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bookblogging
Jun. 8th, 2008 06:26 pmIt's 90 degrees and humid, and when I try to go out and get exercise, it's dreadful. So I went to the library, which is air-conditioned--not particularly well--and read until they closed, then swung past the liquor store to buy beer so I can make shandy. The liquor store had much better air-conditioning. I should have spent the day there.
Graphic novels/comics:
Baker, Kyle: Why I Hate Saturn
(one of the back cover blurbs was a quote from a magazine or something: "Kyle Baker is God!" I'm inclined to agree.
I was so sure we were going to get through this book with a lower body count than in You Are Here or I Die at Midnight. Nope! Should I be warning people about that? Kyle Baker comics are more violent than you'd think? The deaths can be sad or shocking, more than you'd think when you're on the first page, chucking at Baker's witty dialogue and absurd, sitcom scenarios. I would not want to give the impression, however, that the surprising violence and deaths are any excuse for not reading Kyle Baker comics, because they're just too good not to read).
Peeters, Frederik: Blue Pills: a positive love story
(comics can be good? Hell, comics are good. This one, right here, this is good. What else do you want from me?)
Moore, Alan, author: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
(maybe it's not fair to say I've read this, since I first skimmed, and then outright skipped all the text bits. The text bits in Moore comics are usually very rewarding if you take the time to read them, but the library was near closing when I started.
It's really clever--it's Moore, what did you expect?--and fun, and funny, and of course very dirty; Alan Moore disses James Bond and then everything goes all Promethea at the end. I wish I'd had 3D glasses).
Seto, Andy, credited as author and presumably also artist, Wang Du Li, credited for "story" and the author of the original novel?, So Man Sing, credited for script. I'm not reading any more of these damned kung fu comics; they take too long to credit!: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(the art is really lovely--good linework, good layouts, very dynamic, exquisite coloring, which would frankly put a lot of the American color comics to shame, although who knows, that might not be a coloring issue so much as it is an issue of what's being colored. Either the script/dialogue/writing what-have-you was a little spotty or the translation was. Also, I didn't really care. But it's nice to try something new every now and again).
Manga:
Miekura Kazuya: Wild Adapter vol. 1
(I've held off on reading this for ages because I wanted to buy it, and the bookstore never had it when I had money, and I always bought other things. I was afraid I'd read volume 1 and freak out because I don't have volume 2. I was right; I should have waited. I WANT VOLUME 2. NOW. Minekura work is oh god, always so very sexy and fine).
Nishiyama Yuriko: Harlem Beat vol. 1
(I find I have no desire to revisit the early 90s in the form of the world of Japanese street basketball).
Kizuki Hakase: The Demon Ororon vol. 1
(everybody is drawn like a broom. I was quite sure the main character was a boy until she was identified as female. It doesn't make anything more interesting).
Koike Kazuo, author, Kojima Goseki, artist: Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 1
(it's a Koike Kazuo comic, so the men are stoic, the women are whores, and severed limbs go flyin' everywhere in a spray of blood. Despite this, I am tempted to read more. I liked Lady Snowblood more--I like that art better, and somehow, it actually helps that the assassin protagonist is a woman in that--but this is an engaging read.
Graphic novels/comics:
Baker, Kyle: Why I Hate Saturn
(one of the back cover blurbs was a quote from a magazine or something: "Kyle Baker is God!" I'm inclined to agree.
I was so sure we were going to get through this book with a lower body count than in You Are Here or I Die at Midnight. Nope! Should I be warning people about that? Kyle Baker comics are more violent than you'd think? The deaths can be sad or shocking, more than you'd think when you're on the first page, chucking at Baker's witty dialogue and absurd, sitcom scenarios. I would not want to give the impression, however, that the surprising violence and deaths are any excuse for not reading Kyle Baker comics, because they're just too good not to read).
Peeters, Frederik: Blue Pills: a positive love story
(comics can be good? Hell, comics are good. This one, right here, this is good. What else do you want from me?)
Moore, Alan, author: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
(maybe it's not fair to say I've read this, since I first skimmed, and then outright skipped all the text bits. The text bits in Moore comics are usually very rewarding if you take the time to read them, but the library was near closing when I started.
It's really clever--it's Moore, what did you expect?--and fun, and funny, and of course very dirty; Alan Moore disses James Bond and then everything goes all Promethea at the end. I wish I'd had 3D glasses).
Seto, Andy, credited as author and presumably also artist, Wang Du Li, credited for "story" and the author of the original novel?, So Man Sing, credited for script. I'm not reading any more of these damned kung fu comics; they take too long to credit!: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(the art is really lovely--good linework, good layouts, very dynamic, exquisite coloring, which would frankly put a lot of the American color comics to shame, although who knows, that might not be a coloring issue so much as it is an issue of what's being colored. Either the script/dialogue/writing what-have-you was a little spotty or the translation was. Also, I didn't really care. But it's nice to try something new every now and again).
Manga:
Miekura Kazuya: Wild Adapter vol. 1
(I've held off on reading this for ages because I wanted to buy it, and the bookstore never had it when I had money, and I always bought other things. I was afraid I'd read volume 1 and freak out because I don't have volume 2. I was right; I should have waited. I WANT VOLUME 2. NOW. Minekura work is oh god, always so very sexy and fine).
Nishiyama Yuriko: Harlem Beat vol. 1
(I find I have no desire to revisit the early 90s in the form of the world of Japanese street basketball).
Kizuki Hakase: The Demon Ororon vol. 1
(everybody is drawn like a broom. I was quite sure the main character was a boy until she was identified as female. It doesn't make anything more interesting).
Koike Kazuo, author, Kojima Goseki, artist: Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 1
(it's a Koike Kazuo comic, so the men are stoic, the women are whores, and severed limbs go flyin' everywhere in a spray of blood. Despite this, I am tempted to read more. I liked Lady Snowblood more--I like that art better, and somehow, it actually helps that the assassin protagonist is a woman in that--but this is an engaging read.