Muppet King Arthur (Muppet Graphic Novels) #BookReview

muppet-king-arthur by Christopher Jimenez

Bibliographic Info

FROM WORLDCAT
Title: Muppet King Arthur
Author: Paul Benjamin; Dave Alvarez; Patrick Storck; James Silvani
Publisher: Los Angeles, CA : Boom Studios, 2010.
Edition/Format: Print book : Graphic : Fiction : Juvenile audience
Genre/Form: Graphic novels, Fiction, Juvenile works, Juvenile fiction
Material Type: Fiction, Graphic, Juvenile audience
Document Type: eBook
All Authors / Contributors: Paul Benjamin; Dave Alvarez; Patrick Storck; James Silvani
ISBN: 1608865568 9781608865567 9781608865550 160886555X
OCLC Number: 875958645
Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations
Responsibility: writers Paul Benjamin and Patrick Storck ; artists Dave Alvarez (issue 1) ; James Silvani (issues 2-4).
Subjects:
Arthur, -- King -- Juvenile fiction.
Arthur, -- King.
Muppets (Fictitious characters) -- Juvenile fiction.

Background

I love The Muppets. I love everything Muppets. Real quick: Muppet Movie, Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets From Space, The Muppets; all classics. The latest Muppet movie sucked. I saw it, I enjoyed it for what it was... but it was not a classic.

So I was browsing Hoopla again, looking at whatever they had and I saw this Muppet King Arthur graphic novel. I knew that I had to experience the graphic novel series. So I borrowed this from my public library and downloaded the ebook to my phone.

NOTE: The bibliographic info is for the physical edition. I got lazy and didn't locate the e-edition. But don't worry, you can use this info to get it yourself, no problem!

Review

Of course, our lovable green frog friend is the protagonist of this story. Arthur is propelled onto the throne when, as a squire tasked with fetching a sword for Sam of Eagle, the lady of the lake directs him to Excalibur. Arthur the Frog pulls the sword from the stone and is destined to rule all of England.

Sam of Eagle is the main antagonist who is determined to follow the American Democratic process rather than some mystic monarchy. So Arthur is aided by Merlin to assemble his knights by hosting a talent show. They proceed to battle Sam of Eagle, go on a quest and bring civility to England.

As a big fan of the franchise, my expectations might have been too high. I felt that the jokes got a little annoying. I know, the jokes are corny and they are supposed to be corny. But it just felt a little more forced than farce and that is an easy pitfall for this kind of humor.

It was an entertaining read for an afternoon or two, but it's not exactly a "must-add" to my library.

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1776 #bookreview

Bibliographic Info

From WorldCat
Title: 1776
Author: David G McCullough; Recorded Books, LLC.
Publisher: Prince Frederick, Md. : Recorded Books ; [Prince Frederick, Md.] : [Distributed by] OneClick Digital, 2011, ℗2005.
Edition/Format: eAudiobook : English : Unabridged
Material Type: Audio book, etc., Sound recording, Internet resource
Document Type: Internet Resource, Computer File, Sound Recording
All Authors / Contributors: David G McCullough; Recorded Books, LLC.
ISBN: 9781449869854 1449869858
OCLC Number: 867115097
Performer(s): Narrated by the author.
Subjects: United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.

Background

Honestly, who hasn't read 1776 by David McCullough? More than that, who hasn't read something by the great biographer? You know, he also wrote about John Adams and The American Spirit... Well, me; sadly, shockingly even! (Although I did watch the John Adams miniseries with Paul Giamatti on Amazon Prime. It is excellent and I heartily recommend it.) This has been on my reading list for far too long and as I browsed my public library's Hoopla offerings, I saw 1776 and decided to check it out and give it a listen.

As Liaison to the History department, I feel I should at least be familiar with the accessible popular biographies of authors like Chernow & McCullough, even if they are somewhat looked down on by serious academics. At least they provide a baseline of general knowledge that can be improved. But alas, there's only a limited number of hours in the day.

Review

It took a while for me to get into this audio title. I like to read history books on the page (physical or digital) so I can dwell on the details. I found myself wanting to dig into certain phrases when the narrator, David McCullough himself, kept moving on. That is no fault of the writer, it is a personal preference of the reader. Still, it is something of which to beware.

