Skip to main content

Seconds

Amazon.com: Seconds: A Graphic Novel eBook: O'Malley, Bryan Lee ... 
Hello travelers,

Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley is a graphic novel published by Ballantine Books in 2014. O'Malley is most well known for his Scott Pilgrim books along with Lost at Sea and his work on other comics such as Young Avengers #1 and The Wicked + The Divine #1. He has won three Doug Wright Awards, nine Harvey Awards, an Eagle Award, seven Joe Shuster Awards, three Eisner Awards, and a National Cartoonists Society Division Award.

So what's it about?

Seconds follows Katie, a young chef who is trying to open her own restaurant, who encounters a strange girl named Lis. Lis gives Katie a mushroom for "when things go wrong." The next day, one of the restaurant workers is burned in an accident and Katie realizes it is her fault. She takes the mushroom and wakes up to find the event of the night before have changed. 

Desperate to gain control of her chaotic life and make everything perfect, she discover Lis' stash of time altering mushrooms and uses them to improve her life. She gets her boyfriend back, makes better decisions about her new restaurant, and fixes her relationships with her co-workers. But every time she alters her past, it gives the thing growing in the storeroom more power until Katie is no longer the one in control and Lis can no longer protect her home.

This is a story about choices, consequences, and not always knowing what's best for yourself. There's one section of the story where Katie uses a mushroom to get back with her boyfriend, who she's been avoiding most of the story, only to realize she doesn't function well in the world where he is controlling many decisions regarding her restaurant. She tries to be perfect for him, using mushrooms to fix her mistakes so she won't anger him and risk being along again. 

There's elements of magic that I really liked. I enjoyed seeing Hazel go through her ritual of appeasing the house spirit and how her relationship with Katie developed throughout all of the time changes. 

It's also nice to see Katie realizing her world is crumbling but she also doesn't want to give all of it up. In the end, it's this realization that saves her. 

I also likes how the narrator and Katie sometimes interact with each other. The narrative text gives the reader some information and Katie will directly comment on the information. 

The art is also great. It's simple designs, lots of rounded corners and big eyes, but the coloration and lighting of each panel conveys so much about the story and the world, including which "world" we are seeing. 

Part of me wished we'd get a little more with Hazel, Lis, and the witch but I know it's not the center of the story.

Overall, a great graphic novel that everyone should read. It's short. It's cozy. And it has a good message.

Note: some suggestive material.

Until next time, friends.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos

  The X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos by Kami Garcia is a prequel to the Fox television show that was created by Chris Carter and aired between 1993 and 2002. Agent of Chaos was published in 2017 by Imprint Reads. Kami Garcia is the coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures and is the author of The Lovely Reckless, Broken Beautiful Hearts, Unbreakable, and Unmarked. For those who haven't watched the show, X-files follows FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder as they investigate unexplained circumstances and events while also dealing with a shadow government who may have orchestrated the kidnapping of Mulder's little sister, Samantha.  Agent of Chaos takes place five years after Samantha's disappearance. Mulder is living with his father despite their deteriorating relationship and is suffering from insomnia and obsessive fixation on various subjects that he finds interesting. Meanwhile, his father is pressuring him to attend Georgetown University for a soci...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blade of the Immortal Vol. 1-4 Review

  Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Saura, originally Mugen no Junin, published by Afternoon from Jun 1993 to December 2012.  In America, it was published by Dark Horse Comics, using a cut-and-paste method instead of the mirror image method in order to make the series read left-to-right. This was done at Mr. Samura's request to preserve his artwork and to avoid flipping the manji symbol used throughout the series. The series was made into an anime, directed by Koichi Mashimo and produced by Bee Train, released July through December 2008 and released by Media Blsters in North America in September 2009. There was also a 2017 live action film adaption directed by Takashi Miike and staring Takuya Kimura. The manga won a 1997 Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival and a Will Eisener Comic industry Award in 2000. It sold 5 million copies as of February 2017. I managed to find the Dark Horse versions at a local second hand bookstore. Unfortunately, these edit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reading During Quarentine

    Photo by cottonbro from Pexels   Hello travelers, If you are like you, you are stuck in the middle of quarantine. I recognize that this might mean different things for different people. Personally, I live in an area where everyone is supposed to be doing the bare minimum for health safety yet they are also pretty much back to normal life despite our spiking numbers (thanks Midwest America). I am an essential worker and have continued to work throughout the shut down in order to service my community with their library needs. I recognize i'm lucky to still be working though I do wish there were more restrictions and not such a big push to reopen given the current climate. When this quarantine started, a lot of people figured this was a great time to read all of those books that they never would normally get around to. I had a similar mindset. I couldn't go out. I was stuck at home all the time. Obviously this was the perfect time to put a huge dent in my TBR, right? A...
Post a Comment
Read more