Trouble Maker

Trouble Maker is a comic by Janet and Alex Evanovich. It falls in line in Barnaby and Hooker mystery series, or at least I am told that it does. It looked like I was a fan of this comic, long before I ever read this comic. Mostly because I have a giant yellow bag that has the title broadly printed across from it.  The truth is, I have never read any of the Janet Evanovich books. I do like mystery books, but it is a little daunting to want to break into a series that is as prolific as any of hers are. It is the trap that if they really are that good, then you have a whole lot of catching up to do, and if they aren't that good and there are that many in the series out there, then perhaps there is something wrong with the reader.  The reason that that I had the giant yellow bag is because it was a souvenir from a trip and it had Dark Horse on the other side, and I am a fan of Dark Horse Comics. 


My husband picked this comic up, because he thought that I would enjoy it, and the art in Trouble Maker is the same artist that did Dr. Horrible. (That is Joelle Jones, in case you were wondering.)  I love Dr. Horrible, so with that mind, it was probable deduction that I would at least like Trouble Maker. At the very least I knew I was going to enjoy the art.


I found that Trouble Maker is fast paced and can easily keep the pages turning, but I lacked some of the back ground to truly care about some of the characters. I had a hard time trying to put all of the pieces together on why the characters where even important to each other. It seemed like they just hung around each other for the quips. Hooker and Barnaby have what felt like a forced connection. One insults the other in a passive aggressive way, throw in a chicken, add a chase seen or two and call it a day. Again, I have never read the series and maybe they are steaming up the pages, or perhaps they are just best friends, but it was never really clear to me what they were getting out of being in each others company. It also seemed that most of the clues just seemed to fall into their lap. I don't know if that is the way it goes down in the series or if it was just thinned out a little bit to be able to be consumed in comic book format.  If any one that has read the series wants to discuss it with me, I am open to opinions. 

Did I hate it? No. Did I love it? No. So what did I think of it? I think it would be a really cute gift for someone who was into the series, and a not so great gift for someone that hasn't a clue. I also think it gave me enough information about the series to be able to nod and smile  and fake small talk  when someone tries to spark a conversation with me about it when I am toting a round my catch everything yellow bag. Does it inspire me to run out and start the series? Not really. If I need a beach read, I might try and figure out where the book one is in the series and give it a spin, but I am not inclined to go out of my way to add it to my collection just yet.