7 graphic novels in one day...Weeeeee!

[bicentennial_baby]

I am staying up late to get through Fables #7, so I can pick up 8, 9, and 10 tomorrow. Squeeee! I love comic books.

But then I have to wait until November for #11. Booooo.

Back to the Invisibles, Preacher and Sandman, I guess. :)

:hi:

[Radical Activist]

1. Is there a difference between

a graphic novel and a comic book?

[Orrex]

3. Yes, in fact, but it's a sort of gray distinction

A graphic novel typically deals with more serious subject matter, or else it treats its subject more seriously. It can be a work created expressly for the longer graphic novel format (The Death of Captain Marvel), or it can be a compilation of multiple issues (Alan Moore's Watchmen). Most often, the graphic novel represents a self-contained story, even if the story is part of a character's larger universe.

"Graphic novel" does not (or should not) refer to every bound edition of this or that comic book series. These are more properly described as "trade paperbacks," and they are printed by the truckload because some gullible comic book fans will buy anything that pertains to their favorite title or that they think might make them a few bucks as collector's editions.

[Radical Activist]

7. Interesting

I read some comic books as a kid but otherwise I only see graphic novels when they're made into a movie.

[bicentennial_baby]

9. Er, not really...

All of my collections are simply the bound collections of the individual comics in several volumes. Sandman, Invisibles, Fables, etc.

[Orrex]

10. How is that "not really" then?

All but (IIRC) two of the Sandman editions are bindings of complete arcs, such that each represents a story unto itself. I'm not familiar with Invisibles or Fables, so I can't address them. But Watchmen certainly qualifies, as does Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

What, in your view, is a graphic novel? And is it different from a comic book?

(Remember: Wiki is for cheaters!)

[bicentennial_baby]

14. A comic book is a single issue of a series, whereas a graphic novel series

is generally the collected comic series in a number of volumes. Not always the case, of course, but generally.

What I was taking issue with is the getting fans to waste $$ part, or whatever. Some of us don't have the time or desire to collect each issue individually, or prefer to read them in one big chunk, that's all.

Invisibles and Fables contain several ongoing arcs that overlap throughout the books.

:)

[Orrex]

19. That's a fair objection

I meant to refer specifically to the rubes who buy the first 10 issues of Todd MacFarlane's next squiggle-fest, then run out and buy the bound edition, then the hardback bound edition, and then the signed-and-numbered limited edition hardback bound edition. It's that kind of escalation that gives me pause.

FWIW, I read all of Sandman except Brief Lives and The Wake in bound editions, because I didn't have access to comic stores for the rest (back in those largely pre-Internet days)...

[bicentennial_baby]

21. Oh, I totally agree with you!

I'm not a must have every single incarnation type of fan, at all. I just want the stories, and I prefer to have them bound in collections. The comics are so easily fucked up, torn, lost, etc.

I love my Sandman collection. Every single graphic novel, my Ex got the complete series of comics (long story, and I didn't want to store them. He also got all of my Hellblazers, damnit)

My only overlap is Stardust by Gaiman. I have the beautiful graphic novel and the hardcover & signed 1st edition, but that was a gift.

:)

[Mojambo]

2. Just finished with Y: The Last Man.

If you haven't picked it up I highly recommend.

[arcadian]

4. I'm reading Y: The Last Man at the book store.

There are something like 8 or 9 books and I can't afford ten bucks or $15 a pop. So, I started reading one book at a time at B&N.

[Mojambo]

6. I get em from the library.

But I've done the B&N shuffle on a few occasions.

[Lorien]

8. My buddy Jose Marzan just won two Eisner awards for that one

poor guy has been out of work since it wrapped up. I sure as hell hope the awards pick up business for him!

[bicentennial_baby]

16. I haven't read that one yet...Who writes it?

Or is it a group effort? :)

[Mojambo]

20. Brian K Vaughn

You may have heard of him. He's done some work on a little show called Lost.

;)

His other indy book is called Ex-Machina and it's a pretty tight little political/superhero thing.

[arcadian]

5. What is Fables about?

I've seen it but I've never picked it up.

