"Sloth" is a graphic novel by acclaimed comics writer and artist Gilbert Hernandez, most famous for working on the legendary series 'love and Rockets." "Sloth" is a slightly less ambitious story, dealing with changing perspectives, teen friendships, and the meaning of love.
the story starts out with the hero, a teenager named Miguel Serra, waking up after a year-long coma he apparently willed himself into. He has trouble moving quickly, for whatever reason, and so acquires the nickname "Sloth." Sloth is coincidentally the name of his garage band with his girlfriend Lita and best friend Romeo. Together they go to the local lemon grove one night to see about the stories that a mysterious goatman haunts it. And then the story changes completely, with characters being assigned new roles and new relationships being developed.
"Sloth" is a very odd story. It takes its time, and parts of it are very dream-like. It's very character-focused, which is interesting, as the roles of all of the characters change halfway through. There's a lot of unexplained stuff that happens in the story. If you're willing to tolerate all of that, it's really quite good. the art is also good, very clear while also allowing cartooniness to sneak in at appropriate moments. I especially like how who wears a specific beanie cap changes as who tells the story changes. All in all, a solid piece of work.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
"Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" is a two-issue Batman storyiline written by Neil Gaiman and drawn by Andy Kubert. It was written to be, essentially, the last Batman story, no matter how many Batman stories come after it. This is because WHTTCC is about Batman's funeral.
Batman himself incorporeally watches as his friends and enemies eulogize him with their stories of his life and his death. The thing is, no one's story of Batman is exactly alike, and the incorporeal Batman remarks in confusion that none of their stories matches his own life. But each Batman has a few things in common, even though their realities are drastically different: each one is brave, and self-sacrificing (it's remarkable how many of the stories end with Batman sacrificing homself to save someone else), and each one never gives up, ever. It's a wondrous tribute to Batman (there are references to things from throughout Batman's career peppered through the story), and I loved it. I can only imagine what Batman fanatics would think of it (new Bible, perhaps?).
After WHTTCC, there are preliminary sketches from Kubert and some other short Batman stories that Gaiman did earlier in his career. Unfortunately, although the stories are mostly good, they really suffer from the bad art and coloring standard to the late 80s and early 90s comics. My favorites were a very meta black and white story where Batman and the Joker sit around small-talking as they wait to go on the comics page (however, this had the worst art of all of the stories) and a neat little story where a recruiter for the Suicide Squad visits Poison Ivy in jail to possibly recruit her, and finds her a much trickier opponent than he was expecting. the first was funny, and I did kind of like the self-aware comic book characters (the art is even excusable as a parody of stereotypical Dark Age art), while the second really delves deeply into what drives Poison Ivy, and how she's possibly one of Batman's most deadly foes (even though the big Bat only appears in a few flashbacks).
But these are all merely extras. Why you should really look into this book is the main event: a brilliant and touching tribute to one of the most iconic superheroes ever, written by a master storyteller and drawn by a great artist.
Batman himself incorporeally watches as his friends and enemies eulogize him with their stories of his life and his death. The thing is, no one's story of Batman is exactly alike, and the incorporeal Batman remarks in confusion that none of their stories matches his own life. But each Batman has a few things in common, even though their realities are drastically different: each one is brave, and self-sacrificing (it's remarkable how many of the stories end with Batman sacrificing homself to save someone else), and each one never gives up, ever. It's a wondrous tribute to Batman (there are references to things from throughout Batman's career peppered through the story), and I loved it. I can only imagine what Batman fanatics would think of it (new Bible, perhaps?).
After WHTTCC, there are preliminary sketches from Kubert and some other short Batman stories that Gaiman did earlier in his career. Unfortunately, although the stories are mostly good, they really suffer from the bad art and coloring standard to the late 80s and early 90s comics. My favorites were a very meta black and white story where Batman and the Joker sit around small-talking as they wait to go on the comics page (however, this had the worst art of all of the stories) and a neat little story where a recruiter for the Suicide Squad visits Poison Ivy in jail to possibly recruit her, and finds her a much trickier opponent than he was expecting. the first was funny, and I did kind of like the self-aware comic book characters (the art is even excusable as a parody of stereotypical Dark Age art), while the second really delves deeply into what drives Poison Ivy, and how she's possibly one of Batman's most deadly foes (even though the big Bat only appears in a few flashbacks).
But these are all merely extras. Why you should really look into this book is the main event: a brilliant and touching tribute to one of the most iconic superheroes ever, written by a master storyteller and drawn by a great artist.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Gifts
"Gifts" is a young adult novel by famed sci-fi and fantasy author Ursula K. LeGuin. It's the first in a loose trilogy of books called "The Annals of the Western Shore,' and if the next two are as good as this one was, I look forward to reading them.
