Novels Books

If you already bought the previous releases of this collection, you know exactly what you'll find inside: intelligence, emotion and depth of the human relations.

Here you will get some of the Peanuts smartest movements, just like when Snoopy is locked under an ice piece and starts a reflection of his own life or when Linus sees himself without the safety of his blanket.

Even if you prefer the "modern version" of the strips (with Spike, Woodstock, the Red Baron, school scenes and stuff which would appear later, more precisely in the 70's), in this issue, you may find some of the roots and the reasons for the diamond that Charles M. Schulz carved on his life.

Thank you Charles, you really changed my life with these "guys" and "The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962" is another jewel from the master.

I bought all the items in the series and found them simply irresistible.
The strips are the integral version by the great master himself, Charles M. Schulz, and the edition is very, very good, with a robust hardcover and classy paper.

A special note for Italian speaking people: these are the "integral" strips, not the censored ones published for many years in Italy, where the religious quotations and remarks were systematically erased.

I used to read all these strips when they were in paperback form. I remember being around 12 or 13 and pouring over them again and again, with the added luxury of checking out the action every day in the daily paper. It's very gratifying, now that my six-year old daughter is reading, to share these volumes with her and watch her lose herself among the pages, and then ask to be quizzed on the many special characteristics of the kids in Charlie Brown's neighborhood. The printing quality is extremely high, the panels are crystal clear and the detail is really sumptuous.

My favorite so far is the Sunday strip where Charlie Brown is attempting to fly a kite in heavy wind and his cap keeps getting blown off, which he doggedly replaces atop his head every time. In the end Linus posits this classic: "I have a suggestion. Why don't you wear the kite and fly your hat?" I long for the day when we will have the collected volumes, and the prices on Amazon reallyl cannot be beat. But I must say, I miss those cheap little paper back volumes from my early youth. Rats!

I gave this book to my dad who really enjoyed going through all of the comics. This is a very nice hard cover edition and is a good value.

This volume of The Complete Peanuts cover the years 1961 and 1962 in their entireties. The most noteworthy event of this book is the introduction of Frieda, the girl with the "naturally curly hair". Soon after her debut, the running gag where Frieda tries to get Snoopy to chase rabbits is used for the first time. Also introduced at this time was Frieda's cat Faron, who only made a few appearances before disappearing. Many of the jokes from this volume were later used in Peanuts television specials, most notably the Christmas and Halloween specials. Peanuts was one of the greatest comic strips of all time, and 1961 and 1962 are certainly among it's best years. Highly recommended.

A good addition to this series. The only let-down is that we're seeing more and more strips that have already been collected in other Peanuts books. It was bound to happen though, so I'm not knocking off a star for this.

There are two real gems to this book.
One is the story where Linus (my absolute favorite Peanuts character) runs for class president. I'm betting Schultz had a lot of fun with this. He lampoons the entire election process. This includes the speeches and promises, the press coverage, the polling, and everything else.

The other gem is even more important to me. This is where the title of my review comes into play. They had the great Bill Melendez write the foreward for this book.

Mister Melendez was an animator who wound up directing every single Peanuts movie and special ever made. In addition to this, he also did the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock on most of them (the exceptions being those few specials where Snoopy actually talked). Considering his close association with Schultz and his creation, he really should have been the one to write the foreward back in book 1 when this series started. Instead, throughout this series, we'd get nothing but celebrity endorsement after celebrity endorsement.

I was actually afraid that they'd do this entire series without so much as mentioning the man. Thankfully, these fears came to naught with the release of this book. Like I said, "they finally got it right".

The foreward itself is only 3 pages, but the quality makes up for it. Melendez talks about the events that led up to him meeting Schultz, his first impressions of the man, and how they went from a car commecial to a Peabody Award-winning special ("A Charlie Brown Christmas"), and then to a long and enjoyable career making other animated Peanuts titles (some great; some not so great). This is a story that certainly merits more than 3 pages, but Melendez takes the space he's given and manages both to inform and to satisfy.

