DYRC19/Merry Misfits Book Club April: The Return of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Finally added up and worked out in my favor, lads.  I could use one book to satisfy both themes of my reading challenges!  The DYRC theme was comic/graphic novel and the Merry Misfits theme was a book that has been on your TBR pile too long.  Obviously this is a comic, and it's been on my TBR since before it came out in the states.

I really really enjoyed this.  The story behind this one is that these comics were released in the 1940s in Italy (two things I like) and just within the last year or two became available stateside in English. The art, by Romano Scarpa, is gorgeous.  It looks very true to the Disney movie but also very Golden Age kids' comics.  The stories themselves were simple and fun, and it was an overall fun read.  Nothing about this was dumbed down, but it was still a nice easy read.

Here's my goodreads review.  I produced actual thoughts... different than the ones here!  So follow me on goodreads.

I started reading this April 26th and finished it May 6th.  Yes, I am aware May 6th is not a part of April.  But I did finish!  I was just really busy.

Would I recommend this to a friend?  Definitely, if you're a Disney fan or you love Snow White.

Merry Misfits Book Club: January: Scrooge's Quest by Marv Wolfman

I'm doing two reading challenges this year.  One is the diversify your reading challenge, which I had previously posted about.  The other is in a facebook group I'm a part of.  I wasn't going to do posts like this for that second challenge, but then I realized I may as well.  Writing these is kind of fun and makes me think a little.  Anyways, lol...

January's theme was a book you were gifted over the holidays.  I didn't get a lot of books this time around, and I definitely picked this one out for myself, but it worked.  I read Scrooge's Quest, a Ducktales comic by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Cosme Quartieri.

This comic is a tie in to the 1987 Ducktales series, and it's really consistent in tone with that show.  It was a fun little adventure and honestly the art was gorgeous.  A lot of reviewers on Goodreads marked it down basically for not being Carl Bark, but it isn't trying to be.  It isn't claiming to be.  There's a lot of heart here and a lot of fun, even a few laughs.  I enjoyed it!  More thoughts here, in my Goodreads review.

I read this book between January 14th and 18th.  Quick read, but I wasn't spending a lot of time on it (because I was doing other things, not because I didn't want to).

Would I recommend this? If you like 1987 Ducktales and/or Duck comics, yes.  It's not Barks or Rosa, but that doesn't make it trash.

12 meses 12 libros: December: just... several Christmas themed comic books

Imma keep it real wit you, chief.  I did not complete the assignment.  However I can explain, lol.  December's theme was a book with illustrations, and I actually picked the book I planned to read right around the same time I picked my January read.  I was going to read Tales of Zorro, a short story collection I actually bought back in 2017 when I was working on my Zorro NaNo story.  But since I had so many other Zorro books (ones I bought and ones I checked out of the library) I didn't end up reading everything, and since this particular book has nice illustrations I thought it would be perfect for that category.  However I ended up being really stressed, depressed, and even sort of busy and occupied with other things.  So I read a handful of Christmas themed comic books in the week leading up to Christmas, and that was about all I finished in the month.  However, it added up to a couple hundred pages so... book?  Book.

So a lot of Disney comics and one Betty and Veronica, all Christmas themed.  That's Betty and Veronica Christmas Spectacular #1, Mickey and Donald Christmas Parade #1-4, Dell's Four Color Comic #178, and Uncle Scrooge #9 (from the current IDW series).

Because there were several titles here, I'll have to do this a little differently than I usually do these posts.  I did put brief reviews of some of them on Goodreads, but I read them all pretty quickly and didn't want to bombard all my friends with tons of comic book reviews in a row, lol.  I'll just give my brief thoughts.

The Betty and Veronica comic is super short, just a standard 22 page issue with several shorter stories.  I was thinking it'd be a longer collection, like the ones they have for Halloween in the Pep Digital line.  It was cute, but not worth the $3 comixology asks.

The Mickey and Donald Christmas Parade issues were all really fun. Some were better than others (the second was my favorite), but they're all worth reading, especially if you like comics and Disney.  And Christmas, obvs lol.

Four Color #178 and Uncle Scrooge #9 are an interesting back to back read.  The four color story is Scrooge's first appearance in a story called "Christmas on Bear Mountain."  (Fun fact: Uncle Scrooge was actually created for the comics, not the cartoons!)  Scrooge is more of a curmudgeon than he is later, but it's still a fun story and very historically significant for fans of Disney Duck comics.  I originally read this story in the Carl Barks collection just called Christmas in Bear Mountain, so this was the first time I read the back up story (which wasn't written by Barks, but it was weird and fun -- Mickey and Goofy got jobs at Santa's workshop and had to find a missing reindeer).  Uncle Scrooge #9 is a retelling of that story, sort of a what-if, told from Scrooge's POV.  I enjoyed both of these a lot.

I would recommend these comics for the next holiday season!  Also, since I feel bad about not finishing and reviewing that Zorro book like I planned, I will review it when I finally do finish it.  (I've read two of seventeen stories and will be reading other stuff for reading challenges I'm working on for the new year, so it may not be soon... but I WILL do it, because I am a dumb and determined bitch,  lol.)

Woo-oo!

Lately the thing I'm obsessed with is Ducktales, and the original Duck comics by Carl Barks.  Its funny that Uncle Scrooge is at times kind of a jerk but he's still a likeable character.  Deep down, you know he's a good guy who cares about his family and the people around him, but sometimes he gets blinded by material things.  And that could happen to anyone.  The stories are fun and funny though... I hope to read more of the comics (got a couple volumes requested at the library) and watch even more episodes of the show!