Greenflame » Comics

Graphic novels recently

stepheng — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:06:41 +0000

Haven’t had too much time recently for leisure reading, let alone trawling the library for various graphic novels, trade paperbacks and other items of interest. Normally, I’d read on the train but I’ve had to drive into work much more this semester and what time I have had for reading on the train has been spent in part reading journal articles or reading material for courses I’m teaching.

That said, I have managed to read a few lately and here are some random thoughts about them.

Firstly, I managed to track down a copy of “Rex Libris: I, Librarian” by James Turner. Think Indiana Jones meets Mean in Black meets the library. So librarians are actually highly trained agents of a secret organisation that seeks to promote and protect human civilzation, and will go to great lengths to promote that agenda. The mild mannered librarian is just a front, and patrons (from as far away as outer space or spirit realms) will be pursued by ‘armed and dangerous’ librarians for the overdue books etc. The humor is dry, there’s some interesting philosophical discussion at points, and it works well in the black-and-white vector format. Definitely work a look at.

You can find out more at:

James Turner’s web site www.jtillustration.com/rex/
Sample comic pages at SLG Publishing.

I’ve also just finished Craig Thompson’s graphic novel “Blankets”, which is possibly the longest graphic novel I’ve ever read (582 pages!). It’s basically an autobiography by Thompson describing his childhood growing up in American fundamentalism/evangelicalism, his first love, and his early adulthood. It’s hard work in places, and Thompson’s art isn’t always to my liking, but it’s a very good example of using this format to tell a story.
More information over at:

Blankets (graphic novel) - Wikipedia
Topic Shelf Productions - Blankets by Craig Thompson (including preview)

Also, in anticipation of the movie coming out next year I’ve been reading Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”. Credited as one of the most significant graphic novel/comics ever produced, it’s far too complex for me to describe here. (See description over at Watchmen - Wikipedia). It will be interesting to see if the movie is true to the book’s alternate American history set in the 70/80s Cold War, or whether it is revisioned for the contemporary world. My other concern is that the book is really intellectually engaging - whether that comes across in the movie remains to be seen. This is as much a deconstruction of the popular superhero mythos as a critique of Western values. You can look at the film trailer over here.

Finally, I also read “Infinite Crisis”, in the vague hope it’d clear up some confusion over the current state of the DC comics universe(s). Didn’t work for me - to disjointed and definitely not as good as it could have been.

Disappointed…

stepheng — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:16:16 +0000

After listening to Steve’s presentation on River as a Christ-figure in the movie Serenity, I felt inspired to walk up to Heroes for Sale and grab the last two parts of the latest Serenity mini-series “Better Days” from Dark Horse comics.

Suffice to say I was disappointed. The story seemed to drag, some of the characterisation and language seemed “off”, and it didn’t really grab me like the first mini-series “Those Left Behind” did. Plus, there’s the sense of “dead men walking” if you’ve seen the film. Still, it is Serenity (and walking up the hill to the shop did clear my head of conference ‘fug’ and stretch my legs after a day sitting listing to stuff).

I also picked up the next issue in Image Comics “Transhuman” series - which deals with venture capital funding in this issue. It’s okay, but again the previous issue was much better.

Justice League: The New Frontier

stepheng — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:06:35 +0000

Just finished watching Justice League: The New Frontier DVD borrowed from the local library, which is the animated movie of Darwyn Cooke’s â€œThe New Frontierâ€ detailing the formation of the Silver Age Justice League. I enjoyed it, and especially so because it dealt primarily with the characters of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Flash (Barry Allen) and Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz) rather than the normal Trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

The artwork style is very much 1960s, and for the comics enthusiast there are all sorts of cameo appearances and background details to note. And while it’s animated superheroes the plot and content (for example, the shades of grey in politics) are definitely geared for an audience above children’s level (The rating on the the DVD here is â€œMâ€). As the Line of Fire review noted below states: â€œThis is a fine film, definitely geared towards adults, a little too violent for the kids, but for anyone who ever loved superheroes, you will find an appreciation of this film.â€ However, for audiences outside of the US there will be a few moments where the elements of the story may not resonate as strongly as they might for those brought up in the US context.

