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Bookshelf Nominations

* Bookshelf Nominations: NUMBERS [now online]
By Ruby , Mistress of Chaos · 4 posts · 85 views

last updated Dec 03, 2017 09:15AM

* Bookshelf Nominations: IN THE TROPICS
By Ruby , Mistress of Chaos · 24 posts · 45 views

last updated Feb 19, 2014 10:16PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 20, 2011 Ruby Tombstone Lives! rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biologys-a-bitch-baby, favorites, lets-be-honest-theyre-comics

WOW. This is just awe inspiring! I have tried (and failed) several times to enjoy graphic novels, but never been able to connect with the characters. While I often enjoy the art, it seems like just that - art that I would hang on my wall, but still something flat and two-dimensional. This graphic novel turns all that on its head.
My biggest weak spot is abused animals. So when I saw these three pets, who have lost their homes, been kidnapped and had their brains and bodies wired into mechanised s WOW. This is just awe inspiring! I have tried (and failed) several times to enjoy graphic novels, but never been able to connect with the characters. While I often enjoy the art, it seems like just that - art that I would hang on my wall, but still something flat and two-dimensional. This graphic novel turns all that on its head.
My biggest weak spot is abused animals. So when I saw these three pets, who have lost their homes, been kidnapped and had their brains and bodies wired into mechanised suits, I automatically teared up. There's the emotional connection right from the very start. And then they start talking, and my heart breaks. Not only that, but there was this wonderfully designed four-dimensional art that leaped off the page. This is not wall art. It expresses time, motion, and the animal perspectives of sensory input: smell, heat, time perception. I didn't know if other graphic novels had used these techniques, but either way I was hooked. As it turns out, the techniques here are unique, and even based on a fair degree of research into animal behaviour, biology and perception. To top it all off, there are some hugely gory, forensically detailed images here that just blew my mind. They're all set inside super cool action scenes that really give you a strong sense of utter carnage, as well as fluid movements.
It is absolutely worthwhile getting the Deluxe Edition that explains so well the ideas behind the images. This passage by Grant Morrison explains it perfectly: "We chose to treat the page not as a flat 2D surface upon which panels were "pasted" down flat, but as a virtual 3D space in which panels could be "hung" and "rotated" or stacked one on top of the other. According to scientists, small animals experience time more slowly, and we liked the idea of extending the gutters around the panels to suggest the immense amounts of still "zen" time a cat might pass through between the micro-seconds of human awareness." The way Frank Quitely went about drawing and designing the layouts deserves special mention here too. His story about the cardboard box full of panels, which he could place in layers and pop-ups and fan out like cards - hell, even play cards with, is just genius.
The storyline is very simplistic, which was intentional to allow for more playing around with the 4D pop-up style graphics. That said, I, along with many readers, would have preferred a bit more backstory and detail. The ending seemed a little simplistic and rushed, and left out some key details around how..... certain things worked out. I won't ruin this for anyone with spoilers. It seems a fairly small price to pay, however.
At the end of the day, I will always remember this book. Plus it made me cry and laugh out loud - often on the same page! For this, and for showing me what comics can do that books and films can't, I have to give this 5 stars. ...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Melki rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, graphic-novel

Everyone in the known universe seems to have liked this tale of a trio of household pets turned into military warbots. The Incredible Journey it ain't. I found it to be a pointless exercise in violence and cruelty. (view spoiler), otherwise it would have been one star. ...more

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Jul 11, 2015 Damon rated it it was ok

Shelves: comics

A lot of hype over this when it came out but fell really flat.

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Oct 27, 2010 [Name Redacted] rated it really liked it

Shelves: action, sci-fi, classics, graphic-novels

Heartbreaking, beautiful and (at times) pretty dang fun. The only reason I didn't give this five stars is how incredibly heartbreaking and traumatic certain events actually proved to be.

The premise is pretty simple: in an attempt to spare the lives of human soldiers, the military develops huge, cybernetic war-suits which can be piloted by "stray" animals. Unfortunately they fail to fully take into account the fact that animals have personalities and desires of their own, and the three animals u ...more

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