Comics

I don't recall ever being that into comic books as a kid. One summer in Los Lunas, while at Gugino's -- the local "sort of" Hallmark-esque shop -- my mom bought me an issue of The Flash and my brother an issue of The Green Lantern. I thought The Flash was super cool because he could run so fast that he could cross oceans. I never quite "got" Green Lantern and his weird jewelry (until much later when I developed a healthy appreciation for that book, its history and some of the great writers who've worked on it through the years).

In my high school and early college years, I got into collecting comic cards (I still have an unopened box of Fleer Flair Ultra '97 which have gorgeous art), especially the Marvel Universe, which tended, in my mind, to be less tuned into the super hero mythology (e.g., Batman or Captain America or Superman), and more science fictional. I read all the cards, knew all the back stories, how they fit into the worlds; I knew the "team" affiliations and all that too, but then I got out of that and began reading more fantasy / horror (Dragonlance / Ann Rice); which ultimately landed me in the more purely science fiction camp.

Anyway, lately, with the absence of television and having not really run across any series that's as immersive as I like, I decided to take another look at the serial genre. It's like when you're in your teens and you burn out on "the music of the day" so you go back to the generation before yours and the one before that, etc., to find artists you really dig on only to discover entire catalogs of tracks you've never heard but that blow your mind!

So about a year ago, I picked up Watchmen -- best to start at the top, right? See what the genre is truly capable of in order to bestow respect from the outset. I was in awe of the complexity of the story, the interweaving of "primary source" materials like letters and whatnot, and the comic-inside-a-comic, that was really interesting.

From there, of course, I went into Sandman Volume 1, Preludes & Nocturns. Again, this is critically regarded as a "best of the best" in the genre, but it's completely different. Whereas Watchmen is a critique of the superhero mythos and treatment, Sandman is pretty squarely within the horror/fantasy field (I think). It's beautifully rendered and really does a number on you. Hypnotic, I'd say.

After these, I took a step back and read the two volumes of Maus -- again, critically acclaimed and completely different. Maus is very modern and is not "comic" material as I'd ever thought it to be. There were no "characters" only real people -- though they were drawn as mice and cats and pigs... but they were real people. The uncolored pencil drawings were very effective in telling the story and I found it quite engrossing. Not a light read, but who says comics have to fit that mold? (Sandman wasn't light. Watchmen certainly isn't material you can just "blow through.")

Lots has been said about Watchmen and Sandman and Maus, and more critically and better than I have time or inclination to devote... The books I've read since are also really interesting though. I have a new quasi favorite author (Brian K. Vaughan) and I'm starting to get into different styles of illustration. Here is a little rundown on some of the books I've read that I enjoy. If you stumble across this entry and know of some others I should check out, please do so in the comments.

First, Y: The Last Man (Brian K. Vaughan and -- primarily but not exclusively -- Pia Guerra). The style, the concept, the execution all add up to a really enjoyable 10 volume romp. It's melancholy at times, but it stays light (despite the option to get super dark and gory). It could be more realistic and confront issues of gender more squarely, but in trying to walk a line that both raises issues, tells a good story, and appeals to a broad audience, I'd say it accomplishes all this and gets about 4.2 stars out of 5. I didn't "love, love, love" it, but I enjoyed it and the few nights it took me to read through the set were good reads.

Next, Pride of Baghdad (Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon), which explores war through the eyes of a pride of lions who escape from the Baghdad Zoo after the Americans roll into the city just days after the start of the Iraq war. The art in this book is amazing. Niko Henrichon does a phenomenal job working in the warm colors that set this story in a very apocalyptic light. This story is based on a true story... lions really did escape the Baghdad Zoo after the US Military bombed the everlovingcrap out of Baghdad, and US Military really did obliterate all the lions unnecessarily, rather than attempt recapture. This book was poignant, and brought a tear to my eye. You know going in where the story is basically leading but it is so powerful when told with Henrichon's art that it begs another read right away. 5 Stars on this book based on story and execution.