The Homeless Channel

stepheng — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:04:57 +0000

A while back I saw the graphic novel â€œThe Homeless Channelâ€ being mentioned around the net. Part satire, part social commentary, part something else, the story is based around a cable reality TV show that provides 24 hour coverage of the homeless people in the city and the lives of people that intersect with that TV show. It sounds intriguing, and quite different from any other graphic novel I’ve seen recently. I’m going to try and see if I can get hold of a copy.

Comics Bulletin has a couple of pieces related to it: The first is an interview with the creator, Matt Silady, while the second is a review of the novel.

The creator, Matt Silady, also has a preview of the novel and a movie trailer of the story.

Yet another “Rapture” comic book

stepheng — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 03:10:11 +0000

“Rapture” theology, and indeed the broader category of ‘apocalyptic’ that it sits within, lends itself to dramatic, visual imagery that can be picked up by comics books. The latest of these, Armageddon Now: Word War 3, is about to hit the shelves (if it hasn’t already). And as with many of these things it juxtaposes contemporary world-events with a particular (often loose) interpretation of apocalyptic biblical material. The way things are portrayed you get the impression that many would like to be ‘left behind’ so they can go to town with extreme armament and fight their way into the pearly gates.

You can see the main web site for comic over at: Welcome to - Armageddon Now: Word War 3

There’s an interview with one of the creators of the comic here at NEWSARAMA.COM: ROB LIEFELD GETS BIBLICAL.

Related links - Greenflame · Once Upon a Tribulation

Serenity: Better Days

stepheng — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:44:20 +0000

For those of you who are suffering from needing a Serenity or Firefly fix, then Dark Horse’s Firefly/Serenity mini-series “Better Days” is now out. I picked up issue 1 the other day, and it’s a good read if you’re a fan-boy or girl. Actually, it’s a good read for a comic in general - I’ve read some not so good comics recently from the library’s trade paperback/graphic novel selection. If you can do the character’s voices in your head while reading then it really rocks.

More details over at Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3).

Oh, and I see the “Star Gate: The Ark of Truth” is already out on DVD in NZ. Seeing as I’m still finishing off Season 9 of Stargate SG-1 it’ll be a while before I get there, but it’s nice to know it’s waiting for me. Just like I’ll get to “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” when I’ve knocked the last few episodes of Season 3 off. I must admit I’m struggling to be enthralled with the end of BSG season 3 maybe it’s better watched one episode per week rather than three episodes at a time. Currently, I’m trying to avoid Season 4 spoilers - which seems to be harder than it should be - people keep putting them in their blog posts without spoiler warnings!

Transhuman - The comic mini-series

stepheng — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:14:25 +0000

Picked up the first issue of Transhuman from Image Comics yesterday. It’s a four-part mini-series in a documentary format set in the not to distant future and deals with the initial commercial forays into commercialising technologies to produce ‘off-the-shelf’ human self-modification of a transhumanist nature. I thought the first issue was quite good, and offered some insight into the commercial agendas of biotechnology often glossed over in the transhumanist literature. I’ll be interested in where the series goes.

The comic made it onto the transhumanist-related Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies blog. See IEET - Transhuman, the comic, which includes a link to some sample pages from the issue here.

Various reviews of the issue can be found at:

Store Your Comics Properly

stepheng — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:16:09 +0000

A brief but useful article on care of comics. See Store Your Comics Properly - Wired How-To Wiki

Serenity: Better Days

stepheng — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:45:50 +0000

Frantic here at the moment. Old job stuff to finish, new job stuff to think about, last week of the school holidays, conference abstract due tomorrow, and going to Dunedin early tomorrow for the bioethics conference (so packing now).

However, still time to note that Dark Horse are finally going to release their next Firefly/Serenity comic book mini-series. Excellent, I can’t wait. See Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3).

Library posters and campaigns

stepheng — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:31:27 +0000

I enjoy seeing the different ways that libraries use to promote reading - the recent NZ libraries ‘Inspire me!’ campaign using some well-known faces is a good example.

Here’s one from the American Library Association that uses Alex Ross comic book watercolor artwork (and a couple of others) to promote reading. See Comics Should Be Good! » Some Neat Posters