Tamra Bonvillain

I wanted this to be amazing. I thought the title/main character name was just plain stupid, but with Margaret Atwood at the helm of the story it would be recover. It didn't. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a crazy fun read...just probably not in the way it was intended. Yes, it was so utterly absurd that I was thoroughly amused through the entire thing despite the fact that the story is flimsy at best and the characters are beyond ridiculous.

Underneath my amusement of just how awful the whole thing is, however, is the tiniest whiff of discomfort. Haven't comic audiences been begging the industry to cool it with the blatant over-sexualization of characters, especially female characters? Yet here we have (from the celebrated author of The Handmaid's Tale, no less) characters whose only value to each other is how hot they look with tails. There is no heroism going on, just defense from a stereotypical bad guy, and zero attempt to even get ahead of the impending tragedy. Ultimately, it's as if Atwood decided to see just how many tired of comic book cliches she could cram into one story because that's all there is here--cliche. There is not a shred of plot, character, or even setting that is not derivative. And I have never seen such super-nerdy scientists be so painfully oblivious of how technology works.

In the end, I enjoyed the comic in a very Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way, which is why I decided to be generous with a second star. I'm glad Atwood was able to fulfill a little dream of hers, but I'm also very glad I got this at the library and didn't fork over my hard-earned cash for it.… (més)

I loves me some Margaret Atwood. This graphic novel - not so much.
There's some cute/corny to it. But I don't think that was the tone they were going for.
Something just didn't congeal between the concept and the execution and ultimately it falls short.
For me, the cause behind the graphic novel was more compelling than the cause in the graphic novel.
House cats who live three times longer than outdoor cats. And they don't eat songbirds. That's what I'll remember long after the rest has faded.
...maybe take your cat out in your yard on a leash if you feel guilty about keeping them indoors (which you shouldn't, cats are fine with it. Even if the make that hungry chittering when they look out the window at delicious birds, don't be fooled). We have two cats, they are cats with thumbs, so they are inherently superior to us humans, and they know it. They tricked/convinced/cajoled us into getting them harnesses to walk around the back yard in. All that is to say, get a cat, name it Strig or Cate Leone and give it a long happy life -instead of reading this graphic novel.… (més)