KhepiAri

Webcomic Review: One Day by Pan (link at bottom) Quote: You love the book The Dreamcatcher, right? Hum...right. That novel is really awesome! I've come to your store for three days. Finally, I finished it. What? You finished all of it? One Day is a short webcomic that's sweet, fluffy and warm like pancakes which leave you happy after you devour it. In a rainy city, Bella a bookworm college student meets a backpacker in the bookshop she works at. They bond over an out of print book that Bella hides behind shelves so that she can finish it before someone buys it. They walk around the city, have coffee in Bella's favourite café and talk about their looming future as working adult. Bella doesn't want to work in a corporate job but her family is strict, and her new friend has a little secret of his own. There are two side stories, of a tomboy teen named Luciana who has a crush on her basketball teammate, and how her friends try to d...

Manga Review: Gintama by Hideaki Sorachi Quote: “If you’ve got time to fantasize about a beautiful ending, why not live beautifully until the end?”- Sakata Gintoki. I am a picky reader of super popular manga(s). But Gintama was my rebound manga, after disastrous ending of Bleach. I needed something funny. And girl did I have fun? After One Piece, it's Gintama that has made me laugh so much that I got a tummy ache and made me weep because of sad moments. The story is set in Edo invaded by Aliens, about a dead-fish-eye samurai, Sakata Gintoki, a protagonist who is not a teen but an aimless pachinko addict twenty-something man, running an odd jobs business with his two apprentices Shinpachi and Kagura, is one of the greatest manga ever created. Initially when I began reading,the one-shot narrative style kept me invested, but I never realised when Baka Sorachi shifted to short arcs to full-blown major action arcs that kept me awake for months! It has everything; hi...

Webcomic Review: Your Letter by Hyeon A Cho Quote: The letter contained the key to the rabbit hutch along with a note asking me to visit early in the morning. Sori-Lee a brave and kind middle-schooler moves to a new school in her old city from her grandmother's, after she stood up to bullies for someone, and facing bullying herself. In her new school, assigned to an unoccupied desk, soon she finds a letter addressed to her; containing names of her new classmates, school map and a clue for the next letter. From one letter to another Sori moves into a world that she can't explain. There is a witch gardener in school who offers her tea. She walks seven and a half steps with closed eyes and ends up finding a magical hideout. From ordering delicious food to school to jumping into the pond to retrieve the letter she and befriends Eugene Park. Eugene an archer is having a hard time concentrating on his sport. So they become partners to un...

Graphic Novel Review: Persephone by Loïc Locatelli Kournwsky Quote: Oh great. Would little miss Botany care to fill is in, on what 'amazing plant' we are helping her hunt today? The answer to that my pet! Pop a seed and next thing you know, you're laughing so hard that you can't stop. Throw me the words 'Persephone and Hades', I will gobble up any piece of writing. So while looking for Persephone and Hades' art I found this graphic novel on Google books and I fell in love with it. This book is a very loose retelling of the Persephone myth, it is devoid of the romance element but definitely based on the snatching of Persephone to the underworld. Set in fantasy land, divided between the prosperous upperland Eleusis and the barren sun-bereft underworld Hades. A brief history of both the lands at the beginning sets the story in motion. Demeter is the strongest magician of Eleusis, who help end the war with Hades. The art is so dense, mangaesque, beau...

Graphic Novel Review- The Unwritten: On to Genesis by Peter Gross, Mike Carey and Vince Locke Quote: The source is people. Specifically, people who read a story and get something out of it. Maybe give something back, too. Somehow Wilson was able to turn that emotion into power, and draw on it. The cover art by Yuko Shimizu always sets the standard so high for the story inside that my heart dies a little when I find the pages to be filled with regular page layouts and panels. Tom Taylor finally frees himself from the tale of Moby Dick, now with Lizzie Hexam and Richie Savoy are about to steal Wilson Taylor's journals from an auction. The journals contain the truth about the power of storytelling made flesh and blood. Unwritten is a story that is too grand and at times too intelligent for its own good. The tendency to touch upon every other literary reference and pay tribute to stories makes it a scattered read. I loved the little trip to the Golden Age of ...

Comicbook Review: 2 in 1, a) Dark Destiny and b) Fish Tale by Harsho Mohon Chattoraj Quote: They let us go, and we ran as fast as possible. Some distance away, Muhammad turned back to his home. But I ran on. And it feels like I've been running on forever... I so wish my family and friends were here with me . This slim self-published comic comes with two stories, one of tragedy this nation can't forget, another a story of food culture. Dark Destiny is a micro-history of a refugee boy, trying to survive the India-Pakistan partition. Among dying people and dead bodies, our boy is remembering how his fortunes turned and he ended up on the other side. A story of hunger, deprivation, desperation and pathos; many of us have heard from our grandparents and our parents, the horrors of partition still live and haunts the Bengali Community. So the gestures of bravery showed by few to help others then, gets its due respect in this story. Fish Tales definitel...

