Reading list.

Books waiting eagerly to have their pages turned.

I'm on GoodReads now. I don't review like I did here in Current Reads, but I enjoy keeping a record of which graphic novels I've experienced. A while back, I had a hell of a time trying to remember one and Googled vague plot points for hours. And it's worse for nonfiction. I went to our main city library and stumbled up and down one aisle for 30 minutes, asking two different staff members to help me find a much-needed book on African nomadic architecture. I couldn't remember the title or the author, searching the catalog seemed pointless, and apparently the Dewey Decimal System makes zero amount of sense to me. Imagine my increased capacity for headdesking when the title "African Nomadic Architecture" popped up as soon as I got home.

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

I love organizing my drafting table. It's now in a nice, sunny corner. Potted plants on one side and an aquarium on the other. The hubbs cut up some corkboard for me and mounted it quite creatively to maximize space for actual posting. I also got a hand mirror to test out expressions without running to a door-mounted frame. Domo is there for motivational purposes.

Also been filling up my worldmaking binders and making a real push toward having enough background to arrange a real draft. (But WHICH CHARACTER. OH NO. I really cannot choose!) I think one of my main hangups has always been trying to start from the beginning. It's important to sketch out scenes that occur throughout the story so you can identify unifying themes and styles - and potentially find those plot holes! So I've been doing that. Anyway. Rings, tabs, stickies, highlighters, notes, xerox copies... takes me back to school reports. Except this is more fun and its application actually makes sense. Thanks, eighth grade!

This stack weighs over 7 pounds now. And there's oh so much left to do.

I recently discovered the ao yem and I love, love, love it. As much as I love huipils, saris, and turbans? Probably not. But it's wonderful coming across ethnic (I'm still allowed to say this as a homogenized white person, right?) fashions. The way cultures use fabrics to achieve universal goals, sometimes so different and sometimes very much the same... super intriguing.

Here's my Giftmas present. Are you shocked that I didn't own it before now? Me too. It's already littered with Post-it flags like an evangelical's bible. And that's basically what it is, really. DOES ANYONE WANT TO BORROW MY COPY. BECAUSE IT WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD. That said, I'm extremely happy to have it. I've already pinned one choice page on my board for reference.

Current reads.

Star Wars: Doomworld

Roy Tomas, Archie Goodwin, Don Glut, writers

I recently found some Star Wars postcards at a kitschy shop in Ann Arbor. I thought they were hilarious - and then, I found the actual comic books featured on said cards. Doomworld is a pretty darn amazing, and hefty, collection. This is old-school Marvel stuff produced right after A New Hope was put out. The first third of the book is a retelling of the film, with little bits of dialogue added or removed - which is interesting, but not why I'm reading it. The rest is a smattering of clichéd science fiction plotlines with Star Wars characters shoved in. I mean, living in the era of Xizor and role-playing games and entire encyclopediae dedicated to alien creatures, I take it for granted that these '70s writers and artists had only two hours of film and a demand for excessive merchandizing to go on. With that said, there is a Seven Samurai plotline - including a plate mail-wearing, lance-weilding, white-bearded, speech-making man claiming to be a Jedi knight, named Don-Wan Kihotay... yes, it's Quixote, we GET IT - and a slough of other hijinks. Chewbacca looks like a sasquatch from the burn ward. Han looks like the Hoff, Thor, Prince Valiant, but never Han. There is a myriad of weird slang, like "star-hopper", "planet-jumper", and so on. Did I mention the (oh no!) space pirates, complete with cutlasses and eyepatches? So, really, it's a relic of a much more innocent time. Even though I haven't fallen in love with some Marvel classics, like X-Men (and I really wanted to!), this strikes me as really fun, old-fashioned comicry. My inner - chortling, entirely too well-informed, I-knew-Vader-was-Luke's-father-before-I-was-even-cognizant-of-it - Star Wars nerd aside, it's an enrapturing read.

Current reads.

