Thursday, January 28, 2010
Holy Sh*t!!: the World's Weirdest Comic books
This is, as you can probably tell from the subtitle, a collection of profiles of some of the weirdest comics out there. From the exploitative (comics with names like "Leather Nun" and "Amputee Love) to the cynically commercial (comics for products like Greyhound buses, Borden's Milk, and Wall's Ice Cream), to the just plain bizarre (title such as "Godzilla Vs. Charles Barkley", "The Gospel Blimp", and "My Friend Dahmer"). It is truly fascinating to see what some people tried to get people to buy in comic form. While quite a lot of it is utter crap (an evangelical Christian comic about "Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika," for example, or the bizarre-looking issue of "Babe, Darling of the Hills" wherin the eponymous hillbilly girl is kidnaped by centaurs and forced to serve as a mount), some of it is actually interesting. The collection chronicles the efforts of a variety of African American writers and artists who tried (and failed, mostly) to depict blacks in the comics, and profiles artsy comics like "Longshot Comics," which has the conceit of depicting all of its characters as miniscule dots. Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury, the two authors, seem to take great joy in their bizarre product, and their profiles acknoledge the stupidity of some of the ideas behind some of the comics, while never being too glib about them either. I found it to be both an educational and fun read.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Bourbon Island 1730
"Bourbon Island" is a graphic novel by French comic book artist Lewis Trondheim and writer Appollo that I read this morning. Like the graphic novel "Northwest Passage," which I also enjoyed but neglected to write an entry for, this is very heavily based on a historical place and time that isn't very well known.
The title gives both the time and the place: it takes place in 1730, on the French colony known then as Bourbon Island and now as Reunion. 1730 was towards the end of the great age of pirates, and the story revolves around the very last of the great pirate captains, a man named Buzzard, who has been captured and is scheduled to be executed. although Buzzard himself never appears, everything that happens revolves around him. Some of the characters want to free him, others want to hang him, and still others want Buzzard to tell them where he buried an enormous island. The island is populated with a fascinating cast of East India agents, reformed pirates, escaped slaves, the Maroon hunters sent to capture them, and two Parisian orthinologists trying to capture the elusive Bourbon Island dodo, also known as the solitaire. Bourbon Island is a richly textured and complex place, and if this book ever gets a sequel I'll look forward to reading it.
The book doesn't exactly have much in the way of a plot, merely having its characters meander about, discuss Buzzard and pirate lore, and try to figure out what to do. But that is alright: it works very well as a snapshot of a precise time and place.
All of the characters are interesting. I especially liked Raphael, the younger of the two ornithologists, who is obsessed with pirates, and Victoria, the daughter of a prosperous planter (and former pirate), who is herself obsessed with the Maroons, the escaped slaves who live in the hills. The two characters' disputes over which subject is more worthy of admiration is very interesting, especially in comparison to the decidely unromantic examples of both pirates and Maroons we are also introduced to. I also quite liked Rapier, a former black pirate who leads one of the bands of maroons in the hills, who comes across as a character who has lived quite a bit longer than he ever expected to, who is just as smart as the whites around him, but resents being treated as unequal.
All in all, a very interesting and rich work. I definitely want to read more of what both artists have to offer, expecially a sequel to this. It is awesome and fub, and tought me about part of the world I knew almost nothing about. NowI want to learn so much more...
The title gives both the time and the place: it takes place in 1730, on the French colony known then as Bourbon Island and now as Reunion. 1730 was towards the end of the great age of pirates, and the story revolves around the very last of the great pirate captains, a man named Buzzard, who has been captured and is scheduled to be executed. although Buzzard himself never appears, everything that happens revolves around him. Some of the characters want to free him, others want to hang him, and still others want Buzzard to tell them where he buried an enormous island. The island is populated with a fascinating cast of East India agents, reformed pirates, escaped slaves, the Maroon hunters sent to capture them, and two Parisian orthinologists trying to capture the elusive Bourbon Island dodo, also known as the solitaire. Bourbon Island is a richly textured and complex place, and if this book ever gets a sequel I'll look forward to reading it.
The book doesn't exactly have much in the way of a plot, merely having its characters meander about, discuss Buzzard and pirate lore, and try to figure out what to do. But that is alright: it works very well as a snapshot of a precise time and place.