Book Review: The Graveyard Book Volume II by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell Quote: The midsummer sky was already beginning to lighten in the east, and that was the way Bod began to walk.  But between now and then there was life and Bod walked into it with his eyes and his heart wide open. The story begins from where we left book one, an eleven-year-old Nobody Owens looking for new friends and understanding how he came to the graveyard. The last three chapters are beautifully illustrated by David Lafuente, Scott Hampton, and P. Craig Russell, Kevin Nowlan and Glen Showman. I loved David's art the most, it was detailed with solid colours. Maureen Quilling's character design was exactly done the way I imagined while reading the novel. I love how Silas was fleshed out in the darkness, he looks as cold as his words are. He is so dedicated to the boy that he makes sure Bod gets some access to the ways of living, like sending Bod to a football game. ...

Webcomic Review: Fools by Yeongha and Bagdam Quote: If this were a relationship between a male and a female, wouldn't it be safe to assume that we were 100% attracted to each other? But because I'm a male and just an underclassman, Eungi Hyung would never consider anything like that, would he? Fools is a Korean Webtoon written by Yeongha and adorably illustrated by Bagdam. A weepy and heartbroken teen Choi Jeongwoo meets Kwon Enugi one night, where the latter ends up comforting and advising the teen.  A few years later, Jeongwoo is a freshman in the university where Enugi has returned for his final year after completing his military service. Enugi comes off as a standoffish young man while Jeongwoo the pretty boy is always smiling and super friendly.  After hearing Jeongwoo cry on his phone to his boyfriend during the welcoming party, Enugi can't stop but worry about him from then on. By the twist of fate they end up having breakfast tog...

Book Review: My Pet Human by Yasmine Surovec Quote: It took me a while to master "the look," but it's essential to getting what I want from humans. And let's just say, I always get what I want. I mean, who can resist this face? I'm adorable! Meet Mr. Independent nameless cat, who knows it all! He knows how to avoid animal control, how to get scraps from cooks at restaurants, climb tries and avoid human toddlers. And oh he loves boxes. The blurb of the book is what made me part with my money. A cat seeking a human pet: who must feed him a lot of treats, give back rubs, supplies boxes, plays with him and loves him Infinitely. Soon this independent cat befriends two humans who have just moved into the empty house at the end of the line. Curiosity get hold of him, he ends up becoming the little human's only friend and her mother soon warms up to him. They give him baths, feed him tuna and cuddles, and he in return claws meows in the night and shove...

Book Review- Rashtraman: Rhastrayana- Trouble in Paradise by Appupen The First lady has been kidnapped by the terrorists from Paddstan. Idiots! You know what this makes our great leader look like? A bloody Laddu! That's what! Declare Emergency. For people familiar with Appupen's Halahala Universe, this book stands out from the list for being the slimmest of the lot. The art is an explosion of colour, a stark contrast to Appupen's previous monotone work. The narrative is also quite refreshing   -- the silent comic or lack of speech that has become synonymous with Halahala: the dystopian universe rigged with greed, addiction, lust and destruction; has been forgotten here. Rashtrayana: Trouble in Paradise is a chunk taken from the life of Rashtraman -- the legendary hero of Halahala and it lampoons the present political scenario of the country. Rashtraman's antics have been documented on the internet for a while now and now on the streets in form o...

Book Review- Adhira Mohi: Beast of Vichitrapur, by Ashwin Kalmane, and Emilio Utrera, and Vibhav Pandey Quote: I did say I wanted to have fun, didn't I? Besides, humiliation is a small price to pay for finding your dog, wouldn't you agree? The above-mentioned quote is said by a nasty kid, suddenly you find the narrative atmosphere of a promised horror comedy turning dark like it's colour scheme, and it's series protagonist Adhira and Mohi are nowhere in view. The second book opens in a South-Indian village named Vichitrapur. A boy named Meyappen is searching for his dog Parshu in midst of full moon night. The puppy is being hunted by a monster, but no one believes little-timid Meyappen, neither his parents nor his village mates. Vichitrapur is an apt name, you know something is wrong here, the animals don't seem right, the population is quick to temper, kids are looking hollow and drained. This village has too many secrets and grand themes for its 36-page...

Book Review: Annarasumanara by Il-Kwon Ha  (link at the bottom) Quote: You know there is an amusement park on the hill...That went out of business. There is a magician that wanders around the amusement park. Yun Ai's life is harsh, her father is on the run from debtors, she lives with her younger sister in a single room complex, she can't afford new stockings and skips lunch to manage the household. When Ai was young her dream was to become a magician, but reality bit hard. One day in an old abandoned amusement park she meets a handsome L, who is a magician with a talking parrot. L shows her magic and from there story is a bewitching tale of lavishing and experimental art and narrative. On another hand Il-Deung the handsome class topper, who is suffering from mental pressure has a crush on Ai, they share seats and notes, he too becomes interested in magic when he wants to win over Ai. This comic also draws focus on the cause and effect of parental/social pr...