Lately I've been a bit obsessed with graphica, graphic novels, comics, manga, stories told through images - whatever you want to call it. I thought it was a recent obsession until I started thinking back to my childhood.
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When I was younger I read voraciously, but I spent hours reading my Dad's old Peanuts comic books. I collected funnies from the newspaper and even saved the daily calendar comics from my Dad's Far Side calendars (I have a binder full of them to this day). We had one Uncle Scrooge comic book that I read and reread until it was falling apart. I stumbled across it the other day and felt that thrill of happiness as I gingerly handled its crumbling corners. But somewhere around the age of 12 or 13 I sort of put them behind me - not from any feeling of shame or childishness, but they just weren't a big part of our lives. I read the weekly funnies, read and collected Calvin & Hobbes books, but other than that my reading became more "serious."
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Then, when I became a Lostie and got involved in an online discussion group, Brian K. Vaughn's
Y: The Last Man series was highly recommended by one of the members. I was able to borrow books from Borders as part of their employee benefits program so I blew through the series in about two weeks. There was way more profanity and sex than I liked, but the story line and the medium fascinated me. Next I checked out
The Walking Dead, which I loved even more. Jeff Smith's
Bone series was amazing and I recommend it to people all the time. After that I felt a bit lost at sea. I read a couple of Alice in Wonderland manga, but they mostly confused me, and I was way too intimidated by the vast amounts of superhero storylines to even start. So I sort of phased out of them again for a year or two.
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This past year I started picking them up again. I read
Buffy Season 8,
Maus, and anything else that caught my interest at my local library. I took a class on Young Adult Resources in pursuing my Masters in Library and Information Science and the discussion on Graphica reinspired me. I also read Scott McCloud's
Understanding Comics which blew my mind and opened up the world of comics in a way I had never considered. (I seriously recommend this book to anyone who loves comics, wonders what comics are all about, or isn't sold on the whole graphic narrative thing.)
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So over the last few months most of what I've been reading are graphic novels - from the
Amelia Rules! series by Jimmy Gownley - one of the best Middle School series I can recommend -
Amulet,
Peanut - a fantastic YA novel,
etc., etc., etc.
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And now I've taken the plunge into Manga. Maybe it's because I've been immersing myself in the world of the graphic novel, or maybe it's just that I found the right ones, but I adore them.
XXX-holic will probably get its own review from me after I've read a few more,
Neon Genesis Evangelion, though I've only read the first installment, has captured my attention, and
Juliet W was pretty interesting too.
So why do I read comics? Because they're literature. Because they are creative. Because they present stories in unique, thought-provoking ways. Because I'm a visual person and I love seeing the story unfold and the interplay between text and images. Because they are complex and delightful and painful and everything that a story should be. Are there bad comics? Of course - just like there are bad books. But I think they are incredibly underrated. Am I leaving "regular" books behind? Absolutely not. But now I have a whole additional list of books I've added to my TBR and my to own list.
Are you a comic book reader? Have a passion for manga? Never tried any of them? I'd love recommendations or discussion as to why comics aren't for you!
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