Rainy Sundays are good for three things: laundry, reading, and surfin’ the webs. Thus far, I’ve managed all three of those things today, on top of other less exciting ventures such as eating breakfast, brewing coffee, and showering (two of those other things were done simultaneously; I’ll leave it to you to imagine which they were). And it was while I was crawling aimlessly through the webs, like a hungry spider who’s misplaced that plump captured fly, that I came across two juicy morsels that I thought I’d share with you. Both are about graphic novels AND both relate to Suvudu.
No kidding, it’s Suvudu outside the box, in a way.
Our first article comes to us by way of NYU’s School of Publishing and is about a visiting talk given recently by Del Rey’s own (and thereby also our own) Tricia Narwani on Graphic Novels 101. Tricia talked about a number of issues in the graphic novel industry including the various genres, the rise and popularity of Manga, non-fiction graphic novels, and the influence of webcomics. The article summarizes the talk quite nicely and, for such a deep topic, reads quite easily.
“Bully to you, NYU School of Publishing!” As the kids today might say*. You can read the article here:
Graphic Novels 101 | NYU School of Publishing Blog
“You’ve heard of ‘Maus’ and ‘Persepolis,’ but, really, what’s a graphic novel? Tricia Narwani, Editor with Random House’s Del Rey Books (with more than 100 manga titles this year), recently answered that question at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute. Speaking to students, she talked about the state of the industry, the various genres and much more. Even though the term ‘graphic novel’ was popularized in 1978, the category can be amorphous…and confusing, she noted. More simply put, graphic novels are comic books that may have complex story lines and are bound in similar format to books. To get everyone on the same page, Tricia mentioned Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’ and Brian K. Vaughn’s (of Lost fame) ‘Y, the Last Man’, and this got students nodding their heads in recognition.” Read the whole post.
The death of Batman, the hard noir of Parker, and the life of Asterios Polyp make up the next article on anti-heroes after the jump…
A Superhero in a Prism, Antiheroes in Deep Focus | New York Times' Books of The Times
The New York Times takes a quick look at three graphic novels, including Pantheon's Asterios Polyp. Also examined are the new Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader by Neil Gaiman and The Hunter, Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of the Richard Stark novel (which was also the basis for the Mel Gibson flick, Payback).
It's an interesting look at all three of these books, providing just enough detail to whet your whistle and then throwing in free samples of each for good measure. Now, the movie version aside, Parker and The Hunter still sounds a little too hard-edged noir for my tastes, but the others will likely be heading to my bookshelf in the very near future.
I've been interested in Gaiman's Batman book since I heard the news that he'd be creating it. I mean, c'mon, attending Batman's wake in the back of a seedy bar and reading remembrances of him as told through the villains? Who could resist? And if you check out the free sample provided by the NY Times, you'll notice a cool, if slightly odd, cameo in the form of the bartender. I'm embarassed that I haven't read this one already. I'll have to make amends post haste.
Asterios Polyp is one of those books that came out of no where to interest me. It's the story of a "middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer" who loses his NY city home in a fire and relocates himself to middle America for reasons all his own. These reasons aren't clear at first, but as the story progresses, moving seamlessly between flashbacks and the present day, we begin to understand what's driving Asterios. He's an odd-duck, that's for sure, but the story is apparently also buoyed by author David Mazzucchelli's sharp observations about "eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception." Sounds like good reading to me. (quoted sections taken from Pantheon's book description)
Hop on over and check out the article by clicking here.
*Assuming, of course, that these kids are Teddy Roosevelt re-incarnated.
Leave a comment