Showing some growth...and taking requests...

Got a couple of requests from a friend and semi-regular reader, and just to prove that I'm not a weenie who doesn't answer requests, I've added an RSS feed to the links over on the right side of the blog. Now you can have updates automatically delivered to your news feed - as we get closer and closer to EPIC 2014.

The same friend also took a dip into the graphic novel pool but choose an iffy title to start on - the Brad Metzler run of Green Arrow, a little too back-story-intensive for a rookie. So I suggested some other graphic novels that might be more in line for somebody who hasn't been reading DC comics for years and years. Many of these have already been mentioned over at my media blog (with its new RSS feed as well). In case you're a graphic novel rookie who's looking to start out in the genre, here are a few suggestions with annotations:

• Superman - Secret Identity by Busiek and Immonen...does a wonderful job of turning the legacy of Superman into something that isn't too far from reality in our world...wonderful, moving touches of family and a love story that works well...the artwork is gorgeous, and the story very heartfelt...perfect opening act because it has no previous knowledge (other than the names Clark Kent and Lois Lane) needed or assumed
• Sandman - Preludes and Nocturnes - by Gaiman...the first volume (shown here) isn't the finest in the series - it's good but not great - but it has to be read to get to the amazing run of stories after this...there are ten graphic novels in the main canon and three or four others associated...the story of the Endless, entities that govern emotions and change in the universe...one of the richest and most involved fantasy stories ever published, and not just in graphic novel form
• Maus - by Spiegelman...as my librarian wife puts it, "if a graphic novel wins a Pulitzer prize, that's pretty good"...it's Spiegelman's father's story of living through the camps during the holocaust as told in graphic format...the Naxiz are cats, the Americans are dogs, the Jews are mice...it's hard to read at times because it is so well written...two volumes, the first of which is linked to here...numerous history teachers at middle and high school levels use this in their classes as it's an incredible, emotional opening to start to understand the holocaust...I'd also recommend, by the same author, In the Shadow of No Towers - Spiegelman's coping with the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy
• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - by Alan Moore...it's not the movie - which was awful...it's a classic in graphic novel storytelling, bringing together the greatest/most infamous heroes and adventurers of lore into a team meant to defend jolly old England against her greatest foes - Moriority, martians, Chinamen (not the preferred nomenclature, I know)...certainly not for the children as there are numerous scenes that are violent or simply not appropriate for a school-linked blog...but by the same token, there are more references to literary figures in this than in any other work ever...so dense with references and allusions is it that there had to be another book to explain them all...
• Watchmen - by Moore...one of the greats of the genre...Moore takes the idea of superheroes and turns them entirely on their ear...beginning in a world without heroes, building up normal people in costumes until they realize the folly of their fight, and finally tearing the whole thing down with the most involved plot that I've seen...good philosophical thinking here and there...admittedly, also not for the kiddios...but Moore's stuff rarely is...no prior knowledge here at all because it doesn't connect in the least to anything else ever written...a singluar work in quality and storyline
• V for Vendetta - by Moore...he's a giant, what can I say...this was one of his first graphic novels, and it may be his darkest...a very 1984-ish vision of Great Britain in which a terrorist/freedom fighter tears down the system and hands power back to the people...we never see his face, but he is eternal...not popular in these post-9/11 times, but soon to be a major studio movie with Natalie Portman...my adivce is to read the graphic novel before seeing the movie...I have high hopes for the movie, but this will be tough to top...very British in feel, basing many details on the Guy Fawkes plot...
• Road to Perdition - by Collins and Lone Wolf and Cub - by Koike...I've not read either, but Karlen recommends both highly...I know that the Koike is very graphic at times...not for the faint of heart...and I know that the film based on the Collins is excellent...there are both two that I should pick up and go through but just haven't...
• Supreme - Story of the Year - by Moore...Moore's response to the tearing down of superheroes in Watchmen...here he tells the origins and rewriting of Supreme, a Superman-esque (at the very least) hero whose comics are being relaunched...the character begins to notice the fabric around him beginning to slip as authors rework his history...one of the finest examples of metacomics in which authors write for somewhat self-aware characters...along the lines of Animal Man, Supergirl, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - but Supreme is more well done...and it requires less in the way of background understanding...if you know the basics of the Superman mythos (Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Superboy, Ma & Pa Kent), you'll enjoy this one...if those sound odd to you, it might be one to work on a little later...
• Invincible - Family Matters - by Kirkman...you'll get in on the ground floor here of a teenage son of the world's greatest hero as he longs for and receives powers...wonderful family dynamics...great character book...neat artwork...great sense of light-heartedness (for the first volume, anyway)...no prior knowledge needed at all...
• Marvels - by Busiek...gorgeous artwork from Alex Ross matches this very human story of the first years of the Marvel universe as told from the point of view of a photographer who saw it all...focuses on how the emergance of superhumans affected the lives and believes of those mortals who lived around them...touching story...photo-realistic art...

So, that should get you started...and if there's anything else you'd like me to recommend or change about the blog, give a comment...I'll see what I can do...