Incognegro

Mat Johnson, writer, and Warren Pieece, illustrator

As one of my online friends passionately filmed a civil rights documentary, I felt his voice in my head saying, "hey, this looks interesting! you should read it!". It's a story about a daring young reporter that investigates lynchings and white supremacy groups in the south. He is black, but has light enough skin to pass for white, hence "incognegro". He's about to get out of the game as, so often it happens, one last crucial job presents itself. The rest is a fantastic, twisty mystery. I find it funny how I keep talking about graphic novels so casually; there are much better-written reviews out there, with more research and knowledge involved. All I can personally say is what I find and enjoy, I suppose! Anyway, I did enjoy this one. The art is a stark, classic black-and-white (no pun intended). It feels old, in a satisfying way. For me, the whole work went down smooth, like a good beer. Though black history in America is often a tough thing to digest for otherwise complacent ethnic groups - like me and my white heritage - I'd recommend this. It's not "preachy" or over the top; just tells it like it is.

Moomin

Tove Jansson

And, just for contrast, there's Moomin! If you know Finland, you know Moomin. He's so well-known, he's featured in postage stamps, commemorative coins, and his own theme park! These books are volumes of the three-frame daily strip kind of format. I didn't know exactly what to expect... but the best way to describe Moomin is this: think back to an eight-year-old you, sitting around a campfire with a group of friends. You start telling a story, a sentence at a time, passed from child to child. That's how Moomin's adventures go. There will be a general story arc, but within it, there are all kinds of rigamaroles and new characters and hijinks. A flood! Pirates! Love interest! Etc. Something to know, too, is that you have to put on kind of a Hergé Hat when you read this... characters like Snorkmaiden and Mymble strike me as scheming, materialistic damsel types. Naïve, let's call it. I find my impressions of the female characters even weirder since learning that Tove Jansson was a woman, and even had a female partner. Anyway, these are fun to read, bizarre misogyny aside!

Current reads.

Black Jack (Volume 1)

Osamu Tezuka

I really need more Osamu Tezuka in my life, and so I'm reading Black Jack along with the rest of the Buddha books (which are just so damn impressive that I don't even want to try posting about them). Black Jack is a lot of fun - it feels like a TV show. Take a shot of Murder, She Wrote "oh gosh! I happened across the most intriguing caper! how do I always get into these scrapes!" premise; blend in a bit of that gorey medical drama that all the kids are talking about these days; then add a satisfying lone-wolf vigilante twist. Mix well. Black Jack himself is a famous, and very coy, rogue doctor that charges near-extortionist fees for his services - after all, he's the best, and most daring, in the business. He turns out to be a really complex character, though, which kept me reading, and smiling, with every cheeky turn. I brought this book with me on a trip and it was an excellent choice. It's a decent paperback volume, but the length of the episodes is just perfect. Nice, occasionally tough-love tales in easy-to-swallow capsules. See what I did there with the medical analogy? Yeah, I hate myself, too.

Blankets

Craig Thompson

Oh my God. I finally read it. I can't remember who told me, but they said, "you will cry". They weren't far off. I know there's likely an oversaturation of memoir-style coming-of-age graphic novels out there, but this has to be the gold standard. I ignored my husband's parents for an entire evening because after 10 pages, I literally couldn't stop reading. I even stayed up late to finish it. My emotional stomach is quite frail, and any story that involves child abuse just wrenches my heart, so between the two churning organs - and the compulsive need to end this book, no matter how painful - I was actually triggered into an acute bipolar episode. My husband awakened to me tapping at the glass at 3 a.m. like a stray dog because I'd been in such mental disarray that I'd locked myself out of the house! Awesome, right? Thanks, Craig Thompson, for doing your part to keep the pharmaceutical corporations in business. Also, I am one of those people that peed their pants all over The Office's Jim and Pam romance, so of course introducing two adorable, troubled teens with their completely pure-hearted love affair - hair-stroking and letter-writing - just sent me squeeing all over the guest room, freaking out the cats. I can't even go on with this. In short, Craig Thompson, you owe me a box of Kleenex. And my poor husband a six-pack!

Current reads.