If you're a Peanuts fan (especially if you're a Linus fan), click on that buy button. Trust me, you won't regret it.

This book, along with the rest of the collection, is simply marvelous. The complete work of Schulz is nicely presented. It reads itself so fast that we can't keep up buying the next one!

Much of this was more of the same, the continued development of the characters. There is a set of new characters (Five, with Four and Three coming later) but they turn out to be little more than props, good for a week or two and afterwards for when Schulz needed a generic male for Charlie Brown (Shermy now only shows up for group strips). Three and Four look like little Peppermint Patties, and since Peppermint Patty ends up coming from a single-parent family (father only) one wonders if this is sort of backstory for that.

Foreshadowing some of the changes coming up on the next volume are a couple of developments. The baseball mound has become a scene itself, where the characters come up to chat on various things. As for this volume (1963-64), it's just a couple of characters coming up with things to talk about.

As for the red-headed girl, she has changed from a merely distant figure (distant implying "out of Charlie Brown's League) to a seemingly active source of shame and humiliation. Not that Charlie Brown needs her to humiliate him (as some of the baseball groups show, he could do that all by himself), but it definitely adds an accent point to what's going on around him with those he talks to.

One of the most interesting comics has Charlie Brown actually coming on top, although it's more his father than him. Violet spends a few panels bragging about her Father, which Charlie Brown doesn't so much parry but amplifies by explanation. However, CB stops Violet short and explains that his father makes an honorable living and always has a minute for him no matter what he's doing. The last panel has Violet walking with a slight downward tilt of her head and a seeming sadness in her eyes, as if she had finally been devastatingly bested.

In the end, this is worth getting, although I'd get the 1959-1960 and 1961-1962 before this one.

This edition of The Complete Peanuts covers the years 1963 and 1964. Probably the most significant event during this time period was the introduction of "5", along with his sisters "3" and "4". 5 may not be well remembered, but he is still a pretty interesting character. These are classic comic strips from one of the masters of the medium. Great stuff, highly recommended.

I came to peanuts cartoons late in my life, but for the past five years I have bought every book available. Luckily for me as I have been a customer of amazon both in america and england and bringing out yearly books has been marvelous. Whenever I feel down I just read a few pages and I'm fine. The trouble is Im' going to be around 80 years old before this complete series is printed!!!! Is there anyway we can move this along? Doreen uk

If you are a fan of 70's horror or EC comics you'll love this anthology magazine. Many stories are vampire or werewolf related, great supernatural tales of suspense with expected and unexpected twist endings.

I did a search on the off-chance that I might be able to buy an old Creepy magazine from Amazon. To my amazement, the first five issues were compiled into a beautiful, shrink-wrapped book available from Amazon. I am thrilled that I have a part of my past back again. (I think my mom tossed my magazines on one of my family's many moves.)

The descriptions given by the other reviewers were right on the mark! After reading them, I did not hesitate to buy this beautifully done volume and am anxious for volume 2 to be released. I am thankful that this book arrived in time for Halloween--perfect!

Just an absolute feast for the eyes, Frazetta, Toth, Williamson, Crandall...etc. combined with the stellar writing talents of Goodwin, Orlando, Engelhart how can you go wrong? Artistically the varied styles are a treasure... no "house style" here. The packaging is excellent as well, the reproduction quality matches the talent. This really makes you look forward to the future volumes (as well as the EERIE collections) Darkhorse has a real winner here. If you enjoy the classic art here check out the Tony Robertson's Jim Steranko site (I designed it)

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/8650/

Wow! I've been waiting for years for the Warren magazine archives, Creepy and Eerie. I wonder, though if Dark Horse is going all the way and reprint the whole series. After issue 17, Creepy became really bad for a couple of years until about issue 30, when "new talent" like Richard Corben, Bill DuBay and Bruce Jones came around and the magazine went on to become the best horror mag of all times (sorry EC buffs, but the Warren magazines from the 70's were tops). Let's not forget the Spanish invasion later on, with the top spanish artists contributing to the magazine.

