New website for my store!

I've been wanting to update my store website for some time now and my artist friend Ron Horsley must have been reading my mind as he made me a new site totally unsolicitated. I really couldn't be happier with it and for those of you who read my blog, but haven't been to my store, there's a nice photo tour (just click on the store photos icon) at:

http://www.alternaterealitycomics.net/

Trotsky by Rick Geary

Trotsky is the newest biographical graphic novel written and drawn by Rick Geary, who has done other notable bio-graphic novels on Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, J. Edgar Hoover, Jack the Ripper, and Lizzy Borden. Rick Geary's biographical subject matters often are the victims or are the cause of horrific violence, but Geary always shows this in a non sensationalistic fashion, while at the same time not shying away from what actually happened. Rick Geary, in his unique narrative writing voice and illustrative style, also manages to compress a large time period of history into his graphic novels without them feeling rushed or as if he edited certain events.

Trotsky, is of course, one of the central architects of the Russian Revolution in the early 1900s, was an avid follower of the ideas of Karl Marx (so was of course an opponent of Capitalism), whose biggest opponent throughout his life was the other large figure of Russia at the time, Lenin. Rick Geary, in Trotsky, fleshes out the life of Leon Trotsky (his name at birth was Lev Davidovich Bronstein), showing that he was more than just one of the faces of communism who had to deal with many instances of personal tragedy and I was especially interested in reading that Trotsky's life path crossed with Frida, the legendary artist of Mexico. Trotsky is a hardcover graphic novel published by Hill and Wang and I think serves as a great introduction to the cartooning of Rick Geary for those who aren't already familiar with him.

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

The first thing thing that will be impressed upon anyone who picks up Grandville by Bryan Talbot, is what a gorgeous production this is in every respect, with some of the very best art and coloring you'll have the pleasure to experience. Amongst the inspirations for Grandville, Talbot lists Sir Arthur Doyle, Rupert the Bear, and Quentin Tartintino, which should give those curious about what Grandville is as to what kind of book this is. Bryan Talbot is a master comic book writer and artist, who never repeats himself as is evident with his earlier graphic novels The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Heart of Empire, The Tale of One Bad Rat, and Alice in Sunderland.
Grandville is a steampunk, anthromorphic (talking animals), murder mystery adventure for mature readers that takes place in an alternate reality / history England and Paris and every page is an entertaining, charged read. As realized as the story is that unfolds within Grandville, Talbot's art is the true star here (along with the coloring) and this is a graphic novel that one could look at repeatedly and always find new delights. Grandville is a full-colored 100 page hardcover published by Dark Horse for a mere $17.95.

Logicomix An Epic Search For Truth

Logicomix An Epic Search For Truth, a graphic novel about Bertrand Russell and other logicians, is amazing, enriching, and totally engaging. Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou, who both have backgrounds in mathematics and science, have written Logicomix in such a way that doesn't overwhelm the reader with mathematics and dense philosophy, while at the same not dumbing down any of the big ideas the books subject matter deals with. The artists of Logicomix, the husband and wife team of Alecos Paradatos and Annie Di Donna, draw this graphic novel in a wonderful cartoony style that definitely is a big part of why Logicomix is as great as it is.
With a title like Logicomix An Epic Search For Truth, one may think that this is going to be an incredibly dense, pretentious book that would be chore to read. Logicomix is anything but pretentious and dense (well it can sometimes be dense, but in a good, engaging, expand your mind way). Bertrand Russell, a mathematician / philosopher, is the main subject of Logicomix and the goal of this book being an examination of his life and ideas. Logicomix also explores other logicians like Russell's student, Ludwig Wittgenstein and through them define what logic / logicians study, which is the pursuit of methodical thinking (using the foundations of higher mathematical concepts) and trying to make order out of human behavior.











Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, and Di Donna, the four cartoonists of Logicomix, also interject themselves throughout their graphic novel, but not overtly, rather they do this in a manner that helps the reader understand the big ideas they are dealing with and put things in a kind of context within history. I especially liked their musings on madness and its role / existence that it shares with many logicians and that Russell himself wrestled with in his life. The way in which Logicomix is told is multi-layered, which mirrors its subject matter (the logicians and their ideas) in their complexities, while also showing that Russell and the other logicians were also human and thus not perfect.

Logicomix An Epic Search For Truth, is a 350 page, full color graphic novel, for a mere $22.95 and I hope that it doesn't get lost amongst the other great graphic novels that have been released this year. Logicomix won't get the attention that Cooke's The Hunter received and most comic book stores sadly won't have even ordered this, but a work of this magnitude that isn't afraid to explore big ideas in an entertaining manner, should be loudly heralded.

Possibly the greatest week for graphic novels ever!

