Overall, I wasn't impressed with this graphic novel. The concept was grand and expansive, but ultimately confusing. Maybe a big issue with it is that the Fantastic Four characters are the core of the story. I don't find them that interesting. I thought I would like the idea of an alternative earth created out of necessity, but I didn't much. The world seems very nebulous in its composition, and the story keeps going back to Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic and Victor Von Doom, who is God Doom in this story. I'm not sure what I was reading. I'm not sayin' I'm brilliant, but I like to think I should have been able to dissect what the point of this story was. By and large, it just felt like a wasted opportunity to get so many people from the Marvel Universe together in one story. With current events, I am feeling that whole all powerful dictator thing and group think as a story concept, but this needed to be better written to impact me.

That's right more of all the good stuff. More dragon fun...

“Kai, don’t move,” Ryder advised.

 

“Like I haven’t noticed there’s a huge damned dragon giving me a hickey?” The egg pulsed against my chest, and I pushed it at the lizard. “Just take it. And please, by Buddha’s belly, don’t… eat… me.”

 

Kai and Ryder are off on another adventure and this time there weren't suppose to be any dragons...not really...they were looking for ruins. Ruins of an ancient lost court somewhere in the Nevada desert...a court that might contain a secret desperately needed by Ryder's people and Kai's, if he'd only stop denying his heritage.

Kai's history alone is a mystery and as he, Ryder, Cari, another stalker who's along for back-up and Robbie Malone, a foolish boy who's playing a dangerous game, head towards their destination dodging bullets and fighting even more black dogs and running into unexpected relatives in the middle of nowhere somehow Kai and Ryder manage to have a conversation or two and find out a bit more about how they feel about dragons...

"Thing is, I'm not going to ask you to kill a dragon, Ryder. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen, but if ever you're in a spot where you've got to choose between you and a dragon--you better not choose the damned dragon. And if that makes me a sentimental fraud, at least I'm a live sentimental fraud."

and each other...

"Right now, nothing. You're going to catch some sleep, and I'm going to pretend to wake you up in four hours to take over watch when I'm probably going to let you snore for about six."

 

"And tomorrow?"

 

"Tomorrow, we'll see. Probably still no bones jumping." Shaking my head, I reminded him. "I don't have sex with people I know Ryder. That's been a hard, fast rule...forever."

 

"Nothing is forever, Kai. Not rules. Not people. What are you so afraid of?"

Ryder and Kai's interactions are entertaining to say the least and for all of Kai's mutterings about Ryder and wanting to be free of him it's when things go wrong that Ryder becomes Kai's first priority and who he does his best to protect. Maybe it's because Ryder is technically his boss but truthfully...I think not entirely.

I know there's no real romance between Kai and Ryder yet...but it's not for lack of trying or interest on Ryder's part and I'm rooting for him because he sees Kai in a way that few others do and he treasures him and while he may not want to admit it Kai's defenses are lowering and he's finding it harder and harder to not give in to his own feelings and desires.

I can't wait for book 3 because while this story was complete Kai and Ryder's journey together still has a ways to go and I'm so looking forward to taking that trip with them. There's so much more to find out about Kai...his past, who he really is and what that will mean for him and Ryder. But I also think there are things we don't know about Ryder yet. I think we haven't seen all that he is. 

Ms Ford has created a world and characters with a wealth of potential and opportunity and if her previous series are any indication of what this author is capable of than I for one am waiting anxiously to see what happens next in this strange new world where worlds have merged and the rules are still being written...and dragons, who doesn't want more dragons?

********************

An ARC of 'Mad Lizard Mambo' was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This is even darker than the Flash volume! Batman isn't the Batman we know and love. He's a much more driven, more morally compromised version. What would happen if a man's child was killed in front of him and he was powerless to prevent it. The Joker is probably even more twisted, and you wouldn't believe me if I told you. That's just the Batman story.

Then there's the story about the biggest jerk in the DC-Verse, Deathstroke, and his crusade to find his lost daughter. I can't call him a hero, because he's not. He's ruthlessly selfish and murderous. I feel bad for anyone who throws in with him. He's not a man I'd trust as far as I could throw him. This is non-stop action, a world in which the seas have become a lawless place of pirates, and the Atlanteans kill humans with impunity.

The story about Dick Grayson and his family tells us how things might have gone if Bruce Wayne had not been there in his life after the death of his parents. Also shows a Europe that has been decimated by the Atlantean-Amazonean war, and where various DC-verse figures have become freedom fighters (even ones who were once villains).

My least favorite was Secret Seven. It was pretty gruesome and twisted, and while I see the point of it all in terms of the Flashpoint story arc, I didn't really appreciate the story at all.

I would still give this four stars because I thought it was pretty interesting, and frankly, nightmarish.

I will confess I watched "The Flashpoint Paradox" Justice League movie prior to reading this, and let me tell you, I was blown away at how dark this story arc is. This is like "What If?" on steroids.

The movie goes into some explanations I won't get into, and I tried to forget I knew that, because I haven't read The Flash, Vol. 2: The Road to Flashpoint yet, which I think is probably the backstory. All I know is, I don't want this life for any of the DC characters I know and love. One of the interesting things is seeing what this crazy world does to the various characters as you know them. Villains end up on the other side. Sometimes, they stay just as villainous. Sometimes, they are worse, unchecked in a world where the Justice League as we know it never existed or has fallen by the wayside. Where Wonder Woman has become an autocrat who leads ruthless, murderous Amazons who delight in killing humans.

This one isn't for the kiddos. Very violent and has some disturbing imagery. Probably the most disturbing in the story about Gorilla Grodd, who has pretty much taken Africa and claimed it for his own, and it ain't pretty. I couldn't look away. I'm starting to wonder why AU seems to be so dark and dreary. Maybe so that the reader will repeat, "It's only a book. It's only a book. It's only a book," and wipe their foreheads. While the first story is about Flash, this is really more like an anthology featuring different characters from the DC verse in the aftermath of Flashpoint.

Flash is a cool character. I like him more all the time. Interesting that this is my first official solo Flash graphic novel. I'll be reading more.

The Last American Vampire - Seth Grahame-Smith 

Henry Sturges is the Forrest Gump of the vampire world. The Last American Vampire reads like a who's who of late 19th and 20th century people and events, as Henry encounters the likes of Tesla, Twain, and Teddy Roosevelt, and hops around the globe experiencing the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, and Jack the Ripper. While its predecessor, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter had the tone of a serious work of historical non-fiction (plus vampires), The Last American Vampire is campy and just plain fun.


Disclaimer: This book has been provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.