more graphic novels
Life Sucks by Jessica Abel et al is the story of Dave, a teen in a dead-end job working as the night guy at a mini-mart 
convenience store. His boss drives him crazy, he has run-ins with former co-workers and he has a crush on a girl who doesn't seem to know he exists. As if that all wasn't bad enough, he's a vampire--bitten by his boss and doomed to work for him in the store for eternity. And you thought you had a dead-end job.
The story in Life Sucks didn't do a lot for me. I wasn't very interested in the characters, the story dragged and I'll admit that I'm tired of vampire stories. It seemed like a tv show that has loser-characters that everyone else finds endearing except for me. Do you remember the movie Garden State? Yeah, I didn't get that, either. Lots of teens would probably like the book for all the reasons it didn't appeal much to me.
Deathnote #1: Boredom, otoh, is bizarre and cool. Seventeen-year-old Light has gotten himself into quite an ethical pickle. While crossing the school yard one day he picked up a black notebook inscribed "Deathnote." The instructions were explicit--write someone's name inside while imagining their face and they will die. Light tests it out and it works. So he begins a campaign worthy of a superhero--rid the earth of criminals who, in his opinion, deserve to die. The pressure on Light soon grows--he has to guard the Deathnote from his family, a mysterious international detective is trying to track down whoever is responsible for killing all the criminals, his father is the head of the police force working overtime to stop the deaths, and Ryuk, the death god who formerly owned the notebook, is his constant companion. Ryuk is filled with glee over Light's growing megalomania while he believes he's a crusader out to change the world for the better. Oh, and Light has to work hard to fit all the killing in between studying to stay first in his class.
Deathnote is manga, reading back to front and left to right, but it's easy to read as the panels mostly flow in a pretty standard pattern. The art is great--black and white and very detailed. The book came across as a pretty "smart" story as Light manages to stay a step ahead of the mysterious detective L while they play a deadly cat-and-mouse game.
Pitch Black by Landowne and Horton is very different. I wish I'd known the background of the book before I read it. It
would have had a greater impact on me. As it was, I was puzzled while I read it. It tells the story of two artists who meet on a NYC subway and begin to talk. One takes his new friend to his "home"--a camp set up in the subway tunnels. See, he's homeless and this is where he manages to live. The book is spare, with only a small amount of text. The illustrations are powerful and bold. The story is touching and eye-opening.
It's a true story. Anthony Horton was living in the subway when author Landowne met him. They wrote and illustrated the books together. That's the part I wish I'd known up front. It's a lovely book, but with its limited text, picture book appearance, and strange size I can't imagine a teen seeking it out or taking it home.
Gah. Mostly nonfiction left to read. *procrastinates*
convenience store. His boss drives him crazy, he has run-ins with former co-workers and he has a crush on a girl who doesn't seem to know he exists. As if that all wasn't bad enough, he's a vampire--bitten by his boss and doomed to work for him in the store for eternity. And you thought you had a dead-end job.
The story in Life Sucks didn't do a lot for me. I wasn't very interested in the characters, the story dragged and I'll admit that I'm tired of vampire stories. It seemed like a tv show that has loser-characters that everyone else finds endearing except for me. Do you remember the movie Garden State? Yeah, I didn't get that, either. Lots of teens would probably like the book for all the reasons it didn't appeal much to me.
Deathnote #1: Boredom, otoh, is bizarre and cool. Seventeen-year-old Light has gotten himself into quite an ethical pickle. While crossing the school yard one day he picked up a black notebook inscribed "Deathnote." The instructions were explicit--write someone's name inside while imagining their face and they will die. Light tests it out and it works. So he begins a campaign worthy of a superhero--rid the earth of criminals who, in his opinion, deserve to die. The pressure on Light soon grows--he has to guard the Deathnote from his family, a mysterious international detective is trying to track down whoever is responsible for killing all the criminals, his father is the head of the police force working overtime to stop the deaths, and Ryuk, the death god who formerly owned the notebook, is his constant companion. Ryuk is filled with glee over Light's growing megalomania while he believes he's a crusader out to change the world for the better. Oh, and Light has to work hard to fit all the killing in between studying to stay first in his class.
Deathnote is manga, reading back to front and left to right, but it's easy to read as the panels mostly flow in a pretty standard pattern. The art is great--black and white and very detailed. The book came across as a pretty "smart" story as Light manages to stay a step ahead of the mysterious detective L while they play a deadly cat-and-mouse game.
Pitch Black by Landowne and Horton is very different. I wish I'd known the background of the book before I read it. It
would have had a greater impact on me. As it was, I was puzzled while I read it. It tells the story of two artists who meet on a NYC subway and begin to talk. One takes his new friend to his "home"--a camp set up in the subway tunnels. See, he's homeless and this is where he manages to live. The book is spare, with only a small amount of text. The illustrations are powerful and bold. The story is touching and eye-opening.
It's a true story. Anthony Horton was living in the subway when author Landowne met him. They wrote and illustrated the books together. That's the part I wish I'd known up front. It's a lovely book, but with its limited text, picture book appearance, and strange size I can't imagine a teen seeking it out or taking it home.
Gah. Mostly nonfiction left to read. *procrastinates*