All of the characters are interesting. I especially liked Raphael, the younger of the two ornithologists, who is obsessed with pirates, and Victoria, the daughter of a prosperous planter (and former pirate), who is herself obsessed with the Maroons, the escaped slaves who live in the hills. The two characters' disputes over which subject is more worthy of admiration is very interesting, especially in comparison to the decidely unromantic examples of both pirates and Maroons we are also introduced to. I also quite liked Rapier, a former black pirate who leads one of the bands of maroons in the hills, who comes across as a character who has lived quite a bit longer than he ever expected to, who is just as smart as the whites around him, but resents being treated as unequal.
All in all, a very interesting and rich work. I definitely want to read more of what both artists have to offer, expecially a sequel to this. It is awesome and fub, and tought me about part of the world I knew almost nothing about. NowI want to learn so much more...
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Lovely Bones
This book caught me off guard. I didn't expect a book so fiercely beautiful and so powerful when I opened it. It'd been sitting on my shelf for the past few years unread, I only began reading it because the film based on it had just come out. But I'm really glad I did.
The story revolves around Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old girl who is murdered in 1973 by a serial killer neighbor. The book deals with the lives of the people close to Susie and how they change as time goes on. There's Susie's father Jack, who becomes obsessed with solving her murder, Susie's younger sister Lindsey, who tries her best to be strong, Susie's mother Abigail, who drifts away from the family, and Rayand Ruth, a boy and girl at Susie's school who both in their way loved Susie and are drawn together by it. And of course there's Mr. Harvey, the murderer himself. Susie, watching in heaven, serves as an omniscient but biased narrator, delving into the thoughts and experiences of the other characters.
Some of the early chapters, dealing with Susie's murder and the various characters attempting to deal with it, are very emotionally powerful and because of it are somewhat hard to read. It can be hard not to be overcome by the grief and pain the characters and Susie experience. But conversely because they are so emotionally powerful that some of these chapters are my favorites in the book. It feels so real that I myself miss Susie and feel sympathy for the characters who are lacking her.
I liked all of the characters, but especially Ruth and Ray, who are drawn together by their common love of Susie. There was just something so powerful and interesting about their relationship, which is completely atypical from the stereotypical relationships one usually encounters in stories. As for the other characters, it is interesting to see how they all evolve over time, how obsessions and traumas over Susie in the short run transform their characters into something different over time, so that when the novel ends 10 years after it starts they no longer resemble themselves from the beginning of the novel. It made them feel like real people to me. Even the psychotically insane Mr. Harvey becomes more sympathetic than you would imagine as the reader is allowed to see what goes on inside his tortured psyche.
The fantasy elements of the story are significantly thinner than I was expecting. We do get some descriptions of the heaven where Susie lives (which is apparently made up mostly of everything you wanted in life), and Susie herself is able to effect certain small events in the narrative occasionally, but the focus is on the living characters mostly and Susie's observations about them. Therefore anyone leery about reading a fantasy novel shouldn't worry abut this one.
I really liked this novel. It has great characters and is immensely emotionally powerful. I reccomend it to anyone willing to deal with the painful emotions it can evoke in the early chapters, as it is a true masterpiece.
The story revolves around Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old girl who is murdered in 1973 by a serial killer neighbor. The book deals with the lives of the people close to Susie and how they change as time goes on. There's Susie's father Jack, who becomes obsessed with solving her murder, Susie's younger sister Lindsey, who tries her best to be strong, Susie's mother Abigail, who drifts away from the family, and Rayand Ruth, a boy and girl at Susie's school who both in their way loved Susie and are drawn together by it. And of course there's Mr. Harvey, the murderer himself. Susie, watching in heaven, serves as an omniscient but biased narrator, delving into the thoughts and experiences of the other characters.
Some of the early chapters, dealing with Susie's murder and the various characters attempting to deal with it, are very emotionally powerful and because of it are somewhat hard to read. It can be hard not to be overcome by the grief and pain the characters and Susie experience. But conversely because they are so emotionally powerful that some of these chapters are my favorites in the book. It feels so real that I myself miss Susie and feel sympathy for the characters who are lacking her.
I liked all of the characters, but especially Ruth and Ray, who are drawn together by their common love of Susie. There was just something so powerful and interesting about their relationship, which is completely atypical from the stereotypical relationships one usually encounters in stories. As for the other characters, it is interesting to see how they all evolve over time, how obsessions and traumas over Susie in the short run transform their characters into something different over time, so that when the novel ends 10 years after it starts they no longer resemble themselves from the beginning of the novel. It made them feel like real people to me. Even the psychotically insane Mr. Harvey becomes more sympathetic than you would imagine as the reader is allowed to see what goes on inside his tortured psyche.
