Review Me Twice: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley

You know how when you're a kid, you can watch the same handful of movies over and over and over and over until you can recite the whole thing by heart? Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is the adult version of that for me. I love that movie. I've loved it since the second I sat down in the theater to watch it for the first time. I've loved it every single one of the at least a hundred times I've watched it since then. I just love it.

So I finally got around to reading all the books. And I love them too. Which should be no surprise if you're familiar with the fact that the movie is one of the most faithful adaptations ever made. There are so many scenes pulled straight from the book and put straight up on the screen; it's really a testament to Edgar Wright's ability to direct.

Scott is not - in my opinion - a lovable character. He's a little worse in the books than he is in the movie (unless you hate Michael Cera, but I don't). But I feel like it's an important part of the story. Scott doesn't have his life together so he has to sort it out (while working his way through fighting Ramona's evil exes).

These are really clever books. They appeal to my tragically Canadian sensibilities. (In-joke!) There are a lot of little jokes throughout that you might miss the first time through.

On top of all that? My copy is signed. Which makes it extra awesome.

So, Scott Pilgram, fun graphic novel.  And while I did see the movie first (and probably enjoyed it more), this was a graphic novel I sought out on my own, and liked enough that when Alex recommended it, I decided to reread it.

I feel like I'm not quite nerdy enough for it, that I'm probably missing a ton of references in the books because I wasn't a huge gamer, but it's still cool how geeky it IS and that I don't have to read ten years of back story just to get a general idea of what might be going on (I'm looking at you every superhero comic ever.)

I also really like the drawings in it.  They're fun and fancy free and I like the characters.  They depict real people very well (other than that whole super power video game thing.)

So, basically, I like the Scott Pilgram graphic Novels.  If I'm not careful, I might start actually liking graphic novels at this rate.

Author Bio: Bryan Lee O'Malley

I'll just come right out and say it... I totally met Bryan Lee O'Malley at New York Comic Con. It was awesome and he complimented Beth's boots and he signed our Scott Pilgrim books and took a photo with us and it was absolutely worth standing in a 90-minute line.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can step back and tell you who he is.

He's from Canada. He's 35 (at the time of this writing). He's also a musician (who goes by Kupek). He was in the Film Studies program at University of Ontario.

His first graphic novel was Lost at Sea, which I'm sad to say I haven't read yet. It came out in 2003. Between 2004 and 2010, the six volumes of Scott Pilgrim were published (the movie came out in August 2010). This summer, he released Seconds.

Review Me Twice - Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan

So, for a graphic novel, it wasn't bad.  I like the concept (only one guy left on the fact of the planet.  How would the world change?  How would we repopulate the Earth?) and there were enough questions left unanswered in this first volume that I want to read the next one if for no other reason than to have some questions answered.

And in terms of pictures vs. my sanity in having to "read" them, it wasn't even that bad.  Sandman by Neil Gaiman is a rough GN, not because it's bad, but because there is just SO MUCH going on it it, that you have to read it about twelve times to really get a feel for what's going on.  Y: The Last Man isn't like that.  The pictures are... I don't want to say simple, but they aren't so intense that I need to pay as much attention to them to figure out what's going on, which is nice.

So, overall, a graphic novel that I would continue, which coming from me, the great graphic novel hater, not a bad endorsement.

I love this series. I read the whole thing (10 volumes) before going to New York Comic Con in hopes that I would get to meet Brian K Vaughan. (Unfortunately for me, he's just too popular, and that didn't happen.)

The characters? Unique and real. The pacing? Perfect. The plot? As far as I know, unlike anything else out there (at least unlike anything else I've read). And, without giving you spoilers, the ending? My kind of satisfying.

This is one of those stories I want to say I'd love to see turned into a movie, but I can see Hollywood making the wrong choices and changing the great bits and thinking the worse bits are what we like about it. So maybe not.

Favorite Man Vs. Machine Stories

I don't like robot stories, as a general rule. I have absolutely zero interest in the Terminator movies, and the easiest way to make me not want to read a book (other than telling me it's written by a televangelist) is to use the phrase "robot uprising." Seriously... robots just don't do it for me.

Saga is a comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. I recently read all three currently existing graphic novel volumes as part of my goal to read everything Vaughan has written before meeting him at NY Comic Con. It's about a huge interplanetary war, mainly between the home planets of the two main characters you see up there on the cover. You may notice they have a baby with them. This is why both their homeworlds want to hunt them down (extreme fraternizing with the enemy).

