Sugarshock! is my favorite fictional band of all time. The rest of the collection was interesting but not mind-blowing. I would recommend reading Sugarshock! online, and skipping the book itself--unless you would appreciate the many layers of irony in owning a historical document with the word 'MySpace' in the title. ( )

I didn’t care too much for this collection. There weren’t enough stories I liked enough.

Battle Royale (1.5 stars)

Nonsensical and red-head girl is annoying. She thinks she’s kawaii, but she’s not, boo. A few funny moments mostly with Wade’s interactions with groupies.

Sock Monkey in the Deep, Deep Woods (1 star)

Not bad if you like seeing inanimate objects get eaten alive. If there was some type of symbolism with the crow knitting another sock-monkey, I didn’t get it.

A Circuit Closed (-1 star)

This started off so promising! A young black girl being led by a creepy helmet to go toward the light. Apparently, the light was supposed to lead her to her soulmate. SO GLAD this girl had enough sense not to be with some racist, ugly, gum-on-the-bottom-of-your-shoe, need-to-get-over-their-inferiority-complex-hick-town, USA trash. No, no do not want. And that last line? Scrap it. I’m glad she found the dog and went. The unmitigated gall for them to say her natural hair looked like “dog’s butt hair” and called her a whore. It’s a rough rating because I don’t need to be subjected to garbage. Slightest bit sad her soulmate was a dog instead of an actual human, but whatever. Dogs are wholesome creatures.

The Comic Con Murder Case (No rating)

Too short for me to give a review whether positive or negative.

Safe and Sound (3 stars)

Cool.

Widow’s Worry (2 stars)

Ehh.

Sticks and Stones (2 stars)

Baby got back.

Gear School (3.5 stars)

Cute! I liked the artwork and the gear was cool. Best of the bunch.

Samurai Heaven and Earth: The Forest (3 stars)

Somehow melancholy. I think I would like to see this as a full-fledged story.

An Empowered Story (1.5 stars)

A lot of fan-service but very little story/character personality.

Chickenhare: Random Bones (2 stars)

The artwork is super cute!

The Nocturnal Adventures of Scratch and Suck (2.5 stars)

Interesting with a gory ending.

Tricks of the Trade (3.5 stars)

:( 0.5 for the plot twist

The Axeman (1 star)

Not because the writing/art was bad just from personal enjoyment.

Christmas Spirit (1.5 stars)

Idk. I like happy endings

Eat the Walls (3 stars)

I liked it. Think Jonah swallowed by the whale.

Fear Agent: Nothing to Fear (2 star)

Dad searching for son and haunted by his grief.

The Goon (2.5 stars)

Journey to find the legendary missing pecker. No, seriously. Dick jokes galore.
( )

This, as most anthologies, had its ups and downs. When I look at the entry above it says "by Joss Whedon" but he only wrote one of the "strips" within this graphic novel. I guess these were put out on myspace 3 or 4 years ago and they were free online. Then they were combined into physical graphic novels (yes more than one because I saw the others at the library where I got this one).

I thought the Joss Whedon story was pretty silly but I do give him props for having a big curvy girl as one of the main characters. The Mignola story was cool but kinda short. The highlight for me was The Goon stuff. There was a 4 chapter story illustrated by different artists and then a kind of "hidden" chapter that never got finalized but was included uninked. That was good stuff, even funnier than I remember the first Goon graphic novel being.

So hopefully the other volumes have more Goon. If so I'll be checking them out and who knows maybe the Whedon story will grow on me. ( )

Nice anthology--a quick read. Some pieces are better than the others, such as "The Axeman" by Haden Blackman and Cary Nord, illustrating the horrors of the murderous Herman Mudgett (1891 Chicago rooming house murders) as well as several other serial killers. The deftly drawn and colored "Tricks of the Trade", tale of a magicians assistant, by Kathie cook and Brodie H. Brockie, was also strong. ( )

Honestly, when I picked up this collection it was with the intention of only reading the Whedon story, but in the end I read the whole thing, and I'm glad I did. The writing and artwork vary wildly, and not every story is a winner, but, with the exception of the last entry (which was interminable), I found them all to be interesting, funny, and/or thought-provoking in one way or another. If you're only reading it for the Whedon (or for one or two other writers or artists), stick around. You might be pleasantly surprised. ( )