From the Bookshelf of I Read Comic Books…

Pearl, Vol. 1

Brian Michael Bendis,

Michael Gaydos (Illustrator)

Start date: January 1, 2022

Finish date: January 31, 2022

Discussion: BotM Discussions

Why we're reading this: Voted on by 2021 Reading Challenge finishers to be January 2022's BotM.…more
[close] Voted on by 2021 Reading Challenge finishers to be January 2022's BotM.

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What Members Thought

Jun 18, 2019 Chad rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hoopla, 2019

I think this may be my favorite of the many Jinxworld books Bendis has released lately. Gaydos absolutely kills it on the art. The book is gorgeous looking with a muted color palette. Bendis edits some of his trademark verbal diarrhea and it really lets the story shine. The book is about an albino Asian-American tattoo artist named Pearl who gets involved with the local San Francisco Yakuza. Bendis provides enough twists and turns as Pearl tries to figure a way out of working for the Yakuza whil ...more

29 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2022 Nancy rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels

Can an accidental assassin find love in a rival group?

The story is about an albino Asian-American young woman named Pearl, who is a tattoo artist, who inadvertently gets involved with the San Francisco Yakuza mob. Written and illustrated by the Jessica Jones team of Brain Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, it is set in Bendis’s Jinxworld.

Pearl meets Rick, a fellow tattoo artist, and saves him from an assassination attempt by a rival Yakuza clan. Her local crime boss, Mr. Miike forces her to bec ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2019 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: s-owned, t-comics-graphic-novels, f-paperback, 4-star, ircb-botm

Read for IRCB's BotM January 2022

Still a 4 star book for me (ok, 3.5 rounded up) - some of the jumping around gets confusing and the speech bubble abuse is criminal (but its a Bendis book, you already knew that), but I still get to the end and want to know more. On to Volume 2! ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2019 Zedsdead rated it really liked it

Shelves: borrowed-from-robert, graphic-novels

A gifted San Francisco tattoo artist intervenes in a hit on a cute boy and finds herself targeted by one yakuza boss and indebted to a second, who extracts payment by forcing her to work as an assassin. One hit leads to another, which in turn leads to uncovered secrets about her own origins and identity.

Pearl takes an unusually long time to get interesting for a Bendis title. I wasn't feeling it until near the end, but it recovered well.

The illustration is largely a win, with lots of gorgeous bu ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 29, 2022 Mike Rapin rated it did not like it

What the hell even was this book. This might be some of Bendis’ worst writing in recent years. It reminds me of some of his early work in—like you had to be in his head to actually follow the dialog and plot rather than, you know, read the comic.

The art was solid until it wasn’t. So much color and layout experimentation worked and then didn’t. It was really inconsistent. A lot of the lettering / captions were lost to the background or we’re completely unnecessary.

More thoughts on I Read Comic ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2022 NarraTea rated it liked it

Definitely prefer Brian Michael Bendis as a Superhero storyteller. That being said? It is a nice little Yakuza in the US adventure with a cool magical realism aspect that I hope they explain later on. The art is not AMAZING, but it does have some really really nice panels that left me staring for sure. Will definitely check our volume two to see where this goes.

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2020 Shannon Appelcline rated it really liked it

Shelves: comics-indy, comics

Bendis offers a powerful story about a tattoo artist become Yakuza assassin and her ties to family obligations and family secrets. With another strong female protagonist, Bendis is able to repeat some of the success of Jessica Jones, but with a very different character. We also get beautiful art courtesy Michael Gaydos, which is used to great effect thanks to a brilliant palette. And, throughout all of this, Bendis really stretches his storytelling muscles, mixing together the past and the prese ...more

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Aug 05, 2019 Craig rated it it was ok

Bendis and Gaydos obviously put some time into this, but the result is kind of muddled and a bit overly twee. Pearl is a young, albino, tattoo artist of Japanese descent, who gets caught up in some murky goings on involving a couple of Yakuza clans in San Francisco. The story isn't very clearly developed and Gaydos' art, while colorful and quite pretty at times, doesn't always help to make things any more clear. Big things are happening, but we don't ever get the clarity to understand just what ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2019 N a N D O R rated it it was ok

Shelves: comic, crimen, 2019

Historia, personajes, todos sin salsa.

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2022 Canavan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

✭✭

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2019 Kris Ritchie rated it liked it

Shelves: comics, fight-club, books-with-strong-female-lead-s, humor, that-art-tho

Seems to try to combine the frantic craziness of a Tarantino movie at points, with the narration style of Scott Pilgrim. It kind of works? I am interested to see where the story goes, and the artwork by Gaydos was phenomenal.

Like · see review