Elfquest: Wolfrider (Volume 2)

Wendy and Richard Pini

I've known a lot of people who were into Elfquest from a young age; even my sister dug up a copy at the library, I remember. For such a popular series, I haven't read very much of it. And I should, because I see a lot of traits from my own worldmaking in it. Elfquest is definitely an absorbing world, with its own lingo, culture, and mythology bursting from every seam. The characters are well-defined and fun to follow through their centuries of adventures, ranging from conflicts with humans to tribal upheaval and folk tales. However, I'll sound like a prude here: I was surprised by some of the sexually-charged content. I'm trying to imagine an 8 year-old picking this up and reading about "recognition" (the elf word used for "intercourse") and the occasional nude romp in the woods, culminating in "indescribable pleasure". Okay, it was just once, and perhaps I am a prude after all. Anyway. When I generally think of Elfquest, I think of big, glittery eyes and abs. I'm glad to have expanded that knowledge base, though!

Daisy Kutter: The Last Train

Kazu Kibuishi

I'll admit it. I'm biased. I freaking love Kazu Kibuishi. He's one of those artists I have a huge crush on. His webcomic, Copper, tugged ferociously at my heartstrings, and I've loved every feature of his in the Flight volumes. No matter what he illustrates, a real warmth comes through, and this is the case with Daisy Kutter as well. She's a tough-talking retired gangster, trying to run a general store and get in the occasional witty jab at her ex, who now happens to be the sheriff. Although has she really left her old life behind? Oh, and by the way, in this western fantasy, there are robots. Seriously, what's not to love? This is another great example of a penciled comic that presents itself beautifully, much to my glee. Kazu, I will have your babies anytime.

Current reads.

The local library has a great selection of graphic novels - more than I've ever had access to, really! - so I've been up to my eyeballs in sequential art. One of the problems with getting into comics nowadays is that there's so much to choose from, with independent artists coming out the wazoo. So I figured I'd take a moment to cover a few that I've enjoyed recently, for those who might be interested in expanding their own lists.

Aya, Aya of Yop City, Aya: The Secrets Come Out

Marguerite Abouet (writer) and Clément Oubrerie (artist)

The year is 1979. The place is Cote d'Ivorie. Do you have any idea what's going on? Me, either, until I read three Aya books. This seems to be the goal of the authoress; to show people a thriving, peaceful region of Africa, and not the war-torn, starving imagery that most westerners retain. I didn't really appreciate the full scope of these works until I read reviews by others who had also spent a lot of time on the Ivory Coast - they raved that the region was captured so beautifully, through color and cultural detail, that it was an immaculate translation of their own memories.

Aya is sort of an endearing shojo chronicing the day-to-day dramas within a group of friends. The title character is nineteen years old; mature, smart, and aspiring to become a doctor in a rather misogynistic micro-culture. Older teen girls could do well by these tales, as Aya is a headstrong source of sanity while her friends get into trouble, doing things that teen girls do. The storylines are not unlike That '70s Show, but in Africa. And the artwork is cute... it makes infidelity and mild beatings palpable to a casual reader. Somehow it strikes a good balance.

I had trouble keeping all the characters straight through the first book. There's Aya, her two friends, their parents, several boyfriends, all their households, and several more townspeople introduced each book. Adding to the reader's plight are a smatterings of "dêh"s and "kêh"s, as well as other local dialect to spice things up. What helps is a character tree in the front of the book, and a glossary in the back. (A nice little bonus are the character-"written" pages with local recipes, dating tips, and more.) So if you're going to approach these books, really be prepared to engross yourself in the full Ivorian experience.

Cairo: A Graphic Novel

G. Willow Wilson (writer) and M.K. Perker (artist)

While this work showed a ton of promise – the first few pages hooked me – I was extremely disappointed that it was rushed. It's a light read, and perhaps worth reading, but not something for my shelf.

A good-for-nothing smuggler runs into a smuggled Israeli soldier, and there begins a sordid journey with two American characters, a jinn, and a smattering of other who-knows-what mythology. Lots of surprises! Parts of it were very slick and enjoyable – like a waxing-philosophical genie wearing a suit and garnished with his own slightly-scripty typeface – but others were kind of cheesy and rushed. The art is a strong black-white-and-gray scheme... sometimes anatomically questionable, but never distracting enough that it loses motion. By the end, it was trying to close up like a 2-hour film epic, but I just didn't feel the full impact. So, all in all, it was okay, but ultimately disappointing.

For me, this illustrated the need to really let a comic book breathe, and reach its full potential – it should have been longer, or a series. For me, this is an important warning!