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Book Review: Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, art by Declan Shalvey

Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, art by Declan Shalvey

Image Comics, 2015

ISBN: 9781632154798

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition, and comiXology ebook

Injection centers around five eccentric geniuses dealing with the paranormal, and the consequences they must face after inflicting The Injection on the planet. Years earlier, Maria Kilbride founded the Cross Culture-Contamination Unit (CCCU), funded through a partnership between the British government and an up-and-coming company. She hand-selected the members of this new unit: computer geek Brigid Roth; Vivek Headland, a logician and ethicist; folklore expert Robin Morel; and Simeon Winters, a strategist and double agent for the Foreign Office. Fast-forward to the time after The Injection: everyone has established new lives and secured new employment allowing them to track progress on The Injection. The supernatural encroaches more quickly as the days pass, threatening humanity’s time on Earth. The former members of the CCCU must come together to investigate a case of a possessed laboratory and a mysterious disappearance.

This first volume is slow to start, but it definitely picks up. As with Ellis’ previous work, he gives very little away until he’s ready to hit you with something. When he does, it’s intense. I wouldn’t recommend picking up the first volume unless you are a die-hard Ellis fan and are willing to continue with his storytelling regarding this story. I’m not going to give anything in the subsequent volumes, but I would recommend giving this a chance.

Volume 1 collects issues #1-5.

Contains blood, gore, and nudity

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 21, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn, art by Cliff Chiang

Paper Girls, Volume 1 (Issues #1-5) by Brian K. Vaughn, art by Cliff Chiang

Image Comics, 2015

ISBN: 9781632156747

Available: Library binding, paperback, Kindle edition and comiXology ebook

Paper Girls begins with a strange dream that Erin, the new papergirl, is having, just before she has to awaken for her route. We discover that that date is November 1, 1988. Halloween is almost over for some costumed teenagers when they see Erin on her own. She becomes their target, until the other papergirls (Mac, Tiffany, and KJ) show up, and take matters into their own hands. The girls partner up, two and two, in order to finish their routes in peace, each pair traveling with walkie-talkies in case the teenagers show up again. It should have been smooth sailing from there, but then the girls chase robbers into an abandoned building and find a strange piece of machinery that instantly transports them to another time. Things are very different in their neighborhood after that. Adults speaking a strange language; aggressive flying reptiles; people disappearing; humanoid teenagers who can only communicate with the papergirls through a translation stone; and meeting a very different Erin after she emerges from the time machine, are just a handful of the strange things that the papergirls encounter in the first volume.

 

I have to admit that this is my first exposure to Vaughn’s work, as I have not read Saga yet. All I have to go by is my first reading of Vaughn’s storytelling, and I enjoyed it. That said, I have consulted with a few colleagues about Paper Girls as compared to Saga, and, while they enjoyed the story, it didn’t meet up with their expectations. The biggest complaint was that the story was too disjointed and the reader doesn’t get much backstory of the papergirls. I do agree, but I still think this is a good story. One friend also indicated it was a slow burn, but pretty rewarding on the last panel of the book. The first volume ended on a great cliffhanger, too. I’m looking forward to reading Volume 2.  A note: as this is set in the 1980s, there is some offensive language specifically regarding the LGBTQ community. Recommended for ages 15 and up.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on August 23, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Departure by A.G. Riddle

Departure by A.G. Riddle

HarperVoyager, 2015

ISBN-13: 978-0062431660

Available: Used hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, Audible edition

 

Flight 305 from New York to London crashes in the English countryside, with half the plane in an icy lake. The survivors assemble to help save those they can and help everyone stay alive. Writer Harper Lane and venture capitalist Nick Stone are the protagonists, easy to root for as they seek to unravel the mystery into which they have been thrust. As passengers begin to fall ill to a deadly virus, it becomes clear that genetics expert Sabrina Schroeder and computer whiz Yul Tan, also passengers from Flight 305, are hiding something.

When Nick and a team venture out to find help, they discover they have crashed into a different time, years into the future.

That’s when the horror starts and the twists begin. What ensues makes this thriller one of the best reads of the year, and it has already been set into production by 20th  Century Fox for the following year. Recommended.

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Posted on February 12, 2016 by , Reply
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