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  Ehrm…. Huh.. Nope. It wasnt a bad book, it was just a bit meh.. The only reason I finished reading The Bully by KJ Kwon was that it was suuuper short. Clocking in at 66 pages, I buckled down and just finished it since it was in my hand. Guy (I do not believe a name was ever used) works in an AD agency. His boss, Director Dabin Huh, is overbearing, emotionally abusive, and good at hiding it to her own bosses. After avoiding Dabin’s sexual advances, Guy feels like he is haunted by a terribly abrasive and unreasonable boss as well as after hours by a devil. Story has paranormal elements for sure, but it felt crazy rushed and difficult to justify the pace. Arc copy, wouldnt have bought this. zoom of the cover, not sure what it is yet.

  James Bond 007 in Black Box Dynamite Comics 2017 release has James Bond working to collect a hard drive of international leaks, secrets that will sink every superpower and give the owner of the data the power to corrupt any government. Currently it is in the hands of a Japanese tech mogul with ties to the Yakuza. This graphic novel, a collection of singles, was pretty good, but great would be a stretch. Maybe I am growing out of my interest for 007, or perhaps it doesn’t translate well to comic. I enjoyed it, the art was pretty great, but what would normally be a 2+ hour film was a diluted plot with a sub par enemy, and a recurring faceless antagonist that all felt watered down. More interesting than the comic was an interview provided The Oregonian (newspaper) and a sample of the first issue original storyboards and script (better than the comic) Worth reading, but don’t shuffle your TBR Pile Review based off a copy received for review purposes

  The Princess and the Clown, a novella from Ian Thomas Malone was an outstandingly fucked up book. Not a fan of Bizarro fiction? Maybe stay away from this one. While not explicitly Bizarro, it is a hair’s breadth away and we shall not be fickle in description. Not to be confused with the children’s book by the same name, or the mid 1920s French film, Malone’s work is a drug and sex fueled social wreck set in between children’s birthday parties and drunken bar time. Jango (Ralph) is a forty-something once famous clown, smoking - drinking - stealing pills from bathrooms at his gigs. Strangely enough, Princess Aurora (Jules) is also a 40ish drunk druggie pill thief. Circumstances introduce them while the kiddos finished up a piñata or something… Jango ends up in face first in stifling Southern California heat, layers of tulle and Jule’s thighs. Things ‘go down’ pretty fast from there as both individuals attempt to forget their depression and self loathing while attempting to make a ...

Mishadra .. It took some looking around to understand the parenthetical title (H). In A rabic  misadra = "S eizure"  and mishadra = "I c annot" A fitting and incredibly nuanced title for Iasmin Omar Ata’s deep dive into pain and despair felt when a person perceives themselves as alone, burdensome, and dismissed by the medical community. Phenomenal Graphic Novel Isaac, an Arab American college student, is five years deep into his new norm with epilepsy. Each day he gets further and further removed from his friends and family. Isaac’s epilepsy is visualized as strings of pearls with knives and eyeballs. Anytime he is triggered (dehydration, exhaustion, stress) the blades come out in a menacing, but pseudo protective way. Early in the book, the implied violence gains a footing as Isaac loses an eye during a seizure. Mishadra follows the mental turmoil of Isaac as he struggles to cope and pushes to retain his new friendship with Jo, the only person he has ever honestly...