Comments on: Percy Gloom and Hieronymus B.

By: BillCinSD

BillCinSD — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:42:11 +0000

It seems that there might be some herbie popnecker in these comics too

By: Tom Parmenter

Tom Parmenter — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:03:44 +0000

One thing I find a bit odd, thinking about these books, is not just that ‘sweet and gentle Kafkaesque storytelling’ turns out not to be an oxymoron. What’s odd is more that my sense this kind of Kafkaesque isn’t so hard to do, so you should do it really well.

The question: Who is Robert Walser?

Kafka and Hesse were among the admirers of his strange, sunny despair. Jakob von Gunten is his best known work, but everything I’ve read by him has fully repaid the attention.

By: novakant

novakant — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:42:40 +0000

Maybe there is something Charlie Brownish inherent in the comics medium. A simple circle face on a stick body. It really doesn’t get more iconically economical than that. Chris Ware, anyone? I think people like e.g. Frazetta, Fabry or Bilal would rather disprove this point, they're masters that can draw anything. The thing is: getting anatomy and perspective right is actually very hard, and having both great drawing and writing talent is rare. That's why the job is often split between a writer and an illustrator. I can really recommend this book on graphic novels.

By: CK Dexter

CK Dexter — Sun, 18 May 2008 17:22:57 +0000

It’s strange to think that Giblets having a mailing address. I just assumed he inhabited an alternate dimension. I bet it’s something like 11111 Street St, Kingdom of Fafogonia.

By: lazynative

lazynative — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:30:40 +0000

Shouldn’t we as purists be calling them Graphic Novels and not ‘comics’ :)

One thing that has struck me is the sheer number of very high quality Graphic Novels on political/social themes that seem to be available these days like Palestine, Persepolis, Berlin, Kashmir Pending etc. While back apart from Maus you wouldn’t really see this. The Japanese are, of course, miles ahead of much of the Anglo-Saxon world in this regard; but there is a lot of good stuff coming out of Europe as well these days.

By: John Holbo

John Holbo — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:04:41 +0000

My God, giblets is totally right. How could I have doubted the funnel wisdom?

Giblets and ted, please feel free to send me your mailing addresses. jholbo-at-mac-dot-com. Katherine, you are cordially invited to participate as well.

By: Giblets

Giblets — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:49:43 +0000

Foolish Holbo! Lila’s death amongst the funnelheads is hardly gratuitous, but is evidence of a wanton disregard of both her own life and of the lives of others, and is presented as an explicit contrast to both the overweening terror of mortality represented by Safely-Now and the Tammy cult and to the acceptance of life’s fleeting nature represented by the goats and Tammy’s parents. Bow before Giblets’s greater comprehension of graphic storytelling! Bow before Giblets’s greater comprehension of graphic storytelling NOW!

Giblets will also take one of your free book things, either in addition to or in lieu of bowing.

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:45:49 +0000

I am currently working on a book manuscript about Aesop’s Fables and political thought, and am outlining a chapter on how the Fables are used in the present day. I’m working on tying them to Willingham’s Fables graphic novels, which despite the title actually focus on fairy-tale and folk story characters, and what does that mean about fables as a genre? Anyway, I need to understand more about graphic novels as a medium in order to pull this off. If you think that this is a worthy endeavor, then I am a public benefactor and as such deserve a copy of the book. If not, I would welcome any thoughtful explanation of why so that I can avoid wasting my time.

By: socialrepublican

socialrepublican — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:10:49 +0000

In an entirely different vein, my friend has a web comic up, ranging in tone from pathos to bathos and back in a handful of images

http://ginger-comics.livejournal.com/

enjoy

By: Nabakov

Nabakov — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:37:32 +0000

I highly recommend this graphic novel by a friend of mine
http://www.nickigreenberg.com/gatsby.shtml

It’s a certainly quite a different kettle of fish when it comes to adapting work for the comics genre.

By: Katherine F.

Katherine F. — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:17:08 +0000

Whether a worldess comic takes more or less time to read depends for me on the density of the visuals: a complex image with no words is harder to parse than a complex image plus words, since the words give you a sense of which details you should be paying attention to. If the images are simple, especially if the artist's style tends towards the abstract end of the spectrum rather than the photorealistic, the absence of words doesn't make it harder to figure out what's significant, and it gives you one less thing to read. I have no need of a review copy, since I reviewed Reading Comics for the Irish Times last year. I'd be delighted to participate in this event, if you'll have me. I had a lot of thoughts about Reading Comics that I've never got round to codifying; I'd appreciate the opportunity to discuss the work symposium-style.

By: David Weman

David Weman — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:59:16 +0000

“And mostly wordless, which makes it a very fast read.”

I find wordless comics to usually be pretty slow reads.