I spent my last four years at VCU majoring in English, with a concentration in American Literature (mostly because I wanted to do creative nonfiction and that’s not an undergrad option there), because more than anything else, I love to read. I have rabidly devoured all the novels I can get my hands on since kindergarten, when I was strongly affected by a depressing story about a girl whose pet bunny dies. In high school, I honed my tastes a little more, and instead of the generic series everyone was reading, I got really into the Beats and Hunter S. Thompson (the usual teenage-outcast stuff). When I became an English major, everyone said, “Won’t all those assignments take the fun out reading!?” But I scoffed, assuring everyone that reading was one thing I could never get tired of. After all, it’s what got me through all the tough (and/or boring) times in my life.
However, by my fourth year of college, when I was taking five classes a semester to graduate on time, it hit me: I was really tired of reading. And school, for that matter. When it got to the point that I had to read seven 400-page novels a week, on top of other school work, two jobs, editing VCU’s student magazine, and writing for RVA Mag, I'd had enough. I couldn't quit reading entirely, but I swore that when I finally graduated, I’d take a year-long break from reading novels.
The rules I laid down for myself for my year away from novels were pretty simple: I could read comic books, graphic novels, and magazines; and I could read short stories, but I had to allow myself to stop reading any given collection if I was bored. The same applied to non-fiction and biographies; I could do research for writing projects and then pick around in the book for fun, but not read the whole thing cover-to-cover. So far, this has been very freeing and also very different from the way I am used to reading, and it has also probably saved my sanity to no small degree -- since I work for RVA in my spare time when I’m not working my coffee shop job, I have more ‘’homework” sometimes now then I had when I was a student.
I plan to write a couple installments of this column talking about the reading material I've perused whilst on my walkabout from novels. This first one is about comics. Two things I noticed in reviewing my list that might be important: 1) Everything I read is pretty damn American. It’s in keeping with my BS (my degree, not the fact that I’m full of BS), so I might have the scholarly license to analyze it, but this also makes me think I need to branch out and read some foreign (other than British) comics. 2) I also realized that everything I’ve read comic-wise is pretty graphic and brutal and violent (probably because I’m a metal and horror fan--and the American thing again; our literature is always depressing), so be forewarned, in case even reading about brutal comics freaks you out. Finally, I have limited knowledge of technical art terms and I can’t draw at all, so anything I say about the art is really subjective. Without further ado, here goes!
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse (Marvel, multiple writers and artists)
This is probably one of the tamest comics I read (and it still involves the mass slaughter of everyone in America), and also one of the most mainstream-type comics -- it’s not a one-off or an edgy graphic novel, and it’s not a super-gory zombie comic. The entire Age of Apocalypse series has been gathered into ten volumes. The story is told by eleven different artist/writer teams who do different mini series, but the story still goes in order. I suppose a die-hard comic fan could have been following all these issues as they came out, and reading them in the right order, but it seems to me that it would be hopelessly confusing to follow the story without having the anthologies. At any rate, Age of Apocalypse is a alternate-universe foil to the familiar X-Men story. In this version, Professor X was killed as a young man before he could ever start his school for mutants, and Magneto ended up filling his role. Although he is a good guy in this alternate universe, he can’t quite fill Xavier’s shoes, and the evil mutant/time-traveling demon Apocalypse is able to come to power, and--you guessed it--bring about the apocalypse.
Overall, the story is compelling but kind of farfetched: a big part of the action comes from the fact that people are crossing over from the "real" universe to the messed up one where Apocalypse rules and trying to get ahold of something called the M’Kraan Crystal to get rid of the multiple universes. This results in a situation where the only way the heroes of the story can really save the day is by causing their universe to cease to exist. This is a cool idea, but it gets a little quantum physics-ish, and you kind of wonder at some point if there is any reason to be attached to the characters who shouldn’t even exist in the first place. Still, there is a lot of intriguing dialogue and action to keep you interested in the basic story.
There is a serious lack of consistency between the different series that make up this overall story; some have poetic, awesome dialogue and amazing art, while others stick to one-liners and predictable monologues alongside typical superhero art and digital drawing. One of the best, to be sure, is Generation Next, written by Bachald Lobdell and illustrated by Mark Buchingham. It has surprisingly beautiful, colorful art inspired by art deco, as well as dialogue that actually touches on the emotions of the characters. At the same time, it does not skimp on the gore, violence, and fast-moving nature of the story (it boasts more onomatopoeia than any other comics in the series). Overall, this is an awesome series, but one you should tackle only if you don’t mind devoting a lot of time to one story; it’s long and the universe aspect of it gets pretty in-depth.
A History of Violence (Paradox Press- DC Comics imprint, written by John Wagner, illustrated by Vince Locke)
This is one of the first graphic novels to get a lot of attention and respect, and there is now a major motion picture based on it, which I’ve never seen, but is apparently a lot more widely known than the movie. One of the reasons I was so interested to check it out is that it is illustrated by Vince Locke, who did all the original art for Cannibal Corpse, and can draw some mean dead and dying people. There are some panels in the comic that really deliver, but unfortunately, a lot of the less important scenes seem to be lifted directly from his sketch book. I don’t mind the unfinished, black-and-white look and you can tell that’s what he’s going for, but it seems like he got a little lazy in places. The action starts off when a small town pharmacist gets robbed and is able to murder the robbers and save his store without any problem. This draws a lot of media attention his way, as well as some unwanted attention from people in his past. The story is very good and captivating, mostly focusing on the nature of morals and the thin line between right and wrong. There aren't very many crazy literary devices or brilliant moments like you expect from someone like Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman, but the writing is solid, and there is certainly more going on within these pages than just the telling of an exciting story.