"Gifts" takes place in the Uplands, a northern country divided into the holdings of various families. Each family has its own unique gift, everything from the ability to call fire to reading minds to causing crops to wither. The most powerful practitioner of the family is called the brantor and is considered the head of the family. The gift of the family of main character Orrec is known as "the undoing", and it consists of the ability to destroy anything the user can see and point at. Unfortunately, Orrec cannot seem to control his gift, which doesn't work when he wants it to and seems to become imcredibly destructive when he uses it involuntarily. So Orrec binds his eyes so he cannot hurt anyone.
There isn't much of a plot to "Gifts," but that's alright as it allows it to focus more on its characters: Orrec, who is disturbed and uncomfortable with his family's gift; Orrec's father Canoc, a deeply flawed but very sympathetic man; Orrec's mother Melle, a Lowlander unaccustomed to uplander ways; Gry, Orrec's childhood friend who is uncomfortable with how her gift to commune with animals is usually used to help with hunting; Ogge Drum, a dangerous brantor looking to expand his family's territory; and Emmon, a rascal from the Lowlands who inspires Orrec and Gry to look beyond their limited lives. All of these characters are complicated and three dimoensional, and all of them fit very well in the world LeGuin creates for her characters. Sometimes they work at cross purposes to one another, and their behavior always seems to fit their character and the situation at hand. Especially of interest are how Orrec's wild gift means wildly different things for him, his father. and his mother; and the subtle (but rather sweet) love story that happens over the course of the book between Orrec and Gry.
The Uplands is a wonderful location. In an early chapter we are told about the various families, their brantors and their gifts, and it all seems credible: the society described sounds very much like one that would have to exist under the circumstances. I also liked how LeGuin pulls very few punches with how hard it is living there: this is a distinctly low-tech place, with the economy based on sheep- and cow-herding, members of families with powers living little better than the serfs who serve under them, and approximately three people in the entirety of the place who can actually read. Too often in traditional fantasy, people seem to be living 20th or 21st century lives with a thin coat of medieval flavor on the outside, but not here.
The lack of a plot is the only real problem. Except for the struggle between Canoc and Ogge and Orrec's own insecurity regarding his gift, most of the rest of it is giving us backstory rather than plot. As I said, this works out nicely (we get to see Orrec grow up from a baby to a teenager in the book), but at the end of it I wasn't quite sure what the point had all been.
But LeGuin is a wonderful writer, and I highly recommend this book. Check it out if you can.
"Gifts" takes place in the Uplands, a northern country divided into the holdings of various families. Each family has its own unique gift, everything from the ability to call fire to reading minds to causing crops to wither. The most powerful practitioner of the family is called the brantor and is considered the head of the family. The gift of the family of main character Orrec is known as "the undoing", and it consists of the ability to destroy anything the user can see and point at. Unfortunately, Orrec cannot seem to control his gift, which doesn't work when he wants it to and seems to become imcredibly destructive when he uses it involuntarily. So Orrec binds his eyes so he cannot hurt anyone.
There isn't much of a plot to "Gifts," but that's alright as it allows it to focus more on its characters: Orrec, who is disturbed and uncomfortable with his family's gift; Orrec's father Canoc, a deeply flawed but very sympathetic man; Orrec's mother Melle, a Lowlander unaccustomed to uplander ways; Gry, Orrec's childhood friend who is uncomfortable with how her gift to commune with animals is usually used to help with hunting; Ogge Drum, a dangerous brantor looking to expand his family's territory; and Emmon, a rascal from the Lowlands who inspires Orrec and Gry to look beyond their limited lives. All of these characters are complicated and three dimoensional, and all of them fit very well in the world LeGuin creates for her characters. Sometimes they work at cross purposes to one another, and their behavior always seems to fit their character and the situation at hand. Especially of interest are how Orrec's wild gift means wildly different things for him, his father. and his mother; and the subtle (but rather sweet) love story that happens over the course of the book between Orrec and Gry.
The Uplands is a wonderful location. In an early chapter we are told about the various families, their brantors and their gifts, and it all seems credible: the society described sounds very much like one that would have to exist under the circumstances. I also liked how LeGuin pulls very few punches with how hard it is living there: this is a distinctly low-tech place, with the economy based on sheep- and cow-herding, members of families with powers living little better than the serfs who serve under them, and approximately three people in the entirety of the place who can actually read. Too often in traditional fantasy, people seem to be living 20th or 21st century lives with a thin coat of medieval flavor on the outside, but not here.
The lack of a plot is the only real problem. Except for the struggle between Canoc and Ogge and Orrec's own insecurity regarding his gift, most of the rest of it is giving us backstory rather than plot. As I said, this works out nicely (we get to see Orrec grow up from a baby to a teenager in the book), but at the end of it I wasn't quite sure what the point had all been.
But LeGuin is a wonderful writer, and I highly recommend this book. Check it out if you can.
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