I wonder also if other Warren magazines will ever get their archives (Blazing Combat is being done by Fantagraphics), but what about my fave sci-fi mag, 1984 (later on, due to copyright issues, 1994) and stuff like The Rook and so on.

The main problem I see with these archives (which are beautifully reproduced, they are even better than the original issues printed on pulp paper), is that, as I said before, some time down the line (when most of the good artists and Archie Goodwin quit) they were really terrible (lots of amateur art and even spelling mistakes in the sophomore texts). Should they also be reprinted to continue the whole run of the magazines, even if the artistic quality was below average? Uhmm, dunno... Let's wait and see what Dark Horse has in mind.

Anyway, now I can finally put away all my old copies of the magazine and read the stories once again in pristine condition.

Kudos to everyone involved in this project!

Wow, the price is right for this compilation. There is some beautiful work here by Al Williamson, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, Alex Toth. Frazetta does the bulk of the covers which are reproduced in color but everything else is in varying shades of black and white. There are a few clunkers with the stories but the art is really the main reason to buy these anyway. beautiful artwork with twist endings and bad puns. The first five issues of Creepy reproduced at the original magazine size. Don't sit on the fence, BUY IT!!

Since reading (and forcing many boyfriends to read it to me) the Crying Heart Tattoo, I have looked at my writing and that of many authors all in the shadow of David Martin's unique storytelling style and imagery. His wonderful technique of alternating narrative and storytelling between every other chapter and keeping all of it in harmony is impressive; the details and photographic memory akin to no one. I especially love the honest dialog between Sonny and Felicity as well as their crazy, sexual and forbidden adventures. I never seem to go a year without pulling out my hardback copy of "the Crying Heart Tattoo" to revist such colorful characters!

One of my favorite books EVER, this is a tale of true love, seen in all its ugliness, honesty, and wonder. I keep it close to my heart. Give it a try, it could make how you see life and love much more rich.

I first read about this book in the paper a few years back, it sounded interresting, so I gave it a look. It was the very first book I had read cover to cover, I was 17 years old and very impatient with books. I am 19 years old now and I am on my 5th revisit to this brilliant life changing work. I cannot express how much this book means to me. I need only to read the first page and my eyes begin to tear. Read this book.

A haunting, beautiful love story, with one of the most heart-wrenching last paragraphs I've ever read in a book. there is a genuine magic in this tale. sonny has much to learn from felicity, but he's stubborn, clueless, and thinks he has all the answers, like many of us when we're young, and the lessons he learns from her take years to absorb. and in any tale of love and regret he really learns them too late. felicity's parable is a delight, but lost on sonny. sometimes we don't realize how good we have it, until it's gone. sentimental, but not overly so. this is a book to be treasured, and read again and again. I can hear "as time goes by" playing as I read this book. it seems so appropriate.

When I read this book and reviewed it shortly afterward, I don't think I gave it fair due. As time goes on and I think back to this book I love it more and more.

This is the story of Felicity and Sonny.....life-long lovers with a turbulent and sometimes downright heartbreaking relationship. Felicity, 20 years Sonny's senior, is brazen and even loopy at times. She lends a great deal of humor to the story as well as veiled sadness.

Sonny, on the other hand is a huge jerk throughout most of the story as he becomes more and more bitter and jaded. Felicity seems to be the only spark left in his life...a spark which he almost puts out.

Running parallel to the story of Sonny and Felicity is the tale of Gravelda and Genipur. They are two rather primitive tribal people who are hauntingly similar to their modern-day counterparts. It's a story that Felicity tells to Sonny in chunks over the years as their meetings become fewer and farther between. The story allows Felicity to quietly vent her feelings about her relationship with Sonny.

This is a book that, even if you become a little dazed about in the process of reading, will stick to you long after you've read the last page. Far be it from me to withold credit where credit is due....and I must admit, this book is a jewel.

Beautiful story about how a family deals with the loss of someone they love. Excellent writing and character development, I was sucked in from the first chapter and was crying by the end of the book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that has lost someone close to them.

