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Hosler, Jay – The Way of the Hive
Like it says on the cover, this was previously published as Clan Apis a whole lot of years ago. And a whole lot of years before THAT it was published as five comics. So is it cheating if I review something twice? Eh, sort of, so please send any formal complaints to my manager, who is me, so they can deal with them appropriately, which is to either ignore them or laugh if they’re well written. Also the original graphic novel was black and white and this is in full, glorious color, which was always the best way to read it. So what’s this book about? Well, you should know that this is an “all ages” book, that Jay is a biology professor, and that he is a pioneer of using comics to impart scientific information to his students. You’re going to learn a lot here, is what I’m trying to say, and that’s almost certainly true even if you think you know everything there is to know about honey bees. There’s also a fairly engaging narrative going on, so even if you’re trying your very best not to learn anything new, you’ll still be invested enough in it to keep going. Also, you’re going to learn plenty of new things, so just accept that now. This is the story of Nyuki, and we’re taken through her larval stage, her process in becoming a bee, an understanding of the various jobs of the different types of bees, and the dangers that are present in the outside world. We also see how different hives interact with each other, how queens keep control, how they keep it down to only one queen at a time and what happens when an insect or animal dies in the hive. I am exceedingly tempted to throw a whole lot of bee facts at you right now, but I’ll limit myself to one: did you have any idea that bees could sting other insects without their stingers being pulled out? I did not, but found it fascinating. And that they kill invader bees by swarming them and flapping their wings so fast that they basically cook the rival bee? OK, that was two facts. Bees have an exceedingly short life span (less than two months), so Nyuki was never going to fly off into the sunset at the end of the book, but it does a fantastic job of showing the importance of all bees working as a unit and how all of their actions are designed to keep the hive going. There’s also an appendix in the back filled with even more facts and Jay walking the reader through his creative process, including how he managed to show emotions while still getting around the whole “bees have no facial expressions” thing. It’s an engaging, informative book, and forgive the incredible tackiness of this, but I’m going to quote the final line from my original review now: Fun for all ages, in a way that few things are. $12.99
Hosler, Jay – Sandwalk Adventures
If this guy keeps this up (“this” meaning putting out a great all-ages graphic novel every couple of years) he might end up being the first famous educational cartoonist in the world. Both of the books he’s done so far should be taught in classrooms and there are very few people I can say that about. Anyway, the collected version of this book is much better than its parts. The cover is from #5 as I just read all of the issues in a row and there’s no image up for the cover yet on Amazon, if anybody cares. I think he did a much better job with this series of really making things entertaining for everybody too. I felt with Clan Apis that he was leaning towards writing for kids mostly, or maybe he was just getting the hang of things, but this is a much better effort all around. The appendix in the back of the book is invaluable too. It’s good to see that pile of books that I can show to absolutely everyone who’s interested in comics growing by leaps and bounds. It’s $14 on Amazon right now and well worth a look. The art has gotten crisper, the writing is downright adorable (I mean that in a scholarly, educational way, of course) and it just comes together really well.
Hosler, Jay – Clan Apis
It took me long enough, but I finally managed to get this book. A birthday present no less, but here it is. A few comments about it before I get started. You know as soon as you open it that the guy knows what he’s talking about because it’s by Jay Hosler, Ph.D. It’s also always refreshing to see books that aren’t from Top Shelf, or Highwater, or Fantagraphics, or Drawn and Quarterly, or any of those people. Sure, most of the things that they put out are at least pretty good, but it seems so cliquish. Three cheers for the Xeric Grant. Without it there would be a tiny, exclusive club producing quality work and that would be all that we had to choose from.
It’s obvious pretty quick that this isn’t going to be anything like True Swamp. True, Jon Lewis does some serious research, but this guy is already a Ph.D. and obviously knows his stuff up and down. I had huge expectations going into this too, purely because of the great word of mouth surrounding this thing. It’s broken up into 5 chapters and I had some serious doubts after reading the first one. It was informative as hell, don’t get me wrong. I learned all kinds of things that I didn’t know about the process that it takes to make a bee. But the dialogue was dopey as hell and I was starting to think that this was more of an educational book than it was entertaining. Chapter 2 started off pretty dopey too, but at some point in it it got a lot more interesting. The characters were allowed to develop (as much as bees do develop, that is) and it was funny while being informative. He never looked back after that and I liked the rest of the book a lot. Really, if you have any interest in how honey is made, or how bees live, or just how a guy with a Ph.D. would do a comic, get this. There’s a text section in the back called “Bee Lines” that has all kinds of little facts about insects. This is all a lot more interesting than it sounds, I swear. You also get a bonus story at the end about Jay and his sudden allergic reaction to bees, which proves that he really can draw more than just bees. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this in classrooms in a few years. Last word of advice, if you do get this, stick with it. Don’t give up after the first chapter because it gets a lot better. Fun for all ages, in a way that few things are.
Hosler, Jay – Sandwalk Adventures #2
Sandwalk Adventures #2
Why is it that the comics that are published on a regular basis don’t suck? I say that mostly for the books that are obviously going to be put into graphic novel form in a year or so anyway. I’m trying to give up on getting books until they’re released in a complete form and this makes it just about impossible. Or maybe I’m too impatient. Anyway, isn’t there a comic here somewhere? This series (projected at 5 issues) has Darwin telling some mites living in his eyebrow about his history. It’s fascinating, mostly because I don’t know much about his formative years. This one, like Clan Apis, is told in an all ages kind of format and will probably be in classrooms shortly too. It’s good to see stuff like this, comics done well for everybody. Assuming that I have children somewhere along the line, it’s encouraging to see that there will actually be a pretty decent pile of stuff that I can show them before they’re in high school. Anyway, this series is getting better and better, although it’ll probably be easier to find when the whole thing is put out, there’s a very informative notebook at the back of each issue that might not be reprinted again. More than worth a look, if you’re curious. Send $3 plus shipping (I’m guessing here, but that’s the price of the comic) to Active Synapse Comics, 4258 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43214-3048. You should probably e-mail him before you send money just t make sure though…
