bookblogging
Jul. 10th, 2008 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceruseeGraphic novels/comics:
Bell, Gabrielle: When I'm Old and other stories.
Landridge, Roger: Fred the Clown
(while I was reading, I kept thinking that this reminded me of The Louche and Insalubrious Escapades of Art d'Ecco--same sensibility, same bright, sharp, inventive visual humor with awesome ink lines--but it wasn't until the Art Nouveau cameo that I realized it was by Landridge, as in, one of the two Landridges of Art d'Ecco. How clever I am!
That said, I think I prefer Roger's art with Andrew's insane, pun-filled writing. This isn't bad, but Art d'Ecco was brilliant).
Manga:
Koike Kazuo, writer, Kojima Goseki, artist: Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 2.
Hidaka Yoshiki, story, Sugihara Ryuji, art: The First President of Japan vol. 3
(so very silly, and I admit, reading this on the heels of having just finished The Shock Doctrine, it felt trite. But trite in a well-meaning and well-illustrated way).
Hirano Kohta: Hellsing vol. 4.
Takada Yuzo: 3x3 Eyes: Flight of the Demon
(I thought I was starting at the beginning with this one, since in the copyright info, it said that the material in this volume was drawn from the stories originally printed in the U.S. in Super Manga Blast issues 1-7. Somehow, that did not turn out to be the beginning. It is therefore worth noting that I had very little trouble figuring out what was going on, despite starting in media res, and freakin' loved it. I can see why people are disappointed that Dark Horse isn't still translating this; it's a very fun read, with that '80s manga art style that I so dig.
I understand why, by the way, Dark Horse and VIZ used to put out manga with volumes titles but no numbers--that's pretty common for superhero comics trades, and who wants to scare off new readers by making it obvious there are five books of backstory preceding the one you're about to buy? If you're trying to expand your audience, it's not an insane strategy, to publish the books in formats that suggest they stand independently, and that any one of them will work as an impulse purchase. But I like to read things in order--especially drama like this--and so having to rack my brains to figure out the correct order of these books drives me insane, and has been driving me insane ever since the days when I was trying to read Oh My Goddess! and Maison Ikkoku).
223
Bell, Gabrielle: When I'm Old and other stories.
Landridge, Roger: Fred the Clown
(while I was reading, I kept thinking that this reminded me of The Louche and Insalubrious Escapades of Art d'Ecco--same sensibility, same bright, sharp, inventive visual humor with awesome ink lines--but it wasn't until the Art Nouveau cameo that I realized it was by Landridge, as in, one of the two Landridges of Art d'Ecco. How clever I am!
That said, I think I prefer Roger's art with Andrew's insane, pun-filled writing. This isn't bad, but Art d'Ecco was brilliant).
Manga:
Koike Kazuo, writer, Kojima Goseki, artist: Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 2.
Hidaka Yoshiki, story, Sugihara Ryuji, art: The First President of Japan vol. 3
(so very silly, and I admit, reading this on the heels of having just finished The Shock Doctrine, it felt trite. But trite in a well-meaning and well-illustrated way).
Hirano Kohta: Hellsing vol. 4.
Takada Yuzo: 3x3 Eyes: Flight of the Demon
(I thought I was starting at the beginning with this one, since in the copyright info, it said that the material in this volume was drawn from the stories originally printed in the U.S. in Super Manga Blast issues 1-7. Somehow, that did not turn out to be the beginning. It is therefore worth noting that I had very little trouble figuring out what was going on, despite starting in media res, and freakin' loved it. I can see why people are disappointed that Dark Horse isn't still translating this; it's a very fun read, with that '80s manga art style that I so dig.
I understand why, by the way, Dark Horse and VIZ used to put out manga with volumes titles but no numbers--that's pretty common for superhero comics trades, and who wants to scare off new readers by making it obvious there are five books of backstory preceding the one you're about to buy? If you're trying to expand your audience, it's not an insane strategy, to publish the books in formats that suggest they stand independently, and that any one of them will work as an impulse purchase. But I like to read things in order--especially drama like this--and so having to rack my brains to figure out the correct order of these books drives me insane, and has been driving me insane ever since the days when I was trying to read Oh My Goddess! and Maison Ikkoku).
223