Stepping to a new author, though one of renown, Grant Morrison's WE3 (Frank Quitely, illustrator), takes a look at, essentially, weaponizing household pets for military use using cybernetic implants, remote controls, etc. What happens when you shut down a "black" program but the subjects you intend to turn off experience that bureaucratic step as "murder?" Do they bail? And if they bail, where does nature kick in? What's the military response? What happens to the subjects? This book is a fast, fast read; well illustrated. It tugs at the heart-strings (as a pet owner) but it moves so quickly that you don't have too much time to let your mind move around until it's done. I give it 3.7 - 4.2 stars. I think there's a lot of room in this story or with this idea, to take it serial and really grow some characters; I could see people really getting invested in the characters if they were written well, and the book tackling some really interesting issues regarding war, our relationship to pets, transference, and even animal testing and "stewardship" over our world. I hope this book gets revisited sometime in the future. (It's another Vertigo imprint to it's always possible.)

The next book I wanted to mention is Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile (Bill Willingham-Author, Lan Medina - Illustrator). This book was recommended to me by a local comic shop, when I dropped in on them two weeks ago. It takes pretty much any fable from any "universe" from Jack and the Beanstalk to Goldilocks to The Three Little Pigs to Snow White to Santa Claus; and sets the stage such that the "fable" realm is overrun by a dark enemy, forcing the Fables who can, to escape into our world... New York (of course), where they set up a Fable Government in the midst of us "Mundies" -- Mundane people -- and a farm upstate for the fables who are too un-human to blend (or who cannot afford to purchase a Glamor from the witches). The first book is like a detective story; sort of pulp. It's a good vehicle to introduce the world and the characters in it, provide the necessary back story, etc. I really enjoyed this book and all accounts on Amazon are that with each volume, this book just gets better. If that's true I'm really looking forward to reading more. This book I'd give 3.9 stars (making room, I hope, for subsequent volumes). The art in this volume didn't totally grab me -- mainly the angles weren't all that interesting to me, though the backgrounds are full of detail. I already picked up Volume 2 and I'm looking forward to reading it this week when I find time.

Ex Machina (Brian K. Vaughan-Author, Tony Harris-Illustrator), is another book that's been recommended to me, that I just got around to reading this weekend -- Volume 1: The First Hundred Days, that is. Good art, good story. I'll stick with this book but I'm not so drawn into it yet that I can't put it down. I read it through in a short sitting (one of the nice things about these books) and I felt pretty disconnected from the characters and the story. I want to like it -- an engineer, through an accident (common super hero creation) suddenly has a power -- he can talk to machines. After some time spent hero-ing it up, he decides he can use his celebrity to become a politician and perhaps to even more good. It means "outing" himself though, and putting himself on the radar of lots of government agencies. I like the "I'm a super hero but I've determined not to use it" tack, and the gray areas that volume one started exploring -- duty to friends, to society, to constituencies -- and see some potential, but before I commit to shelling out for another multi-volume series, I may thumb through a few volumes at the local Borders (they're bound to have this title). 3.5 Stars

The last title I'm going to talk about today is American Born Chinese (ABC) -- another book length comic a la Maus, by Gene Luen Yang. This was loaned to me by a friend who is in Paige's cohort, who works with teens a lot. It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People, and has received a lot of acclaim inside the industry. Themes really center around alienation due to racial stereotyping; both the overt, societal variety as well as the internalized kind that causes folks to behave in a way that is not in accordance with who they are when they are themselves. The interweaving of the tale of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is very well done, as is the interweaving of the social stereotype of Chinese people in the media for about the last 80 or 100 years. It's a pretty powerful read that has the potential to open up a lot of dialog with young people. I wouldn't call it a critique, or attribute any "academic" traits to it, but it's a powerful read and a great vehicle for adults working with pre-teens to discuss some difficult topics. 3.5 Stars.

I'm enjoying exploring this genre and all that it offers. It's a hugely growing field with a lot of potential. Again, if you have recommendations, let me know!