Portus

Title: Portus

Writer: Jun Abe

Art Work: Jun Abe

Publisher: VIZ Media LLC

Portus is a horror graphic novel that involves a mysterious video game that kills people. The reason I first picked it up was because of the front cover, it had all the elements of a scary movie with a floating eye, torn paper, and blood. I was very interested in reading it because I had never read horror manga, and was curious to see how it would be. I’ll be the first to admit it I love graphic violent scenes that the Japanese love to create. Another thing I like to do when picking up a manga novel is to look at the back (or in this case the front), and checking to see if the story ends in this book. Luckily this story did end in this book.

The story revolves around Asami Kawakami (an art student), Keigo Sawa (her teacher), and Mayumi Yamashita (another teacher). In the beginning Asamai is worried about her friend Chiharu, who’s been ditching school for a few days because she’s been playing a video game called Portus. Later on, Chiharu commits suicide and Asamai starts to question the motives for her suicide. She then decides to play the game Portus to see what could have caused her friend’s death. Along the way Keigo and Mayumi also try to figure out why this game is so deadly. What they discover is a danger that must be stopped in order to save the life of Asamai.

This graphic novel is rated mature, and is justified in doing so because it contains many violent scenes in it. The characters are very much a cookie-cut pattern of what is popular in manga; high school students, and trendy teachers (Keigo smokes in class). Regardless of this, it’s used because it’s still a working formula that can get into a storyline without having to explain each and every character’s individuality. As for the story line, I found it to be exciting at first and then it just moved over to a more horror story that became less realistic for me. I guess I should have expected this from a horror genre because it asks you to suspend your disbelief, and I suck at that. Either way anyone that loves horror and especially appreciates its unrealistic ideas will like this novel.

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Portus-Jun-Abe/dp/1421513838/ref=pd_sim_b_20

The Alcoholic

Title: The Alcoholic

Writer: Jonathan Ames

Art Work: Dean Haspiel

Publisher: Vertigo

The Alcoholic is a graphic novel about a man that considers himself an alcoholic. I picked this book up because I am interested in stories that are mature, sad, melancholy and dark. I like to read these sorts of books because I find that I can relate to them better than other books. But what I am looking for the most in these sorts of novels is a solution, a solution on how to escape the dark side and enter the light. Nobody reads a novel about a person in a dark situation and hopes they never get out of it. I think we are all optimistic and hoping for a way out.

The story is about Jonathan Ames, a New York City writer and is written in the first person perspective. It starts off in the year 2001 when Jonathan wakes up in a strange car with a strange old woman that wants to cuddle with him. Jonathan then starts talking about how he got to that point; beginning since high school. Overall he deals with the same problems that most teenagers had to deal with, and blames alcohol for most of his problems. Yet at some point in the story, Jonathan admits that he was never good at drinking and that getting drunk always caused him to vomit. In fact most of the story is about him dealing with tragedies or self imposed depressions that are common in life, like parents dying, best friends moving away, and girlfriends dumping you.

However all these problems aren’t caused by his drinking, instead he looks to alcohol to escape from these problems, which is common for many alcoholics. For some reason I just didn’t like this book because it never really showed the dark side of his drinking. It wasn’t like he lost friendships or went broke because of his drinking. When I think of how bad addiction to alcohol can be I just picture Nicolas Cage in the movie Leaving Las Vegas, where he loses everything he has in life to alcohol and eventually dies. Alcoholism in The Alcoholic simply was not a central theme to the novel. While the artwork is appropriate for the theme of the book, I would have preferred much more dark shades and gritty pictures. Over all, the book is an amusing story and I hope Jonathan success in life.

Jonathan Ames Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ames

Amazon link to buy:

http://www.amazon.ca/Alcoholic-Jonathan-Ames/dp/1401210562

Spent

Title: Spent

Writer: Joe Matt

Art Work: Joe Matt

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly

The story in Spent is very intimate and personal. I felt a strong connection when I read it because I was going through a loneliness phase in my life. In my opinion loneliness is a symptom of depression and one must lift their own spirits up in order to overcome it. If you don’t change you’re bound to end up like the main character Joe, wasting your years away in melancholy. I’m usually drawn towards books that deal with desolation and misery because I’m always looking for a clear solution out of depression. I guess you can call me an optimist for that because even in the worst situations I believe there’s always a way out.

