I mentioned in my Watchmen review that I’ve been hesitant to read any comic book series because they are so overwhelming, but then I started seeing various bloggers talk about Fables, Bill Willingham’s series that started in 2002 and has been collected in 11 volumes of usually five to ten comics each. As it happens, [...]
Archive for the ‘Graphic novels’ Category
Fables (Books 1-11)
Posted in Graphic novels, Speculative Fiction on May 29, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Blankets
Posted in Graphic novels, Memoir on March 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
A lot of variety seems to be gathered under the term “graphic novel.” There are storytelling comic series, like the Sandman series; there are actual fictional novels, like Gemma Bovery or Pride of Baghdad, there are lots of memoirs, like Persepolis and American Born Chinese, and there are genres that fall in between, like the [...]
Watchmen
Posted in Fiction, Graphic novels, Speculative Fiction on March 10, 2009 | 7 Comments »
I have a weakness for stories about superheroes. If you were to examine my movie collection you’d see the X-Men movies sitting comfortably next to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and the Spider Man movies sitting next to Shadowlands. If a new superhero movie comes to DVD and gets halfway decent reviews, I’ll probably see it, [...]
Pride of Baghdad
Posted in Contemporary, Graphic novels on January 30, 2009 | 5 Comments »
In 2003, four lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during the bombing of the city. In this graphic novel, author Brian K. Vaughan and artist Niko Henrichon depict what might have happened to the lions during their short period of freedom.
As the book begins, the idealistic lioness Noor is plotting an escape, but the more experienced [...]
Mr. Punch
Posted in Fiction, Graphic novels on January 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, a graphic novel by the intensely weird and wonderful combination of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, is dark, dark, dark. I’ll be the first to admit that I am a bit frightened by Punch and Judy. I know they’re supposed to be light kid’s entertainment, a [...]
The Absolute Sandman, vol. 4
Posted in Fiction, Graphic novels, Speculative Fiction on January 5, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It’s been a tradition for three years (and an interim birthday) now. There’s an enormous slab of book under my Christmas tree, and before I even unwrap it I know what I’ll be doing for the next 48 hours: I’ll disappear into the world of the Sandman graphic novels, written by Neil Gaiman, and I [...]
Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood
Posted in Graphic novels, Memoir on November 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A month or so ago, Teresa wrote a great review of Marjane Satrapi’s Complete Persepolis. Now that I’ve read the first of the two volumes, I can say that I completely agree with her observations, so go read her review. Go on. Shoo. You can come right back.
Done? Okay. So I won’t waste time summarizing [...]
Gemma Bovery
Posted in Fiction, Graphic novels on November 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Gemma Bovery is fed up. She’s fed up with her husband Charlie’s tiny London apartment, fed up with his nagging ex-wife and his horrible children, fed up with the fact that she gave up a promising career for a Simple Life ideal that turned out to be rather grubby. So when she inherits a nice [...]
The Complete Persepolis
Posted in Graphic novels, Memoir on October 22, 2008 | 3 Comments »
No matter when or where a person lives, that person must grow up, and growing up involves challenges that are common to everyone. Marjane Satrapi grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution—a world away from the southwestern Virginia farm where I grew up—but one of the things that struck me in reading her memoir-in-comic-strips [...]
The Absolute Sandman, vol.3
Posted in Graphic novels, Speculative Fiction on July 14, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I’m not much of a graphic novel reader. It’s not that I don’t like them, just that I haven’t read many. It’s a whole genre I haven’t explored, partly because it seems like a big commitment (those who are fans of the genre seem to have a lot of knowledge about its history that I [...]
