Dec 15 2023

The Eight Knights Of Hanukkah by Leslie Kimmelman & Galia Bernstein

This was a weird one for me. On the one hand, hurray for good deeds and celebrating Hanukkah! The titular Eight Knights of Hanukkah are the children of Lady Sadie, tasked with safeguarding the kingdom from a dragon named Dreadful who keeps interrupting everyone’s preparations for the big celebration. Her Ladyship tells her children to go forth and perform “deeds of awesome kindness and stupendous bravery.”

So, as Sir Isabella and Sir Rugelach hunt down the dragon, the other knights help out the villagers, especially in prepping and making all the delicious treats they’re planning to bring to the celebration. The exception is sweet Sir Henry, who chooses to stay home and clean and look after his mother — just as important a part of preparing for Hanukkah or any other celebration, IMO! Sir Isabella and Sir Rugelach are starting to get discouraged, however, having traversed the length and breadth of the kingdom in pursuit of Dreadful… until they finally come face to face with the terrifying dragon.

Ofc, all’s well that ends well, and everyone gets to enjoy a wonderful Hanukkah feast after sunset. The cast is charmingly multiracial, and all of the children are titled Sir, regardless of gender. Galia Bernstein’s illustrations are a delight, with expressive characters and action scenes that require almost no explanation.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/15/the-eight-knights-of-hanukkah-by-leslie-kimmelman-galia-bernstein/

Dec 14 2023

Arcade Kings: Volume 1 by Dylan Burnett

with colors by Walter Baiamonte and Sara Antonellini.

Woof, families, man. This collection of the first five colorful, violent issues of the Arcade Kings series follows Joe, a kid with a dragon fruit for a head, as he roams Infinity City, kicking ass both in arcade games and in honest-to-goodness street fighting. But he’s no mere juvenile delinquent: he’s actually looking for his younger brother, Ken. Their adoptive father Vic — or as he’s better known to the mostly worshipful masses of Infinity City, fighting and film star Victor McMax — waits patiently at home, sending out his minions to keep a watchful eye on Joe. But to what purpose, and for good or ill?

In a book that’s been compared to Invincible (which I have yet to read or watch, but which the osmotic properties of the Internet have already given me a decent idea of,) Vic’s obviously not doing this for entirely humanitarian reasons. As Joe searches for Ken, we learn more about their childhood and relationship to Vic, as well as about the state of Infinity City. Not everyone is grateful for the bread and circuses Vic provides, but no one can really look away from the spectacles he brings them.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/14/arcade-kings-volume-1-by-dylan-burnett/

Dec 12 2023

Confetti Realms by Nadia Shammas, Karnessa, Hackto Oshiro & Micah Meyers

This somehow slipped through the cracks for me at Halloween, but it’s a really tremendous read for the end of the year — or any time of year if you’re struggling with your emotions, and especially if you’re LGBTQ+, teenager or otherwise.

Confetti Realms starts in a diner on Halloween, with three high-school-age friends making plans for the evening. Marissa, Ty and Garrett have the somewhat half-baked idea of going to the cemetery later and trying to summon spirits. When Radwa, a former friend of Marissa’s, walks into the diner, things get a little awkward.

Garrett, being the quintessential teddy bear, invites Radwa to join them. It’s never made clear whether he doesn’t know about the drama between her and Marissa, or whether he’s just kinda oblivious and impulsively kind. Marissa isn’t Mean Girl enough to exclude her clearly lonely ex-friend, so they all wind up sneaking into the cemetery with booze. When uninvited guests show up, the foursome scatter, only to find themselves embarking — despite Marissa’s very valid, very cogent protests otherwise — on an extraordinary, fantastical, grotesque journey that will have them all questioning their own assumptions and desires.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/12/confetti-realms-by-nadia-shammas-karnessa-hackto-oshiro-micah-meyers/

Dec 11 2023

Hershel And The Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel & Trina Schart Hyman

Doug and his kid thoroughly enjoyed this book but I genuinely did not expect to fall in love with it as hard as I did.

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric KimmelIt’s a cold, snowy evening when Hershel of Ostropol walks into a village where he was expecting a warm reception on the first night of Hanukkah, with lights, latkes and merriment. Instead, he’s greeted by darkness and silence, tho the villagers come out readily enough to meet him. Turns out that goblins have been plaguing the town, and have been getting extra feisty with the villagers over what should be a festive season. The monsters have been blowing out candles, breaking dreidels and generally making everyone’s lives miserable. The only way to get rid of them is for someone to spend eight nights in the old synagogue on the hill, lighting the Hanukkah candles on each night. On the very last evening, the King Of Goblins must light the candles himself: only then will the goblin’s power over the village be broken.

Hershel is brave, quick-witted and resourceful, so he agrees to give it a go. The villagers provision him with food and candles but honestly don’t expect to see him ever again. Hershel himself, ofc, has every intention of outwitting the goblins and making it out, not only alive but with the freedom of the village secured. But as the nights pass and the goblins get progressively more frightening, will Hershel be able to achieve any of these aims?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/11/hershel-and-the-hanukkah-goblins-by-eric-a-kimmel-trina-schart-hyman/

Dec 08 2023

The Story Of Hanukkah by David A. Adler & Jill Weber

Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate! I am so pleased to have a whole slew of Hanukkah-themed books to review for the week, tho I gotta say that it is sometimes really weird talking about books centered on religion when you’re as quasi-religious as I am.

