Locke & Key Graphic Novel Series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

This graphic novel series officially became my favourite series after only the first book! Locke & Key (yes, that's L-O-C-K-E... it's the last name of the family in the story) is written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. When the father in the Locke family is murdered, the mother moves in with her brother-in-law in the Locke family home, known as Keyhouse, in Lovecraft with her three children: Bode, Kinsey, and Tyler. This house is no ordinary house, however, which the children soon find out. They find magical keys hidden all over the property. Each key does something different when a door is unlocked with it. For example, one key turns the person who passes through the door into a ghost while another key can transport the person anywhere. There is a mysterious person who is also after the keys and will stop at nothing to attain all of the keys for their own evil plan.

I really loved this series because of all of the mystery and emotion in the story. People are hurt and people die but there is a lot of love in the story as well, the love of family and the love of friends. The writing and illustrations are excellent and I especially enjoyed the smooth and interesting transitions to other scenes, using words or objects related to both the last scene and the new scene to connect the two. This is a great series that is definitely worth reading in its entirety. I'm so glad that I borrowed all of the books from the library at once instead of taking out one at a time.

Cheers,

Kay

The Good Neighbors Graphic Novel Series by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh

I was intrigued by The Good Neighbors graphic novel series written by Holly Black and illustrated by Ted Naifeh when I saw all three books at the main library in downtown Sudbury. I enjoy reading graphic novels and I especially enjoy reading whole graphic novel series. I borrowed them from the library and entered the wonderful fantasy world of The Good Neighbors.

The story starts with the disappearance of Rue's mother and her father is suspected of her murder. Rue learns, however, that her mother is a Faerie, making Rue half-Faerie. She also finds out that her mother went back to the Faerie world after Rue's father broke a promise not to hurt Rue's mother in any way, a promise which he made to the Faerie king, who just happens to be the father of Rue's mother, when he wanted to marry her.

The storyline that continues through the first, second, and third books is that of the Faerie world refusing to hide from the human world. They want to take over the human world and be free to do whatever they please. Rue must decide which side she wants to be on: her fellow humans' side or her fellow Faeries' side.

If you like fantasy graphic novels with a strong and interesting female main character, then this is a great series to check out!

Cheers,

Kay

Year 1 of the Doctor Who:The Tenth Doctor Comics

I received my first Doctor Who comic (published by Titan Comics) for Christmas last year, and since then, I buy the newest ones whenever I see them being sold. Of course, I only read the Tenth Doctor's comics since he's my favourite Doctor. It has been amazing to read these comics, reading about adventures that we never saw during the Tenth Doctor's time on Doctor Who. These adventures take place right after he leaves Donna. He meets a new companion, Gabby Gonzalez, an artistic young lady from New York. It all works in the world of Doctor Who, as well, because since the Doctor can travel through all of time and space, he has many adventures that we never get to see in the TV show. But we get to see them through different ways, one of which is the comics. That is the magic of Doctor Who. We can still enjoy more adventures by all of the Doctors, even after they have already regenerated. Year 1 of these comics was fantastic and I am now enjoying year 2.

This particular story, "The Arts in Space," was one of my favourites from year 1 of the Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor comics. In this story, Gabby and the Doctor visit an art gallery in space, with the Doctor hoping to visit an artist friend of his so he can introduce Gabby to her.

This story, "The Weeping Angels of Mons," was another one of my favourites from year 1. It has the weeping angels (my favourite Doctor Who villains!) in the trenches of World War I. Enough said.

Cheers,

Kay