Hey guys! Today I'd like to share some of the books that had a strong influence on my creatively inclined soul. Still owe you guys a proper introduction so I thought I'd share a little bit about a topic that's close to me. As a visual person I love graphic novels and comics so here are a couple that stuck with me and that I heartily recommend:
71Ph19tDY0L.png
Pjongjang
Guy Delisle
A look behind the the veil of North Korea. This book is a terrific exercise in journalism come art. Guy Delisle manages to show and tell us a place and people so oppressed it's tough for the rest of us to fathom. Through almost naive looking drawings we are treated to one weird situation after the other as the artist tries to navigate and explore further than his minders had intended. Drawn and written in a time when it was difficult to procure accurate photo and video footage of North Korea, the medium of a graphic novel proved to be sound choice to document this unique insight into a culture often misunderstood.
kim_pyong.png
pyongyang-hotel.png
Layer 0.png
Watchmen
Alan Moore
One of the most thoughtful, cynical, brilliant and stylish What If? scenarios ever done. Watchmen's mature treatment of politics and super heroes in a "real world" context provides the canvas for some of the most morally ambiguous and complex character motivations ever penned. The dark, almost noir appearance shifts with colorful backdrops and otherworldly landscapes. It is an exploration of the "ultimate price" that people and society are willing to pay...as long as they can even consider it.
comedian-5.png
watchmen-dream-sequence.png
cover_300.png
300
Frank Miller
You may have expected Sin City or The Dark Knight Returns when picking a Frank Miller book, but I chose to go for a different flavor. All style and little substance is what people say of the 300. Story aside, the artwork in this is truly astounding. Each panel is a fully realised piece oozing with grit, skill and verve. Testosterone levels run high here but the aesthetics are undeniable. The imagery and the scope of the drawings are consistently epic and that's what makes this one of my favorite books ever. But what belies this seemingly vapid visual masterpiece is a classic tale of heroes and sacrifice. It also gave us one of the most iconic characters of history: King Leonidas!
300.png
2.35_344.png
cover_akira.png
Akira
Katsuhiro Otomo
This book really opened my eyes as to what lies beyond Dragonball and Pokemon in terms of Japanese comic art. I feel that Manga from the 80's often dealt with a deeper societal trauma and societal strains than those of today. The role that Japan and its people played in the horrors of the Second World War, the fall of the atomic bombs along with subsequent loss of a long imperial tradition caused a lot of soul searching in the decades following. A few generations later these fears and ideas already become for more abstract so the art that deals with them reflects it accordingly using the tools of the time giving birth to cyberpunk in the process. Nuclear War ain't fun but with Akira at least it's a very aesthetic take on total destruction. Tetsuo and Kenada's six volume romp through Neo-Tokyo is simply put: a blast!
akira-2264151.png
akira.png
cover_scrooge.png
The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck
Don Rosa
The full account of Uncle Scrooge's life could have been cheesy or dull affair but instead Don Rosa's illustrated tribute to the richest duck in the world is one of the most gorgeous, heartwarming and down to earth tales of ambition and strife ever crafted. Woven neatly into history and real events, Scrooge's story takes us around the globe from the Klondike to Duckburgh covering panel after panel of artistic splendor shedding light onto the history of the Duck clan. Enriching his story and given context, Scrooge turns out to be one of the most human characters ever conceived. This is hands down my favorite graphic novel of all time.
uncle-scrooge-375-bc.png
scrooge-mcduck.png
Which graphic novels and comics do you guys love the most? It was tough narrowing it down to just five, I could fill out plenty of lists like these :P
Thanks for reading!
back to the drawing board,
ZeroOoC
feline_bade.png
I must have read Watchmen at some stage as I remember that page. But not much else XD
I quite liked V for Vendetta. Back when I was originally making a graphic novel series instead of failing at an animation series, it was what influenced me to ditch thought bubbles altogether and try harder with expression.
even now with my occasional stupid comics I generally try to avoid thought bubbles XD
I still think that the V for Vendetta movie is one of the best adaptations of a graphic novel out there.
Watchmen was very different in its movie form. It's interesting, because Zack Snyders previous movies (Sin City & The 300) were basically panel by panel remakes.
Recently I managed to get my hands on a first edition print of The Last Ronin, the latest TMNT comic! Expect a review soon :)
Thought bubbles are interesting....personally I also prefer the more abstract approach!
Congratulations @nyxlabs! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 100 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPHTTP is in use instead of HTTPS and no protocol redirection is in place. Be careful and do not enter sensitive information in that website as your data won't be encrypted.
It's also a good habit to always hover links before clicking them in order to see the actual link in the bottom-left corner of your browser.
This auto-reply is throttled 1/20 to reduce spam but if it still bothers you reply "OFF HTTP". Or reply REVIEW for manual review and whitelisting.