Graphic Novels

Hi Beakripped. Maybe you'd like to know some news on Alejandro Jodorowski, the great comic book script writer. The Chilean is trying to become the L.Ron Hubbard of the Hispanic world. The other day I was handed a flyer; the man is in Madrid recruiting people for his courses on “Psychomagic”, a dubious school of psychotherapy of his own creation. In his Web page the guy has the nerve of saying that only him, his son Cristobal Sol, and his wife Mariana Costa can work as “psychomagicians” since it is an “extremely dangerous therapy, even if it comprises some humorous and surreal traits”.
In order to spread some happiness, I would like to quote a piece of advice from the Agony Aunt column that Jodorowsky keeps in his site. A woman of slightly befuddled prose complaints of swollen legs and related anxiety. Mr. Jodorowsky healing piece of advice follows:
“Get yourself seven kilograms of earth, dug out from a field in the town where you were brought up. Every night, for forty nights, sink your feet in that earth. At the same time, read fairy tales”. Dangerous and humorous (and somehow surreal) indeed.
Alas, another charismatic and talented person who is making money out of people's naivety.
Sorry because this post is not about comics, but about a great artist gone astray.
 
I'm not sure if you can classify it as a graphic novel, but for a while now I'm immensely enjoying Marvel's The Savage Sword of Conan (you can download the issues from the 70s easily on the net)
en.wikipedia.org

Savage Sword of Conan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Ive seen that Dark Horse has come up with a colored TPB which is surely a 'must buy' for me in the future:

The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1: Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema: 9781593078386: Amazon.com: Books

The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1 [Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 1
www.amazon.com
 
I'm a big fan of the HellBoy series and particularly Mike Mignola's art work.
There are some superb examples of the art work in Cyril Tourneur's post on Mike Mignola:

Mike Mignola - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK

One graphic novel series which I picked off the library shelf, almost at random, and thoroughly enjoyed was Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra published by Vertigo .
I found myself really drawn into the series from the start. Without wanting to give away anything, it provides a novel take on the theme of society plunging into chaos, but manages it in quite a tongue in cheek way. Lots of humour, but also raises some thought-provoking ideas on what would happen if there really was only one man on earth. Not necessarily how a teenage boy would imagine it might be :D

Dr. Zirk said:
Richard Corben - basically anything by, but his adaptation of Hodgson's The House on the Borderlands is a good recent title.
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Have read the House on the Borderlands adaptation and loved it!

JD
 
Jonathan Dread said:
One graphic novel series which I picked off the library shelf, almost at random, and thoroughly enjoyed was Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra published by Vertigo .
I found myself really drawn into the series from the start. Without wanting to give away anything, it provides a novel take on the theme of society plunging into chaos, but manages it in quite a tongue in cheek way. Lots of humour, but also raises some thought-provoking ideas on what would happen if there really was only one man on earth. Not necessarily how a teenage boy would imagine it might be :D
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One thing that surprised me, though, was that it seemed like only the good-looking females survived. Did the unexplained phenomenon wipe out every non-good-looking female as well?

Apart from that (or, because of that) I enjoyed The Last Man very much.
 
I used to read The Savage Sword of Conan as a kid, as well as the comics. I still think that Barry Windsor-Smith is one of the best comic illustrators ever. One of my favorite stories is "Tower of the Elephant". And a little later I read the paperbacks with those awesome Frazetta covers. This is the first Conan comic that I ever read. I got it for my birthday.

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The last graphic novel that I read was also based on a Robert E. Howard story. I got it from the library. Mignola did the cover. I forget who did the writing and the interior art, etc., but it is all fantastic. Even the coloring is first rate. Here it is:


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I also have a nice hardcover copy of the Kafka/Crumb book. I love it. That book is like a dream come true for me, as I am a big fan of both of their work. Highest recommendation.
 
Before Ligotti's writing lured me into the joys of weird fiction, I was a comic book maniac. MY favorite publisher of all is probably Fantagraphics, whose sole duty is not only the preservation of American comics' artistic legacy, but also to find work that carries on in the tradition of Crumb & Co.'s comix.

Michael Kupperman tops my list of favorite cartoonists. His Tales Designed To Thrizzle is a high-minded cavalcade of surreal nonsense:

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Johnny Ryan has created a series for Fantagraphics called Prison Pit which fuses his trademark ultra-scatological humor, sci-fi, horror, and homages to pro wrestling and Kentaro Miura's Berserk:

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Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse is hilarious too. It's written and drawn by Ben Templesmith, who also provided the art for the comic book adaptation of "Dream of a Mannikin". A witch, a robot, and demon worm who burrows into the brains of corpses get drunk and occasionally solve supernatural, potentially apocalyptic mysteries.

