I saw this on display at my local library, so I decided to read it.

STORY:

"So he had two problems. He had to save the world, and he had to save himself" (pg 50)

In Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy (346 pages), Yuri Strelnikov's been brought from Russia to stop an asteroid from utterly destroying California. Along his two weeks, he has to deal with condescending NASA workers, freeing hs emotions, and a Russian professor back home trying to steal Yuri's life research on antimatter. Not to mention he finds a cute girl with brown and yellow hair, a tongue stud, and hippie parents, and NASA bureaucratically kidnapping him.

I really liked the artistic/creative way Dovie (and her family) tried to teach Yuri to deal with his emotions.

The first of half of the story was great, interesting and a bunch of anticipation. However, I didn't like the other half, and it was a struggle to finish. I started skimming through pages that I should have wanted to devour. I like a little romance in my books a lot, but I just did not care for the romantic subplot that began to take over the main plot. Like, why would someone goof off at a high school with their GF, when the fate of the world is in their hands? SN: Dovie caught feelings for Yuri way too fast.

There were a few "suicidal" jokes that albeit weren't particularly bad, didn't need to be made.

CHARACTERS:

."He wanted to cry. It was okay to cry, he told himself. It was work-related, and men could cry because of job stress. But his cheeks were dry as he fell asleep" (pg 45).

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Yuri was okay. Nothing startling interesting about him, but nothing really upsetting about him either. Maybe he was a bit hornier than expected. I like that though he was a foreigner he wasn't truly the funny foreigner trope. Of course, he didn't get every American idiom (but not in a way that undermines his intelligence), and he very much wanted to learn some English curse words.

Dovie, I liked and disliked. Sometimes, she seemed so nice and other times a little jealous/petty. She kind of hated this big-breasted girl for getting better grades than her in art class (but good art can be subjective at times, you know). Like, do you hate the unfair grade you received or are you just mad a girl chose to wear a low-cut shirt? Anyway, I enjoyed Dovie when she was a cameo, but then she started taking up too much of the story's focus.

I didn't care too much about the cast of characters.

OVERALL:

The beginning started promising, but it ended on a flat note for me. You might think differently though, so check it out for yourself!

Pretty good! A little slow and dragging at times but good. I was so mad at first when I thought Tina was in love with her half-brother. I was like all these cute Kenyan boys and she got to like her brother!? With that being said (no, he wasn't her half bro after all), I didn't care for the romance at all and didn't see why Michael was so pretty. Throw stones if you wanna, but the book could've done without Michael and not missed a beat.

I absolutely loved Bug Eye and detested Ketchup pretty much like everyone else did. 

There were some heavy themes of rape, survivorship, and family bonds. I liked Tina, but I didn't exactly care or not care for her. I know some people didn't like it, but I was genuinely surprised at who the big boss was.

Overall, it was good (but too long) and I wouldn't read it again.

I really liked the artwork and color direction of this story. But I was confused or bored 75% of the time. Maybe if I had understood more of what was happening, I would have liked this story.

Hilarious throughout the book and a great cast of characters. I look forward to all the wacky shenanigans and obvious questions from patrons when I become a librarian.

I love Yuko Ota and Ananth Hirsh's works and their individual ones as well. I literally have Buzz! and Lucky Penny on my bookshelf now. I didn't know about their webcomic though. *whispers* I'm a Bad Fan.

STORY:

"I hate octopuses.

An animal that gross has no business being that smart.—John (pg 236)."

Our Cats are More Famous Than Us by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota (416 pages) is about their day-to-day lives (really, there's a lot of morning coffee drinking here) in comic form. Some of the comics focus on cultural things (between Japanese and Indian culture), apartment shenanigans, the art process, and, of course, their many cats. I'm not a cat lover, but I find the cat comics super adorable. Maybe it's because they are drawn so cutely?

There's even a surprise conclusion that's pretty heartwarming. I didn't see it coming. But I wish them happiness regarding it. 

ART:

It's grrrreat *in my Tony the Tiger voice* I like the color direction too.

CHARACTERS:

Well, these are all supposed to be portrayals of the real-life authors and their friends. Their friend John is absolutely hilarious. Everything he says (in the webcomic) sounds like the lead in an action thriller.

OVERALL:

Don't be scared by the thickness of this omnibus. You can read this book so quickly because the comics themselves are usually between 3-5 panels.

I definitely recommend it. :D

"I love the beginning of things...I just hate endings" (pg 123).