I recently checked out an iPad from work and was able to read a few of the comics and graphic novels I’ve received from NetGalley.

The Birth of Canis by Darby Conley

Get Fuzzy has become my favorite comic. The characters are wacky, the dialog is clever, and the drawings are fun. A slightly more messed up version of Garfield, I’ve had a one-a-day calendar of Get Fuzzy every year since 2007 (except last year, when my boyfriend didn’t get the memo that he was supposed to buy it for me for Christmas). This latest installment is everything I love about Get Fuzzy, and I’ll probably buy it to add to my collection. The only downside is that a lot of it is the same as this year’s one-a-day calendar. The upside is that it’s still funny, no matter how many times I read it. I just love this, and hope you love it too.

Your New Job Title Is “Accomplice” by Scott Adams

Dilbert has really grown on me. When I was younger, it was one of those comics I’d always skip in the paper. Since I’ve started working for real, though, it just gets funnier and funnier. Adams is great at exposing the stupidity behind much of corporate administration, the idiotic way that incompetence seems to be rewarded so good workers have no motivation to do their best. My favorite moment: showing how every worker has to have a workplace nemesis. Yup.

Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists by various authors, and edited by Chris Duffy

This is a really nice volume to showcase the work of some great cartoonists. Each has their own style, and since fairy tales are a pretty universal yet plain bit of source material, each cartoonist is able to express their style easily. It makes me want to choose my favorites and seek out more of their work to see what they do with a story of their own. Another nice point about this book is that they don’t limit themselves to the Brothers Grimm, although there’s plenty of that. Fairy tales are represented from a variety of cultures.

Genius by Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen

I was expecting this to be a story about Albert Einstein, based on the giant image of Einstein on the cover and the title Genius. Einstein plays a part, but really isn’t the focus of this story. Instead, we have an physicist who has seen his best days go past, a former child genius who is in danger of losing his job because he has lost his spark. He’s also dealing with problems at home with a sick wife and a son who has him concerned about teenage pregnancy. Ted needs to come up with something if he’s going to keep his job and save his family. He discovers his father-in-law knew Einstein and may hold the key to a new discovery. I really liked the art in this one, and found the story compelling.

Some other graphic novels I got:

Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes by Matt Kindt
I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I didn’t entirely understand what was going on. It was a DNF.

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks
Apparently, I got a bad version because I only have the text, no image. Blah. Worthless.