What comic books/graphic novels are you reading at the moment?

[alexvss]

The Ichinose Family’s Deadly Sins. A family of six wakes up in the hospital after a car accident, only to find out that they all have amnesia, and that their lives before the crash were horrible.

When they get home, they find a mess. There are piles and piles of ready-to-eat food and drinks. And even the couples have single rooms. The protagonist’s room has the word “Death” written all over the place, and his sister’s is full of stuffed animals. When he goes to school, he finds out he used to be bullied. The little sister is a sugar baby.

But that’s not all there’s to it; there’s a huge plot twist on chapter 10. It changes everything.

Spoiler

They go on a family trip, and the dad crashes the car again (on purpose). The protagonist then wakes up in the hospital, and the story starts all over again. Except that the father is another guy.

This seems to be something like Groundhog Day. The protagonist goes back in time everytime he dies. There’s a lot of anime like it. Re:Zero and Summertime Rendering are some examples.

This is a new Shonen Jump Manga, starting from November 22. And it’s not your usual shonen manga. It’s dark, but it isn’t dark like the Dark Trio of Shonen. It’s very sad and triggering. I imagine Japanese twelve-year-olds reading this after a One Piece chapter. Must feel very off.

About the art: the illustrator really knows how to draw perspective. The panels showing entire rooms are amazingly detailed and full of information. The facial expressions also convey strong emotions.

Since it’s a new manga, I’ll get to the latest release quickly. I can’t wait for the anime adaptation.

 

[Toby Frost]

I re-read my copy of Rawhead Rex, adapted by Steve Niles from Clive Barker's short story (from The Books of Blood) and illustrated by Les Edwards. This volume also includes the shorter and weaker story "Twilight at the Towers", illustrated by Hector Gomez.

In Rawhead Rex, a sort of pagan demon, buried in the Middle Ages, awakes and goes on the rampage in modern suburban England. Apart from the fact that this adaptation is somewhat wordy (they're Barker's words, so they're good), it really is a superb piece of work. However, it's so staggeringly unpleasant that it must be close to the edge of what can be published in a mainstream work. Rawhead looks like a cross between a scarecrow, a troll and, er, something else: an unmistakeably male monster who eats two children and a pony, tears numerous villagers apart and, in a lull in the carnage, has one off the wrist. Like the Alien in Alien, he's just plain foul. The realistic style Edwards uses makes it all the more disturbing. An impressive piece of intense, bloody horror that reminds me of Goya at points.

"Twilight at the Towers" isn't bad at all, although it feels pale in comparison. Gomez's artwork is good, but the very wordy adaptation prevents it ever really getting the chance to shine. It's an interesting story about hidden identities, including spies, transvestites and werewolves, but I think it's better appreciated in prose.

 

[Toby Frost]

I've gone back to The Art of Edena by Moebius, a companion piece to his surreal SF epic The World of Edena. While The Art of Edena contains several short stories linked to the main story, this book isn't a coherent whole and includes a lot of separate pictures, related to Edena to varying degrees. It's extremely stylish and good, a bit like a psychedelic Herge; some of the large pictures in the back are very beautiful. The use of colour and shading reminds me slightly of Roger Dean's artwork for the band Yes. There are some comments from Moebius himself, which are rather cryptic and exactly what I'd expect from a French comic book illustrator with a surreal streak. Highly recommended.

 

[dask]

 

[HareBrain]

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki. His masterwork IMO, way better and much more epic than the (still good) animated film. It's a testament to his skill that he can create a character who pretty much fulfils the criteria for a Mary Sue, but you love her as much as the other characters do.

 

[Moonbat]

After listening to the Chroncast episode about Watchmen, I have started re-reading it. Only a little way through at the moment but it is so well written with layers I didn't pick up on my first read.

 

[Perky]

The last comic I read was Ghost In The Shell, the version from 1995. The last manga I read was Witch Hat Atelier, which I think the art direction is incredible, and the way storytelling is approached in its classic and innovative panels (which makes the experience more immersive, as if the world came out of the pages. It's a good optical visual technique).

 

[alexvss]

The last comic I read was Ghost In The Shell, the version from 1995. The last manga I read was Witch Hat Atelier, which I think the art direction is incredible, and the way storytelling is approached in its classic and innovative panels (which makes the experience more immersive, as if the world came out of the pages. It's a good optical visual technique).

