Searching for the Bayou

For Jeremy Love’s Bayou, I found a few different interesting and worthwhile links.

An interview with Love conducted by Publisher’s Weekly really caught my attention. In it, Love talks about the benefits of writing specifically online — he says it’s easier to work with surprising the reader. Not only that, Love likes the fact that he can interact with his readers online as well.

And from Graphic Novel Reporter, I found a pretty good review of the novel!

More so than any other, I think this review captures more critical places where the novel shines. The reviewer points out Love’s great “ear for dialogue” and “sense of historical perspective.” Sure, I appreciated both while reading the novel, but I hadn’t really seen it pointed out in any review I read on Amazon or elsewhere.

Weekly Roundup: Mike Carey and Peter Gross’s The Unwritten

For the weekly roundup for Mike Carey and Peter Gross’s The Unwritten, I’ll choose my favorite in-class discussion…but there are definitely a few different blog posts I’d like to touch on.

Probably my favorite discussion/exercise we’ve done in class so far this semester was the one where the class divided into groups and everyone wrote a sentence-long summary of the first volume. Unsurprisingly, it was pretty hard! We couldn’t use the same words and eventually my group’s summary didn’t make any sense, really. I found this to be a useful exercise because it just goes to show how difficult of a graphic novel The Unwritten is to describe in a single sentence. There’s a lot that goes on in it, some of it seemingly unrelated (especially the last twenty or so pages.)

As for my favorite blog post about The Unwritten, I liked what “ahart” said about himself being worried that the novel was going to turn out to be like a manga and “just be about a kids basic life.” I felt the same way upon starting! And, like “ahart,” I was happily proven wrong…maybe I just felt that way by the title page and the back cover. I’m not entirely sure. “Kristine Brown” also brought up a good point — we never really discussed the themes of fame and celebrity and their part in the novel that much in class. I would’ve liked that as well! Lastly, the website that “Michael Gillespie” posted that dealt with Mike Carey and Peter Gross was pretty interesting, I found after taking a look at it.

Swallowed Whole

Whoa. What an interesting novel….

I read the review that “ekimo” wrote and I would definitely agree that “Ruth doesn’t fight it, while Perry does.”

I loved how many full-page spreads there were in this novel too — they were all very, very memorable, especially with Powell’s fantastic use of black and white imagery. The pill bottle alone in a page full of black? Wonderful.

Lastly, I’d be lying if I said that this wasn’t the most engrossing novel so far. I really felt part of the world they were in (or thought they were in) and seriously began to hear insects by the end of it XD

Kyle Baker’s subtle style in Nat Turner

Whoa! What an impressive piece of work. Kyle Baker’s Nat Turner was really something else.

This isn’t really a complaint, but I found myself constantly going back to take a second look at certain frames to fully understand the scene depicted. There were many instances where I just pressed forward totally confused (especially in the first two chapters). I suppose it’s just a complex book and should be praised for being so? A lot of things are implied in the frames, and many of them are subtle enough to miss.

I would also say that the first chapter was relatively unnecessary. I almost felt the whole time that Baker was trying to extend the story too far in the past (excessively so) and that the story really only needed to begin with Turner. I was just confused the whole time during the first two chapters — which one of these voiceless speakers was Turner? They all drawn similarly! Perhaps I was just overthinking it.

Once it was clear which character was Turner and once he had his epiphany and began his revolt, the book really picked up pace and everything really clicked. I then went back and re-read certain scenes to really understand ’em. Overall? Good book, glad I read it.

Holy respondents, Batman!

First off, I truly enjoyed the Tom Knapp analysis of the novel that ahart9 posted. It’s probably the most interesting take on the book that I’ve read yet! Really insightful — of course, except for the summary!

I also completely agree with ibahabib in that the reading felt a bit “choppy” at times. Yeah, the art is fantastic beyond belief (as is the story/characters), but, for me, some of the pages seemed a bit cluttered with information. I feel that some of the news clippings and segments should’ve been removed — a lot of them are just filler and are never referred to again!

Snigh‘s point about the fact that it would be hard to imagine a publication to “not change with the times” and that “it is interesting to see the implications of fashion, pop culture, and current events on the comic, shows, and movies.” I definitely noticed the same thing while reading — similar to Watchmen, the time period in which it takes place is unmistakable.

Lastly, I feel as though I might be on a similar boat as Michael Gillespie! While I didn’t necessarily feel “distracted,” I certainly found myself continuously “going back  so that I could understand what exactly was going on.” However, I always do this — whether it’s watching a film or reading a book, I always look for certain things the first time around (acting, camerawork, shot placement, artwork, scene length) and then rewinding (or flipping pages back) to catch what actually happened story-wise! Don’t get me wrong, though…I always pay attention to the story the first time around. It’s just that there’s just a lot more going on in any piece of work than merely the story.