I’ve been on a bit of a graphic novel spree lately! Graphic novels are my favorite way to read comics, because there is more story collected in one place.  I’m the same way with tv shows,  I would much rather binge an entire season than watch a single episode every week.

I am also going to link this post with Wyrd & Wonder. Even though I only read three of the six graphic novels in May (Origin, Nimona, and Deadpool Kills Deadpool) they are all Fantasy!

*Disclaimer: All Amazon Links are affiliate links. If you purchase anything through one of my links I will get a small commission! All the thoughts and opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced by Amazon.

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Shades of Magic Vol. 1: The Steel Prince

by V.E. Schwab and Andrea Olimpieri

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads | Amazon

 I borrowed an electronic copy of this from my local library through Hoopla.  It probably would have been better to get a paper copy.  It was impossible to read on my computer but it worked decently well on my phone.

I liked the story and the characters but I couldn’t tell what was going on in some of the action scenes.  The art was intricate but the color palate was very dark.  This made it hard to tell who was who and what was happening.  I still don’t understand how the final fight scene ended because I can’t tell what happened.  I spent like 10 minutes studying the panels and I’m still missing something.  I don’t think having a physical copy would have solved my confusion, but it would have made it overall easier and quicker to read.

The story is good and I will give the next book a shot because I want to see what happens to the characters! Prince Maxim had a lot of character development in a very short period of time, and I am curious to see what he does next!

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The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1

The Apocalypse Suite

by Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá, and Dave Stewart

🌟🌟

Goodreads | Amazon

I have heard absolutely amazing things about the TV show, and really want to watch it, but I wanted to read the graphic novels first.  I am sad to admit that I didn’t like the graphic novel.  But, luckily, I read it with my friend Phil, who has seen the show, and he has assured me that the graphic novel is garbage and the show is amazing.  There is still hope!  Here are some of the texts I got from Phil while reading it:

• Halfway through and I hate it!
• The show is so much better
• This is garbage
• 1 star
• Awful
• I don’t even want to explain why I hate it so much until u see the show
• I’m literally mad

Obviously, since I gave it 2 stars, I didn’t hate it as much as Phil did, but I still didn’t like it.  The story was super rushed and I was confused.  They never really explained who had what powers or what was going on.  They alluded to past events that were completely pointless and it felt like we were missing so much information.  It was anti-climactic and too fast.  Also it was weirdly incestual.  Yes, the siblings were adopted but they called each other brother and sister and there were multiple love relationships? But also one of them was kind of rapey because of Rumor’s power? It was weird.

I wasn’t a fan of the artwork either. One set of the alternate covers was amazing and I wish the whole book had been done in that style!

(I love the picture on the left, not a big fan of the panels on the right)

I’m still going to read Vol 2 because I already bought it, and I am still excited for the TV show (Thanks to Phil!) but overall I just didn’t like this one.

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The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 2

Dallas

by Gerard Way (Writer), Gabriel Bá, Dave Stewart, and Nate Piekos

🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads | Amazon

I liked this one a lot better than the first one, but it still wasn’t great.  There was more of a story and it was slightly easier to follow but I was still confused a lot of the time and there were completely random scenes that, as far as I could tell, added nothing to the story.  The storyline is a mess, and not in a good way.  But, I’m excited because now that I have read both the books I am gong to watch the show!!

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Origin

by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads | Amazon

Wolverine is my favorite super hero. I don’t know why but I have always liked him.  This was actually a re-read for me, and I loved it every bit as much the second time as the first.  It goes through Logan’s tragic back story and it even covers what sparked his interest in Samurais and Japanese culture.  I love the art work and the character development is perfect.  It explains so much about why Logan is the way he is.  You only see Wolverine’s claws a couple times (this is before the Adamantium change, so they are still bone claws) so this isn’t your normal action packed backstory, so I don’t know if everyone will like it, but I think it is perfect!

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Nimona

by Noelle Stevenson

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads | Amazon

How have I not read this before?!?! First of all, it is considerably longer than your average graphic novel.  I love graphic novels but I read them too fast and am always left wanting more.  Plus, normal graphic novels are part of a series and I have to go get the next installment.  Nimona is a full stand-alone story and I love it.  Nimona is awesome but my favorite character was Lord Ballister Blackheart.  He was forced to become a villain but he really is a good guy and he always played by the “rules”.  That is until Nimona came into his life.  Nimona is spunky and wild.  She has a tendency to take things way t0o far.  As Blackheart and Nimona form an unlikely friendship, they begin to balance each other out.  Blackheart tames Nimona a bit and teaches her restraint, while Nimona pulls Blackheart out of his bubble and helps him realize that he doesn’t have to follow the “rules” set before him. Its a fun yet powerful story and I would highly recommend it to everyone!

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Deadpool Kills Deadpool

by Cullen Bunn, and Salvador Espin

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Goodreads | Amazon

I didn’t realize till after I read this that Deadpool Kills Deadpool is actually the third book in the Deadpool Killogy.  I probably should have read the other books first, but at least this one had a brief explanation of what was going on.  Despite the explanation I was still confused at times about what was going on and which Deadpool was which and where they came from.  But, the Deadpool snark and wall breaking was awesome.  It was also really cool to see all the different Deadpools.  Some of them were super creative.  I loved the references to other comics and there was even a really cool fight scene montage.  So overall, even though I didn’t really know what was going on, it was still fun to read and to see all the different characters.

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Do you read Graphic Novels? Have you read any of the ones in my post? What are your favorites? Lets Chat!