Graphic Novels

[sw2borshch]

Graphic Novels

I've just read Chapter 18, the Sofia one. Jesus.

[kugelrund]

Graphic Novels

More Boring French Stuff Dept: for Christmas I got Book 1 of "Tu mourras moins bête ("You'll die less thick").

It's great - a scientific look at inaccuracies in Hollywood films, done in a way that's quite funny.

Mrs K immediately bought Book 2 (about the human body - which seems more hurried, like she was under pressure from the publishers to get another one out. The first sold out very quickly.)

She has a blog, if anyone's interested. (The author, not Mrs K).

Oh, and someone else bought me the third book in that crab trilogy I mentioned upthread, which I haven't had time to read yet.

[sw2borshch]

Graphic Novels

The first volume of the collected DC's Weird War Tales has arrived!

[virilegames]

Graphic Novels

So I'm quite new to graphic novels, and having read Maus a few months ago I just got through my second - Blankets by Craig Thompson - in a couple of sittings.

Loved Maus but not fully decided what I thought of Blankets yet; I found it moving in parts and a bit irritating in others. I thought that while the childhood sections were done very well, the relationship bits veered towards Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory.

Anyway, not going to ask for recommendations as there seems to be 16 pages of people doing that, so I'll have a look at some previous suggestions.

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

"I'm really looking forward to Part 3 of Alan Moore's LOEG Century series. I thought the previous two books were great, as was the Black Dossier, and i've been waiting for the final thing to come out for bleeding ages. Loads of people seem to hate the later LOEG stuff though, which I don't get at all, I think he's managed to really deepen the series, and give it a brilliantly pointed contempory relevance. I think it's a masterpiece, actually."

Alan Moore's doing a signing and promotion of the new LOEG book with Kevin O'Neill at Gosh Comics on Saturday March 9th.

I recently reread Moore's The Killing Joke because someone told me that Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan based their version of the Joker on this comic. Not sure if that's true but it's still a great read, in fact I think I enjoyed it more this time than when it first came out.

I'd completely forgotten that Moore cripples Barbara Gordon in the story. Apparently he wrote it thinking that he'd never get it past the editors and he was amazed when they allowed him to do it.

[jason voorhees]

Graphic Novels

I read Killing Joke this past summer, and finally understood the final joke that the Joker shares with Bats. Very, very, very subtle, which is polar opposite to the rest of the book.

Like Jon, I enjoyed it in a more dramatic and character sense, while 20+ years ago it was in a HOLYFUGGINSHIT sense.

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

I don't really think I got jv's 'HOLYFUGGINSHIT' sense the first time round as Moore had just come off the back of an amazing few years of Marvel Man, Maxwell the Magic Cat, V for Vendetta, Halo Jones, Swamp Thing and Watchmen. And then he wrote a Batman one-shot. Meh, I thought. (Or would have, had the word been invented).

[jason voorhees]

Graphic Novels

I did just because (A) the Joker was bustin' gats at girls who dress like Bats. (B) I was also 16 when it came out, so a Joker who kidnapped Commissioner Gordon and strip him naked and try to drive him crazy was up there and out there.

I also was mind-blown-to-atoms by all of those other books. Luckily, because of his work with Swamp Thing, I was able to catch Garth Ennis's run on Hellblazer (when Swamp Thing went to Vertigo,) which is one of the few times I can say I was in on the ground floor of something. Other than seeing Monster Magnet at City Gardens, a few years before they released "Spine of God," much less their other more popular stuff.

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

I reckon 'Something I was in on the ground floor of' would be a great thread topic. Although, in this case, I've never heard of Monster Magnet, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I read Dotter of her Father's Eyes fairly recently. As mentioned by BoE upthread, it was shortlisted for the Costa prize and is written by Mary Talbot, wife of Bryan Talbot, who actually draws it. It's more of a graphic novella really. Even I, a notoriously slow reader, could finish it in a few sittings.

I really enjoyed it. It's a dual biography, detailing Lucia Joyce's interesting life and her relationship with her father, James Joyce, but also, running parallel to that, you have Mary Talbot's own life and her own relationship with her father, a Joycean scholar. It's very well done, in fact, considering it's her first graphic novel, it's a real triumph. I hope she writes more. Bryan Talbot just goes from strength to strength and shows no sign of slowing down in older age.

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

Although a book, not a comic, I thought it fitted in best with this thread: Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book

This is a very well written and in-depth history of how comic books started and profiles some of the early creators. The author, Gerard Jones, is obviously a big comics fan and has, I think, worked in the industry but he takes no narrow perspective here. It feels like a proper work of historical research. Jewish immigration and settlement in the early 20th century are covered well, as are the cultural and social aspects of American life that led to the birth of the superhero comic. I found the chapters about early science-fiction and the fandom that grew up around it, to be particularly interesting. Most of these early fans were nerdy, Jewish and suburban and, you guessed it, many of them would go on to play a part in writing and drawing the early super-hero comics – Schuster, Siegel, Weisinger et al.

