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Finder #library 2; books 5-8
Finder Library Volume 2
Since 1996, Finder has set the bar for science-fiction storytelling, with a lush, intricate world and compelling characters. Now, Dark Horse is proud to present four more story arcs of Carla Speed McNeil's groundbreaking series in a single, affordably priced volume! * This second of two Finder Library volumes collects the multiple Eisner Award-nominated story arcs Dream Sequence, Mystery Date, The Rescuers, and Five Crazy Women.
640 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 26, 2023
This was more bizarre and funnier than volume one. Also, it took a really long time to figure out any connection to volume one. It was enjoyable, if completely bonkers.
Edited to add: there is a lot of nudity and quite a few bizarre sex scenes, so I should add a CW.
Edited to add: there is a lot of nudity and quite a few bizarre sex scenes, so I should add a CW.
November 7, 2021
The second volume of the Finder library explores different locations and characters to the first, although Jaeger continues to be either central or lurking in the background. The first story arc 'Dream Sequence' follows a terrifying process of mental collapse, depicted with extraordinary vividness in Carla Speed McNeil's distinctive style. I could not really enjoy that first arc, but found it very compelling. The subsequent arc 'Mystery Date' was lighter and includes lots of fascinating world-building that I loved. Jaeger is the main character of the two latter arcs, a tragic murder mystery and a drunken enquiry into his love life. Both illuminate the world and characters, despite Jaeger himself deliberately remaining enigmatic. I really like the humour and insight of Finder, as well as the kinetic and intricately detailed art. The lengthy endnotes are also fascinating, as they point out references and draw out connections I'd often missed. This series depicts a world so carefully imagined, combining the mundane and fantastical so adeptly, that it's quite irresistible to the reader.
September 19, 2021
Still an excellent story in a fascinating built world, volume two is nonetheless no match for the first. I continue to deeply admire McNeil's craft and care, but the stories here are more disjointed and less lyrical. She remains head and shoulders above most graphic novelists I have read, in particular with the care lavished on her drawings, but the first volume set the bar almost impossibly high and she is not quite able to rise to that level again.
While recognizing the need to be sex positive and enjoying the many and varied ways in which coupling occurs here, it does seem like men remain dominant and in some cases exploitative in most of the sexual encounters. I recognize that McNeil is being intentionally transgressive; still, one would hope that part of sex-positivity will always be the empowerment of women in that space. This is a fairly minor concern in the context of the entire volume, but does bear mentioning.
Nonetheless, this is an excellent collection and highly recommended. Oh, and the end notes are, as with the first volume, extremely well done and a delight to read.
While recognizing the need to be sex positive and enjoying the many and varied ways in which coupling occurs here, it does seem like men remain dominant and in some cases exploitative in most of the sexual encounters. I recognize that McNeil is being intentionally transgressive; still, one would hope that part of sex-positivity will always be the empowerment of women in that space. This is a fairly minor concern in the context of the entire volume, but does bear mentioning.
Nonetheless, this is an excellent collection and highly recommended. Oh, and the end notes are, as with the first volume, extremely well done and a delight to read.
May 26, 2021
Hailed as a triumph of independent comix publishing, The Finder Library collects the first nine or so of Carla Speed McNeil’s stories about a aboriginal hunter and sin-eater who wanders through a fixed, technological society and exposes its various hypocrisies and fallacies. Not going to lie - the artwork in the first few chapters is really crude and hard to look at. But McNeil eventually finds her pace and the visuals improve. But the story is always this kind of ball-of-hash experience that either you’re going to synch with and love, or you’re just going to see it as a rambling jumble of half-baked philosophies of the kind college sophomores trade in late at night. I am in that second camp, so take what I say next with the appropriate measure of salt: Warren Ellis might have been a huge fan of this, but the sad reality is that you get everything you need to know about this series by reading his introduction to The Finder Library 2 than you do from plowing through 1,200 pages of what increasingly feels like self-indulgent nonsense.
July 26, 2017
Compared to the 1st collected volume, a little more disjointed in the storytelling. Especially in the Vary stories the backgrounds are omitted entirely, and it felt rushed. Elsewhere felt like a meta-commentary on Finder, so maybe there were some creative blocks or anxieties to work through, and then the last sequence with Jaeger being an asshole was ... playing on stereotypes of male female relationships so much that it obscured any criticism of them that might have been going on. But maybe I shouldn't have read these 2 massive volumes all at once.
