reading update

Cecil's readings as of lately:
note that I am more concerned with the publihing company reference when it comes to comics because there are some interesting niches, for instance Comics Lit try to produce more literary works, less about super heroes and more about deeper meaning stuff, and Vertigo are the publishers of Alan Moore type stuff, who also did The Watchmen, as an example. Vertigo is a division of DC Comics. Scholastic does Bone, a fun but not high level reading set, and they produce works for school aged children, not really for adults so you would not see them making Superman, or Preacher, which is a creepy violent comic not suitable for younger readers, and even scares older readers. This is important since when shopping for new graphic novels with a readership in mind, I will check the publisher if I know little about the book. Minx is a good example, since they make books aimed at teens, most often from a girl's perspective, featuring girls in real life situations. I know then that a Minx book will be appropriate and a good read for girls aged 10-17. Plain Janes is a good example, as is Clubbing for older girls.


Incognegro, by Mat Johnson, art by Warren Pleece, Published by Vertigo, Graphic Novel.
Great, gritty, historical fiction circa 1930's, about lynchings in the southern states of negroes by whites/KKK. The plot is a typical cop story told from a reporter's point of view. The 'Incognegro' uncovers lynchings around the south then publishes the story in his NY paper under his alias. He is a white looking black man, able to get inside the lynch mobs to get the story. Things go terrible wrong when his brother is jailed and threatened with a lynching.

There is supposed to be a theme of identity bending, as a sort of new and cutting edge idea; people are indeed made up of their history, culture, upbringing, location, etc. but that is not the interesting part. Incognegro tells the hideous history of the American South and makes some pretty interesting observations about why they acted so horribly to each other, and while not news to anyone who has been to school it certainly brings it home in a graphic way. Using the comic format may open up a new audience to this part of their history though.

Pleece's art is excellent but not unique.

Bluesman, by Rob Vollmer and ill. By Pablo G. Callejo, v. 1,2, to accompany v. 3, see earlier posts, pubished by Comics Lit, Graphic Novel 3 volume set.

Now here is a unique form of art in a graphic novel. Callejo's work is some of my favourite, stark and poignant, elegant and expressive. It could be called 'comic noir.' The dialogue of Vollmer is the best I've read:
“This is a ll naught but fulsome speculation on your part and not sturdy enough by half to hold up in any court of law,” is one of my favourite lines; imagine using naught and fulsome in the same sentence!

Like Incognegro, Bluesman is about the plight of the black mna in a severely racist American South. Vollmer tells the story of the travelling blues musicians, but then it gets off track and into a cop story. Maybe off track is too harsh, but the story line surely changes and it has less to do with music than it does with racism and crime. The setting is the 1930's again, complete with hobos, tramps, juke joints, lynching, vigilantes and train hopping.

I love this book, but it was hard to find all 3 volumes. Sophia Books on Hastings and Richards had a 30% off sale, and I found them there, -so happy, but I wish there were more to read since the story seems to remain unfinished at the end of v. 3.


Hate List, Jennifer Brown. I loved this book. It is young adults fiction but the story is pretty tough, considering that it starts with news headlines about a terrible school shooting. A student goes postal and kills 6 people, injuring in the process his girlfriend. The two kids had created a 'hate-list' which included such things as homework, teachers, students who bullyied them, and a lot more. The cops find the list, and it is revealed to the media.

After the shooting the girl is recovering in hospital trying to recall what happened and make sense of it. Her boyfriend killed himself after he accidently shot her in the leg, but she still loves him and has great difficulty putting her life back together without him, even though she knows he committed this horrible crime.

She eventually goes back to school and deals with the hate, pain and suffering that she and her friends, -new ones and ex ones, have had to endure. Slowly they work to heal and change how they interact.

This is Brown's first novel, and interestingly she has won awards for humour wirting. There is nothing funny about Hate List, but it is really good writing, full of tender insights into the characters personalities and the psyche of the teen mind. I recommend it for anybody.

Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci, art by Jim Rugg, Minx,

I guess I love a lot of books, but the Janes is a great one. A girl named Jane tries to find the least popular table in the lunch room of her new school. She finds the Janes. They are pretty awkward socially, so New Jane tries to make change. She starts a public art project on the sly with the Janes. They sneak out at night and make poignant statements with nice art in the town's public areas. They are going to get themselves in trouble though because not everyone in the town likes what they are doing.