There’s stuff on the mob's influence in the early days of comics but that wasn't as interesting to me – the mob's influence in many aspects of early to mid 20th century American society has been much more well-documented.

After reading the book I came across this quote in a review.

"Some history is written by losers. The history of the comic book has been told by those who got rolled and by those who sympathize with those who got rolled."

And how true that is, when you read any account of the early days of the comic book industry. But there’s more a lot more to this book than chronicling and sympathising with the early creators.

[MsD]

Graphic Novels

Ooh, perfect present for someone I know and I might read it myself.

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

Oh yes, you've mentioned your comic-loving friend, MsD. Sounds like a man of taste.

I'm now reading a book in a similar vein - Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero. This one's by Grant Morrison though, so I expect it to cover more up-to-date events. Will report back when I've read it.

[MsD]

Graphic Novels

..

[sw2borshch]

Graphic Novels

jv said

So is anyone else reading The Boys ?

I've read the first volume (five ishes, I think), and will be reading more, soon...

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

Have just finished Grant Morrison's Supergods. It's an exploration of the Superhero concept from its beginnings in 1930s Cleveland, to the present day. As such, it starts like any standard comics history, charting the progress of the early pioneers in much the same way that Men of Tomorrow, which I read previous to this, does.

But it does change quite radically about halfway through, taking on a much more autobiographical tone. I'm not the biggest Grant Morrison fan (although I will admit to thinking that All-Star Superman is brilliant and has set the bar for how all Superman comics should be) and I doubt I'd have read it if I'd known how autobiographical it was going to be. But I plodded on, even through the trippy, hallucinogenic stuff, the description of occult rituals and the seemingly endless philosophising.

I'm not selling the book really well, am I? But a lot of it is really good. He’s often insightful, his recommendations are varied and interesting (there is a detailed reading list at the back) and he’s good for an anecdote or three – there are some great ones about the people he meets at the comic conventions he has frequented over the years all round the globe. Plus he isn't just interested in the treatment of superheroes in comics. He also writes very well about superheroes in film. His thoughts on the various films in the Batman franchise are interesting and also really funny. And, like me, he seems to have a very soft spot for Unbreakable.

Morrison makes it clear that he is a fan of Alan Moore's, but I found that he tended to write about him with quite a lot of disdain mixed in with the reverence. Checking on the internet this beef between them seems to have been going on for decades, mostly coming from Morrison.

Anyway, at 500 odd pages, it was a bit of a slog for me but there's plenty of good, well-written stuff in it. If only I could learn to skim read it could have been even better.

You'd think I'd have had my fill of comic book histories by now but I've just started Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. After finishing that, I might actually go and read some comics.

[kugelrund]

Graphic Novels

Fans of people with superpowers might enjoy poring over this poster by the Pop Chart Lab. (I tried to copy in a smaller image to give an idea, but it won't let me).

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

Comics in the real world:

Frankie Boyle interviewed Grant Morrison in last week's Chain Reaction (available on the iplayer until Tuesday, I guess.) Next week, Morrison interviews Neil Innes.

And Saga is dating someone the comics industry in the new series of The Bridge and is seen reading a Transmetropolitan trade paperback (number 2, I think) in episode 2.

[sw2borshch]

Graphic Novels

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

I read that over Christmas - cracking read, but it was weird to find out how shambolically ran the comics industry was/is, even though it shouldn't be that surprising.

[WOM]

Graphic Novels

Anyone read Craig Thompson's Habibi? I love Carnet de Voyage, but didn't even finish Blankets.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Graphic Novels

Yeah. Someone bought it for me a couple of years back. It then sat on a shelf looking gorgeous until a few months ago. I picked it up one afternoon and finished it in a single indulgent gulp. Disturbing at times, to the point of being difficult to look at, but extremely compelling.

[WOM]

Graphic Novels

Oh, excellent. Thanks J.

Amazon has the hardcover on for $25, so that's that decided.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Graphic Novels

No problem.

One thing, the illustration style is very "kid-friendly," ie: accessible, and very much a look which children would used to. At times, though, the content is something else. I guess I'm saying that, depending on their age, experience and sophistication if they picked it up by accident they'd find it very easy to get into, but it may take them places it'd be difficult for them to deal with.

[WOM]

Graphic Novels

Fair warning. Won't leave it laying around.

[Jon]

Graphic Novels

sw2boro sw2boropetrovsk wrote:

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

I read that over Christmas - cracking read, but it was weird to find out how shambolically ran the comics industry was/is, even though it shouldn't be that surprising.

Yes, I am loving it. But then I was a total Marvel zombie until I was about 15. (Then my critical faculty kicked in and I stopped believing Jim Shooter telling us how great Marvel comics were.) So I'm finding it very nostalgic, just reading mentions of Al Milgrom, Doeg Moench, Bill Mantlo etc.

[evilC]

Graphic Novels

Steve Moore has died.

(Terrible typo in there!)