Books!
To give you some context, I've been in Austin, Tx since August the 3rd. Starting the first weekend of August, I've been voraciously reading graphic novels or, as you might call them, comic books. Loads and loads of comic books. And what an awesome time it has been.
Over the course of the last 6 weeks, I have read a total of 37 books, 35 of which were comic books and 2 of which were books.
Let me get the books out of the way first. I read The Postmortal, which is the story of a future where people could take a shot to prevent aging. It's an interesting read, not just because of the premise but also because of the way in which it's written. I wouldn't mind reading it again and I would definitely suggest it to someone interested in science fiction. The second book I read is When breath becomes air, which is an autobiography of the Stanford neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi and his life before and after he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. It's a beautiful story and it's beautifully written. This is a book I'm going to buy and have in my library.
Alright, now to the comic books. Let me get the short, single edition comic book out of the way first! Spy Seal issue #1 is the story of, well, a Seal, who, well, becomes a spy. It's set in Britain. The art is really interesting.
Let's now look at the comic book volumes that I am reading.
I read the first and second halves of Persepolis, an autobiographical comic book of the Iranian revolution from the point of view of a young girl, and later, an adult woman. If you're not interested in taking the time to read the two volumes, I would highly suggest watching the movie of the same name, which is equally wonderful and beautiful.
Volumes one, two, three and four of Hellboy. I. love. Hellboy. The comic books are much, much better than the movies are. The story is a lot better, the art is a lot more beautiful. The art style is very, very distinctive.
Volumes one and two of Saga! Saga is something a number of my work colleagues mentioned I should read. They also shied away from bringing their volumes to the office. Only after I bought it myself did i understand why. But, that's beside the point. It's the story of a mother and father, from opposing factions, trying to save the life of their child, a child who was born in the first pages of the first volume. The story is very well written and keeps you glued to the pages and the art is interesting. Not striking, just interesting.
Volumes one and two of The Walking Dead. Now, this was a bit of a surprise for me. I heard about the TV series but I never watched it. I've come across a lot of memes based on characters from or stories in the TV show but again, I never bothered to watch it. I just thought that it was over hyped. That's why I wanted to buy the comic book, because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. FYI, the comic book came first. And boy did it not disappoint. The story keeps you glued to the book and the art is beautiful and distinctive. And it's not the usual zombie flick, which is what makes it more interesting. I recently remember watching a video that talks about why the zombie genre can make for good movies. A good zombie movie scares you by making you think about how humanity will change because of the zombies and how humans will behave with each other.
Volumes one and three of Paper Girls. Again, this is something I found good reviews for online, which is why I picked up the first volume at a comic book store. It's by Brian K Vaughn, the same guy who writes Saga. It's a beautiful story with lovely art.
Volumes one and two of Barefoot Gen. This is the last but the best of what I've read in the last 6 weeks. It's the account of a 11 year old kid named Gen. Gen lived in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. It's the story of life in Hiroshima before and after the bomb was dropped. I had Maus in the back of my mind when I was reading this book but it ended up being so much better than Maus is. The art is different than anything I've seen before. The story is stuck in my head. The worst of humanity and the best of humanity are just one page away in this book. There are 8 more volumes to this epic and I can't wait to go back home and finish this series!
I think I'll stop there. Let's see, that makes 17. I'll talk about the other 18 in the next blog post. Or, you can take a look at them yourselves on my goodreads profile. Until then,
Over the course of the last 6 weeks, I have read a total of 37 books, 35 of which were comic books and 2 of which were books.
Let me get the books out of the way first. I read The Postmortal, which is the story of a future where people could take a shot to prevent aging. It's an interesting read, not just because of the premise but also because of the way in which it's written. I wouldn't mind reading it again and I would definitely suggest it to someone interested in science fiction. The second book I read is When breath becomes air, which is an autobiography of the Stanford neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi and his life before and after he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. It's a beautiful story and it's beautifully written. This is a book I'm going to buy and have in my library.
Alright, now to the comic books. Let me get the short, single edition comic book out of the way first! Spy Seal issue #1 is the story of, well, a Seal, who, well, becomes a spy. It's set in Britain. The art is really interesting.
Let's now look at the comic book volumes that I am reading.
I read the first and second halves of Persepolis, an autobiographical comic book of the Iranian revolution from the point of view of a young girl, and later, an adult woman. If you're not interested in taking the time to read the two volumes, I would highly suggest watching the movie of the same name, which is equally wonderful and beautiful.
Volumes one, two, three and four of Hellboy. I. love. Hellboy. The comic books are much, much better than the movies are. The story is a lot better, the art is a lot more beautiful. The art style is very, very distinctive.
Volumes one and two of Saga! Saga is something a number of my work colleagues mentioned I should read. They also shied away from bringing their volumes to the office. Only after I bought it myself did i understand why. But, that's beside the point. It's the story of a mother and father, from opposing factions, trying to save the life of their child, a child who was born in the first pages of the first volume. The story is very well written and keeps you glued to the pages and the art is interesting. Not striking, just interesting.
Volumes one and two of The Walking Dead. Now, this was a bit of a surprise for me. I heard about the TV series but I never watched it. I've come across a lot of memes based on characters from or stories in the TV show but again, I never bothered to watch it. I just thought that it was over hyped. That's why I wanted to buy the comic book, because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. FYI, the comic book came first. And boy did it not disappoint. The story keeps you glued to the book and the art is beautiful and distinctive. And it's not the usual zombie flick, which is what makes it more interesting. I recently remember watching a video that talks about why the zombie genre can make for good movies. A good zombie movie scares you by making you think about how humanity will change because of the zombies and how humans will behave with each other.
Volumes one and three of Paper Girls. Again, this is something I found good reviews for online, which is why I picked up the first volume at a comic book store. It's by Brian K Vaughn, the same guy who writes Saga. It's a beautiful story with lovely art.
Volumes one and two of Barefoot Gen. This is the last but the best of what I've read in the last 6 weeks. It's the account of a 11 year old kid named Gen. Gen lived in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. It's the story of life in Hiroshima before and after the bomb was dropped. I had Maus in the back of my mind when I was reading this book but it ended up being so much better than Maus is. The art is different than anything I've seen before. The story is stuck in my head. The worst of humanity and the best of humanity are just one page away in this book. There are 8 more volumes to this epic and I can't wait to go back home and finish this series!
I think I'll stop there. Let's see, that makes 17. I'll talk about the other 18 in the next blog post. Or, you can take a look at them yourselves on my goodreads profile. Until then,