Dustin Cabeal 4/25/17 Dustin Cabeal 4/25/17

Review: Real Friends

By Dustin Cabeal

Real Friends is probably the best title you can come up for this story, but unfortunately, it has very little to do with real friends. Maybe more in line with finding real friends or even figuring out who to spot real friends, but then you’d never be able to find the title for the story. My point is, don’t think that you’re going to read a happy story about “real friends” finding each other and going on great adventures. Not that this story isn’t happy, but it’s a lot like life in that everything comes in waves.

Press Release 4/3/17 Press Release 4/3/17

Reading Without Walls This April

We're delighted to be launching Reading Without Walls this April -- a month-long, nation-wide program to promote diversity in reading, inspired by National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Gene Luen Yang and his ambassadorial platform. Thousands of schools, libraries, bookstores, and comics stores are joining in to help celebrate Reading Without Walls.

Dustin Cabeal 3/21/17 Dustin Cabeal 3/21/17

Review: Star Scouts

By Dustin Cabeal

At times Star Scouts is an entertaining read full of imagination and a positive message about being different. Other times, it hits you over the head with its characterizations and paced far too slowly. Star Scouts is obviously aimed at younger kids as the message and outcome of the story are very easy to figure out. This wasn’t a deal breaker, but it did make for a bumpy ride to the end.

Dustin Cabeal 3/21/17 Dustin Cabeal 3/21/17

Review: Secret Coders vol. 3: Secrets & Sequences

By Dustin Cabeal

After really enjoying the first volume of Secret Coders, I found that my enjoyment for the second volume wasn’t nearly as high. I kept reading though because the cliffhangers are interesting and add to the story rather than just being a cheap gimmick to entice you back.

Dustin Cabeal 2/22/17 Dustin Cabeal 2/22/17

Review: The Big Bad Fox

By Dustin Cabeal

The Big Bad Fox was everything I thought it would be. I called the ending by the tenth page, but I also realized that it didn’t matter that I knew how it was going to end. What mattered was whether the story could still be good despite me knowing where it was going. I’m happy to say, that it was better than good, it was great.

Dustin Cabeal 2/15/17 Dustin Cabeal 2/15/17

Review: The Nameless City: The Stone Heart

By Dustin Cabeal

While I enjoyed The Nameless City, which is the overall name for this trilogy and the first volume in the series, it never grabbed me. I didn’t fall in love with it in the way I have with other works from Faith Erin Hicks. What doesn’t help is that twice now the series has had a quote from an Avatar: The Last Airbender creator on it, which is exactly what this series makes me think about while reading it. The quote amplifies that unfortunately, which may be the reason I’m not in love with this series.

Dustin Cabeal 1/24/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/24/17

Review: Wires and Nerve

By Dustin Cabeal

If you’re going to read Wires and Nerve, know that it’s a follow-up to The Lunar Chronicles and doesn’t stand on its own at all. Sure, you can read Wires and Nerve and get a general idea of the world, but this story is heavy-handed on the references of what came before it.

Dustin Cabeal 1/18/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/18/17

Review: The Time Museum

By Dustin Cabeal

This is probably going to be one of my shorter reviews for a graphic novel based on a few things. The first being that if you don’t like time travel stories, then you shouldn’t bother reading this one. It’s a brilliant homage to the genre, and while creator Matthew Loux manages to tweak everything just enough to be its own, it’s hard to ignore the influences completely… but then that’s also what’s fun and entertaining about The Time Museum.

Dustin Cabeal 1/18/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/18/17

Review: Decelerate Blue

By Dustin Cabeal

Often when I’m reviewing a comic, it’s an intricate dance of scales. Whatever side ends up with the most weight on it effects the review the most and ultimately decides the score. Decelerate Blue sat in the middle for most of my reading. For everything cool or interesting it did, it managed to do an equal amount of disinterest.