March 5, 2019
Reading Finder is such a trip. Even when I read all the end notes, I'm never sure I entirely know what's going on. And that's pretty cool.
I just couldn't get into this library the way I did the first one. Part of it is that the work was collected in 2011, and much of it was written well before that, some back to 2003, I believe. And some of it just doesn't age well. Or rather, my perspective has shifted so much since 2003 that some things I might have overlooked or even found "charmingly abrasive" then just stick in my craw now. Eh. It happens.
I just couldn't get into this library the way I did the first one. Part of it is that the work was collected in 2011, and much of it was written well before that, some back to 2003, I believe. And some of it just doesn't age well. Or rather, my perspective has shifted so much since 2003 that some things I might have overlooked or even found "charmingly abrasive" then just stick in my craw now. Eh. It happens.
January 29, 2018
Disjointed and without consistency; there are interesting things happening here, but they're held close in a conversation that the author has with her own work and I'll be damned if I want to barge into that trite hall of mirrors.
June 13, 2019
Ashamed it took me so long to get around to reading Finder. It's quite simply one of the best comics I've ever read, with an utterly unique world and characters, and a seemingly endless range of stories able to be told within its pages. Carla Speed McNeil's art and writing are beautiful.
November 17, 2019
This volume contained many more supplemental or side storylines than the first, but they were just as rich as the main plot and allowed for a bit more whimsy and less seriousness which I appreciated (though with no less depth).
October 2, 2017
Pretty good stuff. Two big thick volumes about Jaeger and I still want more.
May 22, 2018
Not bad, but not great either. I think I'm done with Finder books, at least for now.
September 26, 2018
The variety of storytelling in this collection was fun. Still don't need all those end notes though.
January 5, 2019
Frighteningly prophetic. Hated it at first, love it now that I've also faced the inner demon :)
July 10, 2019
I loved this book. The finder universe keeps expanding and is explored in so many forms, through dancing, speed dating, crime drama and others. I can't wait to read her next book.
February 21, 2021
Celkově mi to přirostlo k srdci méně než první library edition nejspíš kvůli Mystery date časti, která mi pocitově přišla strašně dlouhá. Úplně nadšený jsem byl ale z The Rescuers.
February 26, 2022
A lot of my general points from the last review are still true here!
August 10, 2022
Well drawn but unrelentingly grim. Sets up an interesting corporate dependence on one man's mind enabling VR escapism. But the interesting philosophy is too buried under darkness to make an impact.
April 16, 2024
The last comic actually had me cackling. The art style is SO good, the world is so intricate and detailed, the story lines so unique. I’m so sad there’s nothing to come after this :((
May 4, 2024
I read some of these stories in single-issue form, but I didn't always understand them. This series reads much better in collected form, partly because of the footnotes.
March 11, 2019
More stories set in the Finder universe. More a collection of stories than a story arc,but still quite interesting and well drawn.
November 24, 2014
Collection two of the graphic series, Finder finds a series of stories in which our lead character doesn't really appear. In the first set of stories, "Dream Sequence", we follow a man named Magri, who has all but disappeared into his own mind, and has turned Elsewhere into a popular attraction for people all over the world. The problem is, something is going wrong in his dreamworld, and people aren't exactly getting killed, but they are caught in the Elsewhere and cannot return to their bodies. Magri has to figure out how to stop the demon haunting his dream world, as well as deal with the giant corporation that has been built around his abilities.
The second set of stories, "Mystery Date", follows a very cute young woman, Vary, and her attempts to seduce two of her college professors - a Laeske (sort of a winged dinosaur) and a human who walks around on fake Laeske legs, as he lost his own. Vary looks almost like an anime character amidst the realism (such as it is) of the other characters. She's a temple girl of her people, and her contract was bought out. She's still training to basically become a very high-paid geisha/courtesan.