On the subject of the audiobook. While McCullough absolutely did a marvelous job of researching and writing, I did not particularly like his reading of the text. It also threw me when some random lady read random chapters. I assume this is because McCullough read the book initially, and then for the unabridged portions someone else took over. Her voice wasn't bad, it was just a jarring transition at times.

1776 covers the first year of the American Revolution (duh, it's in the title). David McCullough includes details from the highest ranks to the lowest. Eventually, though, he focuses more on General Washingon's tactical decisions which allow the Americans to survive that first year of the war when their cause could have been squashed if the British had made different decisions.

I heartily endorse this book for anyone interested in Early American History. It is eminently accessible and audiobooks are a really convenient medium.

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Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope #bookreview

Bibliographic Info 

From WorldCat
Title:  William Shakespeare's Star Wars: verily, a new hope.
Author:  Ian Doescher; Daniel Davis; Jonathan Davis, (Narrator); January LaVoy; Marc Thompson;
Publisher:  New York : Books on Tape, 2013.
Edition/Format:  Audiobook : Fiction : English
Genre/Form:  Adaptations, Parodies, imitations, etc
Material Type:  Fiction, Audio book, etc.
Document Type:  Sound Recording
ISBN:  9780804191807 0804191808
OCLC Number:  869549899
Duration: 3 hr., 29 min.
Performer(s): Read by Daniel Davis, Jonathan Davis, January LaVoy and Marc Thompson.
Subjects:
Shakespeare, William, -- 1564-1616 -- Parodies, imitations, etc.
Star wars (Motion picture) -- Adaptations.
Star Wars fiction.

Background

Being a good librarian who's always looking to improve, I attended the American Library Association's (ALA) Annual conference last summer (2017) in Chicago. It was an absolute blast! It was also my first ALA Annual since I didn't exactly have the means to attend before this past summer. While I heard my colleagues tell stories of the grand buffet of books to be consumed, I really was not ready for it.

Some of these stories include an instance when a colleague packed boxes for the books they intended to pick up at the conference. These boxes were not going to fly back with her, they were headed back to Miami via the UPS store. Now that's what I call planning for a conference.

Opening night at the exhibition hall is like turning children loose in a candy store or turning teenagers loose at a Cici's pizza. Free books for librarians, uh-YES! As luck would have it, I saw this set of William Shakespeare's Star Wars audiobooks as I was about to plunge into the children's section. I probably tripped a few fellow bibliophiles and momentarily lost a colleague, but I scored this impressive tome.

It was not until later on that I inspected the cover at my hostel. (Yes, I stayed in a hostel in Chicago for 5 days this past summer.) This was not just a single title, but a trilogy--the original (IV, V & VI) Trilogy at that! What a score! Three titles in one relatively compact case. I knew this would be awesome!

Review

If the first thing that popped into your mind was, Wow! The Star Wars saga set to glorious iambic pentameter, sweet! You will NOT be disappointed by this audiobook. Ian Doescher marvelously converts the movie script into about 3,000 lines of Shakespearian verse and language, the chorus, fie and anon included.

Verily, a new hope is presented on five discs, representing the 5 acts of the play, naturally. Doescher also claims that Shakespeare and George Lucas are connected by Joseph Campbell. Lucas claims that he rewrote the Star Wars screenplay to align with Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces, making Star Wars one of the first motion pictures to do so explicitly. Many of Campbell's archetypes ( a term actually coined by Carl Jung when he wrote about the Collective Unconscious) are clear in Shakespeare's plays. Well, more accurately, these archetypes are seen in most good literature from all over.

So there you have it! Shakespeare leads to Campbell then leads to Star Wars. Sort of... It's fun anyways!

It is fun to change the format of a beloved work and see to what kinds of interpretations it leads. When a film is represented as a novel, details must be added. When the format changes to a graphic novel, image stills take the lead. It is fascinating to observe the details required to transpose the movie into a play. But when you think about it, a screenplay is very similar to a play. So what we are reading (or hearing) is the script itself.

There are a few interpretive licenses taken with character development. I felt that Leia took on a bit of a flattened role. C3PO received a bit of an insult to his intelligence. And R2D2 received more credit for its role in orchestrating the entire saga.

Notwithstanding, this is an excellent piece to add to any Star Wars fanatic's library; particularly a literary fan. I can't wait to listen to The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return.

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