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Graphic Novels & Comics December 2014
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Greetings!My name is Patrick Holt, and I'm a librarian at Southwest Regional Library. I'm also a lifelong reader of comics and graphic novels. Check out the contents of this month's newsletter in the box to the left, and get access to past editions in the archive at the bottom of the page. I hope you find these recommendations worthwhile, and please email me at pdholt@dconc.gov if you have any thoughts or questions.
Thanks and enjoy!
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The Durham Comics Project
by Amy Godfrey (editor)
Southwest Regional Library's own Amy Godfrey has spent the last year-and-a-half working in the Durham community to gather cartoonists of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels. The result of this work is The Durham Comics Project, a collection of short autobiographical comics about life in Durham and beyond. Published by Durham County Library, created by the Durham County Library family!
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Southern Bastards vol. 1 : Here Was a Man
by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour
Murder, football, BBQ, and objectionable language: welcome to Craw County, Alabama. Thomas Noel at The Hip Campus calls Southern Bastards "a very bloody, very engrossing Southern Gothic crime pulp... like [television shows] True Detective Season One, The Walking Dead or True Blood." The book's writer, Alabama native Jason Aaron, says about his inspiration that “The South is more peaceful than any other place I’ve ever been. But more primal too. More timeless. But more haunted. More spiritual. More hateful. More beautiful. More scarred. And that’s what this series is about. About a place you can love and hate and fear and miss all at the same time.”
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Earthling
by Aisha Franz
Publisher's Weekly says that Earthling "at first seems to be a latter-day E.T. knockoff, as a little girl befriends an aloof extraterrestrial after following a drifting balloon to field of tall grass. Franz consistently manages to shake predictability however, through a series of strange and surreal turns, some easily written off as dream sequences and others left a bit more open. The saga of the alien is entwined with the story of a mother and her two daughters, all of whom grapple with very different but largely universal crises: regret, burgeoning sexuality, and teenage rebellion, respectively. The book's bare-bones layout [and matching artwork] begins to mirror the world they find themselves trapped in. This is a quiet book, but one with a lot to say. Despite its simplicity, it warrants deep and repeated readings."
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Mind MGMT vol. 1: The Manager
by Matt Kindt
James Kaplan at Panel Patter says "Mind MGMT is a story about many things, but it is, at least in significant part, a story about our limited ability to perceive the reality around us. Our perception and observations about reality are unreliable, they can be manipulated... Kindt's washed-out, impressionistic watercolor designs lend a dreamlike sense of unreality to the whole book which is highly effective (and appropriate) given the subject matter... [F]or those looking for a visually unique, engrossing and rewarding story which will make you think about all the ways in which your mind is being toyed with, it's a must-read."
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Tropic of the Sea
by Satoshi Kon
The late Satoshi Kon is perhaps best known as the writer and director of Paprika (based on the book by Yasutaka Tsutsui, and a principal inspiration for Inception), but he's also a writer and artist of manga. Tropic of the Sea follows a seaside family with a strange connection to a society of mermaids. An allegory of the conflict between traditional and modern culture, this may not be his best work (fingers crossed for the new translation of Opus!), but it demonstrates Kon's expert storytelling and artistic skills and stands out as a worthy early attempt from a would-be master surrealist.
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Jim Henson's Tale of Sand
by Ramón Pérez
Tale of Sand is adapted from an unfilmed screenplay by The Muppet Show and Sesame Street creator Jim Henson and his writing partner Jerry Juhl. It's a whirlwind of a story that follows everyman Mac on a there-and-back-again journey of self-discovery through the wildest take on the American Southwest you've ever seen. Ramon K. Perez provides beautiful artwork and compelling page design for dizzying and wonderful storytelling experience.
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Noah
by Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel and Niko Henrichon
Not so much an adaptation as a parallel work using the same script, Noah is Darren Aronofsky's second project like this. The first, a graphic novel version of The Fountain created after an initial production failure was an attempt to salvage the screenplay in some fashion. Noah, on the other hand, was created before the film was even funded and represents creative hope instead of desperation (and also explains why there is no visual reference to the actor cast to play the same roles). A worthwhile read for those who loved or hated the film, and even for those who have not seen it.
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Taking a Break!
Graphic Book Club is taking a break in December. January's topic: Manga (and also Manwha, and heck, if you find a Vietnamese/Chinese book that could work too)!
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Ultimate Ladies AllianceThursday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. 6120-A Farrington Rd., DurhamThe first Thursday of each month the Ultimate Ladies Alliance meets to discuss a different comic or graphic novel. Join the Ultimate Ladies’ Alliance on Facebook for more info and to vote on your top picks for the next month’s meeting, plus suggest books for future discussion and share your favorites. This month: Rat Queens vol. 1: Sass and Sorcery.
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Links to newsletters from the past year:
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If you are having trouble unsubscribing to this newsletter, please contact the Durham County Library at
919-560-0100, 300 N. Roxboro Street, Durham, NC 27702
librarywebmaster@durhamcountync.gov
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