"The Rescuers" is sort of a Lindburgh baby story, in which the infant son of a very wealthy businessman has been kidnapped, and Jaegar knows who did the kidnapping, as well as who should be implicated in the child's death. The parents don't want to believe their son could possibly be dead, and the tribe Jaeger's hanging around with currently have something else going on - one of their women has birthed twins, and this is considered a taboo in their culture.
The final story focuses directly on Jaeger and his relationships, and is titled, "Five Crazy Women". Jaeger and a childhood friend discuss how Jaeger is, how he goes through women, and how he leaves them pretty much as soon as they get attached - because the way he was brought up, women have the say in the relationships, and invite the man back to stay with them, once they've left. There's a lot of other rigarmaroll in there, but it pretty much boils down to Jaeger's a jerk.
I'm still very much enjoying this series, Jaeger, and the strange things he gets caught up in.
The second set of stories, "Mystery Date", follows a very cute young woman, Vary, and her attempts to seduce two of her college professors - a Laeske (sort of a winged dinosaur) and a human who walks around on fake Laeske legs, as he lost his own. Vary looks almost like an anime character amidst the realism (such as it is) of the other characters. She's a temple girl of her people, and her contract was bought out. She's still training to basically become a very high-paid geisha/courtesan.
"The Rescuers" is sort of a Lindburgh baby story, in which the infant son of a very wealthy businessman has been kidnapped, and Jaegar knows who did the kidnapping, as well as who should be implicated in the child's death. The parents don't want to believe their son could possibly be dead, and the tribe Jaeger's hanging around with currently have something else going on - one of their women has birthed twins, and this is considered a taboo in their culture.
The final story focuses directly on Jaeger and his relationships, and is titled, "Five Crazy Women". Jaeger and a childhood friend discuss how Jaeger is, how he goes through women, and how he leaves them pretty much as soon as they get attached - because the way he was brought up, women have the say in the relationships, and invite the man back to stay with them, once they've left. There's a lot of other rigarmaroll in there, but it pretty much boils down to Jaeger's a jerk.
I'm still very much enjoying this series, Jaeger, and the strange things he gets caught up in.
November 25, 2011
ARC provided by NetGalley
This second volume of the Finder library brings together four more story arcs in Carla Speed McNeil’s beautiful and intricate world. There are two major story lines, the first which focuses on Margi White’s dream world that others can visit....that exists nowhere other than in his head. But what happens when the world gets hacked and how does death in that world affect the real world. The second major story lines focuses on a young woman that desires nothing more than to make the world a better place in her own way, through love and compassion.
The Finder library is difficult to describe because there is so much jam packed into the stories, both in the writing and the illustration. They’re complex, sometimes dense, but completely and utterly captivating. Each time you turn the page there are new things to catch your eyes with the illustrations, whether it be the characters themselves or the scenery in which they’re visiting. There are just so many little details hidden that each time you reread the book you’ll see something new. McNeil displays a deft hand at capturing movement, light, sound, and joy all within her line work; and it’s easy to connect with the world that she captures.
Even though Finder is called science-fiction, it’s not the science fiction that most people are familiar with--aliens, space ships, set a far distant future where good battles evil. Instead she’s created a world that is both familiar and alien at the same time and reveals more and more of it as the stories continue. The characters themselves at times seem to create the world around them and seem to delight in sharing the hidden details of their world with us. Each story is jam packed with information, which at times can be overwhelming due to the amount of information. But this just makes me want to go back and reread the stories again. Even though each story seems like a separate tale, as McNeil releases more and more of the story its clear that they all build upon each other.
I highly recommend this series. It’s imaginative, different, and the story and illustration will capture your attention and not let it go.
This second volume of the Finder library brings together four more story arcs in Carla Speed McNeil’s beautiful and intricate world. There are two major story lines, the first which focuses on Margi White’s dream world that others can visit....that exists nowhere other than in his head. But what happens when the world gets hacked and how does death in that world affect the real world. The second major story lines focuses on a young woman that desires nothing more than to make the world a better place in her own way, through love and compassion.
The Finder library is difficult to describe because there is so much jam packed into the stories, both in the writing and the illustration. They’re complex, sometimes dense, but completely and utterly captivating. Each time you turn the page there are new things to catch your eyes with the illustrations, whether it be the characters themselves or the scenery in which they’re visiting. There are just so many little details hidden that each time you reread the book you’ll see something new. McNeil displays a deft hand at capturing movement, light, sound, and joy all within her line work; and it’s easy to connect with the world that she captures.