Both are manga.

The GitS movie adaptation is one of my favorite movies ever, but I don't like the manga very much. There is a ton of footnotes, and it's really hard to understand.

I used to read Witch Hat Atelier a couple of years ago. I was planning to give it some time so there would be more chapters for me to read in one sitting, but then I completely forgot about it. And I agree: the art is incredible, different from those manga that look the same.

 

[Perky]

Both are manga.

The GitS movie adaptation is one of my favorite movies ever, but I don't like the manga very much. There is a ton of footnotes, and it's really hard to understand.

I used to read Witch Hat Atelier a couple of years ago. I was planning to give it some time so there would be more chapters for me to read in one sitting, but then I completely forgot about it. And I agree: the art is incredible, different from those manga that look the same.

Sui Ishida's works are also striking and different from the manga we usually read.

 

[alexvss]

Sui Ishida's works are also striking and different from the manga we usually read.

Yeah, my brother keeps telling me to read Tokyo Ghoul. But, having watched the anime first (which is horrible btw) I just can't see myself consuming anymore Tokyo Ghoul

Nevertheless, I read the first chapter of his newest work, Choujin X. It's quite good, but I have my hands full with other priorities now.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Best of 2000AD Vol 1, Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do!

 

[alexvss]

Pluto: a robot detective investigates a series of murders of both humans and robots.

Another work by Naoki Urasawa, the author of Monster and 20th Century Boys. And this one is on par with his best work, for sure. He is a master of seinen thrillers.

It is based on Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, and Tezuka’s son supervised its production. It takes place in the future, of course, in a society where robots live among us, and they imitate humans. In the first chapter, the detective goes to the dead robot’s house to tell his wife about the incident. The wife is also a robot.

I’m eager to see how this mystery unfolds.

 

[SaintJzearuth]

I'm reading the Promethea series of graphic novels by Alan Moore. So far, it has provided a good basic overview of occult elements without disrupting the flow of the story. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the second graphic novel.

 

[paranoid marvin]

"GOOD LORD, KARL... you're SHRINKING rapidly... and there's nothing I can do for you! You will soon find yourself in a world that no man has ever seen... a MICROCOSM of molecules... atoms... electrons and protons! And then... you will CONTINUE to shrink... shrink into... into... WHAT? What will you find, Karl?"

Yes, I've purchased 'The EC Archives' Volume 1 of 'WEIRD SCIENCE'. Looking forward to reading this one.

 

[The Big Peat]

I've had a romp through Moore's and Burrows' Providence, which is a very absorbing, clever, and sometimes stomach turning take on Lovecraft.

 

[HareBrain]

Having watched the first season of the anime Heavenly Delusion twice over summer, and with no second season coming for probably years, I decided to try the manga, and read volume 1. But it's so lacking compared to the animated version, I don't think I'll continue.

 

[HareBrain]

Monstress vol 8. Too many gods speaking in god-type dialogue. Plus confusing.

 

[Rafellin]

Went back to savour one of my favourite series of all time, Hotwire, by Steve Pugh and Warren Ellis. Two 4-issue series: Requiem for the Dead and Deep Cut. Still wonderful, poignant, and bleak.

 

[alexvss]

The Horizon. A boy and a girl survive a post-apocalyptic world by continuously moving forward on a road.

A manhwa (Korean comic) in black-and-white, with pages, just like manga (and not like web toons that don’t have pages, meant for you to scroll down infinitely). 21 chapters long, divided by parts that focus on a character. It’s graphic, but with a purpose.

A great post-apocalyptic piece of art. Very touching. With kids facing deranged villains (and big pinches of sheer bad luck to boot). The title is about moving forward, towards the horizon, no matter what happens. The ending has some great (and cruel) plot twists, but they serve the narrative just right. It’s sad and happy at the same time. You may think that the author is just punishing the characters, but it does have the purpose to tell the meaning of the story.

The only bad thing is that the narrator says a lot of obvious things. He should just let the graphic narrative do its job.

All and all, with the Korean cultural wave all over us, I hope this gets an adaptation.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

Just finished The Book of Forks by Rob Davis. The end of a series which began with The Motherless Oven. Kind of hard to describe, but very good. "Grey suburban surrealism", maybe? Set in a world where children build their own parents, knives regularly rain down from the sky, and everyone accepts this as normal.