Posts Tagged ‘graphic novel’
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Last year, the graphic novel was one of the new genres I started getting hooked on, and Craig Thompson has fast become one of my favorite graphic novel writer-illustrators.
I’ve been salivating over Blankets at the bookstore for years now, but it’s waaay out of my budget, and so it remains on my wishlist. A couple of years back, though, I was able to mooch Thompson’s Goodbye, Chunky Rice, and so I started with that.
Late last year, I finally got the chance to read Blankets, when Flipper friend Mike (aka GNP, or Geek and Proud) lent me his copy, along with his prized volumes of Maus. Of course, before I read Blankets, I felt a reread of Goodbye, Chunky Rice was in order, so I could review the two books side by side before I finally return Mike’s book this weekend (I returned Maus earlier), with gratitude for entrusting one of his favorite books to me for several months now. (more…)
Tags: blanket, blankets, Christian, chunky rice, craig, dandel, doot doot, family, friendship, goodbye, goodbye chunky rice, graphic novel, longshoreman, merle, raina, spirituality
Posted in Film Adaptations | 8 Comments »
Monday, December 7th, 2009
If you’ve been a regular visitor to this site, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been slowly acquiring the taste for graphic novels, as more and more of them seem to be making their way to my shelves.
Last week I had the chance to read Francisco V. Coching’s El Indio, a action adventure “komiks” (local comics) series first published in Pilipino Komiks back in the ’50s, which is said to be the golden age of Philippine comics, which flourished until the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines.
Francisco V. Coching dominated this era of comics, hailed by general consensus as the Philippines’ greatest komiks illustrator, with 61 komiks novels, all but 10 of which were turned into popular films. El Indio is one of Coching’s most popular works, the sequel to the komiks “Sabas, Ang Barbaro.”
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Tags: barbaro, blanquita basco de alava, classic komiks, coching, comic series, comics restoration, don fernando basco de alava, el indio, Filipino graphic novel, Filipino komiks, francisco coching, gerry alanguilan, graphic novel, kapitan martin castillo, komiks, restoration, sabas, vibal foundation, victoria rivera, zarah makandili
Posted in Book Reviews | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
This post is dedicated to the victims of the election massacre that took place in Maguindanao.
I was supposed to read another book to wrap up my World War II Challenge, but that will probably have to wait until next month, as I found another couple of books for this Challenge, lent to me by my book club friend Mike (thank you, Mike!).
I’ve only really started venturing into graphic novels recently but the critically-acclaimed Maus by Art Spiegelman is something I’ve always been interested in, although I haven’t seen it in the local book stores. While I’ve been acquainted with Art Spiegelman’s work in the Little Lit series, I’ve always wanted to read his masterpiece.
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Tags: allegory, animals, Anja Spiegelman, Anja Zylberberg, art spiegelman, artist, atrocity, Auschwitz, Birkenau, catskills, concentration camp, family history, Francoise Mouly, gas chambers, graphic novel, Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, Hungary, Maguindanao, Mala, Mala Spiegelman, Mandelbaums, massacre, Maus, Poland, Rego park, Richieu Spiegelman, Second World War, social agent, Sosnowiec, survival, Vladek, Vladek Spiegelman, world war 2, WWII, WWII reading challenge
Posted in Book Events, Book Reviews, News | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
Yesterday, I watched Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Ze Muzikal with my best friend, my sister, and fellow
Flippers Czar,
Marie,
MayD, and
Ihop (with Mr. Ihop and friend) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
ZZZ 2009 poster (from http://carverhouse.blogspot.com)
Because I have readers outside of the Philippines, I need to explain: Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah is a campy, original Filipino graphic novel by Carlo Vergara. It’s about a gay parlorista (hairdresser/ beauty specialist) whose alter ego is the busty, bodacious FEMALE superhero Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah.
The graphic novel
Last July, the Flippers had a Zsa Zsa book discussion and we were lucky enough to have Carlo Vergara on hand to listen to our discussion and answer our questions about the book (and sign autographs too!). With him was Tuxqs Rutaquio, who plays the lead, Ada, in the musical.
CarVer and Tuxqs at the FFP discussion
Flippers take on ZsaZsa!
Yesterday was actually the second time I watched the musical, as I watched it on its second run at the PETA theater nearly three years ago, before I even read the book, and I have to say it was one of the best things I’ve ever watched onstage. The theater was small and the stage was in the center, and I really enjoyed watching it up close.
