Hello, bookish internet people! This post is going to be just a bit different from my usual book posts, because this year has been just a little bit different from my usual reading year.

If 2015 was the year of the audiobooks (which, based on my reading stats, it totally was), then 2016 is shaping up to be the year of the comics. Thus far in 2016, I’ve been crushing my reading goal on Goodreads mainly because of one very important detail: I’ve been hitting trade paperbacks of comics like it’s nobody’s business! Since I fly through comics in the space of about 20-30 minutes, I thought I’d do a little round up post of mini reviews about each of the comics I’ve read so far rather than  short posts about each. Sounds fun, right? I hope so!

Rat Queens:

I’d been hearing about Rat Queens for months thanks to the Book Riot podcast, but it wasn’t until my friend Nicki actually handed me a physical copy that I decided to go on the Rat Queens journey. About a half an hour later, I had an Amazon order in for the second trade paperback edition. Rat Queens is a feminist nerd’s dream, with beautiful illustrations, interesting characters, colorful language, and a diverse cast of magical creatures with back stories that slowly filter in as you keep reading. One of my least favorite things about comics is how little depth you usually start off with, but Rat Queens builds quickly to a point where you begin to get a sense of who each character is. The third trade volume comes out in April, and you can bet I’ll get my hands on it ASAP.

Saga:

To say I’m the target audience for a comic book that features a woman holding a baby on the front cover is kind of like saying I’m the target audience for those male enhancement commercials, but after hearing so many people talk up Saga, I decided to give it a go. Since the first several volumes are available for free streaming on Hoopla, it was an easy choice to make. A few colorful pages in, I was hooked.

The story is narrated by the baby, which creates an interesting setup because it routes around the necessity that the two main adult characters will survive their adventures to tell their tales. With a slew of different exotic alien races and rich backstories to slowly filter in, this comic has me hooked. I know where all of my Hoopla checkouts for the month will be going!

Bitch Planet:

Admittedly I’m having trouble getting through this one. With the outcropping of Non-compliant tatoos and talk about this comic, I had to give it a go when Nicki handed it to me along with Rat Queens. Much like she warned, however, it’s a little bit “in your face” for me so far. I’m only about halfway in, so I’ll save final judgments for then, but so far I think the main issue is that the artwork isn’t really my style, so I’m having trouble getting into the story.

So there we have it, bookternet. Read any good comics yet? Have any recommendations about where I can finally jump in to the Marvel Comic universe?