The Public Library!

(This is here people mouth the word "Psycho" and do that twirly thing with their index finger next to their head, meaning "Crazy")

Honestly, I had trouble caring about the protagonist because he is basically invincible which undercuts the dramatic tension and at times I was rooting for the bad guys. But it's really good.

(haha huck: i'll write them in my kids names!)

for some reason i try to check a "real" book out every time i take out a graphic novel; i guess i just dread those "comics fan, huh?" glances you get from librarians.

The books what I got:
Goodbye, Chunky Rice (sweet); Queen and Country Vol. 1 (oh, my new love); DareDevil The Man without Fear (now I want to read more!); Gipsy Star (crapola); Jimmy Corrigan (I know everyone keeps praising this but I'm having problems getting through it.); Sandman Endless Nights (disappointing so far); Why I Hate Saturn (so good), Ultimate X-men V. 2& 3, now need to go back and get 1.

Next week it's From Hell, Louis Riel, and all the Q & C I can get my grubby little hands on. Other suggestions?

For Daredevil, you might find some of this thread useful.

I say, get as much Frank Miller as you can. Some of it is plainly bad, but there's enough top stuff (Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Elektra: Assassin, etc) to make him my favo writer. Plus, he's sort of the spiritual ascendent of current top crop Bendis, Rucka et al.

Sandman Endless Nights (disappointing so far); Why I Hate Saturn (so good)

Funnily enough, I too borrowed both of these books from the library last week, and had the same opinion about them. Why I Hate Saturn was great, Endless Nights was not. Although I can't say I was that disappointed with EN, since my appreciation of Neil Gaiman certainly isn't as high as it was during my teenage fanboy years. Still, I did enjoy the Delirium story, which reminded me of some of Gaiman's better, more experimental work with Dave McKean (Signal to Noise, Black Orchid etc.).

..to European ears. It's a lot more common in the US. To the point that the Political Compass site's FAQ has an entry saying "This says I'm left _and_ libertarian, how is that possible?"

Did Frank Miller use the newscast-narrative thing in Daredevil and Ronin too?

Nope, and it wasn't used in the Elektra stories or Sin City either.

Elektra: Assassin kind of uses a substitute form of narration -- rather than newscasts, he has people giving Powerpoint presentations.

I'm interested to see how he treats more prominant female characters...

Err, touchy Miller point. Simply put, he doesn't. Elektra is obv. his most notable female character, and he's written one mini series and one graphic novel focusing on her. In the latter, it's told from Murdock's POV. In the former, the series starts out with the first 1.5 issues from Elektra's POV (and they happen to be marvelously written), but then it switches to another man's for the remainder of the series. Mix in boring/flat Sin City women, and his female trackrecord isn't exemplary. (Though maybe Martha Washington, I never stuck around long enough to read all of them, and the woman in Ronin, balance things out.)

Promethea book 1 and Bendis's Fortune and Glory! Score.

They also have book 2 of Phoenix (the manga, there's a thread around somewhere, I think), so I assume they have book 1 and it's just out.

Weirdly, my girlfriend -- who is a big fan of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and much of Moore's current stuff -- was bored by Watchmen. She didn't grow up reading superhero comics the way I did, but came to them after getting interested in comics in general through Preacher and Transmetropolitan, so even though she reads them now, I wonder if that's part of it.

x-post x-post sorry

There are probably all manner of things here and there, and there are annotations out there somewhere (did Jess Nevins do them, maybe?).

SPOILER ALERT: I can't believe how obvious Rorshach's identity is from the very first panel even. I remember being very surprised the first time I read it. Mind you, I was 12.

(x-post, in the first couple pages I thought, "Oh, so Rorshach's that guy...nah, too obvious.")

It parallels the story of Ozymandias. Ozymandias is the shipwrecked dude, that's why in the end he says something like "I dream of swimming towards a huge black ship", just like the protagonist of the pirate story does.

Here's how it goes: the shipwrecked guy wants to help those he loves, just like Ozymandias wants to help the humanity. He's floating on the back of dead men, just like Ozymandias is, after all those killings to make his plot work. The shipwreck dude uses a white, spotted shark to reach his goal, just like Ozymandias uses Rorschach to muddle his trails. But, despite all his good intentions, the dude doesn't do any good for his loved ones, and instead causes only death and suffering. Just like Ozymandias. This, I think, is rather clever way for Moore to end the story. Though the ending of Watchmen is seemingly open, and the reader is free to judge whether or not Ozymandias did the right thing ("I leave it entirely to your hands."), Moore's own judgement is hidden in the pirate story. In the end, the shipwreck guy realizes he's made a horrible mistake, and swims to the Black Freighter (=Hell).