The fantasy elements of the story are significantly thinner than I was expecting. We do get some descriptions of the heaven where Susie lives (which is apparently made up mostly of everything you wanted in life), and Susie herself is able to effect certain small events in the narrative occasionally, but the focus is on the living characters mostly and Susie's observations about them. Therefore anyone leery about reading a fantasy novel shouldn't worry abut this one.
I really liked this novel. It has great characters and is immensely emotionally powerful. I reccomend it to anyone willing to deal with the painful emotions it can evoke in the early chapters, as it is a true masterpiece.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Unseen Academicals
"Unseen Academicals" is the latest Discworld book, a series that I can say that I truly love. Terry Pratchett writes complex and interesting stories, that manage to both be laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly emotionally powerful. Even though he's approaching 40 Discworld books, each one is still as awesome as the last.
However, because there are so many books, Pratchett lately has been focusing more on new characters, with old favorites reduced to supporting cast roles or mere cameos. This actually creates some really interesting effects, as for instance, the Watch, who we know of from the books featuring them as intelligent, conscientious people upholding the law in a city where that task is extremely difficult are seen as brutal and abusers of the law when the viewpoint characters are on the other side of the truncheon, as it were.
"Unseen Academicals" does have some important returning characters. As you could probably guess from the title, the faculty of Unseen University features heavily in the story, especially four of them: Archancellor Ridcully,Ponder Stibbons, The Librarian, and the man who used to be the Dean, who has quit and become Archancellor of a competing university. Ponder Stibbons especially receives a great amount of character development, as his position of being the only sensible man at UU has caused him to have gained quite a lot of power unnoticed, and he no longer seems like the Butt Monkey for the rest of the faculty's schemes and exploits. The other major recurring character is Lord Vetinari, the tyrannical but benevolent ruler of Ankh Morpork, who serves his typical role as the Chessmaster manipulating everyone else to achieve his own goals. Although he's served this exact role in the last three or so books, he fills it well, and this book gives him some wonderful scenes, such as one where the reader finally finds out what Vetinari is like drunk.
In addition to the recurrers, we have our new characters, who are all members of the staff of Unseen University. Glenda is the head of the Night Kitchen and a maker of truly outstanding pies, and a sensible young woman, a foil to her friend Juliet,a brainless but incredibly beautiful girl who has great things ahead of her. Trev Likely is a young man who runs the candle vats, a street kid whose father was an infamous football star, who might even surpass his father except that he's terrified of playing. Finally, there's Mr. Nutt, a strange and resourceful creature who also works in the candle vats, who is unbelievably intelligent and capable of doing pretty much everything. He's also shy, has some pretty serious hang-ups, and is for some reason incredibly important to various other characters.
The plot revolves around the sport of football, a raucous violent spectacle enjoyed by many citizens of Ankh-Morpork, where each neighborhood has a fanatical loyalty to their football squad. Two events bring our characters in: the faculty of UU discovering that they need to play a game soon or lose a significant chunk of their funding, and the discovery of an ancient vase depicting how the game used to be played, bringing it to the interest of Vetinari.
From there, the plot takes off in a variety of directions, not all of them having to do with football. Perhaps the most interesting is the concept of the crab bucket that Pratchett plays around with. This is the concept that one does not need to put a lid on a bucket of crabs: those at the bottom will pull down those at the top. Similarly, the common folk of Ankh-Morpork will pull down any who excel, claiming that they have "put on airs" or denigrating them for not doing "real work." Glenda both experiences this, feeling social pressure to stay in her position, while simultaneously inflicting it upon Juliet, whose great beauty could allow her to become a superstar model if Glenda didn't denigrate the work. As Glenda defies social convention, and allows Juliet to do the same, we are also introduced to the concept of the metaphorical hammer, that if you act as if social pressures from above holding you down don't exist, that those above you will be unable to enforce them, and it is awesome to see both girls gain confidence and excel, because they wish to.
The only underwhelming part of the story is the revelation of what Mr. Nutt actually is. We're told early on that he may be a goblin, but the revelation about 3/4 of the way through the book of his actual identity led me to think "Yeah? So what?" It's supposed to be shocking or horrifying, but to me it wasn't that much of a twist. Mr. Nutt himself is quite good, having perhaps the most interesting and complex character, who changes the most of probably anyone in the story. He was definitely my favorite character in the book.
