Strong female lea...No! Kickass Skeleton Bard!

One word: Epic. The first volume shows the true potential of what is yet to come. Full of smart humor. It's a great story. The characters are strong and well built visually and emotionally. The variance of style makes great shifts and what a perfect way to start the story. Many moments took me back to my youth where I surrounded myself with lots of D&D, games, movies and books that are still part of my main influences. I can't wait for the next volume. ( )

This is a fun graphic novel that puts a satirical spin on medieval fantasy yarns. At first I thought it might be a ripoff of one of my favorite book series from a few years ago, "Skullduggery Pleasant," because that too has a walking, talking, witty and clothed skeleton for a main character, and how often do you see *that* in books for teens?! But this is entirely different, aside from those initial similarities. Our friend Rickety is a troubadour (or minstrel), lives in a vaguely medieval time period, and has weird dreams/nightmares of surviving a horrible battle, all underlaid with the strains of an epic ballad that he can not *quite* remember when he wakes up. (I loved that the book is in color but those dreams/memories are in black and white.) Rickety has a weird little friend, The Gelatinous Goo, a cube of, well, goo, whose incomprehensible noises only Rickety can understand. The Goo is quite funny and pretty expressive for a blue glob of Jell-O, it's really hilarious as a sidekick! The two get fired from their job haunting a dungeon, and, all alone in the world, Rickety decides to try to figure out where he's from, what he was like as a living human, and what IS that song all about, "The Road to Epoli"? Along their journey through "Grimly Wood" they encounter an imp, they get mixed up with a nasty giant ogre, and there's a cute gnome named "L. Nerman Fuddle" (really, the names in this book are hilarious! At one point the imp disguises himself as "Chet Whistlefeet"), and then there comes the heart of the story, the evil of course, and more fantasy tropes twisted around a bit. OH! Did I mention the unicorn?! Because it's not your normal shy unicorn! I won't go on, but I do hope this series goes on for quite a bit, because I had a terrific time reading it. Rickety is snide and witty and yet also mournful--he has a soul. There are some innuendo jokes for older readers and plenty of gross-out humor for younger readers. The expressive bold art is great, too. Amazing how many expressions you can put on a cartoon skeleton's skull face! ( )

In this fantasy graphic novel, the titular characters (a walking, talking skeleton named Rickety and an unformed pile of gelatin named Gooey that speaks a language only the skeleton seems to understand) go on an ambiguous quest to find the meaning behind a song Rickety has a hazy memory of as well as what Rickety's life was like as a human.

This book had an interesting name, which seemed like a good start. Unfortunately, that was about where it ended with me. To be fair, fantasy isn't my favorite genre, but I think it was more than that. The first two chapters seemed a little extraneous, with the characters and setting being introduced but not with an introduction that was particularly illuminating. The story ends, not exactly on a cliffhanger, but with an obvious intent for a follow-up title(s).

Furthermore, this book is riddled with jokes that are crass (e.g., a variety of fart, "weiner," and even sexual harassment 'humor'), and the characters are only nominally compelling. There is a brave knight errant who is female, which is a lovely touch --- except that she's hardly in the book at all other than as someone for Rickety to long after. So much of the book felt like that -- it tried but didn't quite hit the mark. ( )

What's up, guys! This was a delightful read. More than ever it makes me really want to publish my first book. This one's going to be pretty short, almost like a mini review.
STORY:

"You are someone, Rickety Stitch. That much I know."

Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo: The Road to Epoli by Ben Costa & James Parks (208 pages) is about Rickety, a free-thinking skeleton who comically misses the point and has some disturbing dreams. Recently through a haunting song that stirs up memories in Rickety's head and after being fired from a dungeon-keeper job, he decides to go on a journey to discover who/what he was before a singing skeleton.

I hadn't expected too much out of this story besides some awesome art, but I found the story kind of heartwarming. To be honest not too much happens in this book. I will say it's a great set up because I am eager for the second book.

CHARACTERS:
Rickety Stitch— had a lovely cast of characters. The female knight only made a cameo this book, but I am certain we will see more of her come the next one.

Rickety seems pretty sweet. He really doesn't understand much about the world or himself, but he knows he loves his friends and his hilariously bad music gigs.

Goo! Not much to say about him, but he was very clever.

I enjoyed Ziggy, the friendless imp, the most. He had some pretty quick but good character development.

ART:
I loved the art. It had such a whimsical, storybook feel. The color direction as well was great too. The lighting in this story can go from deep browns and blues to bright grays and yellows. I just love how varied it is and how rich the colors are in this book. Great job to the colorists!

OVERALL:
You should read this story. I think it started a bit slow, but once I got involved into the story I liked it. It's sort of heartwarming at times.

Read more of my reviews here ( )