Even though Finder is called science-fiction, it’s not the science fiction that most people are familiar with--aliens, space ships, set a far distant future where good battles evil. Instead she’s created a world that is both familiar and alien at the same time and reveals more and more of it as the stories continue. The characters themselves at times seem to create the world around them and seem to delight in sharing the hidden details of their world with us. Each story is jam packed with information, which at times can be overwhelming due to the amount of information. But this just makes me want to go back and reread the stories again. Even though each story seems like a separate tale, as McNeil releases more and more of the story its clear that they all build upon each other.
I highly recommend this series. It’s imaginative, different, and the story and illustration will capture your attention and not let it go.
January 15, 2021
IMPORTANT INFO - This is a sort of omnibus edition that includes books 5-8, which covers issues 23-38 and the following story arcs:
Book 5 - Dream Sequence - Originally reproduced issues 23-29 (and my 2nd fave story arc after Talisman)
Book 6 - Mystery Date - Originally reproduced issues 1 & 2 of the spin-off/one-shot Mystery Date, Finder issue 31, and add'l material.
Book 7 - The Rescuers - Originally reproduced issues 32-37
Book 8 - Five Crazy Women - Collects issues 30 & 38 with web serialized material
See Finder Library Volume 1 for Books 1-4.
There's at least ONE more volume/story arc, volume 9, "Voice" that I don't think exists in any printed trade format yet. It's loosely gathered on McNeil's website, and you might be able to find single issues out there, somewhere.
"Volumes" 10, and 11, Third World and Chase the Lady, seem to be just re-printing material from the story arcs above, somewhat disjointedly, from under the "Dark Horse Presents" banner, but **IN COLOR** so if you're into that, go for it, but I think there's no actual new STORY there.
You're welcome.
PS FINDER is a GEM of the comics universe.
Book 5 - Dream Sequence - Originally reproduced issues 23-29 (and my 2nd fave story arc after Talisman)
Book 6 - Mystery Date - Originally reproduced issues 1 & 2 of the spin-off/one-shot Mystery Date, Finder issue 31, and add'l material.
Book 7 - The Rescuers - Originally reproduced issues 32-37
Book 8 - Five Crazy Women - Collects issues 30 & 38 with web serialized material
See Finder Library Volume 1 for Books 1-4.
There's at least ONE more volume/story arc, volume 9, "Voice" that I don't think exists in any printed trade format yet. It's loosely gathered on McNeil's website, and you might be able to find single issues out there, somewhere.
"Volumes" 10, and 11, Third World and Chase the Lady, seem to be just re-printing material from the story arcs above, somewhat disjointedly, from under the "Dark Horse Presents" banner, but **IN COLOR** so if you're into that, go for it, but I think there's no actual new STORY there.
You're welcome.
PS FINDER is a GEM of the comics universe.
December 14, 2012
Really terrific comics. They're basically about creation, sex, responsibility, and other weighty stuff, but the stories are filled with little bursts of aesthetic/fantasy/sci-fi type pleasures.
The book is basically divided into four parts. In the first, a wirehead is torn to shreds in a particularly amazing dreamworld, leading to strange hallucinations in the real world. In the second, a temple girl who goes to college has a strange love triangle with two of her professors, one of whom is a kind of bird thing, and the other is a blind grouch with mechanical bird legs. The third is about the kidnapping and death of a rich couple's child and the tribe that lives on his enormous estate. The fourth is about the bad relationships of a bad boy, who is a 'sin eater' of that tribe.
The drawing style is not everything I'd hope for. But combined with the writing, it creates a world that is completely unlike anything I can think of. It feels like a folk tale that's set in a science-fictionish universe.
The book is basically divided into four parts. In the first, a wirehead is torn to shreds in a particularly amazing dreamworld, leading to strange hallucinations in the real world. In the second, a temple girl who goes to college has a strange love triangle with two of her professors, one of whom is a kind of bird thing, and the other is a blind grouch with mechanical bird legs. The third is about the kidnapping and death of a rich couple's child and the tribe that lives on his enormous estate. The fourth is about the bad relationships of a bad boy, who is a 'sin eater' of that tribe.