You may be saying, "Alex, I know you said you don't much care for robot stories, but you still should be talking about a robot story here." Well, one side of the war has joined forces with the Robot Kingdom. Prince Robot IV is one of the major pursuers of the family, and he looks like this:

So while the "man" in question is a family consisting of a women with wings, a man with horns and magical abilities, and their hybrid daughter, they are certainly up against a formidable machine.

It's always my favorite weeks when I get to tell you about books that I've never told you about before.

I love Crichton.  I mean, I honestly don't think I've read anything by him that I didn't like.  This was probably my least favorite book by him and I still REALLY liked it.  Long story short, humans create nano-bots and these nano-bots get minds of their own and start taking over everything.  They become a threat in a way that only Crichton could make them.  

I like it because while it is the classic man vs. machine, cautionary "be careful what you create" tale, it's not preachy.  And it's fascinating and thrilling and has you on the edge of your seat constantly wondering, "Oh, my God, are they going to die?  Are they next?  No, Crichton, YOU CAN'T KILL HIM!!  I LIKED HIM!!"

Really, Joss Whedon has nothing on Crichton.

Review Me Twice - Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Mahoh

Ok, so, first things first.  This graphic novel is SOOO NSFW.  As I discovered... at work.  It was an awkward lunch period for me trying to hide the penis pictures on my Kindle.

That being said, I did enjoy the story. It was heartfelt and sweet and showed well what a lot of people who are gay go through.  Clementine has a ton of problems when her parents (inevitably) find out about her sexuality.  (Though, spoiler alert, it's the dumbest way possible because who walks around naked in their significant other's parent's house?)

I do think something is lost when viewed in black and white (I think all the copies are black and white, but I could be wrong.  I'd have to see a non-digital version.)  Either way, my Kindle is black and white, so I didn't catch onto things like... Emma's hair is blue, until the very end when Clem mentioned it.

I also like that Clem has friends outside of her girlfriend.  The passing of time is a little weird in this book.  One second she's 17 and the next second she's 30.  We really don't get any sort of real transition, it's just BAM all this time has passed.  It almost seemed like Mahoh got bored of writing and just wanted to hurry the story along (which is legit, because it was dragging a bit.)

Overall, the book wasn't bad, but it's not something I'd ever pick up again.

As many French books are, and as many graphic novels are, this is kind of a confusing book. And that's not good. Considering I was a French major and read almost any graphic novel I touch, me being confused by it is a bad sign. Not that I'm an expert on either of those things, but you shouldn't have to be.

Cassy's absolutely right... this is an absolutely NSFW book. The movie adaptation is NC-17; that should give you a heads-up. Also, French graphic novel about lesbians, did you miss that part? There's going to be nudity and sex and... a lot more of both of those.

I watched the movie, too... also confusing. And boring. But hey, indie film based on a French graphic novel about a lesbian relationship? You have to be part of a very specific audience to enjoy that. Granted, I am part of that very specific audience, so I guess you also have to really want to watch 179 minutes of an NC-17 movie with improvised lines, a sex scene that took 10 days to film (and that's only one of the sex scenes) with no hairstylist or makeup artist on set (which I actually think is pretty cool, but it was a little odd). But hey, it was the first movie adaptation of a graphic novel to win the Palme d'Or, so there's that.

Least Favorite Graphic Novel

Usually when Wednesday comes along, we let you know about the things that we love best.

But, this week, Alex and I figured we'd change it up a little and tell you our LEAST favorite.  And, since we're reading a graphic novel this week, the best idea was to tell you our least favorite graphic novel.

Ok, we shouldn't be surprised that the Twlight graphic novel was bad.  I mean, the books were terrible, so we shouldn't expect much more out of the graphic novels.  And I really didn't, storyline wise, but I figured that the art might be nice and, ok, there was a part of me that was morbidly curious.  So I read it.

I can forgive the bad story line that has even more plot holes than the original story (seriously.  Nothing about James & his crew at all until they're trying to kill Bella.)  But the thing that really annoyed me, really made this the worst graphic novel ever, was that the art was terrible.  Half the time, it looked like the characters were drawn over picture-like backgrounds.  It didn't look like anyone had actually drawn them.

