Snake Pit Gets Old

      Snake Pit Gets Old Daily Diary by Ben Snakepit is one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in a long time. The creator, Ben Snakepit, draws three panels every day about the day. I like how not every day is exciting. In the whole book, there are probably 300 panels that show Ben at work, first at a video store, then at a printing shop.

       One thing I like about Snake Pit is that Ben doesn’t make it seem like his life is super perfect.

There are plenty of times when he makes it seem like the opposite. There are six Snake Pit books and Ben matures a lot in each one. At the beginning of this book, he buys this old, fashioned arcade cabinet for $50. He works day and night to get it working. He installs his playstation into it and rewires everything, then, to my surprise, he sells it because he needs money. These real life experiences make it a lot more interesting. I would also like to mention that Ben draws himself as a big pile of poo whenever he plays video games

The artwork in Snake Pit is very cartoony. It’s not the super best, but I really like it. In my opinion the thing he draws the best is his dog, Peeber.
I think Ben should give himself more credit. He always writes about how he thinks he sucks at drawing. Another thing I like is how he puts a theme on a lot of his drawings. Like if he eats tacos, he’ll draw himself with a sombrero. If he reads X-Men, he’ll draw himself with Wolverine claws. If he watches Zombieland, he’ll draw himself as a zombie.

Snake Pit Gets Old is really simple, but I love it. I don’t think that Snake Pit Gets Old is appropriate for the younger audience. There is some swearing & alcohol in it.  I also think that some may find it boring. Ben draws every day of the year, even if they’re boring.  I would Snake Pit Gets Old 4¾ graphic autobiographies out of 5.

Thermae Romae

My sister India has gotten really into manga, so why not review my favorite manga, “Thermae Romae” by Mari Yamazaki? It’s about an Ancient Roman bathhouse designer named Lucius who gets all his ideas from traveling down the drain to modern day Japanese bathhouses. Every chapter, he goes down a different drain to a different bathhouse. I love how he’s always completely dumbfounded at the amazing inventions that he finds in this alien world, such as fruit flavored milk and movie posters. My favorite chapter is when he’s sent to a bathtub showroom. He is thought to be a businessman and an employee is sent to show him around. The very proper employee thinks he is really weird. He arrives naked in a bathtub, he only speaks Latin and wears a bathrobe he is given like a toga.

The art in Thermae Romae is not like traditional manga. It has a few similarities with manga, but it’s really its own thing. I really like the way Mari draws Lucius’s reactions to modern tech. His eyebrows raise up on his forehead and his mouth gapes open. She makes it clear that Lucius has a lot of trouble communicating with the Japanese.

I am going to give a warning to parents. There is naked people in da book. Apart from that, Thermae Romae is perfectly clean. It has educational pages in the back of each chapter. They tell you about Ancient Rome and modern day Japan I would give Thermae Romae 5 Roman legionnaires out of 5. 

There is a movie of Thermae Romae. I have not seen it yet.

Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk

Today I’m going to review a book I have owned for a long time. It’s called “Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk” by Ben Costa. It’s the story of a young monk named Pang. Pang was separated from his brothers when the monastery he lived in was attacked by the Chinese Emperor’s men. He is always attacked by soldiers in the cities he passes through.

                    Pang is very passive, but he is always put in positions where he has to fight or innocent people will get hurt. I really like Pang’s character. He he’s just a really likeable guy. He just always seems very clueless in the most ridiculous situations, like he has no idea what’s going on when he watches a puppet show because he lived in a monastery his whole life.

                       Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk is actually educational. The first time I read it, I knew so much about Shaolin.

        I really like the art in Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk. I’m certain that it’s drawn with a paintbrush and colored with a computer. The way the eyes are drawn is so simple but so effective. I never thought that vertical lines would make such perfect human eyes, but they do. One thing I like is how all of the side characters look different from each other. In Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk, there are some pages packed with text, and some packed with scenery.

                      Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk is very child friendly. There’s only one scene with blood in it. Even then the blood looks like tomato sauce. If you like action, then you will like this. If you are into romance, then you will like this because there is a relationship between Pang and a village girl named Yang Yang. I would give Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk 5 evil emperors out of 5.

I would also like to mention that Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monk is self published by Iron Crotch University Press.