I decided to start this slate with the most directly-themed of the books I received. The Story Of Hanukkah is an easily accessible way for young kids to understand the origins of the holiday. It skips over dates but gets oddly specific with places, as it talks about how Jewish people in Jerusalem used to pray at the beautiful Temple that housed an ever burning light known as the ner tamid. After the Greek ruler Antiochus IV ascended the throne, he outlawed important aspects of Judaism. Mattathias, an old priest, led a revolt against Antiochus IV, hiding in the hills and performing guerilla tactics against the invading army. His son Judah HaMakabi succeeded him, and their followers became known as Maccabees.

After finally defeating the Greeks, the Maccabees returned to Jerusalem to find their Temple defiled. While they cleaned and rededicated the premises, they worried that there was only one small jar of consecrated oil left for the ner tamid. It would only last for one day… but a miracle allowed the lamp fueled by this jar to continue burning for seven, after which newly pressed oil was available to keep the light burning.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/08/the-story-of-hanukkah-by-david-a-adler-jill-weber/

Dec 07 2023

Digital Lizards of Doom — Level 1: Dizzy Doom by Gabriel Valentin & Ernie Najera

with layout and exquisite colors by Margo Prodan.

This was a super intriguing book visually, feeling very much like a mashup of graphic novel, video game and instant messaging, which was the format most of the dialog was presented in. Pages of message boxes face gorgeous full-page panels that illustrate the story with an almost 70s rock band poster-like feel. This is less surprising when you learn that the Digital Lizards Of Doom originally started as Gabriel Valentin’s musical project, before expanding into both a graphic novel series and, in a turn of branding that will absolutely make sense to any geekdom con-goer, a beer.

The story itself is very much the first chapter in an ongoing mystery. We begin with an enigmatic, self-confessed supervillain named Pineapple Pete telling us that he’s trapped a bunch of heroes in a video game. Only they don’t know that they’re in a game, and we the readers are meant to choose our characters and “play” them through. Trouble is, someone else also seems to be messing with the game, and Pineapple Pete wants our help figuring out who.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/07/digital-lizards-of-doom-level-1-dizzy-doom-by-gabriel-valentin-ernie-najera/

Dec 05 2023

Every Other Weekend: Coming of Age With Two Different Dads by Anthony Mohr (EXCERPT)

Hi readers! Here we have a different kind of autobiography, as an author chronicles what it felt like to grow up with two very different men, switching between father and stepfather every weekend.

As his credit card industry pioneer stepfather’s career rises and his well-known radio actor biological father’s eases downward, author Anthony J. Mohr tries to find his place. One weekend he’s sailing on his stepfather’s fifty-eight-foot catamaran; the next, his Swedish stepmother tells him that they’re poor. Coming of age in a time when divorce is rare and viewed as shocking, Anthony lives at the edges of what others regard as a dream world, a place where reality and fantasy blend, maps lead to the homes of the stars, and obstacles abound.