Cecil, the writer is a Canadian woman, born in NY and lives in California, not sure how she is Canadian but she went to Concordia. The artist is pretty good too, but the story and tender treatment of teen girls' social issues is what makes Plain Janes work.

There are follow up Janes which I look forward to reading.

Korea

Korea

This is a 30 second slide video using www.animoto.com. Try it! Its very fun, and easy if you have access to online pictures, through picasa, flickr, photobucket, or just using pics on your computer. It takes just a few seconds to create the show.

The Alchemist, Paolo Coelho

The most translated book in history, much loved and cherished across the world, but it was Carson's one word recommendation that got me to read this 174 page classic: 'brilliant!'

It occured to me recently that there must be many follwers and copiers of Coelho; I was talking to a colleague who described the book 'The Secret.' The 2 books have similar messages, that if you want something hard enough, things will fall into place and either the universe will conspire to help you, or it will come to pass because you create your own luck. I think I'll go with "The Alchemist" since it is fiction, and still packs a great message without preaching.

It is a pretty religious book though. I liked it a lot although I am not sure it will change my life, as many have stated it has. I must say though, that there have certainly been times when I think that I wanted something so badly that I made it happen through sheer will and positive thinking, even when the odds were not in my favour.

Coelho has had an interesting life as documented in "Paulo Coelho: A Warrior's Life," by Fernando Morais.

4 Comics

"Leave it to Chance" by Paul Smith, and James Robinson, -junior hard cover, bright colours, nice production, big pretty pics, well drawn, good story, fun super-hero type comic for grade 4+.

"Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness," Vol. 3, by Bryan Lee O'Malley, seems to have turned into quite the big thing. A movie, a video game, and now fans are anxiously waiting for the 5th and final volume. I must say that after I bought this book, I read the first few pages and thought it was a little lame. After I saw it on a 'best of the decade' list, I thought "really?" I became more curious when I found out that the author is Canadian, and gave it another chance. It is very funny and cute, all about teens and their lame issues. I laughed hard, and in the end I'll give it 2 thumbs up.


"Akira", Vol. 2, by Katsuhiro Otomo. One the classic mangas of all time, but a little wierd for me, not my favourite, maybe because I am not so much of a manga fan. Not much of it makes sense to me. The art work is great and help make the book exciting and tense.
"Twenty years ago Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira revolutionized the West's perception of Japanese animation and to this day is a landmark in film-making and storytelling."

Read more at Suite101: Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira: A Review: Looking Back at the Greatest Manga-Based Animé Ever Made http://anime.suite101.com/article.cfm/akira_review#ixzz0dNDXgNE2

"The Color of Heaven," (note the American spelling, but it was published there so I shouldn't change it)by Kim Dong Hwa, is manga (manhwa in Korean) from Korea.

This book is the 3rd in the Color trilogy, and is very beautifully told through the text and the images. It is the story of a mother's relationship with her daughter as she grows up, falls in love and gets married, eventually leaving with her husband. The story is tender and heartfelt, the art simple and elegant, and I liked it a lot.

Frozen in Time

I really enjoyed this account of Franklin's expedition to find the Northwest Passage, written by John Gieger, with Owen Beattie. Beattie is the forensic anthropologist from Edmonton who led several teams of experts to the north starting in 1981. The history of the voyages is very interesting, which includes the many many disasters that occurred as the English, Americans, Norwegians and others tried in vain to find the way through the ice in the 1700's and 1800's. Finally, Beattie's group exume 3 bodies from Franklin's crew and take samples to be analyzed back in Edmonton. Their discoveries make for good reading.