"Unseen Academicals" was a fun book all in all. I loved Pratchett's writing, full of humor and power. Even though it has a plot somewhat reminiscent of a lot of recent Discworld books (social outcast reforms disrespected institution), Pratchett makes it all fresh and interesting. I loved it, and I look forward to the next thing Mr. Pratchett can dish out!
However, because there are so many books, Pratchett lately has been focusing more on new characters, with old favorites reduced to supporting cast roles or mere cameos. This actually creates some really interesting effects, as for instance, the Watch, who we know of from the books featuring them as intelligent, conscientious people upholding the law in a city where that task is extremely difficult are seen as brutal and abusers of the law when the viewpoint characters are on the other side of the truncheon, as it were.
"Unseen Academicals" does have some important returning characters. As you could probably guess from the title, the faculty of Unseen University features heavily in the story, especially four of them: Archancellor Ridcully,Ponder Stibbons, The Librarian, and the man who used to be the Dean, who has quit and become Archancellor of a competing university. Ponder Stibbons especially receives a great amount of character development, as his position of being the only sensible man at UU has caused him to have gained quite a lot of power unnoticed, and he no longer seems like the Butt Monkey for the rest of the faculty's schemes and exploits. The other major recurring character is Lord Vetinari, the tyrannical but benevolent ruler of Ankh Morpork, who serves his typical role as the Chessmaster manipulating everyone else to achieve his own goals. Although he's served this exact role in the last three or so books, he fills it well, and this book gives him some wonderful scenes, such as one where the reader finally finds out what Vetinari is like drunk.
In addition to the recurrers, we have our new characters, who are all members of the staff of Unseen University. Glenda is the head of the Night Kitchen and a maker of truly outstanding pies, and a sensible young woman, a foil to her friend Juliet,a brainless but incredibly beautiful girl who has great things ahead of her. Trev Likely is a young man who runs the candle vats, a street kid whose father was an infamous football star, who might even surpass his father except that he's terrified of playing. Finally, there's Mr. Nutt, a strange and resourceful creature who also works in the candle vats, who is unbelievably intelligent and capable of doing pretty much everything. He's also shy, has some pretty serious hang-ups, and is for some reason incredibly important to various other characters.
The plot revolves around the sport of football, a raucous violent spectacle enjoyed by many citizens of Ankh-Morpork, where each neighborhood has a fanatical loyalty to their football squad. Two events bring our characters in: the faculty of UU discovering that they need to play a game soon or lose a significant chunk of their funding, and the discovery of an ancient vase depicting how the game used to be played, bringing it to the interest of Vetinari.
From there, the plot takes off in a variety of directions, not all of them having to do with football. Perhaps the most interesting is the concept of the crab bucket that Pratchett plays around with. This is the concept that one does not need to put a lid on a bucket of crabs: those at the bottom will pull down those at the top. Similarly, the common folk of Ankh-Morpork will pull down any who excel, claiming that they have "put on airs" or denigrating them for not doing "real work." Glenda both experiences this, feeling social pressure to stay in her position, while simultaneously inflicting it upon Juliet, whose great beauty could allow her to become a superstar model if Glenda didn't denigrate the work. As Glenda defies social convention, and allows Juliet to do the same, we are also introduced to the concept of the metaphorical hammer, that if you act as if social pressures from above holding you down don't exist, that those above you will be unable to enforce them, and it is awesome to see both girls gain confidence and excel, because they wish to.
The only underwhelming part of the story is the revelation of what Mr. Nutt actually is. We're told early on that he may be a goblin, but the revelation about 3/4 of the way through the book of his actual identity led me to think "Yeah? So what?" It's supposed to be shocking or horrifying, but to me it wasn't that much of a twist. Mr. Nutt himself is quite good, having perhaps the most interesting and complex character, who changes the most of probably anyone in the story. He was definitely my favorite character in the book.
"Unseen Academicals" was a fun book all in all. I loved Pratchett's writing, full of humor and power. Even though it has a plot somewhat reminiscent of a lot of recent Discworld books (social outcast reforms disrespected institution), Pratchett makes it all fresh and interesting. I loved it, and I look forward to the next thing Mr. Pratchett can dish out!
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