Thank you for this wonderful, wonderful book. I wanted to stop reading it because I was afraid I'd be too sad but I couldn't stop once I'd started.

Dear Readers --- If you want to spend a few days curled up with a book that may change your life, then "Dear Zoe" is, hands down, the paramount choice. Have a full box of Kleenex nearby, though; I became a human waterfall while reading this book, empathizing with this young girl and her pain. I saw so much of my ownself in her, even though it has been decades since I was that age. Yet, I too went through the soul-shifting lifechange that was 9/11. I know my worldview will never again be the same after that day. I can distinctly recall thinking that was the beginning of the end of the world, and I spent the whole day on the phone gathering my husband and girls to come home so we could die together. God, how quickly we forget! I/we lost an innocence, a groundedness that day. We took so much for granted. This book reminded me, however, that one terrible occurrence, such as the death of a loved one, can shift one's world in much the same way. Additionally, my husband and I have raised three daughters, and I saw so much of each of my own girls in these three. A note for the author: Mr. Beard, you somehow managed to insert yourself into the psyche of a 15-year-old girl and you were right-on with frightening precision. I felt my own past exposed and I don't know how you did it, but seeing you do it was redeeming. Kudos to you and yours for tapping into and laying bare for us, the readers, the angst of a teenage girl! Lastly, I do not often buy books to keep; I usually read from the library. However, this is one book I will buy to keep on my shelf and to loan out to loved ones, with the only request being that it come back to me so that the cycle can continue.

"Maybe 'Z' is the shape of everyone's life," writes Philip Beard. "You're going along in what feels like a straight line, headed for one horizon, the only one as far as you know, and then something happens..."

But my zigs and zags were few in Philip Beard's slim novel, "Dear Zoe." On this level of writing, it's smooth sailing. Beard is a skilled writer, and his style is seamless enough that he accomplishes the very difficult writer's task - not only of crossing genders in this first person narrative by a female, but with the voice of a very young female - all of 15 years old. And he does it convincingly.

So convincingly, in fact, that I felt myself as reader engage as I should, that is, to lose awareness of self and surroundings, soon immersed completely into the storyline and characters. "Dear Zoe" is a letter, written across time, from one sister to another. Zoe, however, will never read this letter. Zoe is gone, killed in a car accident, and this letter is, perhaps, how older sister Tess copes with her loss, her grief, even her guilt.

This extended letter is about Tess but also about her extended family. It is family like any: not without its dysfunctions, not without its baggage and broken places, with elaborate wounds and still healing scars. When a member of a family unexpectedly dies, everyone grieves, each in his or her own way and own pace, and it can at times meld a family together, at others rip apart. Beard portrays all of this messy and zigzagging process, but without any melodrama, always sensing when to draw the appropriate line.

Then comes the true test. Nearing end, the storyline veers into an event in American history that is almost impossible to mention without imploding into melodrama. When I realized the backdrop this author was setting up for his story, I nearly winced, but, wait, what's this? Oh, my. Beard makes it work. Work so well, in fact, that he accomplishes the individualizing of something nationally, even internationally shared, and brings it down to one heart, one life, one experience, felt by one person at a time. This personal tragedy is of a size, immense and miniscule at once, that each reader will be able to absorb and comprehend, and through comprehending the miniscule, the immense suddenly gains full impact. Just as numbers that trail off into endless zero's at some point become incomprehensible, so perhaps we as human beings cannot truly comprehend tragedy unless it happens one soul at a time, passed gently on from one hand into the next.

Having accomplished this feat, the author, and "Dear Zoe," has earned my highest recommendation.

On September 11th, 2001, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in numerous acts of terrorism against the United States. Even now, five years later, people still ask the question, "Where were you on 9/11?" I remember watching, on that fateful day, news coverage that left me horrified, aghast, and haunted. Where was I on 9/11? At work, on a day that started out like any other and quickly turned into one that no one will ever forget.