Also, the white washing that happened in this book was so ridiculously bad.  Say what you will about the book, there is a surprising amount of diversity (well... at least in the movie, and Stephanie Meyer had a say in a lot of it, so I have to assume she approved of the casting choices.  It's not like she describes the characters in the book.)  Everyone was the same color, ethnic background.  I almost expected them all to be one gender!!!

Seriously, the books are terrible.  Don't even pick them up for the morbid curiosity.

The Difference between Manga and Graphic Novels

We've read a lot of graphic novels on this blog.  And Alex did briefly discuss the differences between the two.  But why do we distinguish between the two?  Why are they considered two separate categories?  I mean, Barnes & Noble even shelves them in separate places (though, to be fair, one is shelved across the aisle from the other, but they're never mixed.)

They're from different countries.

Ok, so maybe this is the most obvious, but that doesn't make it less true.  Graphic Novels are (usually) American made.  They are read left to right, top to bottom because that's how the target audiences read.

Manga is Japanese, exclusively.  And it's read in the opposite direction.  You read the text right to left and, in fact, the books even open "back wards", or at least what Americans would consider backwards.  (This, actually, was not always the case.  About 10 or so years ago, the used to read like regular books, but it was decided that too much was compromised when they had to mirror it, so Manga started being printed in its original format.)

Style

The artistic style of Manga vs. Graphic Novels is incredibly different.  Graphic Novels tend to depict real life, or at least in the sense that they look like people (big busted women aside.)

However, Manga is a bit more characterized.  The eyes are larger, the mouth smaller, the hair is usually not acting in the most normal of ways.  Their legs also tend to be longer and skinnier.  Just look at the differences between Wonder Woman and Sailor Moon.

Themes

Graphic Novels, while then can be, and have been, pretty dark in their storylines, they're still relatively family friendly.  All ages enjoy them in American, and a lot of them are directed at the youth.  That means things like sex, gratuitous violence, and excessive amount of bloodshed, are not found in American comics.

Manga doesn't have that same barrier that graphic novels do.  Part of that is cultural.  Americans are notorious for their prudishness, but part of that is that it's just a different type of media.  Manga frequently is explicit about violence and sex and, in fact, there is an entire subsection of manga called Hentai, that is manga pornography.

Review Me Twice: Friends With Boys

There isn't anything specific that I dislike about this book... I just don't seem to care about it. Does that make sense?

Graphic novels, as a genre, tend to have a problem with a lack of character development. You get a few characteristics (at least one of which will be a defining visual characteristic so you can quickly identify everyone on each page) and a handful of them probably get a lesson by the end like with most stories, but that's about all there is to them. You don't get a good sense of them as a person, unless you're reading a really good graphic novel. I don't think this is one of those really good graphic novels.

I felt a lot like this was the first of what is intended to be a series, but I don't see any evidence that it really is. It serves alright as an introduction to characters that could have further interactions, but unless I've got nothing to do for a weekend and the books are stacked up right next to me, I'm not pursuing it any further.

We all must know by now my feelings on graphic novels.  They're just not my particular cup of tea.  Which is fine, and this one is no different.  However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

Maggie is our main character and has been home schooled for her entire life... with three older brothers.  I think that their relationship is really one that's indicative of brothers and sisters.  Yes, brothers can be jerks sometimes, but brothers always come through when you need them to.  Sometimes, they come to your aid even when you DON'T need them too.

I wasn't overly impressed with the artistry (everything had an anime type look to me, which made just about everyone in the book look Asian with their dark hair.  Especially Maggie with her pigtail buns.  I'm not sure if that was on purpose or just her style.)  The book was also kind of hit you over the head with "Be who you want to be and stop conforming."

I liked that Maggie made mistakes and was a very believable high school student.  She seemed to be the most socially awkward person ever, but still made friends.  (And not the Bella Swan amount of friends.)

I wasn't really sure why there was a ghost in the story, and it didn't really have a whole lot of bearing on her life.  It actually seemed to hardly affect her, so it seemed like the ghost was there more to just be like, "LOOK! SOMETHING DIFFERENT!!!".

Over all, the story was enjoyable, but nothing I would write home about.

Favorite Retelling

Our book this week is The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.  It's, obviously, a retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story.  Alex and I have decided we're going to tell you about our favorite retellings.