[bicentennial_baby]

11. Oh, it's wonderful...It is basically

the story of how all of our fairy tale/mythological characters are driven from the Homelands by the Adversary, and are forced to live in our world (we're the Mundanes, or Mundys, for short). At the same time, they have to fight off the Adversary's forces and various spies while keeping cover in our world. I just found out, finally, who the Adversary is.

By characters, I mean: Snow White, Rose Red, Prince Charming, King Cole, the Frog Prince, Little Boy Blue, the Three Little Pigs (not so little anymore!), the Lilliputians, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Ichabod Crane, etc...

It's really wonderful. You should check it out. :)

[AlCzervik]

13. those sound way more fun than my daughters Grimm's fairy tales. I made the mistake

of reading Cinderella, quite a difference reading the original and then seeing the Disney version.

[bicentennial_baby]

15. The Big Book of Grimm is cool too, I own it

But yeah, they are pretty awesome. Gives you a whole new perspective on all of those beloved characters. :)

:hi:

[AlCzervik]

17. hells yes! She bought it in London and every night she'd read another tale to us

like right after dinner, oh yeah, we're totally fun at parties!

[arcadian]

24. I've got a rec for you. Promethea

Check out Promethea. It's such an awesome series. It's like Wonder Woman on acid. Alan Moore experiments with different syles and storytelling techniques, for instance one of the books covers is done in a stylized Van Gogh 'Starry Night' one of the covers was credited to Terry Gilliam. It's a wild ride. I really can't do it justice so I'm gonna cut and paste various snips from the wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promethea

Promethea is a comic book series created by Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III with Mick Gray, published by America's Best Comics/Wildstorm. Serialized in 32 issues on an irregular schedule from 1999 to 2005, the series explores Moore's ideas about art and magic, combining elements of superhero action, metaphysical theorizing, and psychedelic revelation, all focused on the adventures of Promethea, a metafictional character that possesses magical power over the real world. Promethea is also notable for wide-ranging experimentation in visual style and storytelling technique on the part of Williams and Moore.

Promethea

Promethea is a young girl whose father is killed by a Christian mob in Alexandria in AD 411. She is taken in hand by the twin gods Thoth and Hermes who tell her that if she goes with them into the Immateria, a plane of existence home to the imagination, she will no longer be just a little girl but a story living eternally. "Promethea" then is manifested in a series of avatars over the 19th and 20th centuries, culminating in the involvement of the lead character, Sophie Bangs.

People become incarnations of Promethea when they or someone close to them channels their identity into an artistic representation of Promethea. During the Crusades, Promethea had two avatars who fought each other. After this, the original Promethea spirit "forgot" and ruled that at any one time, only one human can carry the consciousness of Promethea. All of Promethea's avatars live on forever in the Immateria, retaining their memories and contributing to the consciousness of the active Promethea.

Plot summary

Promethea has been organized into five books. Books 1 and 2 mainly deal with Sophie Bangs becoming Promethea, while Books 3 and 4 show Promethea/Sophie working her way through all the Sephiroth of the Qabbalistic Tree of Life, passing beyond death and the Immateria before returning to earth for a confrontation with Stacia. In Book 5, Promethea brought on the Apocalypse, the end of the world - or the entire ABC universe, to be precise - not by destroying it physically, but by tenderly introducing its inhabitants to a new world of imagination, wonder, beauty, belief, and acceptance. Here Promethea truly delves deep into metafiction - the title character addresses the reader directly in her explanation of the Apocalypse, and points out that she is fiction, and fiction can be magic and be believed.

[bicentennial_baby]

26. Oh, I've read the Promethea series...Loved it!

Great series. :D

[bluesbassman]

12. I've been reading my son's "Bleach" series.

I've been reading them to share something with him that he's interested in. I never was much for comics, but these are fun and kind of addictive!

[bicentennial_baby]

18. I haven't seen that one yet, what's it about?

I really love comics. The Vertigo line from DC is top notch. :)

[bluesbassman]

22. It's written by Tite Kubo, and is about a teenager who becomes a "Soul Reaper".

This is one who guide the dead to the "Soul Society". It's heavy on martial arts, and the hero, called Ichigo, is your typical angst filled teen, except he can see ghosts. The books are read backwards in the traditional Japenese style.

[ScreamingMeemie]

23. Don't ruin your eyesight!

Goodnight you... :hug:

[sakabatou]

25. The best graphic novel I read was "Akira"