I'm still making my way through reading this week's graphic novel arrivals, but I seriously can't remember there ever being so many great and diverse ones coming out in one single week. Here's a roll call: Book of Genesis by Robert Crumb (which I may attempt to read at some point even though I've tried reading the Bible before and it did nothing for me), Trotsky by Rick Geary, Johnny Cash I See A Darkness by Reinhard Kleist, X-Men: Magneto Testament by Grek Pak and Carmine Di Gianomenico (softcover edition of a powerful Holocaust story which despite its title fortunately doesn't have any superhero stuff going on), The Summit of the Gods and A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi (which I blogged about the past couple of days), Refresh Refresh by Novgorodoff, Percy and Ponsoldt (a graphic novel adaptation of a short prose story about three boys whose father is off in Iraq and they've lost communication with him - this is getting good reviews, but I didn't think it really explored its premise very well and read way too fast), Cancer Vixen by Marcia Acocella Marchetto (new softcover edition), Logicomix An Epic Search For Truth by four European cartoonists about mathematician / philosopher Bertrand Russell and other logicians (I'm almost halfway through this book and it may shoot to the very top of my favorite graphic novels I've read this year - a more thorough blog entry will be happening later today or tomorow), Ball Peen Hammer by Rapp and O'Conner (a post apocalyptic scenario that I wanted to like way better than I did - that makes two books from excellent publisher First Second this week that underwhelmed me with the other one being Refresh Refresh, but of course it could very well just be me), Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles Vol. 3 by Neil Swaab (a very funny demented comic strip collection of a loser guy and his talking stuffed teddy bear), Best American Comics 2009 (hardcover short comics anthology edited by Charles Burns), The Discworld Graphic Novels (adaptation of Terry Pratchett fantasy novels, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic), Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vol. 5, High Moon by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis (from DC's online Zudu imprint, this looks like some kind of werewolf / cowboy hybrid), Berserk Vol. 31 by Miura, Power & Glory by Howard Chaykin, Absolute Promethea by Moore and Williams III (of which I had an entry for here earlier this week), Batman The Black Glove (softcover version of a great Batman story by Grant Morrison and J. H. Williams III), Hellboy Library Vol. 3 by Mike Mignola, Sleeper Season 2 by Brubaker and Phillips, Fables The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 by Willingham and Umbrella Academy Vol. 2 by Way and Ba! There was also a Yaoi title and three Marvel hardcovers that really don't need to be in that format (they may not even really "need" to have been collected).

Any four or five of the above listed graphic novels coming out in the same week would have been a pretty big deal, but for this many to come out in one week (and most of them of such a superlative quality and added price points for most people who don't have infinite pocketbooks) is somewhat akin to the movie industry and the way they back load all of their Academy Award contenders for release at the end of the year. Usually the various comic companies (especially Marvel) uses the last week of the month to try to crowd comic store shelves with their comic book periodical releases, but as happy as I am to have seen so many great new graphic novels this week, I'd rather releases get spread out better so that this feast or famine for discriminating comic book readers doesn't happen as often as it does. With graphic novels, releasing them all at once isn't as bad as releasing tons of comic titles at once though because at least with the better graphic novels most of the publishers will keep them in print for a good stretch and they're usually easy to reorder. Anyway, I think that the above listing of graphic novels that came out this week would make great additions to people's gift getting / receiving lists.

Back to reading Logicomix An Epic Search For Truth for me!

The Summit of the Gods

Two great Jiro Taniguchi graphic novel mangas this week! The second one I'd like to put a spotlight on is The Summit of the Gods, of which the first 300 page volume came out this week (it'll be a total of five volumes). The Summit of the Gods is based on a novel by Yumemakura Baku and starts off with photographer Fukamachi, who while on a trip with some Japanese mountain climbers, finds a camera that may have belonged to George Mallory (who attempted to conquer Everest). Fukamachi's investigation leads him to finding out about some other Japanese climbers and their adventures with various mountains, mostly in Japan. This manga (and the novel it's based on) is fictional, but it's rooted in history and I think it's one of the most exciting narratives I've read in recent memory (and I'm not a mountain climber, nor do I play one on tv), with the always excellent art of Jiro Taniguchi.

A Distant Neighborhood

Jiro Taniguchi is one of my very favorite cartoonists so I was especially happy to see the arrival of a new book by him, A Distant Neighborhood, along with the plethora of great graphic novels / trade paperbacks and comics this week. A Distant Neighborhood is about middle-aged Hiroshi Nakahara, who one day ends up in his past as his fourteen year old self with all of his memories intact. Yes, this type of story has been done before (most recently by Alex Robinson in his excellent graphic novel Too Cool To Be Forgotten), but what story hasn't been done before? And with this story scenario, there are many ways in which a writer / cartoonist can bring new things to readers. Anyone who's read some of Taniguchi's previous graphic novels such as The Walking Man, Quest For The Missing Girl, and Ice Wanderer, knows that he is more than adept at delivering a great story.
Taniguchi isn't just a great writer, who creates stories that have a lot of drama in them, without that drama being forced or over the top, he's also a great illustrator who somehow can draw great people, great naturescapes and cityscapes with varying perspective shots without any of the separate elements overshadowing each other.

A Distant Neighborhood is published by Fanfare Ponentmon and will be in two volumes here in the U.S. when it's completed. I read A Distant Neighborhood while on my exercise bike this morning, with Alucard (our black cat) sleeping alongside / underneath the bike so that made for a great way to start off my day.