Read on for an illuminating excerpt!

~~~~~~~

Gerald Mohr—father. Stanley Dashew—stepfather. I still compare those two powers, the actor and the businessman, whose lives intersected across one woman and her son: my mother and me. From their respective remarriages in 1958 through Gerald’s early death in 1968, they never lived more than a few miles apart, which made it easy for me to see them, but not easy to choose between them.

My father played private eye Philip Marlowe on the radio and enjoyed playing villains on the screen, but he struggled to pay the bills. My stepfather spent over a year cruising the Caribbean and helped introduce credit cards to the world, which earned him mention in a book titled You Only Have to Get Rich Once.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/05/every-other-weekend-coming-of-age-with-two-different-dads-by-anthony-mohr-excerpt/

Dec 01 2023

Die Känguru-Comics 2 written by Marc-Uwe Kling

and illustrated by Bernd Kissel, subtitled “Du würdest es eh nicht glauben” — You Wouldn’t Believe it Anyway

This second volume of the kangaroo comics concludes the hardback publication of the odd couple’s 2020–23 run in Germany’s leading intellectual weekly newspaper. There are some nice touches in the two volumes: the first is dedicated “For me!” and the second “For you!”; the cartoons on the endpapers reverse each other; the illustrations before both title pages feature the kangaroo and Marc-Uwe in related characteristic poses. The second also has a “What Has Gone Before” that recaps the first meeting of Marc-Uwe and the kangaroo 18 years ago, though it changes the final gag just a little bit. I’m not sure that it would be enough of an introduction for someone coming to the comics with no previous knowledge of the characters, but it’s unlikely that anyone in that category will be buying this collection anyway. For long-time fans, it’s a warm and fuzzy way to remember their first encounter with this improbable human-marsupial pair.

Känguru Comics - vol. 2

This collection continues very much in the style of the first: topical commentary, meta-jokes, clever wordplay, a mix of one-day gags and longer riffs that last through a week’s worth of strips or more. Some of the one-day jokes include a return visit to a dark restaurant where Marc-Uwe and the kangaroo play rock-paper-scissors to decide who pays the bill, or a full-color “Kafka for Kids.” There’s a lengthier stretch where the two invent new Olympic sports such as judo–field hockey or pillow fight–weighlifting. For the month of the strip’s summer break, the book shows how writer and illustrator went on tour together to do a sort of comic-strip improv. They took suggestions from the audience, that Kling developed into dialog and Kissel drew while the two of them were on stage. There are also a couple of examples of cartoons they did for a charity benefit, the best of which was a poster with the legend “Yes, We Käng” featuring a headshot of the kangaroo in the style of the famous Obama “Hope” poster. For the end of 2022 there’s a lovely single-panel parody of a comedy sketch that’s a staple of German culture — a short film in English called “Dinner for One,” that’s shown every New Year’s Eve in Germany (and a couple of other places) so that it’s practically universally known here and utterly unknown in Britain. It’s a fun bit of Känguru humor that could only be realized in this medium. The last bit begins with a meta-joke about the comic form, and the follow-ups bring the excursion to a fitting, if not completely closed, conclusion.

There’s not a whole lot to add about the second volume, as compared to the first. It’s funny, it fits the characters, it explores the medium a bit. It’s not a good place to begin. The place to begin for English speakers is the print translation of The Kangaroo Chronicles; for German speakers who have somehow missed the phenomenon, the place to begin is the audio version of Die Känguru Chroniken. In either case, a treat.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/01/die-kanguru-comics-2-written-by-marc-uwe-kling/

Nov 30 2023

Uncanny Vows (Huntsmen #2) by Laura Anne Gilman

Six months after the events chronicled in the debut novel of this series, siblings Rosemary and Aaron Harker are living on tenterhooks, wondering whether the omissions in their last report have been discovered and whether they’re being sidelined from their life’s work as Huntsmen as a result. Their latest assignment from the Circle doesn’t seem to provide any answers: head north to Boston to discreetly assist a wealthy benefactor. The strange attacks on the Ballantine home seem to be mostly vandalism, until an otherwise healthy young man falls into a sleep from which he won’t wake.

Once in Boston, the Harkers and their specially bred hound Botheration find themselves stymied by the need both for discretion and to stay on the good side of the Ballantines. It doesn’t help that another Huntsman, Council darling Jonathan Scheinberg, just happens to be staying at their hotel too. He says that he’s passing through, but the Harkers aren’t the kind of people to believe in coincidences.

Aaron soon starts to feel like he’s being watched. Bad enough that the Harkers hadn’t told the Circle about the bending of the ancient treaty between humans and fey after the events in Brunson. The fey themselves couldn’t have possibly caught wind and started showing an interest in them, too, could they?

This is definitely not a book you should go into blind: reading the first, Uncanny Times, will help immeasurably in getting up to speed with who all these people are, and what and why the reasons for their otherwise relatively obscure motivations. Set on the cusp of World War I, these books revolve around Huntsmen, family lines who hunt the uncanny monsters who live side by side with humanity. Rosemary and Aaron are of the belief that only the ones who interfere negatively with humans should be hunted, and the rest left alone — a belief not shared by all of their peers. It doesn’t help that their family is under something of a pall, to do with long ago events far out of the siblings’ control.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/30/uncanny-vows-huntsmen-2-by-laura-anne-gilman/

Nov 28 2023

The Case Of The Modern Men (Bad Machinery #8) by John Allison

Having survived eight weeks of the worst emotional turmoil I’ve ever endured, what should I fall prey to next but whatever horrid ailment has seized all my children over these American holidays! After finishing my last book for work yesterday morning and staring down the barrel of many, many more books for work, I decided to rebel and read something for myself, taking an early gander at the last copy of the Bad Machinery series that I currently own, The Case Of The Modern Men.

Loyal readers will know that I usually save the Bad Machinery books for Christmas morning, when the rest of my family is all occupying themselves with presents and I get an uninterrupted hour or so of quiet reading surrounded by their burbling laughter (or the occasional squeal of frustration or rage that I’m well used to tuning out, at least on Christmas morning while their father tends to them.) But I really wanted a comfort read with pictures today, and I can’t for the life of me find the copies of Steeple that my husband bought for me last year, so I decided I’d just go ahead and read this book then order the rest to read over Christmas as usual.

And it was absolutely worth it! I was so sick today, I couldn’t even sit up for the Sennelier Monday Live sessions I usually do with my friends (tho in fairness, I was also a little intimidated that they were doing a portrait in watercolors this week: I just did my first portrait in oil pastels last week and that was a Big Deal for me. That said, I’m pretty sure my rendering of Eugene Delacroix was Not Great, so I’m hesitant to apply my shaky art theory across mediums to a non-dead person.) But reading this book was just about what I needed, even if my energy levels weren’t quite up to downing the whole thing in one go, as I usually do. I actually had to take a break between reading Parts 2 and 3 of this book to take a restorative illness nap with my also-ill youngest!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/28/the-case-of-the-modern-men-bad-machinery-8-by-john-allison/