Tag: Graphic Novel

Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Posted December 20, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Graphic Novel / 2 Comments

Title: Blue is the Warmest Color (Goodreads)
Author: Julie Maroh
Translator: Ivanka Hahnenberger
Artist: Julie Maroh
Published: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010
Pages: 160
Genres: Graphic Novel
My Copy: Borrowed from a Friend

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Blue is the Warmest Color (Le bleu est une couleur chaude) took French graphic novelist Julie Maroh five years to complete. She started it when she was 19 and thanks to the support of the community she was able to finish this coming of age story. It has since been adapted into a movie directed by Abdelatif Kechiche and went on to be awarded the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Blue is the Warmest Color takes place in 2008 following the death of Emma’s partner Clémentine. At the request of Clémentine, Emma has been granted access to her dairies. The diaries start in 1995 when Clémentine was a fifteen old girl, confused about her sexuality. It is within the diaries we discover her struggle with her sexuality as well as the relationships she had with Emma.

This graphic novel takes all the nuance of a relationship and plays it out within the pages and it does it in a way that is never cliché. This depiction plays on the highs and lows of the relationship between Clémentine and Emma, which allows it to explore the struggles as well as all the tender moments they share. However before the relationship starts and even as it blossoms there is also the coming of age story where Clémentine is trying to find herself as well as understand her own sexuality.

I am not a lesbian so I could not speak to this struggle with sexuality, however it felt so raw and emotional. I could not help but think the struggle or the emotions experienced were all real and possibly autobiographical. Julie Maroh has a real way with capturing the emotions of this relationships and she allows the readers to experience them along with the characters. This makes for an intimate experience and I was able to empathise with both characters even when they were making silly mistakes.

Julie Maroh is also the artist for this graphic novel and the art is the highlight of this story. The line work Maroh has drawn on to each page captures both expression and details beautifully. Then with the added colours, the pictures in each frame just pop. I love the way Maroh draw this comic and the sparing use of colour, each frame felt breathtaking and I think I spent more time admiring the art work than actually reading the story. Blue is the Warmest Color was originally written in French so I have to compliment Ivanka Hahnenberger for the translation. It is a real skill of a translator to be able to present the text in a beautiful that allows the reader to forget that they are reading a work in translation, but Hahnenberger pulled it off.

I am not sure how autobiographical this graphic novel is, but it is hard to imagine anyone writing these emotions without first experiencing them for themselves. It is interesting to experience a life that is different to your own and I want to read a lot more graphic novels like this one. This is at times beautiful and at other times heartbreaking. Blue is the Warmest Color had plenty of tender moments and by the end I think I had a little dirt or something in my eye because they were leaking.

Batman: Cacophony by Kevin Smith

Posted November 23, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Graphic Novel / 0 Comments

Title: Batman: Cacophony (Goodreads)
Author: Kevin Smith
Artist: Walter Flanagan
Published: DC Comics, 2009
Pages: 144
Genres: Graphic Novel
My Copy: Hardcover

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Batman finds himself trying to understand a strange relationship between The Joker and Onomatopoeia. The Cape Crusader soon has to choose between chasing down The Joker and this puzzling villain Onomatopoeia. Writer/Director Kevin Smith puts his love of comic books and Batman to a practical use and wrote the series Batman: Cacophony.

I picked this graphic novel on my honeymoon because I was curious to see what Kevin Smith would do with Batman. I wanted to see what Smith would do with this superhero and I was a little curious about the super villain he created. Onomatopoeia is an enigma and I wasn’t sure how to take him; he works well as a super villain but for the most part I am still not sure what to make of him.

I am a fan of Batman and have often enjoyed Kevin Smith’s movies (except Jersey Girl) but I found this collection to be a little juvenile. Smith’s humour is often childish but that is never a defining factor in his movies with the exception of Clerks 2, so I was expecting so much more. There wasn’t much in the way of a storyline in Batman: Cacophony and I ended with so many unanswered questions. This is only a three issue series and I have to wonder if there were plans for more.

Walt Flanagan’s illustrations were a lot better than the writing; while not great it was far more entertaining. Flanagan uses a lot of vibrant colours that help distract the reader from the rest of the series. I had to enjoy the small homages Walt Flanagan made to other artists; one that particularly stood out to me was The Joker dress from The Killing Zone. Flanagan adopts a very busy style and while I wanted to rush through the story, it was hard to do this with the art.