If you asked Tess DeNunzio, the fifteen-year-old girl at the center of DEAR ZOE, where she was on 9/11, she'll be quick to tell you that she was at home with her younger half-sister, Zoe, waiting for the school bus like any other day. Except for that one moment, when she let her gaze wander elsewhere, and Zoe ran into the street, into the path of an oncoming car. For Tess and her family, 9/11 is a day they'll never forget.

DEAR ZOE is Tess's letter to Zoe, her way of healing from her sister's death and coming to terms with the changes that have taken place in her extended family. This isn't a story about September 11th, 2001, in the ways that most of us have come to view that day. As Tess puts it, "...just like all the people who go to New York and cry over the rubble. I want to tell them all to go home. I want to tell them to go home and hold their children or their lovers or their parents. I want to tell them that they are using that place as an excuse to be sad and afraid when there will be reason enough for that in their own lives if they just wait."

According to recent facts, nearly 150,000 people die every day. That's about 1.8 people every second. And yet no one seems to remember the other 147,000 people that died on 9/11. That includes myself. Until reading DEAR ZOE, I had never stopped to consider that there were other people around the world who were grieving for lost loved ones who had
nothing to do with an act of terror.

Thanks to Mr. Beard, I now have a new way of looking at that day in history. I also have the story of Tess and Zoe, which will stay with me for much longer than it took for me to read the book. Love, loss, regret, and forgiveness mingle within the pages of DEAR ZOE to form a story that, quite possibly, you'll remember even five years later.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

The author writes beautifully & this is well-translated.

The pages fly by. Terrific story, wonderful plot with twists & turns. Highly enjoyable.

i ordered this one and the 'special assignments' book at the same time and read them both back to back. the way that 'achilles' slips from fandorin's view to achimas's view is seamless and well crafted. the story moves quickly, and the internal politics between the different departments are just as interesting as the battle between our hero and his main adversary. i liked very much that akunin gives the antagonist a human side (as much as possible for a professional killer). the fact that fandorin is not entirely perfect, and he's not entirely invulnerable makes him so much more believable. this book is well worth your time if you loved earlier fandorin mysteries.

This is the fourth Fandorin story to be translated (with kudos to Andrew Bromfield for a great job) of the eleven stories that Akunin has written. It would be great if the publishers could get moving and get more than one book translated each year. Much of this book is a continuation of the story line from the "Winter Queen" and the conflict between Erast and the assassin Achimas.

The book itself has an inventive structure. The first part (which is divided into chapters) deals with Erast and the 'Death of Achilles' (aka General Sobelev) who was a hero to most of Russia. We learn that the General was planning a 'coup d'etat' and that he planned to set himself up as Tsar. He dies though, inflagarante and this is just the beginning of the story. Erast is certain that the General was murdered but he is not sure why, how or on whose orders. As he works his way through the maze of misinformation, double and triple agents, just as he is about to confront Achimas, the first part ends.

The second part (where chapters are headlined by names) is the biography or history of Achimas. How he came to be an assassin for hire and his training and background. We even see how he first encounters Erast. In the end we follow him through the murder of Sobelev and fill in some of the information left out in the first part. Again this section ends as he is about to be confronted by Erast.

The third part is the short (only twenty pages, two chapters) where the two antagonists square off and we learn the identity of the man who has ordered the 'Death of Achilles' and why.

Though I would have preferred to read more about the six years that Erast spent in Japan (I assume there will be flashbacks in future novels) the background on Achimas is entertaining reading.

Erast Fandorin's return to Moscow is marred by the death of his war-hero friend, The White General - Mikhail Sobolev. Although the apparent cause is an unexpected heart-attack, Fandorin, exercising his unusual observation skills suspects foul play. As he investigates the circumstances, it seems he's correct, but nobody is willing to acknowledge the reality. Fandorin, in fact, sees any support for his seeking the truth not only whither away, but become outright hostile. This is a very political crime, indeed. In an excruciatingly twisted and seemingly endless story, Akunin has again demonstrated the skills that have made him one of Russia's most popular contemporary writers.