Of course, there's a meta-version. In a world which actually has super-heroes in it, it's unlikely comics would ever have progressed beyond EC type lines (in the mainstream, at least) and it's questionable whether somebody like Frederick Wertham could actually have had as much influence in the Watchmen world as he did in the real world (given, as he was, a product of US isolationism and Red Fear - which doesn't exist in a world where Dr Manhattan lives. At least not before he gives up on humanity, as shown in the Dr M/Comedian sequence in Vietnam.) therefore why would they ever have fallen out of favour? If they never progressed from EC lines, then Joe Orlando would probably have been still drawing them till his death.

A dagger in mine heart! I'm pulling rank and excommunicating you, Huck.

The Authority, much as I loved it during the initial Ellis/Hitch and Millar/Quitely runs, is a standard superhero comic. With more violence, brasher ideas, widescreen imagery, sex and a good energy to it all....I always got the feeling that Ellis had said everything he really wanted to say about superheroes on Stormwatch and was basically just repeating himself with the Authority. But it was still better than 99% of superhero stuff being done at the time.

The coloring-the-woman image is striking. I'm picturing him sticking his tongue out as he does it, you know, like to the corner of his mouth, the way comic strip characters do when they're concentrating -- and beads of sweat on his forehead as he hunches over the drawing table, squinting through his Coke bottles.

Anyway, today I got Justice League: A New Beginning, some animated Batman thing and something else that's totally slipped my mind. Damn.
Anyway, I followed that JL series from issue #3 to not quite #50. So I had never read the first two issues in the collection, so that was extremely cool for me. But I'm most impressed at how well those issues hold up. When I read the FKNATJL mini last year, I kept thinking it was so 80s, esp. with Kevin Maguire's slightly Schnabel-esque style. BUt the original stuff (aside from a few of the women's hair-do's, I still can't believe they ever thought taking Black Canary out of fishnets was a good idea) still reads good, it's still funny now that I'm a grown up and I'm pretty sure that a lot of my current sense of humour finds its secret origin in those comics.

Hmm, maybe I'll do that, check on Ebay. I picked up the first two TNF, and they're wonderful, but I'm really trying to curb my spending, esp. on comics, lately.

LOEB: "So there's this new Supergirl, and, like, Superman's all on her because she's from Krypton SUPPOSEDLY, and Batman's all jealous like 'Hell no she's a freak!' so he contacts Wonder Woman to whisk her away to Amazonia or whatever, but then Darkseid wants some of that too, yeah? So he raids the place, kills that blue-helmet chick from Crisis, and takes her away."

ED: "OK, so what happens in the next issue?"

LOEB: "Next? Dude, that's the plot for the first THREE issues!"

Why I made Jeph Loeb sound like a Yale Repetory reject auditioning for the O.C., I dunno.

Anyway.

Went to the library last night and scored some Greg Rucka NOVELS. Turns out there's this huge section behind the Graphic Novel shelf that has books without pictures.

I also got:
Batman: As the Crow Flies - Wow. Dustin Nguyen is awesome. Now I have a much better idea of how much he brings to the Mahnke awesomeness (a lot).
Avengers: Supreme Power - I haven't had much luck getting into the Avengers, but what the fuck. It's free.
Scene of the Crime - Brubaker & Lark! Together again for the first time! Or something.

Borrowed Perez's "Gods & Monsters" Wonder Woman book, the latest Y trade (with THE EXPLANATION), Rucka's Superman "Unconventional Warfare" (which looked great, skimming it - seemed like they've done a good job modernizing the characters), a Way of the Rat trade (also looks great), the two Green Lantern & Green Arrow trades (the pointing, the pointing!), and a pile of others. All freeeeeeeeeeeee.

The Nguyen that inks Doug Mahnke is the one whose first name is "Tom", I believe.

Is "As the crow flies" good? It's like 20 bucks down here in argentina, and I wasn't planning to get it, but I've been interested in the few stuff I've seen from Dustin Nguyen, and I happen to have that money, which would sure be much more useful if spent in other, more important and truly needed stuff, but now I'm starting to feel this irrepressible urge to waste it in some generic Batman comic that will make me feel very guilty after I have bought it (i get this feeling, like, once or twice a year)

The Nguyen that inks Doug Mahnke is the one whose first name is "Tom", I believe.

You are correct, sir, and I am a giant asshole.
It's okay. The art is great, the story is so-so. I'm not sure where I stand on Winnick. I've read some really great stuff by him (the "Red Hood" business) and a lot of mediocre stuff (Green Arrow).

Btw, there's nothing like the guilt after you have bought an extremely expensive comic.

Ya know, the last time that I went to the library and got a stack of comic book books out, the librarian was all chatty with me about her experiences with "graphic novels" and how much she loved The Sandman! I never would have expected it from her, since she looked about 55. She was more impressed with my taste in reading material than I was, since I was mostly just checking out a bunch of kiddie comics stuff like Fushigi Yuugi and Astro Boy and shit! "Graphic novels"? WTF?!?