I really love the Fables graphic novel series (I know!  There's a graphic novel out there I really like!  Who would have thought?)  The whole series works on the premise that the fairy tales we know and love, are real people, who have all the magical power we always knew about.  However, they were run out of their home by The Adversary.  So now their in our world, trying to cover up all their magic and just trying to get back to their homes.  Snow White essentially runs the place, the three little pigs live up at the farm in upstate NY with the other non human fairy tales, and prince charming... is actually kind of a jerk.

I like it because it's a very dark and gritty retelling of these tales we all know, and I think that it's very well done.  It's about 17 books in (I think) and it's a very good series.

No, I'm not just sucking up to my co-blogger... I really do think I See is my favorite retelling of an existing story.

I'll go more into this when I review this week's book, The Looking Glass Wars, but I don't usually enjoy modernized versions of stories that have been retold five billion times. I like either subtlety in the retelling (like a lot of the Shakespeare retellings you get, to the point that unless you're familiar with the original, you might not even notice) or using a unique original that hasn't been done to death.

When I tell people that my friend Cassy wrote a book based on the Cassandra myth, I get the look that means "should I be familiar with that? Because I'm not." It's not like retelling the Odyssey. And I like that.
Plus, it's well-executed... but you've heard me talk about this book before so I'll just leave it at that.

Alex's Favorite Blog Post

On Tuesday, Cassy told you which of our blog posts from the first year was her favorite. Now it's my turn!

Mine is actually a tie between two very similar posts, both of which came from me (so I have a little bit of an ego): the graphic novel layout post, and the color/detail in graphic novels post.

I liked writing these, because I like talking about graphic design concepts. They are something that I learned from experience, not in a classroom, because of my family's background in design. So it's fun for me to examine why something works, rather than just knowing that it does.

I also liked hearing from other people about these posts, because I got two main reactions: (1) "I didn't realize that before!" and (2) "I'm so glad someone else besides me realizes that!"

You can definitely expect more of these in the future, whenever we talk about another graphic novel, because as you know, I have a soft spot for them.

By Its Cover: Coraline

I mentioned that the novel was illustrated by Dave McKean, and that I really like McKean's take on Gaiman's work. But - and I'm in direct contrast with Cassy's review yesterday with this - I prefer P. Craig Russell's version this time around.

Part of the reason I think I didn't much care for the novel version is that I'm bad at remembering visual details when they're... not visual. I have a good visual imagination, I think, but only when I'm in charge of what I'm imagining. When someone else tells me "so the Other Mother looks like this" and I keep reading, I forget important visual details almost immediately. Russell's illustrations remove that issue for me. McKean's were suggestions; Russell's are the story. (Which is what each illustrator's job was; I'm not saying McKean did a bad job... he did what he was supposed to do.)

As Alex mentioned, we're in direct contrast with this story (which, let's face it, is why you read the blog.)  I don't really like Russell's cover.  Mainly because I'm not a fan of his Coraline, but it just doesn't scream scary to me.  McKean's cover I think really gets the other worldly-ness of the story.  It's this world that's a copy of ours... but not quite.  I just think that the Coraline novel is a much better portrayal of that idea.

(She looks like a person... but not quite like a person.  Also, the hands on the book cover?  WAY creepier than the bats on the GN cover.)

Review Me Twice... Twice: Coraline

On the left, you have the novel (as illustrated - intermittently - by Dave McKean), and on the right is the graphic novel (as illustrated - thoroughly - by P. Craig Russell).

I was introduced to Neil Gaiman's work by one of the most incredible teachers Cassy and I have ever had (shoutout to Dr. Miskec! Holla!) in a young adult literature class where she shared Mirrormask with us. The next year, I had her children's literature class, and we read Coraline. In the intervening time, I had read everything I could get my hands on with Gaiman's name on it, and Coraline fell short, in my opinion. It's good, and as far as novels for young children, it's amazing in that it doesn't talk down to kids and it's an imaginative, fun, genuine story. But I still didn't love it like I loved everything else.

I just picked up P. Craig Russell's interpretation about a week ago, and I like the story more (even though it really is the same exact story, in the same exact wording as much as possible) and I like the drawings more. That's unusual in one sense because I love Dave McKean's work, especially in conjunction with Gaiman's writing, but Russell's take just works better.