So I didn’t mind watching it a second time, although turned out to be a different experience for me.
A few boos: we had reserved P600 seats, only to find out when we claimed the tickets that our reserved seats had been sold to some other people (they refunded P100) and we had seats at the far end of the theater, along the side, and the most annoying of them all: right next to the exit door so all the latecomers had to pass in front of us. Granted, it was a night of horrendous traffic (Eheads concert at MOA), but theater policy should limit late entrance to the intermission, or else they need to devise a way to let the people in without disturbing any of the seated audience who came on time to watch the show.
And my beef: the theater’s audio was really bad. There were times when it was too loud (the earsplitting scene when Ada and Didi were screaming, thinking the house was getting attacked by stone-throwers) and times when the mics were crackly or picked up feedback. But most of the time, especially for the songs layered with background music and solos performed upstage — we couldn’t make out the solos. The play is a musical, they should have made sure everyone could hear it properly — isn’t that a theater rule, to make sure “the deaf old lady in the back row” could hear everything clearly?
The show was still enjoyable despite the aforementioned logistical and technical flaws, if only because of the show’s entertainment value. The camaraderie between Ada and Didi (played by Tuxqs Rutaquio and Joey Paras) was as fascinating as I remembered it, and Eula Valdez as Zsa Zsa was quite possibly even more stellar this time around. I also love that they updated the script and it was still laugh-out-loud funny (at least for what dialogue made it to our far end of the theater), but I really missed the overall WOW experience I had first time I watched it.
Oh, and I should have brought my copy of the book for a third autograph!
***
My copy: paperback (books I & II combined), bought at PETA run, autographed twice by CarVer (first at the PETA run, second at the FFP reading)
My rating: book 5/5 stars; musical – PETA run 5/5 stars; 2009 run 3.5/5 stars
Tags: ada, amazonistas, carlo vergara, ccp, didi, dodong, graphic novel, higanteng palaka, musical, queen femina, queen femina suarestellar baroux, zaturnnah, zsazsa, zsazsa zaturnnah, zsazsa zaturnnah ze muzikal
Posted in Book Events | 5 Comments »
Monday, February 9th, 2009
Was finally able to watch the Persepolis movie yesterday, and it comes as a relief that it’s not one of those annoying movie adaptations that fail to live up to the reader’s expectations.
If you’re not already familiar with the 2-part graphic novel (although there is already a complete edition with both parts in one book), Persepolis by Marjane (mar-zhan) Satrapi is a coming-of-age memoir in comic strips, narrating her life growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution, studying in Austria, and then returning to her home country.
The comics, done in pen and ink, swing between irreverent and hilarious to poignant and insightful. I liked the first book, which is focused on Satrapi’s childhood, better than the second, which deals with her schooling abroad onwards. The perspective changes in the second book, naturally — the humor gets drier as she grows older and deals with more issues, but it is still worth reading to get the whole story.
To parents who are wondering if the comics are suitable for young readers, the first book is okay for younger teens (6th grade to junior high, but be prepared to answer questions and explain certain concepts), but reserve the second book for later, as it deals with more mature issues.
The Persepolis movie, which debuted at the 2007 Cannes, is as highly acclaimed as the book. The animation is a bit more polished than the comics, but resembles it closely enough that you wouldn’t really notice. Some episodes from the first book are not in the film, especially those that don’t really propel the story forward, but the film is in essence faithful to the book.
The film also manages to make some episodes even funnier and some even more poignant, even though I’d read them already, and an adaptation that can do that is worth lauding. I cried a bit when uncle Anoush gave Marji the bread swans, and when the”Eye of the Tiger” sequence was rolling, I was doubled over laughing!
Film adaptations, when executed properly, add another dimension of enjoyment to the experience of reading a book, and the Persepolis movie does just that. It’s one of the very few movie adaptations that I’ve enjoyed recently, so bravo to that!
***
My copies: Persepolis 1, trade paperback, from NBS Book-sak Presyo Sale (a steal at P75); Persepolis 2, trade paperback, mooched from abroad
My rating: Persepolis I, 5/5 stars; Persepolis II, 4/5 stars
Persepolis movie, 5/5 stars
Tags: bildungsroman, biography, coming of age, film adaptation, graphic novel, iran, marjane satrapi, persepolis, tehran
Posted in Book Reviews | No Comments »
