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seriouslyreadabook

Seriously, Read a Book!

Thoughts on books, often interpreted through the high-brow prism of cartoon (read: Archer) references. Wait! I had something for this...

Currently reading

Land of LISP: Learn to Program in LISP, One Game at a Time!
Conrad Barski
The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Notetaking
Mike Rohde
The Antidote
Oliver Burkeman
The Kind Worth Killing
Peter Swanson
James Buchanan
Jean H. Baker, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

Black Widow: The Name of the Rose

I'm embarrassed to say that I was, for all intents and purposes, absent the day they covered superheroes in my youth (also, I never learned cursive). I was one of those kids who wasn't allowed to have toy guns, and had to use a giant dolphin whose dorsal fin you could pull back to make it spit water instead of a Super Soaker. Yes, mine was quite the deprived childhood. 

Given that last time I checked, Michelle Pfeifer was the hottest catwoman in town, and superheroes are always running around with double identities and such, I was surprised to find that I could, in fact, follow this story. As it were, I was probably more taken with the double, triple crossing story line as I still remain unclear on who exactly the "good guys" are. Actually, let me amend that, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this story has more depth of character than can be described using binary terms like good and bad. 

Black Widow is super bad ass. She's by no means a damsel in distress, and has brains and brawn, and some deep dark secrets to boot. As mentioned, I don't really know enough of the background stories to be able to identify what would be spoiler-worthy, so I'll just keep the plot to myself. 

The art itself was pretty amazing, and the way they do the ebook with each frame magnifying made the digital experience, at the very least, non-detrimental. The artists/authors seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole endeavor. 

I loved the bro crowd's reaction when Black Widow absconds to the bathroom with her beefy beau:
Black Widow

There's a little girl on the train who looks like she's holding an Oscar*:


And last, but definitely not least as far as I'm concerned, Black Widow rides a kick ass dual sport!
Black Widow Dual Sport

So, in summation, yay for cool drawings, a story a superheroically-challenged reader can follow, and awesome motorcycles.

* Look at me being all spoiler-sensitive by blurring the dialogue.