Bro on the Go

Written by: Barney Stinson
Pages: 144

From the mind of New York Times bestselling author Barney Stinson comes the ultimate companion to The Bro Code – a handy reference guide crafted for today’s active Bro. With new rules, inspirations, and wisdom, coupled with classics staples from the original Code, Bro on the Go is designed to quickly aid a busy Bro in any situation he might face – at the beach, on the job, at the game, or with the ladies. Plus, it looks good stuffed in your pocket

Mercy Thompson:

Moon Called, Volume 1

Written by: Patricia Briggs, David Lawrence, Amelia Woo
Pages: 128

Five Mercy Thompson novels have topped the New York Times best-seller list, and her premiere graphic novel did the same. Now Patricia Briggs’ heroic shape-shifter returns to comics! Mercy Thompson inhabits two worlds without truly belonging to either. To the human inhabitants of the Tri-Cities she’s an oddity, a female mechanic operating her own garage. To the town’s darker residents, werewolves, vampires, and fae, she’s a walker, a last-of-her-kind magical being with the power to become a coyote. Mercy warily straddles the fine line dividing our everyday world from that darker dimension… ’till a boy, mauled by vicious werewolves and forever changed by the attack and on the run from those who committed the crime, appears at her door. Now her two worlds are about to collide! Outnumbered and out-muscled, can Mercy possibly save the boy… or even herself?

I’m not kidding when I say that Borders needs to finish selling their books so I can stop going in looking for good deals. Same for Sir Megabyte!

A couple of weeks ago, Megs decided he should take a spin through the bookstore. His plan? “Just see if the deals are any better.” Uh huh. That’s how they sucker you. Luckily he stuck mostly to the bargain bin books. Love those bargain bin books! You already see massive mark downs on them, plus they have the bonus liquidation discount. Needless to say, he got a few books for very little money.

One was the “Bro on the Go” book.  Now, he knows me. He knows that I’m a huge fan of “How I Met Your Mother”. That show cracks me up. I really started watching it because I was like, “Dude! Willow meets Doogie Howser!” Everything else is just bonus. Neil Patrick Harris is AWESOME as Barney Stinson. Every time he says, “Suit up!” I crack up.

Knowing this, Sir Megabyte knew I’d crack up with the “Bro on the Go”. Barney comes up with the zaniest “Bro Rules”. Sure enough, this book holds great nuggets of Barney Wisdom such as: “An hour spent sculpting a neck beard is an hour lost forever.” “If you find yourselves in Montana, somebody screwed up somewhere.” “The stranger sitting next to you would totally like to hear about your high school sports moment of glory.”

Then there’s blatant “DUH!” rules: “There’s always time for a casual lap around the electronics superstore” and “God did not design spandex for dudes. *Exception: David Lee Roth in the ’80s. That just worked.*” Lady Ozma can get behind both of these wholeheartedly!

This book is just fannish good fun. It made me laugh!

Now let’s get to the Mercedes Thompson graphic novel. I had only heard rumours of this. Dynamite press is… well… dynamite! The glossy pages feel lovely, the full colour art is absolutely amazing, and the adaptation of the first Mercy book to graphic leaves you satisfied.

The wolf art is top notch. I am so happy with how the artists conveyed the characters I know and love. It is really a lot of fun to see artwork for a book series you enjoy, but it is truly rewarding when that artwork looks great.

Best of all, I saw on the cover: Featuring an all new never before published story!

That’s right, you can get a little “extra” for your fanboy or fangirl pleasure. Only a few pages, you get to see a how Mack becomes a werewolf.  He played such a small part in the larger “Moon Called” story, but still it was nice. After all, it was his murder that got things rolling in the book.

This is only Volume 1 in the “Moon Called” graphic, so you will not get the full story, however I felt the breaking point came at a good place.  I hope there’s a Volume 2 in my near future.

I’m glad I found this and picked it up. I’m going to shelve it in the hopes of one day getting a nice big fat “Patricia Briggs” autograph.

Just a note – I’ve reviewed quite a few graphic novels lately and so far I’ve been most pleased. They center around other things that I love such as TV Shows and books.  I really do love seeing how series that I love look in art form. I have about zero talent for art, at least this sort of art, but I sure do have a strong appreciation for it. It is also rewarding when you see the art done in conjunction with the creator of the thing you love.

–Lady O