Unfortunately I didn’t get the happy ending I wanted from Spent. This isn’t to say it was a bad book, rather it’s a book to observe from a distance and hopefully realize that you are the only person who can make yourself happy. It’s as if you’re looking at Joe’s mistakes in life, and telling yourself you’re better than that; and that the bad stuff shouldn’t weigh you down. The main problem with Joe is that he’s always been lonely and believes that his one chance at love has passed him, and as such is destined to a life of solitude with his only companion being VHS porn.

Joe deals with his depression using a technique I describe as quarantine. This is where an individual that is hurt would rather stay in isolation, than face a world that will make them view themselves as losers. While I don’t believe one must live their life according to how the world judges them, I also believe one shouldn’t disregard it and punish themselves into isolation. The point being not to allow one traumatic event in life to cripple ourselves into stagnation. It’s been said numerous times over and over again, life is beautiful and things do change. While it’s not always going to be perfect, it also isn’t always going to be sad, so enjoy life because beauty is what you make it.

Drawn and Quarterly:

http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/shopCatalogLong.php?item=a45c21a27af77b

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Spent-Joe-Matt/dp/1897299117/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1311093541&sr=8-6

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Writer: Frank Miller
Art Work: Frank Miller with Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley
Publisher: DC Comics
The world of Batman for me captures everything I love about fictional novels. A good novel has to be able to take you away from the real world and transport you to the world of the pages in the novel. It must be exciting, believable, have continuity, and most of all it must be original for it capture my attention. I hate it when I read about characters I can’t relate to, or a story that is predictable and banal. For me it’s all about respect. When I decide to choose a novel to read, I am assuming that the writer or artist has put their soul into a piece they want to share with the world. So I show them respect by becoming a sort of hermit that puts my full attention into the story they have created. I usually wear a hat or a hoody because it physically allows me to concentrate on the words with my foveal vision, while ignoring everything else that’s in my peripheral vision such as who’s sitting next to me on the subway. If it’s a long novel I also like to get a note pad and write down notes as I’m reading in order to understand the story better. Being this engaged with a novel I can then dissect and consume the story at my own pace since I have never been an academic person.

The beauty of the world of Batman is that its characters have been well established and yet still allow for various types of interpretations from writer to writer.  One man can see Batman as an honest and righteous do-gooder, while another can picture him as a tormented vigilante.  The latter is how Frank Miller decided to interpret his vision of Batman in his epic graphic novel, the Dark Knight Returns.  Written in the mid 80’s when the Cold War was still going on with the threat of nuclear war and the presence of the growing pessimistic media, you can tell Miller was definitely influenced by his time.  For him, the old boy scout super hero was no longer believable because the world had changed.  I like to interpret this as going from good and bad or white and black, to a world that was grey where good and bad were mixed together.  This grey world needed a hero that would scare off the worst villains, who were capable of murder and rape.  This world demanded a giant rambunctious and dangerous Batman that would risk his life in order to defeat his enemies.  This is the hero that Miller unleashed onto Gotham City to fight its new evils.

The first thing I noticed that was unique about this graphic novel was how the art and drawings were presented.  Each panel was narrow and crammed full of writing, while the illustrations were plain and simple.  This was difficult to get used to at first because most graphic novels have so many intricate illustrations that the words barely need to get read to know what is happening.  As I read on though, I found that I started to rely less on the drawings and more on the story that was written, making the narrative much more smooth and rich.  I became really impressed by the flow of continuity that Frank Miller had created.  Another thing I enjoyed about this novel was the multiple stories that were involved from the mutant gang, the Joker, Commissioner Yindel, and even Superman.  What also surprised me about this novel was Bruce Wayne’s age; he’s an old man.  Not that it took away from the story having a much more physically vulnerable Batman, instead I viewed it as Miller trying to demonstrate the heart of Bruce Wayne.  His ‘never give up’ attitude was really inspiring and made me love Batman even more.  By the time I was done reading this graphic novel I came to appreciate what Frank Miller has done for the world of comic book superheroes; allow them to be interpreted in different ways from different people, thus allowing and endless amount of stories to flourish.

Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Returns
DC Comics link:
http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/graphic_novels/?gn=1279

Green Candles

Title: Green Candles
Writer: Tom De Haven
Art Work: Robin Smith
Publisher: Paradox Graphic Mystery
Green Candles is the type of mystery graphic novel that I like. It’s lengthy, it has nicely drawn characters, and the story moves at a nice pace. The story centers on private detective John Halting, who is asked by schoolteacher Grace Penny to investigate strange photos she is receiving in the mail. The photos are of a green candle, and in every new picture sent it is burning down slowly. Grace Penny assumes that it is coming from someone in her past, and that when the candle burns out someone will kill her. While focusing on Grace, the graphic novel also has other sub-stories that allow the reader to see how complex the life of detective Halting is. The sub-stories that are included are about how John is dealing with his divorce, his relationship with his daughter, and helping his friend find his runaway son.


I really appreciated the sub-stories because it allowed for more twists and turns throughout the whole novel. As writer Tom De Haven said in the introduction of the book, he wanted to create a story that would allow for a series of other books to come. Thus by adding the sub-stories he didn’t make the life of John one dimensional or limited to one book, but has created the possibility for more stories of the detective. I liked the ending of this book because it solved the mystery of who was sending the photos in a clever and smart way. That’s a characteristic of a good mystery novel, having the ability to make the ending a surprise whose revelation makes everything clear. I really enjoyed this novel and would definitely recommend it to people that like smart mysteries.

DC Comics link:
http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/graphic_novels/?gn=1501
Amazon link to buy:
http://www.amazon.com/GREEN-CANDLES-Paradox-Graphic-Mystery/dp/0671004670

Joker

Title: Joker
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Art Work: Lee Bermejo and Mick Gray
Publisher: DC Comics
A while back I went to my local comic shop to check out what they had. While I was there I started talking with the guy that worked in the store. He told me he was a huge fan of the Joker, and even showed me a tattoo he had of him. I was surprised to see someone that loved the Joker that much. I also have to agree, the Joker is a pretty awesome character. In the Batman movies he is always the character that most people like as well because he stands out from the rest of the evil villains. Later that week I went to my local library to check out what they had in stock. To my surprise they had a graphic novel of the Joker, simply called Joker. I just had to get it and once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop. This graphic novel blew my mind away. The artwork is so amazing; it mixes between regular comic book drawings and paintings. The Joker is drawn similar to the version Heath Ledger created in the movie The Dark Knight, with a Glasgow smile and his iconic green hair. You can almost feel the emotions of characters from how they are drawn.

What complements these drawings is the darkly written story line. It simply brings the Joker character to a whole darker and scarier level. The story is written from the perspective of an up-and-coming criminal named, Jonny Frost. Jonny is so ambitious to make his name be known that he is willing to join the Joker and follow him where ever he goes. At first the Joker is shown to be the regular villain that everyone knows, creating the type of havoc that everyone loves. As the story progresses and Jonny starts to get to know more about the man he idolizes, he soon starts to regret this decision. The Joker goes from sinister to psychopathic to a beast that no one would envy, and would actually fear.

However for Jonny it is too late by the time he realizes what he has gotten himself into and this is what I found brilliant about the book. Everyone always finds the good guy (Superman or Batman) boring and instead likes to cheer for the bad guy. But in Joker, you come to realize that the bad guy is someone you don’t ever want to meet, and that when you do feel helpless the only person you can call is the good guy, Batman. When the Dark Knight finally does appear, you really start to appreciate what he does; he fights evil. As simplistic as that may sound, one will only understand how great this is until you have been through hell and see someone at the end of the tunnel willing to help. I have to say this is by far my favorite graphic novel of all time.

Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(graphic_novel)
DC Comics link:
http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/graphic_novels/?gn=10157