More enjoyable than the first one! This time we follow the then apprentice, now full Chant, as he chronicles a new story (his own), on paper, the text we are actually reading. Only there is also a reader within the fiction who is annotating this text as part of a kind of mystery (and injects a fair bit of humour, too).

The meta addition is really fun, both because I wanted to know who was making these footnotes and crossing out the text and what not, but also because their personality really came through as a secondary character.

The actual plot is semi interesting. It’s nice to have queer rep, especially neat when he would Recontextualizing stories of straight characters with a queer lens. But there wasn’t as many stories as the first because the main tension is that he just is not about that chant life right now. The process of storytelling is something he’s disenchanted with, and he’s in a sort of mid life crisis situation. The stakes are pretty low, especially compared to the first. It’s a much more quiet story, and that makes the fairly large page count seem a bit overindulgent. But I did like the conclusion and the structure and format with the meta component and conversation were absolutely engaging. Never was it in danger of being put down by me.

Though antiquated in some ways, as a form of narrative nonfiction it still succeeds. It’s engaging, thoughtful, full of empathy, genuinely interesting. This book has been picked apart by people in the field now, but I am, to say the least, a laymen, and so I wasn’t bothered by that as much; mostly the actual language to describe the patients is what signals how out of date it is.

Nonfiction isn’t my preferred genre either, so while it was engaging, that’s basically the ultimate high praise from me. But I’ve also read things like When We Cease To Understand, where the narrative is as good as fiction, and acknowledges that even nonfiction is generally pretty much just selling the viewpoint of an individual, which is basically all but fiction to me, anyway.

But, this was far better than I expected. So there’s that. A three star read means it met my expectations, just that it didn’t exceed them. And for such a lauded modern classic as this, that’s high praise, I think.

Ooo I like this ending a lot actually. These books have all had middle book syndrome but good payoff, for the most part now. We see how the first blade runner was created and why, lots of lore added to the universe with this one, in particular. It’s a fairly clever execution, because we know the system is broken based on all the other stuff, so it has to be something with holes in it. I think the writer did a good job with it.

This is way better than I expected. After all, most of the series has been a bit of a fun noir plot that builds up to a confrontation with guns. It’s fun, less predictable than usual, but mostly more of the same.

Where this is really exceptional—aside from the phenomenal cover art—is the twist that, when justified back to the start of this arc, makes everything make more sense and much more intelligent. Basically, it’s a twist handled perfectly.

It still has the excellent artwork too, which helps. I probably liked this arc more than the previous ones, which is saying something, as one was particularly good.

I can see why some people out it at the top of their list, but if you’ve been reading Moon Knight long enough, it is pretty circuitous. The first half was much stronger than the later, where some villain reveals themselves as puppeteer, set up early. It’s a descent A and B plot, but the it’s a very traditional and predictable arc. As usual, how the character deals with being mentally Ill and turning his trauma into something with agency remains the most interesting aspect, and when it digresses away from that, it becomes samey same.

Although no longer officially a blade runner, the story progresses as you’d expect. I wasn’t wild about the fights getting so bombastic. I much prefer the Blade Runner universe to be grounded, slow, methodical, cerebral. When it gets to a conflict that takes up a lot of space it makes the larger issue feel a bit boring. But the art and paneling is still fantastic, so~

Continue to love the art and panelling of these Blade Runner series. The setup for this character is moderately interesting: a black man coming out of an oppressive streets joins the force as the only means of taking some agency back, but ends up being othered because he’s now a part of the system. Then, a nexus 5 escapes at the same time as a scientist is found dead, from what appears to be from suicide.

Things converge nicely, there’s an A and B plot, and again the character themselves and backstory is more compelling than the impetus for the actual plot. Which is something they’re kind of stuck with, given the characters are always Blade Runners. Even if this one is the “first” one (which seems kind of unclear despite the crawl at the start saying that it’s so). Another stylistic difference is that there’s very little discern between the different years of each of these series. It’s a bit more low tech with the vehicles, but otherwise it seems about the same, weirdly.

Gets the job done though, and who knows, maybe the plot will surprise me. The other ones have, at times.

I’m on the fence with rating this because I like the message and themes of it, and maybe this is the first time the monotonous 9-page grid has been acceptable to me in modern comics, but it also wasn’t a “fun” read and took a long time to come to its point.

This has a lot to say about a philosophy aimed at combatting the darkness and “cage” of our constructed reality. It acknowledges self harm but moves away from that message very well, and explicitly. It is the most grounded and mundane super hero I can remember in a long time, and has subjective endings. I think it is genuinely very excellent in craft, at all angles, really.

But, again, it was a trial to get through. It’ll probably end up being something I look at fondly and never buy for myself, and probably not recommend to anyone else. I’m not sure what to do with that, but I’m glad I experienced it.

This made a few top of the year lists. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of The Walking Dead, and maybe this is just really different and welcome in that space? I thought this was a descent story. Grim, fitting for what I know of the world. But also queer and inclusive, which is nice to see. It was solid from start to finish and had a couple really good moments, but it also felt like it took a long time to navigate to those moments. I wish this were in colour like the jacket too, which is gorgeous.

Walden admits at the back of the book that it’s a bit directionless, and the reader will have to bring whatever meaning they find with them. For me, there are a few good moments, many relatable ones, but it isn’t cohesive - especially in the progression to not skate. It doesn’t feel that well thought out, except for one moment, when she is talking about a hypothesis of wanting to skate because she felt affection and love from a previous coach; something she never receives from anyone else.

But the majority of the book, aside from these 4-5 instances of clarity, kind of feels like it’s just spinning wheels. It’s pretty though, I like her artwork immensely, so it’s never a chore to consume. I still remain the most affectionate toward my first book of hers that I consumed: On A Sunbeam.