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Various comics reviewiness
Dec. 20th, 2007 08:44 pmMy Heroes dvds arrived! Together with a copy of Paper Dolls (issues in Brian K Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man), which I’d ordered in September and almost given up hope on. Sufficiently to have bought the two subsequent trades already but I liked this one better than either of them.
( Spoilers make headlines down under )
The books are very different from any others I’ve been dipping into. they’re about ordinary people albeit in a strange situation, no superheroes, magic or (intentionally) weird science, it’s like genreless genre. Apparently Vaughan deliberately aimed to make them accessible to non-comics readers, the panels are extremely regular, the order clear and the art simple and unobtrusive. Separated from the text you wouldn’t give it a second glance but without it the text, being mostly dialogue, would be quite indigestible. Interestingly, while neither art nor text stands out, together they tell the story with an almost unnatural efficiency.
There’s a Noel Streatfield YA novel (not Ballet Shoes but one of the follow ups) in which the stage school heroine is feeling overshadowed by her movie star-like cousin taking over her part in a production of The Tempest. Her mentor reassures her that although the cousin is more charismatic she’s only able to play herself and our heroine’s Ariel was much closer to the famous director’s vision. Or to use a dance metaphor, musicality can be more important than virtuosity even though it’s difficult to break down for praise or condemnation.
( Spoilers for something completely different – Angel: After the Fall #2 )
( Women and comics: spoilers for AtF, Buffy S8, AXM and Y )
( Spoilers make headlines down under )
The books are very different from any others I’ve been dipping into. they’re about ordinary people albeit in a strange situation, no superheroes, magic or (intentionally) weird science, it’s like genreless genre. Apparently Vaughan deliberately aimed to make them accessible to non-comics readers, the panels are extremely regular, the order clear and the art simple and unobtrusive. Separated from the text you wouldn’t give it a second glance but without it the text, being mostly dialogue, would be quite indigestible. Interestingly, while neither art nor text stands out, together they tell the story with an almost unnatural efficiency.
There’s a Noel Streatfield YA novel (not Ballet Shoes but one of the follow ups) in which the stage school heroine is feeling overshadowed by her movie star-like cousin taking over her part in a production of The Tempest. Her mentor reassures her that although the cousin is more charismatic she’s only able to play herself and our heroine’s Ariel was much closer to the famous director’s vision. Or to use a dance metaphor, musicality can be more important than virtuosity even though it’s difficult to break down for praise or condemnation.
( Spoilers for something completely different – Angel: After the Fall #2 )
( Women and comics: spoilers for AtF, Buffy S8, AXM and Y )