Preacher: Gone to Texas (Vertigo- DC Comics imprint, written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Steve Dillon)
This series is divided into nine graphic novels, but so far I've only read the first one. As soon as I have time and money I plan on getting the rest and finishing it up, but those things are scarce these days. I started on this feeling skeptical, even though I was familiar with Garth Ennis and love his work. The idea of a supernatural preacher hero just seemed too goofy, like one of those B-movies about zombie strippers at the beach or something. I was very pleasantly surprised, however; Preacher is goofy, but not enough to be annoying, just the right amount to be fun and campy. The story is about a preacher quitting his parish, being endowed with the power of god, and going on a quest with his ex-girlfriend--who had no idea he became a preacher after he left her--and a drunken Irish vampire. There are a lot of laughs and ridiculously violent-yet-goofy moments, but there is some serious darkness too, which you wouldn’t expect unless you were familiar with Ennis. The art is good too, very dramatic and descriptive, with campy alternative cover-style pinups strewn throughout the comic. You certainly won’t be bored reading this, and it’s one of the most well-written preacher/vampire stories to ever be told.
Crossed: Vol 1. (Avatar Press, written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Jacen Burrows) Crossed: Vol. 2. (written by David Lapham, illustrated by Javier Barreno), and Crossed: Vol. 3 - Psychopath (written by David Lapham, illustrated by Raulo Caceres)
Crossed is a series created by Garth Ennis about a very special and messed up kind of zombie. Instead of dying and rotting, then slowly coming after you in giant groups, these people don’t die; they get infected with a virus that makes a giant rash in the shape of a cross appear on their faces. After this, they become evil--they suddenly start wanting to do the most violent, abusive things ever to whomever is in their path. They aren’t hungry or reduced to being animals; they are malicious and cruel. Stretch the metaphor from The Walking Dead about people being as dangerous as zombies to its furthest degree, and you have this comic. It is NOT for the faint of heart, those who are easily offended, or those who can’t stand graphic stuff. Even if you can handle that kind of stuff, Crossed is brutal enough that you should avoid it if you find yourself in a bad place mentally.
That being said, if you can stomach it, it’s totally worth reading. Ennis is a brilliant writer who spins an exciting tale and keeps you caught up in the action while simultaneously making you think and not missing any chances to make a point or play off the dialogue with a smart literary trick. Jacen Burrows has to be one of the most talented people ever to draw gory cartoons--all his work is brilliant. Not all the Crossed comics are done by Ennis & Burrows, but they have a high standard of excellence, and all the writers and artists they get are good. The first volume kind of explains the beginning of the story, and the second focuses on some people who live on a farm. Psychopath is about what happens when a serial killer is placed in the Crossed universe; as you can imagine, it’s not pretty, but it is awesome. If you are a fan of stuff like The Walking Dead, but you always wish for more brutality, you need to check this out.
The Walking Dead (Image Comics, Written by Robert Kirkman, illustrated by Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard)
Which brings me to The Walking Dead comic series. It took me a while to check this out; I’ve been following the show, but I’ve always been a little on the fence about it. I like the overall story and premise, but sometimes plot devices and characters get on my nerves, and it’s a little heavy on the drama for my sake. Still, I liked it enough to follow it and decided to give the comic a chance. First of all, most of the characters in the comic are the same as the characters in the show, but there are some definite variations, and the order of events in the show is very different. There is still plenty of both drama and dialogue in the comic, but there is also just as much action, and the comic actually moves a lot faster than the show.
Some of the art in the comic is great; there are some cool gory scenes and poignant close-ups of characters’ faces, but overall this comic suffers from the same malady as History of Violence: a lot of the illustrations are just sketchy and a little lazy. One very cool thing about this comic is how long it has been running and how much is packed into it: it has currently reached over 100 issues! Definitely check this out if you are a fan of the show, and don’t worry, it might give some hints that give away where the series is heading, but the two don’t run on parallel tracks, so there is no way of completely knowing what is going to happen next on the AMC show even if you’ve read way ahead.
Watchmen (DC Comics, written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons)
This was definitely my favorite discovery so far in my walkabout from traditional novels. I saw the movie a few years ago and I remember being kind of confused by the plot, and in general not being super impressed by it. So I was never in a huge hurry to read the comic book until it was recommended to be highly by multiple people whose taste I trust. Not only was the comic book much better than the movie, I was overwhelmed by the immense amount of talent possessed by Alan Moore. I had always heard he was impressive, but the way he creates metaphor with the images in the panels using dialogue and narration, his captivating-yet-lyrical style of storytelling, and the sheer creativity it clearly took to come up with the story and all the characters, not to mention the fake news stories, patient files, interviews, and book excerpts between the chapters, definitely makes him one of my new favorite writers. The art is also awesome; each panel is more compelling and colorful than the last, and tells a story all its own, even independent of the dialogue. I won’t say much about the actual plot other than it puts an unlikely group of superheroes in a real-life scenario in New York City in the 80’s, at the height of cold war tensions. Even if you’ve seen the movie, there are a lot of awesome plot elements unique to the comic that I wouldn’t want to spoil. If you only read one comic from this article, read this one!
That’s all for now--next time I’ll talk about all the short stories and non-fiction that I've been reading.