I suggest taking a look at Incal: The Classic Collection with art by the amazing french artist Moebius if you like what you see above.
Snoopy and Moebius
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Tag Archives: Graphic Novel
5 Wolverine Books You Should Read
Wolverine.
Really what else needs to be said.
With a new film centered around his famous journey to Japan, we’ve got 5 other recommendations (some classic, some new) if you’d like to read more about this mutant Canuck.
Interested in reading Wolverine’s saga chronologically? Here’s a great article that can get you started on that daunting task.
Collecting Wolverine
5 Wolverine Books You Should Read
BTW these are available at the SLCPL, along with many more, in the graphic novel section under Graphic Novel Wolverine & Graphic Novel X-Men.
Another Piece To The Puzzle, that is North Korea
I’m obsessed with North Korea. It all started about 5 years ago, after watching Vice Founder Shane Smith in The Vice Guide to North Korea. It was the first time I got a glimpse of the most isolated country in the world. Not just read about it, but actually “seen” it. The whole time my heart pounded and I could feel my anxiety rise. It was exciting and I felt like I was watching something forbidden…waiting for my parents to walk in at any time. Since then I’ll watch or read anything on the subject.
This is where Guy Delisle‘s Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea comes in. It gives us a humorous look into the countries people, customs and government, from an outsiders perspective. North Korea really is a fascinatingly odd little country (at least compared to the U.S.) and if your as curious of a cat as I am, give it a read.
Anomaly: A Graphic Novel / Multimedia Sci-Fi Epic!
“What a brick…” I laughed to myself as I flipped through Anomaly, one of the largest graphic novels I have ever seen (370 pages to be exact). At first glance, I notice Anomaly is very reminiscent of Star Wars and Star Trek, which I dig. So screw it, I thought. This baby’s coming home with me. Good decision!
Earth 2717. The planet is dying and most of its population lives in space. There are no longer individual nations or corporations, just the all powerful Conglomerate who cares more about profit then life and will use any force necessary to get it. Jon, an Enforcer, joins Samantha, the daughter of a powerful Conglomerate executive, and her team on a suicidal peace mission to another world far far away. Everyone who has every traveled there, was never heard from again…
Anomaly is an anomaly among graphic novels. It’s one of the first graphic novels to create an interactive experience by combining print with a digital device, like your smart phone or tablet. Download the free interactive app, aim it at a specific image or link in the book and watch video and 3D images jump right off the page. It’s something you really have to experience. You don’t need the app to enjoy Anomaly, but its really really cool and adds even more depth to this sci-fi epic.
Graphic Novel Re-Read: Blankets by Craig Thompson
I recently picked up and re-read Craig Thompson’s memoir opus Blankets one evening. At 600 pages it’s a bit of a doorstop, however the pages flew by. I had read it for the first time about 8 years ago, and felt that a re-read might yield a different reaction. To be honest life events have not been so awesome in the last little while and I wasn’t sure whether this bitter sweet tale might rip open a new hole inside my soul. Gratefully it didn’t.
This seminal autobiographical graphic novel is an incredibly apt choice for this time of year. Obviously due to the fact that the key events of the story take place during winter time in Michigan and Wisconsin respectively. (Seriously anyone who complains about winter time here in the west should go to Michigan where they would laugh in your face…) However, also I think it’s because in winter-time we cocoon ourselves in order to maintain any precious amount of heat that we can. In Blankets I found that Thompson brings to the page the warmth of nostalgia when looking back on his romance with Raina. You can almost feel it emanating from the page as you read.
Another storyteller might look upon this story with anger and bitterness but Craig takes a more agnostic approach. While he may not understand everything that happened in his childhood, he clearly believes that it has led him to become the man he is. And that man isn’t perfect but he is content, no longer a searcher. No longer restless or conflicted. There’s solace in that at least, especially in the cold hand that fate can often deal us.
This is but one aspect of this story, trust me I could go on for (web) pages, but I’ll just urge you to check it out. It’s worth the heft.
Check it out here at the Salt Lake City Public Library.
Must Reads: Xombi Vol. 2
I tend to pick up a series after its been compiled into a graphic novel or when the Library adds them to it’s massive collection. The up-side, it’s free. The downside, I chance missing out on a really great series. In this case, the series was John Rozum‘s Xombi. In almost 30 years of reading comics, I can honestly say Xombi is one of the most uniquely bizarre, pleasurable reading experiences I’ve had in comics. Xombi is up there with the weirdest of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison!
Puns, nuns with guns, killer snow angels, secret cults, a floating magical skull fortress, religious superheros, talking coins…ahhhaha my mind! Join David Kim, Nun of the Above, Nun the Less and Catholic Girl,on an epic horror adventure!
5 Great Graphic Novels Released in 2012
As we near the end of the year here’s 5 Great Graphic Novels Released in 2012.
Of course they are all available for check out at the Salt Lake City Public Library.
For a link straight to the catalog just click on the pic above.
Get Jiro!
Earlier Last month, I was going through one of my “can’t find any good comics to read” fits when Comic Guru To The Stars (and slcplaltpress contributor) Rachel Getts handed me this colorful graphic novel with some bad ass looking sushi chef on the front cover. “Read this.” she said, and I did and it changed my life…or at least the way I feel about food culture, foodies and how hypocritical they can be.
Available for check-out! Also enjoy the interview below with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, author of Get Jiro!
Darth Vader and Son
I love Jeffrey Brown. Typically he’s known for writing angsty, relationship books about the women that he’s lost. But lately he’s been changing it up a bit. His book Darth Vader and Son started out as a web comic, written and drawn by Brown over the course of a year. This comic is typically single panel and hilarious. It works off the premise of Darth Vader as a single dad to a young Luke Skywalker. Their interactions serve as a reminder that we don’t always have to be so serious about our iconic characters. The hardcover is a quick read but a wholesome delight that you can share with all ages. Highly recommend.
Darth Vader and Son is available at the Salt Lake City Public Library here.
You can also find more of Jeffrey Brown’s delightful work here.
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths
Written and illustrated by manga legend Shigeru Mizuki back in 1973, this book is the mostly autobiographical account of a detachment of Japanese soldiers attempting to occupy New Britain (Papau New Guinea) near the end of the second World War. The protagonist, Maruyama, is a version of Mizuki who lost one of his arms fighting a hopeless and meaningless last stand against the Americans. Deals with many of the same themes that Will Eisner addressed in his Vietnam comics and in Full Metal Jacket, though with considerably less detachment than a characteristic Kubrick film. For more information on the book, there’s an excellent review at The Comics Journal: http://www.tcj.com/reviews/onward-towards-our-noble-deaths/
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