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beakripped mentioned Charles Burns' epic Black Hole series. This is Burns' most ambitious project so far. You can get the comic books in which the series was first published or the hardback compilation. I recommend the comic books since the hardback compilation doesn't contain the awesome color covers. Here's a few examples:
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There's a lot of stuff packed into this series including teenage insecurities and cruelty in 1970s era Seattle, alienation, drugs, sex, a mysterious STD that causes strange physical mutations in its victims ranging from relatively minor anomalies to hideously grotesque reworkings of the flesh, compassion, unrequited love, mystic visions of surrealistic transcendent gloom and horror, torture, murder, and a kind of ambiguous salvation.

Another enjoyable creation of Burns are his El Borbah tales, which are collected in the El Borbah hardback (known as Hard-Boiled Defective Stories in an earlier edition):

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El Borbah is a tough-as-nails pot-bellied private dick sporting a Mexican wrestler's get up. He cracks heads almost as often as he cracks wise. These stories are crawling with oddball characters and all manner of high weirdness. Highly recommended!
 
American Vampire:

Written by SCOTT SNYDER & STEPHEN KING
Art and cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE

Vertigo | Graphic Novels

I've only read volume 1, which collects issues 1-5. Many more have since been produced.
I'm not especially a fan of vampire stories, but I did thoroughly enjoy reading this and intend to continue reading them. Not least because it restores the image of vampires being dark and malevolent creatures.
A reputation which has been tarnished recently with all this "Twilight" business *curls lip in a sneer*

Quick summary from Vertigo website -

From writers Scott Snyder and Stephen King, AMERICAN VAMPIRE introduces a new strain of vampire – a more vicious species – and traces the creatures' bloodline through decades of American history.

This first hardcover volume of the critically acclaimed series collects issues #1-5 and follows two stories: one written by Snyder and one written by King, both with art by future superstar Rafael Albuquerque. Snyder's tale follows Pearl, a young woman living in 1920s Los Angeles, who is brutally turned into a vampire and sets out on a path of righteous revenge against the European monsters who tortured and abused her.

And in King's story set in the days of America's Wild West, readers learn the origin of Skinner Sweet, the original American vampire – a stronger, faster creature than any vampire ever seen before.
 

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I second the reccomendation for American Vampire. I've read volumes 1 and 2, covering things from the Old West to the great depression. Vol. 3, covering WWII and forward, comes out in February. my favorite comic of late is Hack/Slash: Hack/Slash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cassie Hack's mom was a serial killer who came back to life after being gunned down by cops. Cassie single-handedly stopped her after she came back, and has been hunting undead serial killers since. There've been crossovers with Evil Ernie, Child's Play (cassie vs Chucky), and Archie Comics, as well as a number of Lovecraftian elements. I like it.
 
One of the best graphic novels I've ever come across...

http://www.amazon.com/Luna-Park-Kevin-Baker/dp/140121584X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398835401&sr=8-1&keywords=Luna+Park+graphic+novel

...something of a spoiler, but it is actually a work of Weird Fiction/Cosmic Horror.
 
I have recently watched movies adapted from these graphic novels so I decide to read them and both were pretty good but very different from the movies.

SNOWPIERCER VOL. 1: THE ESCAPE : Very good piece of dark post-apocalyptic science-fiction, pessimistic and bleak... Artwork is great it totally matches tone of the story.
Its way better that film, which is still solid effort.

http://www.amazon.com/SNOWPIERCER-VOL-1-THE-ESCAPE/dp/1782761330/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398850314&sr=8-1&keywords=snowpiercer

Blue Is the Warmest Color : Very simple and straightforward story about love, I was surprised to find out how much it differ from the film which in this case is way more complex and mature - one of the best movies in recent years about theme that has been so drained and exhausted - love.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Warmest-Color-Julie-Maroh/dp/1551525143/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398850322&sr=1-1&keywords=blue+is+the+warmest+color
 
That reminds me, I need to reread City of Glass. I also love Mazzuchelli's work on Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again.
 
I forgot to post this before.

Juan Giménez, the Argentinian comic book artist, died some days ago due to Covid-19.

He was the artist for Alejandro Jodorowsky's Metabarons and his own series Leo Roa and The Fourth Power, among others. A real loss.
 
miguel1984 said:
I forgot to post this before.

Juan Giménez, the Argentinian comic book artist, died some days ago due to Covid-19.

He was the artist for Alejandro Jodorowsky's Metabarons and his own series Leo Roa and The Fourth Power, among others. A real loss.
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I just look at those. Very nice.
 
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