Runaways
Brian Vaughan
I heard this graphic novel mentioned as NPR commentator David Lipsky’s guilty pleasure. It is full of funny and snappy dialogue (Vaughan wrote for a few seasons of Lost), interesting plot devices and some great illustration. However, Lipsky hits the “guilty” bit of guilty pleasure right on: the covers are designed for 12 year old girls. Ah well, read them anyway – maybe with a book-cover from another series wrapped over them.
I Love Led Zeppelin: Panty-dropping Comics
Ellen Forney
Sweet! Forney illustrates “How to be a Fabulous Fag Hag” with Margaret Cho, “How to Twirl Your Tassels in Opposite Directions” with Teresa Dulse, Forney’s almost-kinda date with Camille Paglia and her friend’s incredibly embarrassing meeting with Tom Waits. Heckuva good collection.
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
I know, let’s have a comic book. And lets have lots of villains, lifted directly from Victorian literature. Right, and since we lifted lots of villains, lets also lift a bunch of other characters and make them heroes – kind of. And let’s set it in Victorian London. And then when it sounds totally ludicrous, let’s illustrate it with fantastically well-drawn images. So there too. And then let’s sell the rights to make a completely awful movie. Oops, ok, the last one was a pretty bad idea. But the comics are great.
Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things
Berkeley Breathed
As a refreshingly amusing and light read, CJ and I have been plugging away through a bunch of collections of Berk Breathed’s comics. I’m amazed at what an excellent barometer of popular culture and politics Breathed’s (the creator of Opus and Bloom County) comics are. In particular, the Penguin Dreams proves the adage of “same ol’ same ol.” Originally published at the end of the Reagan era, the comic touches on being a liberal in a conservative world (liberal commentators screaming “VOLVO!” on a talk-radio show), the Jews hating the Arabs hating the Christians hating the secularists hating…, snarky commentary about no fan in their right mind waiting 15 years for a Star Wars sequel...