Young Adult novels, and in this case, comics, tend to follow a similar formula (or at least from my experience they do): Young girl challenges the norms of her society in order to discover herself. My Riot is no different in that respect, however rather than settle for a dystopian future setting, we go way […]
Tag: Comics
Odessa – Jonathan Hill
Odessa, like last week’s Eden, leaves me in a difficult spot, it’s enjoyable but largely forgettable. It tells the story of an America that’s literally been torn in two by an earthquake, and within that is the story of a family in search of their Mother, though things end in this volume before they find […]
Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison – Sarah Mirk
Something like Guantanamo Voices is a difficult thing to review, much like Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”, it exists as a documentation of the horrors that humans can carry out on each other, like Maus, it’s not intended to be “enjoyed”, its there to educate, using a medium that many (wrongly) associate with being juvenile, and thus […]
Why are we still talking about comics as a genre?
A few weeks back I happened across a typical lockdown/buzzfeed style article, wherein the author discusses a list of things that popular opinion dictactes you should check out. In this the author lists five Graphic Novels that they believe everyone should read (Watchmen, Maus, Ghost World, Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid in the World, Fun […]
Asterix in Britain – René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo
When Close Encounters posted on the Books With Pictures Facebook group page that we were going to be reading an Asterix book, I’m not going to lie, I had two thoughts, the first was “but isn’t that a kids book”, then it was “wow, I’ve not read one of those since Year 8” and it […]
The Colony – Nicolas Debon
When we think of Anarchism in the world of comics (or graphic novels, whichever you prefer), we often turn to Alan Moore’s “V for Vendetta” and tales of attempts to overthrow those in power due to corruption, however, theres actually alot more to the ideals behind anarchism than explosions, aggression and sticking ones finger up […]
We3 – Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely
This month’s Books WITH Pictures pick was We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely through Vertigo. It’s a book I’ll honestly admit I’ve never even heard of so my expectations going in were all over the place, especially as I flicked through it on the bus home before I sat down to read through it […]
Akira Volume 1 – Katsuhiro Otomo
Way back in July I wrote about the reasons I was glad that the Hollywood movie of Akira had been put on hold (though it’s still in the works), this time out I’m taking a direct look at volume 1 of Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga as its the book we’ve discussed in “Books with Pictures” this […]
How the Joker plays his ultimate joke
Like everybody else, I recently visited my local cinema to watch Todd Phillips’ “Joker”, I decided to make some notes on the bus home and then return them a few days later once I’d had time to think on them. I’ll get this right out there by stating that I really quite liked the movie, […]
V for Vendetta – Alan Moore, David Lloyd
Once a month for the past few months I’ve been attending a book club at my local comic book store, it’s called “Books Without Pictures” and has focused on novels, now they’ve started up another club, called “Books With Pictures” we’re we read a comic book/graphic novel/whatever you want to call them. Our first meeting […]