Review: Star Wars: Princess Leia

Star Wars Princess Leia
Star Wars Princess Leia by Mark Waid

When I first heard that new Star Wars comics were going to come out I was very excited and I told myself I will buy all of these and I can’t wait to read them all.  Thing is I didn’t realize all of them were coming out at the same time and that comic books now cost $3.99 each!  With them all coming out at the same time it is hard to keep up with all of them.  Plus 5 of these things would be $20!  It is also hard to keep up with all the different ones that are coming out.  I think there are a dozen different comics series right now for Star Wars.  There is Shattered Empire, Princess Leia, Star Wars, Lando, Chewbacca, etc.

Star Wars: Princess Leia by Mark Waid, contains the first 5 comics from the Princess Leia series. The story was okay, it did give up some details about what happened before the Force Awakens, but really it wasn’t enough.  The story was not as well written as Shattered Empire.  The art was nowhere near as good as Shattered Empire either.  This graphic novel was a fun distraction, but I don’t think it’s going to get non-graphic novel readers to read comic and it’s not going to draw in people who are not already fans of Star Wars.  I would say if you are trying to keep up with everything in the Star Wars universe that this is one that you can safely skip.  Maybe the next collection of Princess Leia comics will be better.

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett

I think I know why I don’t read many graphic novels.  I don’t feel like I’ve really gained anything by reading them.  With non-fiction there is an obvious additional of knowledge gained.  With Fiction (at least good fiction) I come away feeling I have accomplished something and learned an interesting story.  With most graphic novels, I think I feel guilty.  Guilty that I’ve wasted my time reading something purely because it looks pretty.

Maus by Art Spiegelman
Maus by Art Spiegelman

Of course, with graphic novels like Maus, that is not the case.  That was a deep and serious work, that was by far my favorite graphic novel of all time.  However, with something like Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett, I don’t feel as though I am gaining any additional insight or learning from the story.  But I still enjoy it.

After this, I’m definitely going to take a break from graphic novels for a bit.  It may be time for some serious non-fiction to cleanse my palate so to speak.  I checked this out from the local library and saved $21!  Yeah!

Okay, so now that I am done with this, Im totally going to read more graphic novels.  Not only was the art awesome, the story was really good.  A little difficult to follow for me.  I find it hard to figure out the reading order of the word bubbles in comic books.  I guess I’m so used to the linear reading in regular books this throws me.

We are going to the library tomorrow, and I will be stoping at the graphic novel section again.  Even though my to read pile is dwarfing my house right now.  This gets 4 stars, because nothing can ever be better than Maus.