Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Amazing John “The Kid” Constantine will pull a magic trick out of his sleeve, or destroy the world. Whichever comes first.

The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North

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Do you like DC comics for the pre-teen to teen level? Then you might like The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North, with Derek Charm as the illustrator. It is a fun story with a few magical twists, and how middle school/boarding school can be a real killer. This is a superhero story with an overconfident protagonist, and with a lot of magic. We follow John “The Kid” Constantine, as a middle school student, who gets into some trouble […]

One Bad Day

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

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Cbr14bingo Scandal/bingo  Published in 1988 generated controversy for its violence, treatment of Barbara Gordon, Moore’s later criticism of his own. See this story in the Guardian. Batman: The Killing Joke, published in 1988, has had enormous influence on Batman movies and seems to be the generally accepted version of the Joker’s origin story. While I haven’t seen all of the Batman movies, as I read this graphic novel, I recognized that Hollywood has largely adopted Alan Moore’s story as canon. Moore himself in subsequent years […]

Straight from London, it’s: John Constantine!

Constantine: Distorted Illusions by Kami Garcia

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Constantine: Distorted Illusions by Kami Garcia is exactly what you would expect from Garcia and the character of John Constantine. Her brilliant writing and his arrogant ‘tude fill each page with one (mis)adventure after another. He tries to get the girl, but she won’t be got. She has a secret, he has secrets. His new bandmates and he know they are above it all! After all, they can do magic, and damn the consequences. And consequences are plenty. Isaac Goodhart brings it together with the […]

Saga of the Swamp Thing vol 1- Alan Moore (1982)

Saga of the Swamp Thing vol 1 by Alan Moore

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CBR13Bingo – Flora Some of the other reviews mention that this one is a little rough compared to where this series will go. Good…I liked it and found it interesting, but not super compelling. It felt very much like a time capsule or like listening to a somewhat immature first album that shows a lot of promise. Swamp Thing is a weird one. I watched the movie as a kid, but the story, the pathos, the ideas don’t really stick with me. I suppose I […]

Read This for the Backstory of the Show

Watchmen by Alan Moore

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Watchmen by Alan Moore My rating: 3 of 5 stars I probably shouldn’t have read this right after finishing HBO’s Watchmen, which is really more of a sequel than an adaptation. The graphic novel is a post-modern look at superheroes and who’s actually keeping us safe. There’s also some alternate history involved as well. It’s all flavored with the cynicism that was rampant during the cold-war with nuclear apocalypse always looming on the horizon. I’ve always been drawn to the darker superheroes who are more […]

People swallow lies easily provided they are big enough

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

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CBR12 BINGO: Yellow I’ve been in the mood to revisit Watchmen since I saw the extraordinary HBO series earlier this year (best television in recent memory, btw). Then references to the comic book series popped up in Eleanor & Park, and it gave me an extra push to reread the graphic novel that I first encountered when I was in college. Plus. . . .can’t get more yellow than that cover, can you? I wanted to see whether this classic holds up after 34 years, […]



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