reviewing comics like anyone on my FList reads them
Ugh, I really hope I haven't set the tone for the entire winter break. I realized on Friday that I have pretty much no work, short of going and trimming down some of the paper on my last comics so I can possibly SOMEDAY jam it on a scanner, left to do for my remaining classes. Predictably, short of going to work, I did nothing all weekend. Hell, as I type this I'm still in bed and I haven't even bothered to turn my alarm off yet because somehow it fell to the classical station and they're playing pretty christmas music.
I picked up a couple of comics yesterday, since I'm apparently incapable of trying to Christmas shop without spending money on myself. But it was a 20% off sale at Jim Hanley's, so how could I say no?
Anyway, I picked up The War at Ellsmere, by Faith Erin Hicks, which I'll completely admit I bought on faith of the art and an interview I read alone. The plot's your standard "poor girl goes to a rich snobby school, meets a sympathetic friend and also a megabitch rival," but the characters are cute, the dialogue is snappy, and there's some nice twists on the whole idea. If I knew a tween girl I'd give this to her alongside Chiggers by Hope Larson. Why didn't you publish more books like these, Minx?
Last Call by Vasilis Lolos is another book I've been sitting on buying for like a year and finally got off my ass and grabbed when I saw it on the shelf. AGAIN, I'm really happy I did, because it has such a great energy to it. I think I finished the whole book in like 20 minutes because the pacing is so fast and fluid, but I've been picking it up every once in a while to flip through and admire the art or monster designs all over again (I freaking love that conductor!) Lolos has such a beautiful ink line I am shamed into never bothering to pick up a brush.
I hope nobody minds when I do these slapdash mini-reviews! I realized yesterday that my favorite books are the kind that awkwardly fall between the industry standards: Superheroes, Awkward Autobiography and about 99% of Slice of Life. I want to try to keep a running tab of what's worth paying attention to so I don't just have to get stuck for examples after my "American comics aren't ONLY about superheroes or how much of a pervert/social reject/both that cartoonist is!" speeches. Also, I hope that it helps you Manga Kids out there on my FList to see there is some good stuff coming out of places that aren't Japan and sometime Korea! (I realize now that "American" is unfair, considering Hicks is Canadian and Lolos is Greek)
I picked up a couple of comics yesterday, since I'm apparently incapable of trying to Christmas shop without spending money on myself. But it was a 20% off sale at Jim Hanley's, so how could I say no?
Anyway, I picked up The War at Ellsmere, by Faith Erin Hicks, which I'll completely admit I bought on faith of the art and an interview I read alone. The plot's your standard "poor girl goes to a rich snobby school, meets a sympathetic friend and also a megabitch rival," but the characters are cute, the dialogue is snappy, and there's some nice twists on the whole idea. If I knew a tween girl I'd give this to her alongside Chiggers by Hope Larson. Why didn't you publish more books like these, Minx?
Last Call by Vasilis Lolos is another book I've been sitting on buying for like a year and finally got off my ass and grabbed when I saw it on the shelf. AGAIN, I'm really happy I did, because it has such a great energy to it. I think I finished the whole book in like 20 minutes because the pacing is so fast and fluid, but I've been picking it up every once in a while to flip through and admire the art or monster designs all over again (I freaking love that conductor!) Lolos has such a beautiful ink line I am shamed into never bothering to pick up a brush.
I hope nobody minds when I do these slapdash mini-reviews! I realized yesterday that my favorite books are the kind that awkwardly fall between the industry standards: Superheroes, Awkward Autobiography and about 99% of Slice of Life. I want to try to keep a running tab of what's worth paying attention to so I don't just have to get stuck for examples after my "American comics aren't ONLY about superheroes or how much of a pervert/social reject/both that cartoonist is!" speeches. Also, I hope that it helps you Manga Kids out there on my FList to see there is some good stuff coming out of places that aren't Japan and sometime Korea! (I realize now that "American" is unfair, considering Hicks is Canadian and Lolos is Greek)