Books, comics, and manga criticism, news and views at Sketchy Details
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in a convention called MangaNEXT. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into when I applied for a press badge to this convention. I just knew that the subject interested me. Manga are Japanese comic books. They cover a wide variety of topics...
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I have a very strong love/hate relationship with the writing of Stephen King. When he is on point, it’s hard to find his equal in contemporary horror and horror criticism. When he’s off, he epitomizes the worst of horror cliches that give the genre a bad name. I prefer my King in small digestible...
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In the acknowledgments page of her YA novel Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins thanks her father for his efforts to find a way to teach children about the reality of war and peace. It is clear in the third book of The Hunger Games trilogy that Collins has found a way to continue her father’s work....
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DC Comics have decided to expand the Watchmen universe. Alan Moore’s famous short run series about a group of vigilante superheroes are forced to rejoin together to stop doomsday. It’s dark, it’s driven by character development instead of action, and is filled with twists that keep the story going in unexpected directions. It is...
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As much as it pains me to admit, sometimes, the common belief that a sequel can never be as good as the original is right. In the case of Suzanne Collins’ Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, the belief holds true. The book starts out too slow and then routinely...
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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the first novel in a YA trilogy about a country that rises out of the ashes of America. Panem is divided into twelve districts and a capitol city. As punishment for an early uprising in the nation’s history, the capitol runs a barbaric game every year where...
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Journey to the Center of the Earth is a science fiction/fantasy novel from 19th Century author Jules Verne. Our protagonist is Axel, the nephew of the acclaimed Professor Liedenbrock, who unwillingly breaks a code detailing directions to the center of the Earth. The Professor immediately drags them on an expedition to a slumbering volcano...
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Evelyn Evelyn is the ever-expanding story of conjoined twins who become Internet music sensations. The project started as a concept EP by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. They created a story of finding the Evelyn sisters on MySpace and insisted that they were real. The EP was successful enough that a full length album...
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There I stood, five minutes to the first opening of the floor at New York Comic Con 2011. Hundreds of people surrounded me. Some were fans, others bloggers, still others big time media content creators or and writers. We were all being shoved from one line to the next, making sure the VIP guests...
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What is Comic Con? New York Comic Con is the largest fan convention in NYC and one of (if not the largest) fan conventions on the east coast. The title says “comic,” but the real focus is fandom. People from TV shows, films, video games, books, art, science, and even international media will be...
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