Leave it to Chance, Volume 1: Shaman's Rain

Listed in "500 Essential Graphic Novels" as: Adventure (Top 10)
Contains: Leave it to Chance #1-4
Year: Originally: 1996; This volume: 2002
Publisher: 1996: DC; This volume: Image Comics
Writer: James Robinson
Art: Paul Smith (Art)
        Jeromy Cox (Colors)

Hey, gang...

Well, provided I finish this post without spontaneously combusting, falling asleep from the toll of the work week, or otherwise keeling over, I think I've met my goal.  That was to get three "sets" (of five; each of which included four "Best of the Rest" books and one "Top 10" book from 500 Essential Graphic Novels) done before the end of September so I could steal yet another idea from my brother (who does a film blog similar to this one at http://1001movieman.blogspot.com/ ) and do a sort of end-of-the-month round-up for September.

And any of us could spontaneously combust at any time, so let's get to it!

We begin Leave it to Chance, Volume 1: Shaman's Rain with young Chance Falconer staring proudly at her father Lucas Falconer who is a practioner of the occult and protector of their town of Devil's Echo.  Lucas is giving a press conference after having just defeated a giant demon threatening the town and all the press want to crowd around, praise him, and ask questions.

Chance may be more enamoured with what her father's actually just done, though, rather than Lucas himself.  You see, Chance has just turned fourteen years of age.  The age when young Falconers undergo their first trainings in occult protection.

Chance's father doesn't share her excitement.

He's been scarred by his trade, losing a wife as a result, and besides...  Chance is a young lady.  Lucas Falconer wants a strong male heir to carry on his magicks.

The young, exuberant Chance won't seem to take "no" for an answer, though...

And here we begin the story...

This volume, which has had mountains of acclaim heaped on it, been nominated for Harvey and Eisner awards, and to which Mr. Kannenberg gives a weighty five stars in 500 Essential Graphic Novels leaves me with a simple one word question: How?

The work is an all-ages book that's seemingly perhaps geared at young ladies. I give it some accolades on that front.  Young ladies need their heroines and there's probably a shortage of good ones.  Chance is a fine one.  It's said to have found fans among males and even older readers, too.

As far as me, myself: I can't even say that this book isn't my cup of tea when just a few reviews ago I was raving about how Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic was an awesome journey through many a magical wonderland, exposing fantasies and daydreams come to life on the page.

We've got a bit of that here, but we've also got an oppressed contigent of goblins who've been drugged to attack sewer workers (?) and too many politics of a mayoral race for me to think that this might be enjoyed by a young girl.  That politics bit took me out of it.  I wanna see more crazy creatures from other worlds, not a rerun of evening CNN programming.

Speaking of what we did see, though, the artwork by Paul Smith and Jeromy Cox was nice.  It was fittingly cartoonish, but beautiful as the characters, dragons, beasties, and other fun things jumped off the page.

I don't know, maybe I've lost my youth and can't get into something of this nature.  Maybe this one just wasn't for me plot-wise.  I really expected an all ages story to pack more adventure and less politics, thugs (though they were cool-looking monsters), and fictional media coverage.

Bottom line from this reader: A fantastic young, little girl protagonist who just won't quit, but in the end too much real-life clutter and not enough escapism for this thirty-something dude to be carried away by.

Mr. Kannenberg's rating: 5 out of 5
My rating: 2 out of 5
15 down, 485 to go

Join me (hopefully and probably sometime within the next 24 hours) next time as I run down the month of September and give a final word on our first 15 readings here, folks.

I'll also give you the scoop at that time on the next five books we'll delve into as we begin October and hopefully get at least one of those reviewed this weekend, as well.

I thank all of you who have even glanced upon this page and invite each of you to start any discussion you'd like by commenting. 

Until next time... Be good, be well, and take care...

The Complete Terry and the Pirates, Volume 1: 1934-1936

Listed in "500 Essential Graphic Novels" as: Adventure (Best of the Rest)
Contains: All "Terry and the Pirates" comic strips, 1934-1936
Year: 1934-1936
Publisher: Originally: Newspapers, This Edition: IDW
Writer: Milton Caniff
Artist: Milton Caniff

Here we are back at it guys, after a bit of an unintentional break.  This volume was massive, containing two years worth of material and coming in at 300+ pages!

Our adventure begins when Terry Lee, a young American boy, arrives in China with a map supposedly leading to his grandfather's fortune in treasure.  He comes with friend and adventurer Pat Ryan and the two soon meet with a fun little Chinese chap named George Webster Confucius, who joins them and who they affectionately begin calling "Connie".  The trio meet with all sorts of broads, toughs, pirates, savages, and the like as they set out on their adventures.

I'll be the first to admit that I've not read many comic strips as opposed to comic books, maybe aside from the occasional Garfield or Peanuts from time to time.  When I set about serious reading of sequential art, they don't strike me as entertaining or captivating as the traditional comic books, with the latter having their superheroes, often more serious subject matter, and themes that simply more often interest me.  We do have to admit, though, our beloved comic books have their roots in this sort of art and when I set out to do this blog, I wanted to cover it all.

Whatever the case, Terry and the Pirates was not as hard to read as I thought it would be before cracking the covers of this huge tome.  Despite a bit of a racist tone toward some ethnicities, the strip seemingly tries to make up for that with the loveable Connie, the Chinese adventurer who's always there to help out Pat and Terry, make us laugh, and who's always cast in a good light as a tried-and-true confidant to the American adventurers.

When I was able to look past that drawback, I got a story that was, despite my expectations, readable.  Me being used to comic BOOKS, as I said, leads me to have the thought that these two years of material could have been wrapped up in about 4 to 5 atory arcs in today's comics, but there were parts that were full of excitement and adventure, making the book hard to close at some points.

We can see Caniff coming into his own through the course of this volume.  The tales get more taut and exciting as we move through the work and the characters develop and we, as readers begin to get edgy about their safety, cheer their battles, and care for them.

Caniff pens and draws what I've come to accept as a great genesis to one of the most hailed adventure strips in the history of the medium.  And though I'll not be beating down the doors of the library or trolling Amazon looking for further volumes, this stringent reader of comic BOOKS was entertained enough to say that this definitely is a strip worthy of research if you want to broaden your horizons in the history of sequential art.

A worthwhile work of an oft-mentioned creator whose name us scourers of the medium will come across more than once.

Mr. Kannenberg's rating: 4 out of 5
My Rating: 3 out of 5
6 down, 494 to go