Unlike some of the Fandorin books, such as "The Turkish Gambit" where our hero often seems limited to almost cameo roles, the "collegiate assessor" - his innocuous-sounding official title - is more present and accounted for in this story. He even demonstrates his skills at disguise to enter one of Moscow's less salubrious evening entertainment establishments in search of information for his quest. Although the politicians fail to provide Erast with any support, the "registrar's" time in the Orient enabled him to gain a helpmeet. Masahiru, who bears an interesting resemblance to Peter Sellers' "Kato" in the Inspector Clouseau films, has interesting tastes in both food and women. A samurai, he's taught Erast much, but is seriously challenged in adapting to the West. Still, it's a team with amazing potential. Akunin has a talent for giving us only a partial view of Fandorin. Even after four introductions, we remain uncertain of with whom we are dealing. Which certainly doesn't detract from the story.

In this tale, a new prose style and an unexpected element appear as a departure from the rest of the series. The style is slightly more open and there are flashes of humour rarely present in Akunin's work - if you set aside ironies. In many ways, this is the most "readable" of the Fandorin tales. Subtle differences from the rest of the series - it is less "imitative" than the previous books -providing it with a characteristic flavour. The element is to set aside over a third of the book to a [seemingly] new character - Achimas. Akunin develops this man in exquisite detail, weaving a compelling, if disturbing narrative around the forming of a dedicated killer. Known as Aksahir - the "White Wizard" - Achimas moves through Russia and into Europe building a reputation. With so much space dedicated to Achimas' story, it's clear that a confrontation with Fandorin is inevitable. Its resolution, of course, will have surprising twists. After all, this is Akunin! [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

A remarkable series to say the least , with an incredible backdrop of Russia towards the end of the period of the Tsars. The one thought which crossed my mind when I put down the novel was , just where was Boris Akunin all this while. Erast Fandorin , a 24 carat hero, is one of the best sleuths that you will encounter in literature.
The setting is 19th century Russia flirting with enlightenment , with significant tension simmering with imperial neighbors. The nation is rocked with the death of its favourite general in rather suspicious circumstances, conveniently in the same hotel where Erast Fandorin is lodged. What follows is a remarkable story of unravelling layers of intrigue .Every murder seems to indicate an acceptable closure to the mystery , but a never say die pursuit by the detective takes you deeper into the darker forces involved. Fandorin has a remarkable Japanese man friday which tends to deviate from the usual diet of dumb counterfoils to brilliant detectives. Fandorin is Holmes with Zen nay a Bond with restraint. There's much more than just Fandorin to savor here. The rather brutal rural Russian setting gives rise to a diabolical assassin who almost proves too much for out hero.
Its a great commentary on Russian society during the 19th century, much as the pipe smoking Holmes characterises Britain. Never a dull moment , this is a book to savor.

My 10 year old daughter loves all four of the Melanie Martin books. She cannot put them down. Not only is she entertained, but also has learned a few things about other countries. As a teacher, I highly recommend the Melanie Martin books. I sure hope Mrs. Weston keeps adding more to this series.
Melissa Lombardo

The Diary Of Melanie Martin is a book about a young girl called Melanie. She flies to Italy with her family on an airplane when she had never been out of the U.S.A. She loved the thought going to a foreign country, but things didn't turn out how she expected... I liked this book and all the characters in it. My favorite part of the book was when Melanie just went back home to the U.S.A. She had realized a lot about her family and learned some important values. Melanie inspired me to be nicer to my sibling, as she did in the book. I definitely recommend this book to anybody who has a sibling, or who has never been out of his or her country. In this book, she gives the lesson about trying new things and taking risks. I am sure that anybody who reads this book will learn some useful information about life! Enjoy!

Having traveled to Italy with my family when I was twelve, The Diary of Melanie Martin called back dozens of similar memories of all the museums which were endured with the promise of gelato and of the delicious food which Weston describes to mouth-watering perfection. Reading this book, I kept on wishing it had been around for my family vacation so that my brother and I could have played "Point out the Naked People" during our museum tours; now I can only wholeheartedly recommend it to every member of a family planning a trip to Italy or just looking for a funny and truthfully-written book too perfetto to be missed.

