwon's 18th birthday, she gets whacked in the head with a pinata and the next thing she knows, she's surrounded by her 6, 29, and 80 year old self. She doesn't want any spoilers about her future but obviously, there's something each of them has to figure out before they can go back to where they're supposed to be.

Meanwhile, funding's been cut for the school play (in which Grace has the lead) so they need to find a way to save the play and to stop the other Graces from ruining current-Grace's life!

Overall, I do like this imprint and want to read the other titles in the series, but with a new one coming out every month at $10/pop (not a bad price, but it adds up) I can't be buying them, so I need to get my local libraries to get on this... Clubbing, especially, looks good.

Full disclosure: Both titles reviewed were given to me by the nice people at the DC Comics book at ALA.