Bookworms Carnival: Graphic Novels Theme

I just wanted to let you all know that the next Bookworms Carnival theme is graphic novels. I hope some of you will submit some of the great reviews you've been writing. I'm the host this time.


Edition 17 hosted by: Dewey
Deadline for submission: November 14, 2008
Theme: graphic novels
To submit a post, email: dewpie at gmail dot com (with GN Carnival as the subject heading, please)

Three Shadows

by Cyril Pedrosa
Translated from the French by Edward Gauvin
First Second, soft cover, 269 p.

Back then, life was simple and sweet. The taste of cherries, the cool shade, the fresh smell of the river… That was how we lived, in a vale among the hills – sheltered from storms, ignorant of the world, as though on an island, peaceful and untroubled.
And then…
Then everything changed.

This was a moving story of the love of two parents for their child and how they cope with the uncertainty of his future. As it says on the back flap, “Three Shadows was born out of the agony of watching his close friends’ child die very young”, and as such it felt very real and emotional. He’s also taken a dark story about death and turned it into something almost beautiful.
I didn’t always love the artwork but it was always interesting, and Pedrosa did a great job of telling the story through brush strokes instead of words in many places. The author has a background in animation and you can really feel the movement of many of the scenes from his unique style.

(click to enlarge)

You can see the first 11 pages here, and another excerpt, showing the arrival of the shadows, here.
Interview with the author.
More info at Amazon.com.

*Originally posted at In Spring it is the Dawn

The Wizard's Tale

This young adult graphic novel was nominated for the Eisner Award for Graphic Album in 1998. It tells of a wizard who is descended from a long line of evil wizards except he's quite bad at being evil. He reluctantly has to set off on a quest for a magical book otherwise he'll get kicked out of his castle by other evil wizards. There is a quest, there is romance, there is a squire who wants to be king, and a talking toad. It is a very short and quick read, and while it is a young adult, I think many younger readers would like it. It's an unconventional sort of fairy tale with touches of humor throughout.

The Plain Janesby Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

Published in 2007.
176 pages (according to amazon.com, as the pages are not numbered).

I first heard about the young adult graphic novel The Plain Janes from Dewey, who reviewed it and then sent a copy to me and my daughters. (Thanks again, Dewey!) Sugar Plum (age 12) read the book the same day it arrived, immediately emailed the author because she liked it so much, and claimed our copy as her own. Last month I happened upon the book in Sugar Plum's bedroom and decided it was time for me to read it. I started it late one Friday before bed and finished it the next morning. Like Sugar Plum, I fell in love with the book!

The Plain Janes - from DC Comics' imprint Minx - is a story about art, fear, belonging, being yourself, and making a difference. I think those are topics to which each of us, regardless of age, can relate. The Plain Janes is Castellucci's first graphic novel, but a sequel Janes in Love is due out soon.

I'm new to the world of graphic novels - but I've so enjoyed the ones I've read so far (two volumes of Fashion Kitty, American Born Chinese, and this one). I'm also going to check out some of Castellucci's novels.

Cross-posted from my book blog.

Y the Last Man v1: Unmanned - Brian K Vaughan

Yorick (his father was a drama teacher) is feeling left behind since his friends all went off travelling. His girlfriend Beth is no exception and is off exploring Australia. For company he has a helped money he is supposed to be training he names Ampersand. As he proposes to his girlfriend over a long distance phone call something terrible happens. A mysterious plague sweeps the world killing everything male. Yorick and Ampersand are now the last males of their species.

They set out to try and find out what makes them different to all the other males who have been left for dead. The world is in choas wondering how life will continue without male sperm donors. A group of women nicknamed Amazons are destroying sperm banks and monuments to malesas they believe it is divine justice for all the rapings, seriel killers and abusers. The Amazons burn off one of their breasts when they join up and are particularly violent to the other women.

Yorick is looking for his sister Hero as well as a scientist who may be able to clone him and tell him why him and Ampersand survived. Coming to his aid is the mysterious secret agent called 355 who is part of the Cupler Ring. Alongside that is the wish of some women for him to propogate the species in the usual fashion when all he wants to do is find a way to get to Australia and find Beth.

An adult set of comics published by Vertigo (the home of Fables and The Sandman among many others), this was a fantastic beginning to the series. Apocolyptic but set oin a world not very far away from our own, it looks at the realities of a world of women only (besides Yorick and Ampersand of course). The choices the women make along the way were dealt with very well (eg a former top model becomming a garbage truck driver and rgretting her boob job) and it seemed very realistic. Highly recommended, expecially to those who enjoy darker graphic novels that make you think like Fables and The Sandman.

Maus I & II

by Art Spiegelman
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Special Letters Award, 1992
Pantheon, softcover box set, 280 p.

Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father’s terrifying story, and History itself.
Moving back and forth from Poland to Rego Park, New York, Maus tells two powerful stories: The first is Spiegelman’s father’s account of how he and his wife survived Hitler’s Europe, a harrowing tale filled with countless brushes with death, improbably escapes, and the terror of confinement and betrayal. The second is the author’s tortured relationship with his aging father as they try to lead a normal life of minor arguments and passing visits against a backdrop of history too large to pacify. At all levels, this is the ultimate survivor’s tale – and that, too, of the chidren who somehow survive even the survivors.

There have been several wonderful reviews of this lately that I'm not sure I have anything new to add. But what an incredible way to tell a story about the Holocaust! Art Spiegelman’s drawings are powerful and really make the words and the horror of what his father and all the other Jews experienced all the more vivid. Much has been said about his use of animals to depict different groups (the Jews as mice, the Nazis as cats, the Americans as dogs, etc.) and I think this works really effectively to make it not just the story of Vladek and Anya Spiegelman but all Jews and everyone who was affected by what happened.

One of my favourite parts of the story though was how Art related the process of getting the story from his father alongside the story itself. It was this look at their relationship that made it extremely personal, and touching.
Partly because of the visual style, and also Vladek’s resourcefulness, especially after he found himself in Auschwitz, I also couldn’t help but think of the film, Life is Beautiful, while I was reading this. Such a beautiful, moving film!
Thanks to the nudge from a couple of challenges, I'm so glad to have finally read this!
My Rating: 4.5/5

(image found here)

*originally posted at In Spring it is the Dawn

Nightmares and Fairy Tales v3: 1140 Rue Royale - Serena Valentino

The third in the series by Serena Valentino. It is set out in a slighlty different format to the first two. This collection follows one storyline throughout with doll Annabelle very much in the background (she appears to those who have read the first two and recognise her). Rebecca and her aging aunt Victoria move into a house reputed to be hauntet in New Orleans.

Former owner Delphine Lalaurie was found to have killed her slaves in the house after torturing them and suffering them. One woman was chained to the stove and at least two men were operated on alive and well in horrendous ways. In the house Rebecca is beset by the spirits of the dead who are able to possess her in order to get their revenge. The story also links back to one from the first collection about a group of nuns in New Orleans who sacrifice Dominique's illegitimate son to amonster locked away in the attic.

A terrifying and gothic tale that Valentino begins saying "there is a truth embedded within the layers of fiction that fill this volume" and it is "inspired by historical events". How people can treat each other like this is disgraceful. However, it is beautifully drawn and a gripping tale that really leaves an impression on the reader. This is a great series and highly recommended.