daydreaming about books
October, the month of spooky, scary things. It was an okay month; I did find myself flailing around at so many good things and crying over how much I spent on comic related stuff (per usual). It was also quite devastating because of the Santa Rosa fires that destroyed so many homes and the air quality being shit. I just hope November’s a better month—hopefully better than last year’s.
I love comics and graphic novels, so what do I do with that love? Well, I turn it into a new feature!
From Panel to Panel is a new feature where I talk about the awesome (and perhaps not-so awesome) comic books and graphic novels I’ve read. Basically, this will be me pushing them onto your laps. You’re welcome.
In October, oh boy, it’s a boat load of comics that begs for me to open my wallet. You get my girl America Chavez, awesome DC heroes and heroines (Cassandra Cain! Wonder Woman! Bombshells!), animals who plot revenge, a P.I., tea dragons, and many more. This month, you need to put these on your TBR list.
Get your shopping carts loaded with all these comics!
| DETECTIVE COMICS (REBIRTH) • VOL. 3: LEAGUE OF SHADOWS |
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The sweeping new chapter in writer James Tynion IV’s acclaimed saga—featuring a league of talented artists including Marcio Takara (THE FLASH) and Christian Duce (BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL)—is here, in BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS VOL. 3: LEAGUE OF SHADOWS.
Batwoman, an accomplished crime-fighter who’s overcome the darkest of betrayals. Clayface, a reformed villain whose potential is eclipsed only by his astonishing powers. New heroes like Azrael, an avenging angel, and Batwing, whose incredible armor makes him a true dark knight. Led by the Batman himself, this team of guardians stands ready to protect Gotham City.
But the secrets of the team’s most mysterious member, Cassandra Cain, are about to come to light. And that light will cast a shadow darker than anything they’ve ever seen before.
They thought the League of Shadows was just a rumor—a secret society of nihilistic killers often whispered about but never seen. But now the League is here, in Gotham. They’re destroying Batman’s team one by one. And their sinister leader, Lady Shiva, has come to reclaim her daughter—or destroy her.
Can even Batman’s arch-enemy Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins stop the onslaught? Or have the Shadows come to stay?
Find out in BATMAN: DETECTIVE COMICS VOL. 3: LEAGUE OF SHADOWS. Collects DETECTIVE COMICS #950-956. — DC Comics
Publication date: October 4, 2017 by DC Comics
Buy: LCBS · Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Indigo · Comixology
Why I’m excited: I’m expecting Cassandra Cain to play a biiiiiiiiig part in this volume, and I hope that is true because I love Cassandra.
Currently Reading will act as my check-in, letting you guys know what I’m forever reading at the moment, and what I’m enjoying about it. I’m not gonna discuss books that are on my priority October TBR list. Instead, I’m gonna talk about the books I picked up on a whim this month.
Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer
Inspired by author Tori Telfer’s Jezebel column “Lady Killers,” this thrilling and entertaining compendium investigates female serial killers and their crimes through the ages.
When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, “There are no female serial killers.”
Lady Killers, based on the popular online series that appeared on Jezebel and The Hairpin, disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Though largely forgotten by history, female serial killers such as Erzsébet Báthory, Nannie Doss, Mary Ann Cotton, and Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction.
Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different subject and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media, as well as the stereotypes and sexist clichés that inevitably surround her. The first book to examine female serial killers through a feminist lens with a witty and dryly humorous tone, Lady Killers dismisses easy explanations (she was hormonal, she did it for love, a man made her do it) and tired tropes (she was a femme fatale, a black widow, a witch), delving into the complex reality of female aggression and predation. Featuring 14 illustrations from Dame Darcy, Lady Killers is a bloodcurdling, insightful, and irresistible journey into the heart of darkness.
Why did I want to read Lady Killers? I hear a lot about male serial killers, but what about the women? There surely plenty out there that I don’t know about, but I don’t hear a lot about it. I’m fascinated by I want to see what these women have in common—how they kill and their reasoning.
What do I like about it so far? I love how it explores different female serial killers, and how they killed their victims (usually with poison). I like seeing how Tori Telfer unpacks the history and explains what could be behind the thinking of these ladies, instead of chalking it up to tired cliches.
[quote]Comic Firsts, a feature where I talk about the first issues of comics that I’ve bought, received, or borrowed. It’s all about first impressions, what I like or didn’t like about the issue, and whether I would keep reading it beyond the first issue.[/quote]
[note note_color=”#dbddeb” text_color=”#ffffff”]13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough • October 3, 2017 • Flatiron Books
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Natasha’s sure that her friends love her. But does that mean they didn’t try to kill her?
Natasha is the most popular girl in school. So why was she pulled out of a freezing river after being dead for thirteen minutes? She doesn’t remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this—it wasn’t an accident, and she wasn’t suicidal.
Now Natasha’s two closest friends, who are usually her loyal sidekicks, are acting strangely. Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before, to help her figure out the mystery.
At first Becca isn’t sure that she even wants to help Natasha. But as she is drawn back into Natasha’s orbit, Becca starts putting the pieces together. As an outsider, Becca believes she may be the only one who can uncover the truth…which is far more twisted than she ever imagined.[/note]
[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Flatiron Books for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]
First sentence: “It’s so cold, it’s so cold I can’t breathe and I panic hard in the water that is like shards of glass, and for the first time I think I might be in serious trouble.”
13 minutes. Tasha was dead for 13 minutes. When she wakes up, having almost drowned in the freezing river, what does she remember? Absolutely nothing. Was it an accident? Was it foul play? She can’t recollect what happened prior to being found in the river, but she does know that her two best friends are acting very weird around her. She enlists her ex-best friend Becca to help her get to the bottom of everything.
It’ll take more than 13 minutes for Tasha, Becca, and us to figure out what happened. Prepare for this mystery and these girls to mess with your head.
[note note_color=”#3a2458″ text_color=”#ffffff”]That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston• October 3, 2017 • Dutton Books for Young Readers (Penguin)
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Set in a near-future world where the British Empire was preserved, not by the cost of blood and theft but by effort of repatriation and promises kept, That Inevitable Victorian Thing is a novel of love, duty, and the small moments that can change people and the world.
Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess of the empire, a direct descendant of Victoria I, the queen who changed the course of history two centuries earlier. The imperial practice of genetically arranged matchmaking will soon guide Margaret into a politically advantageous marriage like her mother before her, but before she does her duty, she’ll have one summer incognito in a far corner of empire. In Toronto, she meets Helena Marcus, daughter of one of the empire’s greatest placement geneticists, and August Callaghan, the heir apparent to a powerful shipping firm currently besieged by American pirates. In a summer of high-society debutante balls, politically charged tea parties, and romantic country dances, Margaret, Helena, and August discover they share an unusual bond and maybe a one in a million chance to have what they want and to change the world in the process —just like the first Queen Victoria.[/note]
First sentence: “Helena Marcus had not given much thought to her marriage.”
History has been rewritten. The British Empire is as strong as ever. This Inevitable Victorian Thing explores a world where everybody in the British Royal family—after Queen Victoria that is—married outside the European Royal family, creating diverse, multi-racial people that you see in the characters, and where old traditions like debutante balls and arranged marriages meet the new like genetic technology.
Welcome to the new, semi sci-fi British Empire.