I read melanie martin, and it was sensational!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I wanted to learn about Italy, and she helped me learn about it. Read this book, and you'll wanna read the other three book too.

A must read with the monalisa, sistin chapel, and boots the cat. Also it has ton of poetry. The book makes your mouth water for more.

A great fun book that really gets you inside drawing the "Marvel" way. It has tools to work with. You'll love it.

Gift material 110% I love it. I have taken drawing courses in school and online and through the mail, and my mother taught me to draw, and I learned from DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN, and THIS DRAW..HEROS is fantastic both from a teaching methods standpoint, and from an artist's needs standpoint. It can teach you to refresh some of your old drawings with movement and power, and MOVEMENT! WHhhham! ZOOoooMmmmm!!

I am giving this to deaf friends as I am always trying to show them I appreciate their special abilities.

Purchased this as a Christmas gift for my nephew. My 14 year old would like it after reviewing. Shows how to draw characters; first by shapes - and then adds in details, including hands and feet.

This is a great product. It is small and self contained, comes with drawing tools stored in a zipper pouch so it is perfect for travel. The easy to follow, step by step instructions create the sensation of instant success. Great for all ages - even adults can have a bit of fun with it!

I can't walk past this book in a store with out picking it up (heck, I couldn't see a link for it with out clicking it).
This is single handedly, the most influential book I have ever picked up.

I first got it when I was 6, and it laid the ground work for the rest of my entire life. I'm an art student, I'm going to be an illustrator, I want to be in comics. This book is why and how.

Everything in here is solid and where EVERY ONE should start if they want to do this thing right. Give this to your kids, give this to those friends of yours who want to do art, but never had any teaching or talent, give it to that rival who needs a refresher on the simplest of simple. Buy it for yourself, as a clear reminder of what you should be doing, and of the foundations that everything you do is based on.

This isn't Burn Hogarth, but it is still a must for ANYONE getting into drawing. I can not recommend this enough. This book will always hold a special place in my heart and on my shelf.

Elfquest - Fire and Flight has to be one of my favourite fantasy books that I have read. At first I was skeptical about reading a novel based on comics, and it has been sitting on my shelf for about 2 years before I thought about reading it. At first I thought it was very childish and rather silly but after the part about the meeting with the trolls, I started to get into the story. To summarise the plot as simply as possible, the story is basically about a group of elves (Wolfriders), driven from the forest after it has been destroyed by humans, and their journey across a desert to a place known as Sorrow's End, which is inhabited by another group of elves. There Cutter, the leader of the Wolfriders, meets Leetah, a healer from Sorrow's End and they know each other through what the elves call "Recognition".(Read the book to find out about this!). An elf, called Rayek, who is in love with Leetah, is hateful of Cutter and is jealous of him.

I really enjoyed how the authors drew out all the characters, especially Cutter and Leetah, and because of this and the simplicity of the story, one can guess how the story would evolve and pan out as one can guess how the characters would behave. That is not a bad thing. Believe me. Even though the story is short, it is an engrossing and entertaining read.

I believe the reason why I liked this book a lot has to deal with the emotions and feelings the Wolfriders undergo, especially the part where they travel through the desert. We have Cutter trying his best as leader trying to hold his tribe of Wolfriders together, Skywise and his trust in the "magical stone" and the love Nightfall has for Redlance, and the anguish of the elves and wolves. All the emotions are portrayed briefly and powerfully. You see many examples of the good and bad side of elven nature which can easily be translated into our lives and which makes the reader feel good all over.
I recommend this story/comic to anyone who wants to read an inspiring story, abut the strength of the elven (human) spirit and how love overcomes all.

I bought this one for my 9 year old son who loved it but ended up reading it myself. I plan on buying all of them!

I first read this book ten years ago, and I have read it at least twenty more since. Aside from being the best comic book ever written or drawn, it is a sensitive, exciting, and fantastic epic anyone can enjoy. If you are not into fantasy just yet... don't worry. You will be after reading the story of the Wolfriders. The World of Two Moons does not let go of its captives easily! Happy reading!

