Fifty Two Fifty Two

The final installment of the Scott Pilgrim series…I’ve been waiting for this book for a while now, and waiting for about a week after its release to actually lay hands on it was painful. However, not as painful as reading through it and releasing that I was somewhat disappointed by it (hopefully I can discuss it without too many spoilers). My big beef was the anti-climatic confrontation between Scott and Gideon. Felt more like a whimper, less like a bang – and that’s not a good thing. Also, some of the layout and artwork. The earlier ones were awesome since it felt like every page was jam-packed (and often overflowing) with content. These look like they have too much white space all over the place. Plus, the increase in breaking the fourth wall is not appreciated.

I mean, I liked it…but it wasn’t the ending that I thought the series deserved.

I don’t normally read a lot of graphic novels, but there are definitely a few that I like (e.g., Watchmen). So I may be a little late to the Scott Pilgrim bandwagon. And I’m kinda sad that it took a friend’s review of it and then watching the trailer for the upcoming movie for me to get it into gear and read them.

But this was an amazing series (with more to come). It tells the story of Scott Pilgrim and his quest to date a girl named Ramona. But to do that, he must defeat her seven evil exes. But honestly, the strong point of this series is it’s quirkiness. It’s just chock full of good stuff, whether it’s music geekery or video game geekery. Just a fantastic series that’s a breeze and a joy to read.

Hey Wait (by “Jason” – no, really) is a very short graphic novel in two parts that my husband had me read. “It’s a quick read,” he said. “And it’s really good.”

True on both counts; I finished it in about maybe ten minutes per half, and was knocked flat by both halves. This is not a cheery book, but it is somehow beautiful. Also pretty funny in places, despite its sadness.

After the first book this feels like a huge leap forward for the Hernandez Brothers.  The story’s are much clearer and their collective voice is much stronger.  The shining story of this collection is “Heartbreak Soup,” the first of Gilbert’s full-length Palomar stories and the title is appropriate. Set in the real world milieu of a fictional South American town what happens to these characters in both the small and big events of their everyday lives is genuinely heartbreaking.

As much as I liked Jaimie’s Hoppers Thirteen stories in the last book, his “100 Rooms” story here is a dud. In “Maggie vs. Maniakk,” however, he offers a good take on the superhero story; Maggie is recruited to moonlight as a superhero’s sidekick despite her lack of superpowers and the results are fun to say the least. Overall the stories here are still hit or miss, but I would buy this just for Gilbert’s 50 page “Heartbreak Soup.”  It represents some of the best alternative comics has to offer.

Love and Rockets, a comic series written by Jaimie and Gilbert Hernandez (with occasional contributions from their brother Mario) has been running since the early 1980s.  There are multiple serial narratives in each book (think of them as short stories if you will), some are one-offs, others have recurring characters and places.  The brothers each write and draw their own stories, but compile them together in each collection. The most prominent storyline from Gilbert is about the fictional town of Palomar in Latin America and the people who live there with elements of magical realism similar to Gabriel García Márquez. While Jaime’s most prominent storyline is about a group of chicanos living in the fictional town of Hopper in Southern California and follows the girls from the local punk scene to the present.

The first book in the series is all over the place.  There are stories with monsters and detectives, spaceships and dinosaurs, superheroes and everyday janes.  It feels as if the brothers were still finding their voice.  Some of the panel layout is confusing (though much of it, even in this, the first of their books, is superb) and there is an occasional narrative jump (it makes me appreciate the clarity of the storytelling in Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” all the more).  That being said, I love their style and the unconventional perspective many of the stories take.  I haven’t read anything else like them.  In particular “Mechanics,” a 40 page story by Jaimie about a group of mechanics sent to the jungles of South America to work on a long considered lost spaceship (which also trapped a dinosaur nearby when it crashed) in the midst of wild natives, indigenous diseases, insane investors, and political upheavel is particularly compelling.  This first volume also introduces us to many of the characters we will continue to encounter and get to know better for the next thirty years.  My verdict: to read the series as a whole (over 2000 pages) is a serious commitment and though it gets off to a slightly bumpy start, but from all I’ve heard it will be a rich and rewarding read.

My second book was a quick read – possibly the most widely celebrated of all graphic novels, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. I read Book 1 (“My Father Bleeds History”). My husband gave me The Complete Maus for Christmas, but he told me to wait a while to read Book 2. So I shall.

And I can easily say – as someone who has tried and struggled to like reading graphic novels – that Maus richly deserves all the accolades. Its best selling point for people like me is that it is more focused on the narrative than the artwork – which is not to belittle the artwork. The father’s voice is so wonderfully authentic. A must-read.