Does Anybody Else Read Comic Books / Graphic Novels?

[frautotenkinder 1,025]

I think you might really love a pretty short one that I just read: The Tale of One Bad Rat, by Bryan Talbot who also did Heart of Empire. It's nothing like Empire which is a bizarre alternate universe fantasy satire. One Bad Rat is a story about a girl who was sexually abused, and it's beautiful. It's not sappy, it's not preachy, it's just really good and at least a little bit heartbreaking. I actually haven't read the 4th issue yet so I don't know how it ends.

 

"The Tale of One Bad Rat is an ingenious, intertextual narrative that interweaves the charming, whimsical, and above all, English vision of Beatrix Potter with a vision of England as it has become; the soft juxtaposed with the savage; Peter Rabbit lost in Cardboard City. Thoroughly excellent." - Alan Moore

 

 

Heart of Empire that I mentioned also fits that (a limited series with a definite conclusion), as does Peter Pan (by Loisel, originally in French but translated into many languages). They're both gorgeously drawn and are exciting and funny and weird.

 

 

Anyway thanks for those recs, they sound interesting, especially Stitches.

Please give us updates as you plow through some of these recommendations.

 

I just finished One Bad Rat--I liked it so much. Thank you for recommending. I got the book from the library, so I read the whole thing, and am not sure about where the different issue breaks would have been. It was published in 1995 (there's a dated letter from the author) and the book I got looks that old. It totally fit the story, this passed around dog eared thing that you have to search for. Storywise, I was skeptical. I am critical about the narrative crutch of "girl gets abused, because only after her abuse can she get awesome and plot begin."

 

This story felt sensitive and warm, and it made me want to read a formal biography of Beatrix Potter.

[timwakefield 68]

I'm glad you liked it! Yeah if I hadn't read Heart of Empire by him I probably wouldn't have really considered reading a comic about an abused girl running away from home, but I knew he was great from that and at the very least that the art would be gorgeous.

 

 

I took a little break from comics the last week but I should really dive back in, I have so much stuff I wanna read.

[frautotenkinder 1,025]

I read an excerpt of "Love Bunglers" by Jaime Hernandez. I got it in a Best of American Graphic Novels library book. Does anyone read these? I think there's a huge amount to the story...what I read was excellent, and I'm still thinking about it weeks later.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

The hernandez brothers are both amazing. Love and Rockets is great. Fantagraphics puts out great stuff.

[frautotenkinder 1,025]

 

 

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

 

Really really great. It's a memoir by a woman who grew up in a funeral home. There's lots more as her father died in a possible suicide, she comes out as queer, etc. Read it, and be secure in talking about the Bechdel rule.

 

 

Wow, she just won a MacArthur grant.

[timwakefield 68]

I just finished One Bad Rat--I liked it so much.

 

I moved recently and there's a pretty rad comic book shop right near me. I went in again today and found a hardcover of One Bad Rat (I asked if they had any Bryan Talbot). The shop owner was like, "I think it's signed," then he flipped through the first few pages and was like "Sorry, I guess it's not signed." But it was $25 which is totally reasonable since it's in great condition, crisp pages, bright colors, etc, so I got it.

 

Took it home, and it's totally signed. Not that that adds a whole lot of value or whatever (it's signed "Bryan Talbot, 900/1000"). So he signed 999 other copies too. But it's still cool, and I wanted it whether it was signed or not.

 

I took a break from comics for awhile but I'm excited about them again, partly cuz it's a ton of fun to browse around that shop and it has a massive selection of new and old stuff.

 

 

Anybody reading any cool comics lately?

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

Miss you around here, Timbo!

 

I havent' read anything (notable) in comics for years, alas.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

I moved recently and there's a pretty rad comic book shop right near me. I went in again today and found a hardcover of One Bad Rat (I asked if they had any Bryan Talbot). The shop owner was like, "I think it's signed," then he flipped through the first few pages and was like "Sorry, I guess it's not signed." But it was $25 which is totally reasonable since it's in great condition, crisp pages, bright colors, etc, so I got it.

 

Took it home, and it's totally signed. Not that that adds a whole lot of value or whatever (it's signed "Bryan Talbot, 900/1000"). So he signed 999 other copies too. But it's still cool, and I wanted it whether it was signed or not.

 

I took a break from comics for awhile but I'm excited about them again, partly cuz it's a ton of fun to browse around that shop and it has a massive selection of new and old stuff.

 

 

Anybody reading any cool comics lately?

 

[timwakefield 68]

Miss you around here, Timbo!

 

 

 

 

You'd love it, there's incestuous sexual abuse of a minor. That's gotta be like your ultimate fetish.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

i hate to be type cast, but maybe ill look into it.