Books with Pictures

I have come to an interesting blip in the road, and that’s how to review comics and graphic novels. Evidently they are for the larger part pictures, but often carry with them an in depth story. So here it goes under Nom Nom Words, for though I greatly appreciate the art and will discuss it I buy graphic novels and comics for their story. And it dawns on me how unfairly the literary world will often look down judgementally upon these things. I am not a massive comic book reader, I don’t have a basement storeroom for every back issue of every comic ever. However there are a number that tickle my tastes. Of these they have good in depth story, strong characters with great backgrounds, suspense, comedy, intrigue. In fact they have everything that makes a book good. The only thing I can find that’s lacking in them is descriptive passage but then that is covered by the art. What of the art? Much to the chagrin of many you will find the art is variable covering numerous styles and forms.

Let us look at some examples:

Lucifer

This comic/ graphic novel covers the story of the infamous fallen angel when he decides to leave hell and resign as its ruler. He then goes and opens a bar in L.A. and get back to what he does best. Thwarting that meddling God. His answer is to make a new creation, and after making it refusing to be a God to it or to allow any ruler, merely that the people be there and live their lives with out worship and therefore in his eyes in total freedom.

I have not yet finished this but am only waiting on the money to buy the last couple of issues. But of what I have seen it uses a few writers and a plethora of artists to create a gallery of talent. The story has a number of main characters with great back stories but also those characters not central to the story also have their part told rather than being there simply out of need as a plot device. The are multiple references to old myths and beliefs as well as several nods to it’s father comic Sandman. Now there are issues, many religious folk will be quick to remind Lucifer does not rule hell he is another of the punished. At times the extra side stories seem unnecessary and distracting for characters that may very well disappear shortly after introduction no matter how integral they are to plot movement. Yet I am extraordinarily hooked to find out the ending and I find myself rereading these graphic novels for the story as well as to admire the art.

Strangers in Paradise

Now this review poses difficulty as I have read few of the issues to Strangers in Paradise but I use merely as an argument against the view that graphic novels may only dwell in the sci-fi or supernatural. You see these works follow the lives of relatively ordinary people through their ordinary troubles of life, love, economic difficulty, work and friendships. Of what I have read, and that is a reasonable amount, the story is well developed with amazingly three-dimensional characters who have very realistic personalities. The art is a stylised black and white pen drawn look and at times surprisingly realistic. As far as I know no one gains super powers, no one is a god, it’s just life and it is covered as well as any book. One advantage to comics as highlighted by this case is that long conversations are easy to follow. In books long conversations can become confused or have tedious reminders as to who’s saying what.

I’m not attacking books here, nor am I saying either medium is better. I just wish that people would respect both as amazing forms of literary art, one happens to have more literary the other more art.