The drawing style is not everything I'd hope for. But combined with the writing, it creates a world that is completely unlike anything I can think of. It feels like a folk tale that's set in a science-fictionish universe.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2015
Another massive tome in the Finder series collecting several stories. The expanded universe in this book seemed to be growing as the first couple stories didn't seem much connected to the world as previously established, just a more general science fiction feel universe. That said they were both REALLY good stories. About the difference between virtual and real and the fuzzy barriers between. My favourite in this collection was about the young woman who really wanted to be a prostitute. It was very bizarre but really interesting. The return of "Finder" and the murder mystery was also good. Though I found myself loosing interest a little in the last story as he recited his less fortunate sexual conquests. Still a fantastic series and wonderful to have such a huge collection available.
August 30, 2016
I put off reading the extensive footnotes both times and both times that's what pushed my rating into 5 star territory. I miss so many references and details in my first reading it helps to have McNeil point them out in the footnotes. It astounds me how much thought go into characters and world building in this series. I feel like I could read and reread each story and get something new out of it every time. Such complexity and substance and still, on the surface, compelling plots that pull you in even if you'd rather keeping reading about the characters from the LAST arc.
I don't know why more people aren't talking about this series, but I'd consider it required reading right up there with Watchmen and Maus.
I don't know why more people aren't talking about this series, but I'd consider it required reading right up there with Watchmen and Maus.
November 23, 2011
I wasn't completely convinced by volume 1 until "Talisman", but was interested enough to continue reading (blame Douglas Wolk's high praise of Finder for my decision). What can I say? Finder Library Volume 2 is almost perfect, and you can tell that McNeil really finds her stride in "Dream Sequence," which I found to be the high-point of the series so far. "The Rescuers" and "Mystery Date" each explore different cultures in the Finder world, and bring up even more questions about the series' pseudo-main character, Jaeger. "Five Crazy Women" I read in one sitting, it was that enjoyable. Can't wait for more.
April 6, 2018
Still wonderful, imaginative, and staggering.
The book collects: "Dream Sequence," the world's most popular VR exists inside a man's brain, and what happens when his mind breaks down. Creepy, funny, full of great surreal imagery.
Also, "Mystery Date," of a young college girl wooing the two men of her dreams and the vagaries of mating rituals.
"The Rescuers," loss of childhood innocence, as Jaeger finds work in a affluent mansion and the lord's young son is abducted - shades of the Lindberg kidnapping.
And "Five Crazy Women," an upbeat comic caper of Jaeger's romantic relationships.
The book collects: "Dream Sequence," the world's most popular VR exists inside a man's brain, and what happens when his mind breaks down. Creepy, funny, full of great surreal imagery.
Also, "Mystery Date," of a young college girl wooing the two men of her dreams and the vagaries of mating rituals.
"The Rescuers," loss of childhood innocence, as Jaeger finds work in a affluent mansion and the lord's young son is abducted - shades of the Lindberg kidnapping.
And "Five Crazy Women," an upbeat comic caper of Jaeger's romantic relationships.
August 25, 2015
I love this series so very, very much. The second collected volume is different from the first—less a gigantic continuity of events, and more a series of novellas that dig deeply into one scenario, and then almost universally end while I was still panting for more. There's something to be said for walking away and leaving readers wanting more, and the world McNeil has created is so deep and fascinating and unpredictable that there's no telling what happened next in any of these stories, so it's saying something that after 500 pages, I was still endlessly wondering what happens next. This series has been the most satisfying thing I've discovered in 2015. Thanks, NPR.
November 15, 2015
Thoroughly enjoyed the chance to review how much I love Dream Sequence and Mystery Date. Also liked finally getting to see the end of The Rescuers. Five Crazy Women was.... crazy. A bit too much thrown at you all at once. I haven’t yet ventured into the appendix of notes, but I'm sure once I do, I'll love it just like I love all the others.
As for the Dark Horse binding, I wish they had kept the border around each of the pages. As it is, some of the dialogue and art is lost in the center of the spread.
As for the Dark Horse binding, I wish they had kept the border around each of the pages. As it is, some of the dialogue and art is lost in the center of the spread.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews