Moar books!
In the last post, I talked about some of the graphic novels and books I'd read over the last 6 weeks. Most of the books in that post were multiple volumes of a series that I'd started reading. A few of the books listed here might be part of a series but I haven't (yet) read the other volumes in the series.
Volume I of Maus. Maus is the story of a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, being told by his son. It's visually different than anything else I've read, especially because the Jews are represented as Mouse and the Nazis as Cats in the graphic novel. People of other races are represented as other animals, for example the Polish people are represented as Pigs, if i remember correctly. It's a sad but powerful read.
Snow Piercer : The Escape is part I of a 3 part series about a fictional future where all life on the planet has been wiped off because of severe cold. Earth is blanketed with snow and humans survive on a train, that chugs along the continental US, if I'm not wrong. An interesting addition is that the train itself is a class-system, with the front of the train being the first class where the travelers live lavishly and the back of the train is third class, where the travelers barely have space to stand next to each other and hardly any food to eat. The art is, like a lot of the other books I've read, visually stunning. I need to read the two following books in this series, preferably soon. Also, the movie Snowpiercer is based on this graphic novel.
Volume I of the Sandman. I really don't know how to describe this Neil Gaiman book other than beautiful. I think I'll stop at that.
Now, let's look at the superhero graphic novels that I read. Batman : The Killing Joke is a classic, which talks about the origins of the Joker. I read it when I was in high school and I needed to read it again, and own a copy of it. Batman : The Black Mirror is interesting because it talks about a new Batman, after Bruce Wayne retires and passes the helm to someone younger. It's an interesting read.
Batman : Year One really deserves a place of it's own in this list. It's a retelling of the Batman's first year fighting crime in Gotham City and making an ally of Commissioner Gordan. It's beautifully drawn and I realized that Christopher Nolan's Batman movies borrowed a thing or two from this graphic novel.
Superman : The Red Son is another interesting read because of it's mindblowing premise. What if Superman landed in Communist Russia instead of Capitalist USA. What if Superman had grown up with different ideals? How would the other DC big guns like Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern look in this universe. The premise by itself made me fall in love with this graphic novel. The visuals and the actual story only added to how awesome this novel is.
The Fountain is a graphic novel/movie about love and eternal life. It's super weird. The art and the story. It's a short novel, compared to some of the other graphic novels I've read. It's also among the weirder graphic novels I read. But it's interesting nevertheless. The art changes in every other page, which in itself glued me to the pages.
Volume I of the Discworld graphic novels. This was an interesting read but I want to go back and read the actual books, just to compare how much of the beauty in the book got glossed over in the graphic novel. It's one of the few graphic novels which made me laugh out loud so I think reading the original novels will make me cry.
Volume I of Sex Criminals is the story of two people who stop time when they orgasm. What would you do if you could stop time? It's an interesting premise. While the story at times is a little silly and lacks depth, the art is beautiful and interesting so it's still worth a read.
Daytripper is an interesting but weird one because of it's premise. The novel is made up of smaller stories, each of them with the same premise - an obituary writer for a newspaper dies. In each of the story, he dies in a different way, at a different age, but he dies nevertheless. I guess it was trying to convey the message that you could die tomorrow so make the best of today, a message I've heard a number of times already. While the story didn't keep me interested, the art did. So, yay?
Asterios Polyp is the most beautiful graphic novel I've read so far. It's the story of a male architect and his relationship. I don't care much for the story. It's not the greatest story I've come across, it's okay. The art on the other hand is mesmerizing. Totally fascinating. The art gives a whole new dimension to the story, one that I didn't imagine art could do earlier. It's a fat book and a long read but it's a book that I recommend everyone to get and read.
I think I'll stop here. I'll write about the last set of books in the next and hopefully final blogpost. Until then,
Volume I of Maus. Maus is the story of a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, being told by his son. It's visually different than anything else I've read, especially because the Jews are represented as Mouse and the Nazis as Cats in the graphic novel. People of other races are represented as other animals, for example the Polish people are represented as Pigs, if i remember correctly. It's a sad but powerful read.
Snow Piercer : The Escape is part I of a 3 part series about a fictional future where all life on the planet has been wiped off because of severe cold. Earth is blanketed with snow and humans survive on a train, that chugs along the continental US, if I'm not wrong. An interesting addition is that the train itself is a class-system, with the front of the train being the first class where the travelers live lavishly and the back of the train is third class, where the travelers barely have space to stand next to each other and hardly any food to eat. The art is, like a lot of the other books I've read, visually stunning. I need to read the two following books in this series, preferably soon. Also, the movie Snowpiercer is based on this graphic novel.
Volume I of the Sandman. I really don't know how to describe this Neil Gaiman book other than beautiful. I think I'll stop at that.
Now, let's look at the superhero graphic novels that I read. Batman : The Killing Joke is a classic, which talks about the origins of the Joker. I read it when I was in high school and I needed to read it again, and own a copy of it. Batman : The Black Mirror is interesting because it talks about a new Batman, after Bruce Wayne retires and passes the helm to someone younger. It's an interesting read.
Batman : Year One really deserves a place of it's own in this list. It's a retelling of the Batman's first year fighting crime in Gotham City and making an ally of Commissioner Gordan. It's beautifully drawn and I realized that Christopher Nolan's Batman movies borrowed a thing or two from this graphic novel.
Superman : The Red Son is another interesting read because of it's mindblowing premise. What if Superman landed in Communist Russia instead of Capitalist USA. What if Superman had grown up with different ideals? How would the other DC big guns like Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern look in this universe. The premise by itself made me fall in love with this graphic novel. The visuals and the actual story only added to how awesome this novel is.
The Fountain is a graphic novel/movie about love and eternal life. It's super weird. The art and the story. It's a short novel, compared to some of the other graphic novels I've read. It's also among the weirder graphic novels I read. But it's interesting nevertheless. The art changes in every other page, which in itself glued me to the pages.
Volume I of the Discworld graphic novels. This was an interesting read but I want to go back and read the actual books, just to compare how much of the beauty in the book got glossed over in the graphic novel. It's one of the few graphic novels which made me laugh out loud so I think reading the original novels will make me cry.
Volume I of Sex Criminals is the story of two people who stop time when they orgasm. What would you do if you could stop time? It's an interesting premise. While the story at times is a little silly and lacks depth, the art is beautiful and interesting so it's still worth a read.
Daytripper is an interesting but weird one because of it's premise. The novel is made up of smaller stories, each of them with the same premise - an obituary writer for a newspaper dies. In each of the story, he dies in a different way, at a different age, but he dies nevertheless. I guess it was trying to convey the message that you could die tomorrow so make the best of today, a message I've heard a number of times already. While the story didn't keep me interested, the art did. So, yay?
Asterios Polyp is the most beautiful graphic novel I've read so far. It's the story of a male architect and his relationship. I don't care much for the story. It's not the greatest story I've come across, it's okay. The art on the other hand is mesmerizing. Totally fascinating. The art gives a whole new dimension to the story, one that I didn't imagine art could do earlier. It's a fat book and a long read but it's a book that I recommend everyone to get and read.
I think I'll stop here. I'll write about the last set of books in the next and hopefully final blogpost. Until then,