"A rapid fire accounting of readings"

Hi beautifuls, I am just going to mention quickly several recent and forgotten readings:

-Welcome to the NHK, a manga, originaly an all text book in Japanese, written by Tatsuhiko Takimoto, illustrated by Yoshitoshi Abe. I bought this one at the United Lirbrary Services, a warehouse type store that sells only to school libraries. Then I noticed the parental advisory on the cover and thought I should read it before lending out to the kids. I learned a lot about Japanese culture, some of which is disturbing. Loli-con is a fetish or infatuation with Lolita girls, done with manga. Hikikomori are people who don't leave their house, because they are having trouble with the pressures of modern life or are too afraid to come out. Otaku are people who love manga, or anime, or gaming so much that they are a sub-cult. The book is full of self-denial, self loathing, and angst, mainly from the one central character who is finding it hard to admit he is a hikikomori. The parental advisory comes from the loli-con inferences, but like so much manga, there are many ways to take the subtleties of the cultural references, and it is quite interesting. Reading manga for the first time can be tough if you are not up on the references, and honorifics, but it gets better. This book helped a lot.

The plot is a little thin in the manga version but worth a read. There are more to come in the series. You may want to save your reading for other manga or comics if it is that genre you seek.

Iron Man, Ultimates, written by Orson Scott Card. I liked 'Ender's Shadow'(not a comic) by Card so thought I'd check out this comic. Its pretty good but still just a comic.

I am reading The Colour of Heaven, by Kim Dong Hwa, part of a trilogy (Heaven, Water, Earth) about a girl and her mom in Korea. The images are beautiful, and add a certain grace to the story that is entrancing, and the story is heartfelt, all about love.

Bluesman, by Rob Vollmar & Pablo Callejo, is a strikingly beautiful book. It is a murder mystery/cop story, illustrated in a kind of 'comic noir' style that I find very compelling just for the art. They have a compilation out now which I am trying to buy. The one I read was book 3, which has a good story.

Same Difference and other stories, by Derek Kirk Kim is a graphic novel of some of his early writings. I liked it for its humour, poignantcy, and art. His drawings portray a lot of emotion but are not over the top as some manga artists can be, which often detracts from the story. Kim is of Korean ancestry, but American. The 12 short stories are funny and quirky.

Fables, by Bill Willingham with a plethora of artists, is a series of comic books set in modern times NY. The Fables, -Boy Blue, Red Riding Hood, The 3 Little Pigs etc., have been banished from Fableland by 'The Adversary' and now have taken refuge on earth. They face all the problems of modern life as well as battling beings from off planet. Fables is brilliant. I have read 2: Animal Farm and March of the Wooden Soldiers, and I plan to read them all because I love the cleverness of the writing.

Oishinbo: Ramen and Gyoza, by Tetsu Kariya, art by Akira Hanasaki is a graphic novel all about food. I love it for that alone but also because it is so funny. A young reporter travels around the city searching for the best ramen and gyoza. He is lazy but has a great mind for food, and his nemesis is his father who is a great chef. The reporter teaches his friends about food with sound theory, another reason I love it.


Burn, by Camilla D'Erico, who is from Vancouver, is the artist and Scott Sanders is the writer. I liked it a lot. It is a futuristic graphic novel about a boy who gets attacked by a robot. Robots are trying to take over the world, and have tohe ability to repair themselves, but in this case the robot takes the body of the boy, Burn and creates a cyborg. Burn then shares his brain with the robot as they struggle to learn what they have become as a new being.

Hellboy, by writer Mike Mignola and a host of artists is a fantastic and dark comic billed as a horror story. It is a lenghty series of over-priced books so don't buy them new unless they are 1/2 price. 'Wake the Devil' is the one I just read and its great. Mignola likes to fight the Nazis. The art is beatiful, dark but brightly coloured and the stories are exciting as Hellboy, the spawn of Satan, but a good guy, smashes stuff up, including the bad guys. Strangley this set did not make many people's 'best of the decade' comics, although it certainly should.

Cairo, by G. Willow Wilson, art by MK Perker, is a graphic novel about genies, politics, and crime. It is an action packed love story, a mix of myth and reality, drawn in black and white with intricate shading and beautiful layouts. The sequences are well done; Perker uses many different techniques to link the forms together which add positively to the visual aspect. I loved it.

One Bad Rat, by Bryan Talbot, is a story of a teen girl who is running away from her abusive father. It is one of the most well respected graphic novels ever, for its homage to Beatrice Potter, the girl's love of reading, the way Talbot lovingly tells the story with his images and for the way the heroine is able to confront her parents. It is a difficlut story becuase it speaks of pain, but untimately of survival.