papablues050164's reviews
136 reviews

I confess; this is the first thing I've actually read by Ms. Walker. Even so it is an eye-opener in so many ways.

I've drawn some bizarre images with my character Lianna; now I don't feel so awkward. It's a different perspective, not always for the "Clean!" at heart. Often slaps the hypocrisy of the patriarchy in a variety of art styles. Some of these names I know, some of them are no longer with us.

This is actually what you could expect would happen if Jesus did return and ran for President. To add insult to White injury, he's back as a Native American. That part I loved. At times hilarious & tragic it's a needed tonic to the Mel Brooks comedy that our government has become.

One part I should take pains to point out is of course the Abortion issue; you can't NOT talk about it if you want to get anywhere in Republican politics. Naturally Jesus avoids the issue, but he finally does have a brilliant proposal; let's get all the parties involved, right left religious agnostic etc. ,all the parties interested, bring 'em all together at a conference--discuss the issue like intelligent human beings & try to come to a consensus. Naturally nobody is happy, it ain't enough for anybody, although to be frank, all the idiots involved are gonna have to talk about this eventually. Sorry. On a soapbox. But it needed to be said.

My wife wasn't sure I should share this with my daughter. I'm not worried. The lesbians in Alison Bechdel's strips, which ran from 1983-2008, come across as fun, flirtatious, anal, prone to marriage and breakups, heartbroken at the loss of a beloved pet, opinionated...ohh, wait, that means they're just like "us". See? Relax, people. The only thing that's gonna nring on the fall of civilization is the fundamentalist twats screaming about the "sins" of LBGT persons.

Christ almighty, my feet are bleeding just reading this. Two Aussies walk the Camino de Santiago, 30+ days of self recriminations and re-evaluation that takes a physical as well as an emotional toll; I'm not sure which one was worse. Very intense but laced with a lot of distinctly Aussie humor. Go for it.

This embodies all the best and not so good traits of 1970's comics. This is a story that hasn't happened, but it could. The youth vote has just been given to 18-year-olds, the Constitution is amended so teenage Prez Rickard can be elected President. It tries to break out of the box of strictly superhero fare, while it struggles to come to grips with the changing times. Great, that we have a Teenage President; couldn't be worse than the Victorian-minded dinkoffs we have to deal with now. In fact the old fuddidudd Senators harassing Prez could have stepped out of a time machine from our own f-ed-up time period. Issue #3's take on Gun Control was ahead of its time, although we've obviously slipped a light year backwards on that issue. Great, that Golden Age comic maker Joe Simon was still at work. Not so great, that his simplistic style was too reminiscent of the 1950's. Bad, that despite its good intentions, Jerry Grandenetti's artwork portrays African Americans as 1940's-type Mongoloid figures that would have been offensive, even 40 years ago. Great, that the Vice President is a woman, in 1973! Why, though, did a potentially great character like Eagle Free have to be a stereotypical Native American, who even Pre initially labels a 'savage'? I give it a C, for good intentions.

A real-life Monty Python excursion into the absurd. A modern day Englishman settles into rural Northern Spain with his dubious wife Ana, which leads to misadventure as he discovers his neighbors, generous as they are, brag more than they know what they're doing. Highlight is the (delayed) Christening of his toddler Chloe. A must-read.

Much of this is familiar, but much is different, highlighting the diverse influences the boys were able to indulge in, thanks to the access granted them via their status as Beatles. It surprises me that so much music you think you know is actually drug-related, but you don't mind it so much 'cos the music is so great. All the pivotal events are there--controversy in Japan, the debacle in the Philippines & the South's gross overreaction to John's 'bigger than Christ' reference. Everything that happened this year led to the classic year 1967, while standing solidly as a classic music year on its own. Highly recommended.

A different take on Africa, focused on golden times in Ivory Coast in 1978. The young ladies--Aya, Adjoua & Bintou--, their nightly parties and consequences that follow thereof were not so different from the way things were stateside. Full of hope as opposed to the usual Western expectations about Africa, written by a lady about the young days she remembers.