There are a lot of great Batman series out there and I am struggling to work out which ones to try and which ones to look over. I am sad to say that Batman: Cacophony is one that should have been overlooked but that won’t stop me from trying to explore the rest. I hope people will help me with recommending me some good Batman series to read.

Night of the Living Deadpool by Cullen Bunn

Posted November 11, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Graphic Novel / 0 Comments

Title: Night of the Living Deadpool (Goodreads)
Author: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
Published: Marvel Comics, 2014
Pages: 96
Genres: Graphic Novel
My Copy: eBook

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Deadpool is a Marvel Comics mutant anti-hero best known for his dark humour (he is sometimes referred to as “Merc with a mouth”) and breaking the fourth wall in his comic. He is a mentally unstable mercenary, weapons expert and has regenerative healing abilities. The perfect hero to put into a zombie apocalypse and in Night of the Living Deadpool this is what happens.

The series begins with a nod to The Walking Dead, which is a homage to that classic opening scene in The Day of the Triffids. Deadpool wakes up from a food coma a few days later and finds that he has awoken to the zombie apocalypse. This four issue series goes on to make multiple references to the genre.

Writer of Deadpool Killogy, Cullen Bunn joins forces with a relative new artist, Ramon Rosanas. The series is a stylised black, white, and red (for Deadpool) with a very warped sense of humour. What stuck with me through this series was not just the references to classic zombie movies or macabre nature but the short, straight to the point approach to the genre. Comic book series can often go for a long time and while that is good, it was nice to start and end a series in one sitting.

I loved the art within this book; I liked how Ramon Rosanas avoided using colours within the comics. It highlights Deadpool as a character not like all the others, while leaving the focus on the drawings rather than the colours. This style is different to what is seen in Sin City but it works; flashbacks are in full colour so really it portrays the apocalypse as a dark time for humanity.

Because this series was only four issues, I find it hard to talk about this comic book. Everything happened so fast and then it was over. I enjoyed the short and sweet experience as stated before but the lasting effects are very small. I was left with memories of the references and art but nothing much more. I think this means that it will be a good series to revisit again; it is just a weird experience.

Rocket Girl, Vol. 1: Time Squared by Brandon Montclare

Posted October 5, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Graphic Novel / 0 Comments

Title: Rocket Girl, Vol. 1: Time Squared (Goodreads)
Author: Brandon Montclare
Artist: Amy Reeder
Published: Image Comics, 2014
Pages: 120
Genres: Graphic Novel
My Copy: eBook

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Dayoung Johansson is a teenage cop from a high-tech future investigating a megacorporation for crimes against time. She goes back to New York in 1986 to investigate the Quintum Mechanics Corporation. What she finds is far different to what she expected. As she slowly pieces the clues while trying to navigate a different place and time. Discovering that what she knows about her home is really an alternate reality that shouldn’t exist.

Rocket Girl: Time Squared is the first five issues of this bright and quirky series that combines high-tech gadgets in a time where New York wasn’t exactly a safe place to live. Just a quick search of New York in the 1980s and I found that the subway system saw over 250 felonies committed every week. It was a dark and gritty time to live in this great city. So when you read a comic that is full of bright art work set to this gritty backdrop the contrast really stands out.

The past and future also play off each other within this series, Dayoung Johansson is a teen cop and when she lands in 1986 she meets a police petrol. She bosses them around like she would normally do in her 2014 reality but obviously gets a different response from these police officers. It is obvious to say that Rocket Girl is all about clashing; the vibrant colours against a gritty city, past and future, and the list goes on.

While this is a lot of fun to read sometimes I found that the series attempted to get too complex, which can often raise questions about the science. The artwork was too busy at times that you had to spend extra time on once panel just to absorb everything and make sense of it. This tended to throw the flow off but only remains a minor setback.

I would have liked to see more of an exploration into the moral issues of time travelling and alternate realities but I know this is only the beginning of the series and that there is still time for this. I’m not sure where this is going to go, I can imagine that Dayoung would want to return to her alternate reality but to what lengths would she go to make sure that reality will happen? Brandon Montclare has set up a good premise and teaming up with Amy Reeder for the art means we will continue to see vibrant colours in this strange little story.

A Look Back at 2010

Posted January 7, 2011 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Writing / 0 Comments

With 2010 now behind us, I thought it was time to review some of my favourite posts and book of the year. I’ve been neglecting my blogging a little, as I’ve been focusing on my reading (ended up reading a total 87 books for the year). I’m hoping 2011 will be different; currently aiming for one post a week.