|
I, an adult who only reads serious literature, have made this thread so other like-minded adults who are tired of reading about flying costumed juvenile power fantasies can instead luxuriate by the fireplace with a brandy snifter and our dog, crack open the finest of quality visual storytelling and ruminate on how much better I am than you for not wasting my time on weekly pap designed to extract your paper route dollars in exchange for ten minutes of empty titillation. So let's talk about graphic novels, a term oft-derided by people who think the people who use the term "graphic novel" are pretentious snobs, a subset of comic books that, while possibly released weekly, ultimately represent a complete story with no traditional continuance elements ("the end... ?" and its ilk are more of a sequel hint). More to the point, let's post about good graphic novels and explain in multiple sentences and maybe even lots of paragraphs why we liked them, because by their nature they tend not to elicit an on-going discussion like your traditional never-ending comic. I would say that generally speaking, if a series gets over 10-12 issues it probably shouldn't be considered a graphic novel. Chew, Love & Rockets, Sandman are traditional comic books, even if they end. Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Jimmy Corrigan, Marvels, and Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron are graphic novels, even if they were originally published in segments. But who am I to judge your stupid definitions? Also, if you think someone's positive opinion of a book is wrong, and that the book sucks, at least try to say why besides "that book sucks". I thought Jeff Smith's RASL sucked and even though I've done my best to forget it I can probably generate a few solid arguments that might save some future reader's money.
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 04:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 07:24 |
|
|
To kick this off, I really enjoyed Richard McGuire's Here. The book consists of about 300 pages of a completely fixed viewpoint, looking mostly at a living room, largely during the 20th and early 21st century, although time jumps around. There are no protagonists, although you see a few people more than once. Some pages contain multiple times at once, sometimes multiple pages will display a brief narrative, sometimes it's just haunting watercolors of primordial fluids. I felt the book's jumping timeline and general lack of straight continuity helped focus the work on the place, and the rapid reading pace kept me from fixating on a particular time. At times the book focuses on parallels between times, but rarely for more than 10 pages (or 5 scenes, everything is a two-page spread). Other times it focuses on the birth, life, and death of the living room that occupies the majority of pages. It sounds boring but isn't, again I think the brisk pace works to its advantage. It's also generally a good looking book which is nice. I give the book a score of 30-year fixed mortgage at 3.25%, no points or closing costs. Zachack fucked around with this message at 04:58 on May 2, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 04:55
|
|