I picked this up about 9 years ago and have been hooked ever since. At the time i was not a comicbook or fantasy fan, but this book has changed that. This is a series that can keep you glued to the pages for hours. Wendy Pini is an amazing author, and her artwork is just as great. You will love this series.

ElfQuest impacted my life in ways I'll probably never be able to comprehend. I first read the comics that make up this graphic novel when I was 13, and I was hooked. I collected all the reprints of the original series I could find, and then found my way to more. This story of love, honour, betrayal, and being one with nature is a must-read for anyone from 8-80. If you find comic books a little daunting and/or simplistic, there are novels as well. Perhaps read those and then come back to the comics and allow them to fill in the blanks. A marvellous gift for a creative kid or an adult who hasn't lost that gleam in their eye.

The Epiplectic Bicycle ia a unique piece of literature and illustration. Such simple images, almost childish although not infantile or naive. Gorey's complex mind takes us though an amazing impossible world with infinite possibilities.

What is there to say about Edward Gorey's works but that he was a Dr. Frankenstein of reality. This book is Gorey to perfection, odd in all the right places.

My Dad bought me this wonderful little book when I was young, & I have always loved the truly off-center humor of it. In response to the query about the meaning of epiplectic, I found a quick online search produced the same type of results as reviewer RHS got--mostly references to epileptic & apoplectic. Oddly, I have a clear memory of looking it up decades ago (one of my father's favorite admonitions was "look it up!") and finding a definition that related it to apoplectic, and described it as referring to something that suddenly and somewhat violently falls to pieces. In fact I have often cited 'epiplectic' as an apt description when watching the Blues Brothers' faithful retired police car burst into bits once they make Daley Plaza, LOL--so this definition, though unconfirmable at the moment, has been clearly emblazoned in my memory for these many years (right or not)! Now if I could just find that dictionary of my Dad's to confirm...

THE EPIPLECTIC BICYCLE is one of the Gorey's usual stories told through ink drawings accompanied by pithy captions. This tale concerns Embley and Yewbert, two children who are distracted from their pastime of hitting each other with croquet mallets by a sentient bicycle that appears out of nowhere. Thereupon they hop on and go through various adventures, ending in a shocking revelation that seems right out of the "Voyage of Bran". The story is one of great whimsy and a love of nonsense, and amusingly contradicts itself at several points.

While THE EPIPLECTIC BICYCLE is quite funny, I don't rate it among Gorey's most substantial works due to the sparseness of the drawings and the fact that it lacks the macabre tone common to Gorey's greatest work. If you've never read an Edward Gorey book before, start with THE OTHER STATUE or THE BLUE ASPIC, grim stories whose drawings are of astounding quality.

I decided to try and find out more on this word and found a definition on http://www.willamette.edu/~blong/Words/EpiI.html

It is as follows:

"Epiplexis/Epiplectic

..the word behind epiplexis is epiplessein, meaning "to rebuke" or "punish" or "chastise." Epiplexis is then a Greek word meaning "criticism" or "rebuke." It was taken over into English, however, in a rhetorical context and first defined in 1678 as a "figure in Rhetorick which by an elegant kind of upbrading, endeavours to convince."

An epiplexis then would be a gentle chiding, or possibly a statement that seeks to shame the hearers into performing better next time or to spring into action right now. "His epiplectic address to the crowd backfired on him." Or, "epiplexis is one of the strongest motivators known to us." Or, to use words that we might be more familiar with, "Don't get apoplectic over his epiplectic fit." Also you need to distinguish epiplectic from epileptic. The latter literally means to "take over" or "take upon," and refers to a disease of the nervous system characterized by serious paroxysms. The condition just "takes upon" a person and often leads to falling on the ground and passing out. It was known in English of a few centuries ago as the "falling sickness."

Ultimately, it seems to me that epiplexis is really a form of asteism--a gentle way of trying to persuade others to see things your way and act accordingly."