I Read: Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I Read: Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Comic time again!  This time I decided to read two trade-paperbacks back to back.  This one has quickly become a hit, and may be one day considered a modern classic.  It tells a old story in new ways and has some other worldly imagery to show you the way.  Let's set out on a Saga.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

This is a story about parenting, love, war, politics and a cornucopia of other stuff. It is a bit of a disservice to the book to try and describe it, because in doing so, it may unneccesarily deter you from reading it.  It will sound ridiculous, indeed, but it works, somehow.  The crux of the story is a universe spanning war between a planet and its moon, where one is run by anthropomorphic robots and winged bird-people and the other is a race of horned magic-users.
I told you. Weird.
But in a crazy way, and bringing the wildest visuals of any comic on the rack, this story has begun to make perfect sense.  It has star-crossed lovers and their baby, bounty-hunters tracking them down from both planets, and all of the drama that can come from relationships and conflicts.  It covers class-ism, politics, war, and love within its pages, and yet it never feels overstuffed.

The writing is honest and natural, the characters saying things I can actually hear someone saying.  This goes nicely with the bizarre and nonsensical visuals that make up the comic. That's why it is such a delight.  We get a feast for the eyes with odd and unnatural world that is fascinating,  and we get to explore it with characters that behave like real people.  That, in a nutshell, is why saga works.  If it were all weird, both visually and in the text, It would be a harder sell.  But, by making the language accessible and natural, it allows us to go into this funky universe with our hands clasped firmly with the characters.
When it comes to the art, Fiona Staples brings grease monkeys and tv-faced robot people out of strange pop-art and into colorful life.  I think her great skill is giving personality to these manifestations, so that they feel genuinely alive, and not just goofy doodles with word balloons.
As far as comics that are currently running on the rack, I would recommend getting into this one.  Granted I have only read 12 or so issues in, I still say you should get into it too, and I look forward to continuing the journey.

I Read: Promethea - Book 1

I Read: Promethea - Book 1

Now its time to read over a graphic novel. It's a nice change of pace to read something visually instead of just textually.  And when its Alan Moore, its a great experience.

Promethea - Book 1 by Alan Moore & JH Williams III

Illustration: Promethea
Gorgeous. A knock-out creative team has created a story about story, and a new character. Promethea is the embodiment of creativity and imagination, and has existed as long as men have told stories. And she continuously reincarnates in various bodies along the way, finally entering the form of our hero, Sophie Bangs.
She comes across Promethea as a pulp comics character as well as an enduring character in poetry and folklore.  And like so many 'fish out of water' stories, she soon finds out that its 'all for real.'
And I don't mean to say that it falls into a familiar plot in a bad way.  Not at all.  If falling into a preexisting plot was universally bad, then I wouldn't like anything.  I don't think they make new plots, only new clothes for them.  And Promethea had some gorgeous outfits.
Moore creates a mythology in a flash that is both new, yet familiar enough to be comfortable in.  It also helps that it is drawn by the amazing JH Williams III, who's work always makes the most, both narratively and aesthetically, out of every inch of the page.  The panels are formed by Mucha-like frames and wreathes of roses.  The images are loaded with details, gags, and, when needed, negative space that gives the viewer both a full page and some breathing room.

Moore's writing is also wonderful, as well. He creates fun characters to follow as well as fun concepts to follow through the story.  In this world, there is a super-her- I mean SCIENCE-hero group called the Five Swell Guys, that float around on a hovercraft in business suits.  There is also a great gag in the leading comic character of the world: The Weeping Gorilla.  Funny not only for using a simplification of the human condition as a literalistic character for spewing morose one-liners, but also just plain silly fun.  Seeing billboards with a giant gorilla shedding a tear while saying "Modern Life makes me feel so alone," "Go on, ask me about my marriage," and "Can we hear that Radiohead track just once more?" is just a creative delight that makes the reading experience all the more enjoyable.
This was just the first volume of the trade paperbacks collecting this series.  It was a great start to an interesting comic and I look forward to reading even more.
Thanks Alan and JH!

I Read: Justice League - New Frontier

I Read: Justice League - New Frontier

So the pattern of this reading list will typically go like this: Book, Book, Comic, Book, Book, Comic, ETC.  So, the first comic I am reading on this literary quest is Darwyn Cooke's Justice League: The New Frontier.  For my illustration this time, I decided against trying to emulate Cooke's gorgeous style.  I would just look stupid if I tried, though the finished product looks stupid any. I've often said that its easier to point out what you don't like about something than what you do like about it. With that in mind, I'll try to get specific about how I feel about this one, as there is so much to like.

Justice League: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke

Illustration: Superman & Wonder Woman Vs a Dinosaur 
This graphic novel is a great example of why comics that are written and drawn by the same person will always have a leg up on those that don't if the artist is the writer, they know how to pace and set up a story to best tell it visually, while still making great use of text.  Writer/artists are excellent at their craft, and this is a great example of it.
The story involves a rich balance of mystery, wonder, action, and introspection.  It's political without an agenda, fun without being frivolous, and compelling without being an emotional strain.  The story exists within the 1940s and 50s, and serves as an example of what made the silver age such a refreshing era in comics.  (The golden age being when comics first appeared and gained popularity, and the stories were at their crudest but still of weight and importance to those who read them.  The silver age was a late 50s through the 70s revival and reinvention of the superhero after a period of stagnation and even attack that left the industry on the verge of extinction. But enough about comics history.)

Cooke finds a definitive voice for each of the many characters that populate this adventurous world. And he incorporates so man heroes and groups into one story, its amazing that it isn't a big mess of a cast with no voice or perspective coming through. I understand and can follow the personal dilemmas of Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern as I do of any of the others.  They each have a narrative, and they find solutions and lessons in themselves and each other.
The story is expertly told with the pictures and dialogue working in synthesis or juxtaposition to show how this large story plays out. One of my favorite sequences involves the martian attempting to learn about human culture through the television.  He morphs into the icons he sees and emulates them, but he ponders on how much he does not understand about it.
Talking about a comic is hard when not everyone has a frame of reference to connect to. Its a visual medium, and at least half of the storytelling is done visually.  So to get specific points across about why it works or is good would require a great deal of description, or visual aids.  Rather than reproduce half the novel here in text or low-quality images here, I just recommend you reading it.  You will enjoy it.