Some stories are told best in a visual medium. Perhaps this is one of those stories for me. (That said, I haven't seen the movie and don't care to, despite my love of stop-motion animation. I just remember being incredibly underwhelmed by all the media surrounding its release, and I haven't heard a single person tell me something enticing about it. I'll probably see it eventually, but in the meantime, Russell's graphic novel version works great for me.)

We are all aware that I'm not really the graphic novel lover on this blog.  And I think the BIGGEST problem with the GN this week is that I was already so familiar with the Coraline story.

How Russell portrayed Coraline is not how I have envisioned her at ALL over the years.  I thought that she was too old and too blond.  And that threw me out of the GN for its entirety.  I just couldn't get over how WEIRD Coraline looked.  Also, as happens with a graphic novel, the dialogue was, well, just that,  dialogue.  There's not a lot of descriptors going on because you're supposed to DRAW that stuff.  So when I read the GN of Coraline in comparison with the book, I realized that I just love the book so much more.

Maybe that's because Gaiman is an amazing writer.  I mean, of the few books I've read by him, I actually like Coraline the best (to be fair, I've only read about three books by him, so that opinion could change).  I think it's a great book and so very his style and manages to be a decently creepy kids book with this awesomely independent kid.  I just don't think it translated well into graphic novel.  I feel like something was lost.

That's not to say that EVERYTHING about the graphic novel was terrible.  I really liked Russell's portrayal of The Other Mother.  She was creepy, and seeing her in a multitude of frames, really just drove home that extreme creepiness.  And I liked that we got to see the house.  It was, actually, exactly how I pictured it in my head.

Coraline is a GREAT book, but if you want to read the story, pick up the book.  It's actually probably shorter than the graphic novel.

Making the Case for the Graphic Novel

I would never in a million years claim that every graphic novel version of a story is better than its "regular" novel counterpart. However, that's our shtick this week, so I'm going to make the argument for graphic novels over "regular" novels.

Some People Are Visual Learners

This is particularly helpful with instructional graphic novels (for a meta-example, check out Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics) but also historical graphic novels like Maus by Art Spiegelman. If the book is trying to teach something (even if it's also telling a narrative tale) some people learn better with pictures and graphs and charts. Even just having the same person teaching you something can help a visual learner learn something more efficiently and effectively, so having a recurring character explain several things would work.

Not Everybody Likes to Read... But Everybody Likes a Good Story

Disliking reading is not a sin. It really isn't. Sure, Cassy and I like to read, but we don't think less of people who don't. Seriously. Reading is time-consuming, it takes effort and attention, and it's something you don't do unless you really enjoy it. Graphic novels, by definition, usually have less reading involved. Some don't even have any reading (by traditional standards... but I'll get to that in a minute).

Not Everyone Can Visualize Well, Either

If you aren't a very visual person, sometimes you might need help getting a good picture of something in your head. No matter how much description you get of a setting, character, or event, it might just not click for you. Having a picture of something in front of you can help you move on from trying to remember what it looks like (what was that character wearing? is it night or day? is this inside or outside?), and you can focus on the story (which is usually more important).

Same Content, New Audience

This applies particularly well to classics and kids. It's hard to get kids and teens excited about classics, especially when they've been watching cartoons that parody those classics their entire lives. (It's why I don't think much of opera; Bugs Bunny already made fun of it, so the original just doesn't pique my interest.) But it works for all sorts of things. I read about the Green River Killer simply because there was a graphic novel on the topic. That isn't to say that I wouldn't have read about it if there weren't, but since the GN section of the library is considerably smaller than the non-fiction, it was easy to find a new and interesting topic to read about.

There are Different Types of Literacy

You probably know that "literacy" refers to one's ability to read, but there is actually a whole pile of types of literacy. What we usually refer to as literacy is also called analphabetism. Information literacy deals with finding, understanding, and evaluating information (like on the internet or in library resources). Digital literacy involves things like understanding the layout of websites, and basic computer skills. Mathematical literacy is having the ability to do basic math in your head, and understanding how to use a calculator or other tool to accomplish more complex computations. Graphic novels help readers develop their visual literacy, which has to do with "reading" images, or seeing an image and interpreting what is happening in it. It's an important skill, and graphic novels (along with picture books and movies, not to mention daily life) help develop it.