And I mean I'm trying to look past the racism.

A Contract With God, To The Heart Of The Storm, and that's about it really. Luckily for you, both are being published in one volume along with Dropsie Avenue (I think) as the launch title under his new 'real publisher' deal.

Gaz I thought of something else you should get from Kino the other day! but then I forgot it again. stay tuned!

The Dreamer reads like fucking Molesworth* wrote it! "and then JACQUES KIRBEE came to work for me he is pretty good but much shorter than me he thinks he's so tough but look at my muscles *hem hem* the comics in WALLY RENSIE's head are better than what all these other legends what I employ draw o I AM GRATE chiz chiz"

*ie not Willans

Goon: Heaps of Ruination
Finder: Talisman
Hellboy: Weird Tales 2
100 Bullets: Six Feet Under the Gun
Scott Pilgrim Vols. 1 & 2
Mary Jane: Circle of Friends

Over the weekend I got Birth of a Nation, Rose (the Bone prequel), the Goon vol. 1 & 2, and 100 Bullets vol. 3. Maddie got Cerebus: High Society, Epileptic, and some other stuff.

I'm extremely happy to have finally read BoaN and Goon, and 100 Bullets and Cerebus are perfect examples of "I would read it but don't want to spend twenty bucks to do it".

Also French nouvelle vague!
Alphaville & Le Samourai

And that new autechre. :(

w00t! I've been watching some public library Godard lately myself. The last public library comic I got out was probably Jimmy Corrigan, but that was a while ago. I wish my PL had Finder.

i got
jimmy corrigan
that frank cho book wosname meadows (ouch! how crap is it?)
burn's black hole
clowe's ice haven
orbiter (ellis)
the bone telephone book
and an acme novelty hardcover

yipes!

I understand that if you want antropomorphic animals and soft-core cheesecake in the service of non-humour-based jokes, then Liberty Meadows hits the spot, though if so you may wish to consider killing yourself for the good of everyone.

yet to read orbiter (weren't you singing the collen doran praise to me?)

I started reading this at uComics.com for the pulchritude, but I'm starting to hate myself for it. The animals aren't funny and the humans all need a punch in the face.

But in the meantime, my library got the copy of Comics Between the Panels that I requested in nine days, so big ups to them.

in other news, I bought the Flaming Carrot colour photo-comic and it is shit, your suspicions were totally founded.

I've been getting some decent stuff from the YA section of my local library as of late-- reread Sandman, the collected Supernatural Law turned out to be entertaining and well done, and I reread Chester Brown's autobiographical comics too. That scene in I Never Liked You where he sits in the row behind the girl who's trying to take him out on a date at the movie theater is great-- so honest about what being an adolescent is actually like in all its idiotic foot-shooting glory.

Errrr...... is this for real???!?

All Free Library of Philadelphia Customers,

We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2, 2009.

err, didn't notice this was on ILC, will try an ILE thread

Yeah, I think it's for real; been making the rounds today.

i will probably never write the your content filtering policy is technologically flawed & socially irresponsible irate-patron-letter i occasionally get the impulse to write. it would be super depressing to find out that it isn't just that they're confined by the technology, but that they're okay with cutting off access to valuable resources because they have swears.

so much stuff coming up under 'occult'.

if it's filtered it's occult by definition

Queens Central and Mid-Manhattan libraries: I kiss you both for all the great comics you've lent me.

Currently reading Macedonia by Pekar, Roberson and Piskor.

Not comics related, but the publisher Penguin is planning on making its tiles available as e-books:

http://www.nypl.org/press/press-release/2012/06/21/penguin-group-usa-launches-library-lending-pilot-program?utm_source=eNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NYPLNews201207&utm_campaign=NYPLNews

So I went to the Public Library last night, and they had a decent selection of "graphic novels"! The librarian looked at me like I was a moron when I brought an armload of "graphic novels" to the check-out desk, particularly when I said "They're for my kid."
Shame makes me lie.
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 14:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

Hahaha. I did the same thing a few weeks ago, finding several dozen hardback trades at the local library that I hadn't read. Walked out with a 7" stack of trades - good one stop catch-up.

i like this place. mine has giant windows that look out over an old cemetery.

http://yearlongphotos.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/october-17-2012-boise-library.jpg?w=600

today they told me i qualify for a free membership even though i'm not a borough resident because i work for the school district.

!!!

The reading room at the ny pubic library is closed.

My old library in Round Rock had "The Death Ray" and "Locas Vol 2," making me very, very happy indeed.

QBPL has changed their logo, color scheme and website.

What comics did you get, though?

Ha, sorry, realized that later.

"Well, I'll be glad to help - on one condition. Give me a chance to show you that the library isn't some kind of prison or torture chamber."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35pSI-HOirM