{"id":182,"date":"2006-01-24T21:39:49","date_gmt":"2006-01-25T04:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=182"},"modified":"2021-05-30T21:31:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T01:31:38","slug":"the-black-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/182","title":{"rendered":"The Black Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Black Forest<\/a><\/em> (2004) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We (or more rightly Michael) picked this up at the Bookshelf in early December. Robert Tinnell lives in West Virginia–apparently relatively close, as Jim talked about calling him to bring by more copies. Michael read it right away, but I decided to wait until I needed something short to read.<\/p>\n

This story was not at all what I was expecting. The Black Forest<\/em> evoked, for me, Eastern European folktales. And the vamipric creature on the cover made me think of dark fantasy. Thus, I was not expecting a supernatural World War I war story. (This is probably a good time to admit that I typically ignore or at best scan back cover copy. Yes, I regularly judge books by their cover. Following that, I look for positive blurbs by authors I know.)<\/p>\n

That aside, once I got over my surprise, I enjoyed the story. Though I have to admit that it was strange to read a war story where the enemy Germans were not Nazis. It was rather refreshing in fact. <\/p>\n

The art was also interesting–excluding the cover, the book was completely black and white. I liked both the starkness and the darkness of the art like this, as well as the fact that gruesome and bloody in black and white I can handle far more easily than gruesome and bloody in full color. In other words, this story might have bothered me if it was in color.<\/p>\n

I have to admit, though, that I found one of the main characters, Jack, extremely annoying. Luckily, he got a lot less annoying by the end of the book, but I still didn’t care to much for him, hero or no. <\/p>\n

I found the female characters interestingly drawn. Although they (of course) had huge breasts and tiny waists, they were still in some ways more realistic than many female characters. They may have breasts, but they also have bellies and thighs. Kinda neat actually.<\/p>\n

So it was an interesting story, and I liked the fact that it was in black and white, so I’m looking forward to reading the second volume, which Michael also picked up.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Black Forest (2004) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes We (or more rightly Michael) picked this up at the Bookshelf in early December. Robert Tinnell lives in West Virginia–apparently relatively close, as Jim talked about calling him to bring by more copies. Michael read it right away, but I decided to wait until I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,291],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-graphic-novels","category-paper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":251,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/251","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":0},"title":"The Black Forest 2","author":"Michelle","date":"May 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Black Forest 2 (2005) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes I read The Black Forest in January, and liked it. We'd picked up The Black Forest 2, but I'd somehow forgotten we had it, but when I was putting Hellraiser away, I noticed it and picked it up. Although\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Graphic Novels"","block_context":{"text":"Graphic Novels","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/graphic-novels"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Blac-Forest-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23562,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23562","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":1},"title":"Evergreen Chase","author":"Michelle","date":"May 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Evergreen Chase (2021) Juneau Black (Shady Hollow) It's almost Solstice, but someone has stolen Shady Hollow's solstice tree--the tallest in the forest! The one that Callum Burrows has been been tending for years. It\u2019s been my privilege to tend this year\u2019s tree. It was selected thirty-six years ago, and it\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Evergreen Chase","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Evergreen_Chase.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Evergreen_Chase.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Evergreen_Chase.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Evergreen_Chase.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Evergreen_Chase.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/140","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":2},"title":"Delicate Creatures","author":"Michelle","date":"October 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Delicate Creatures (2001) J. Michael Straczynski Delicate Creatures was not what I was expecting, though I'm not sure what I was expecting. The art was interesting in that it was definitely in a style that I associate with comics, but was written like Stardust and The Dream Hunters--more like a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/10\/Delicate-Creatures.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11371,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11371","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":3},"title":"The Hermit of Eyton Forest","author":"Michelle","date":"January 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hermit of Eyton Forest (1987) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1142 The 14th Brother Cadfael mystery. \u201cThere\u2019s no end to the follies any man can commit.\u201d (A) big, burly, thrusting man, his face abruptly lit as he swung past the torch fixed at the gate, and then as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/The-Hermit-of-Eyton-Forest.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12792,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12792","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":4},"title":"Family Matters","author":"Michelle","date":"April 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Family Matters (2018) Angel Martinez (Brandywine Investigations) This is two books and a short story. The first story is about Dionysus and Leander (the Minotaur of the cover. (with a KILT. Which is PERFECT.)) The second story is a short story about a young woman stumbling upon Artemis and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Family Matters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Family-Matters.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22572,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22572","url_meta":{"origin":182,"position":5},"title":"Stardust, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Stardust, Audio Book (1990) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard (Spenser) TW: Horrible things are alluded to rather than spoken (written) directly, as fit the character to whom the things happened. Jill Joyce--the famous actress who makes any TV show a hit--thinks someone is threatening her. 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