I was intrigued by the premise of The Night Bookmobile, a graphic novel composed by Audrey Niffenegger (of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry Fame), which I read about in the New York Times last Friday. The Times listed The Night Bookmobile as one of the best graphic novels of 2010, “about a [...]
Continue Reading →The Photographer is an exploration of Afghanistan in the 1980s, in the midst of the Russian war on Afghanistan and on the trail of Medecins Sans Frontieres, or as we Americans know them, Doctors Without Borders. A young French photographer, Didier Lefevre, documented his trip with MSF, the humanitarian outfit that brings medical care to [...]
Continue Reading →Two recently released graphic novels, Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli andA.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld illustrate in very different ways the power and breadth of the Graphic Novel. Asterios Polyp also demonstrates the novelistic depth and rich beauty that the best of the genre can achieve, and will go on my top-ten list [...]
Continue Reading →Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto provides another stunning example of the power of the Graphic Novel. I loved this book. Right up there with Stitches by David Small (reviewed on this blog) and the Persepolis books by Marjane Satrapi, Cancer Vixen conveys through vivid drawings, straightforward commentary, and genuine dialogue, the harsh experience of a very [...]
Continue Reading →If I could draw as well as David Small, I would draw this review of Stitches first as panels showing views of my face, with my jaw dropping further and further down, and a tear building slowly at each corner of my eyes. The final panel of the review would begin with me sitting with Small’s [...]
Continue Reading →Yesterday I read a collection of graphic short stories. Almost like a comic book but not one I would let my kids near. Petey and Pussy by John Kerschbaum is drawn to perfection, and the story lines are very funny and sometimes crude, sometimes cruel. I never quite knew what was coming in the three stories [...]
Continue Reading →I was in college when Ronald Reagan was elected president. I was a freshman who voted in her first election and saw her chosen candidate lose, but I quickly got over it. I was excited to be where I was and I hunkered down to the studying as well as the partying. When I looked [...]
Continue Reading →Yesterday I read Watchmen, a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated/lettered by Dave Gibbons in 1986, 1987. This book won numerous awards, including being named one of the 100 best novels by Time magazine. Hun? I don’t get it. The story is sadistic and juvenile (assuming the juvenile is a psychotic egomaniac) and not [...]
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