sasha_feather | Entries tagged with comics

2 songs from the Decemberists that I am into lately,

( Read more... )

Read recently:

"Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan, which I picked up at a thrift store. This was cute and an easy read; overall I liked it. But strong warning for fat phobia throughout the book that is treated as comic relief. The story is about two teens named Will Grayson; one is gay and one is straight. They have a friend in common, a large guy who is sarcastically called Tiny. Tiny is both fat and tall and hardly a page goes by without one of the two narrators commenting on this fact.

"Passport" a graphic/ comics memoir. The story was dull but the art was gorgeous. Mostly it's a coming of age, teen story about friendships.

"Grand Theft Horse", a graphic /comics biography. Just the opposite: the story here is super fascinating, the art is a little too busy. Loved it though.

Two audio books I listened to in the car but did not finish:
"Second Chance Dog" by John Katz. Feels like a book that is meant to be skimmed or read in waiting rooms because there is a lot of repeated information and the reading level is low. Not great on audio so I bounced off it.

"Alone on the Ice", an antarctic expedition book. Interesting and I gave it a fair shot, but way too long and detailed for me-- it's 10 discs!

Graphic novel recs from PBS "articulate show"

( Read more... )

I recommend all of these graphic novels / memoirs! These notes are copied over from my Goodreads page

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos
by Lucy Knisley

This books is mostly the author's own pregnancy story, but she intermixes the chapters with information about history and feminism in relation to conception and pregnancy. She provides clear and concise explanations and contextualizes her experience (which is my JAM!!). Her feelings about people who choose to be parents and people who choose not to be parents are the same as mine: we should all be supporting each other. I feel like I'd be friends with Ms. Knisley if I ever met her.

Content notes: miscarriage, nausea/vomiting, surgery and hospitalization, doctors gaslighting the author.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
by Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O'Connell

A masterwork. Emotional, realistic, at times heartbreaking. Stunningly beautiful. A book worth returning to, to contemplate the art and the emotions. I loved the spare use of color, the gorgeous page layouts. I love that the people populating this story look like real people. A serious, thoughtful, emotional journey about a teenage lesbian who is in love with someone who is bad for her.

content notes: underage sex is discussed but not depicted. An unwanted pregnancy occurs.

Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey
by Özge Samanci

Oh I absolutely loved this story about the creator's childhood and young-adulthood. She talks about life in Turkey including some politics and brutality. Her illustrations are whimsical. Sometimes a little bird comments upon the action, and sometimes she talks to Jacques Cousteau via a poster. Samanci studies math in an attempt to please her father, and eventually learns that it's OK to take a different path.

Content notes: physical child abuse (in school). She's attacked once while at college and it is quite scary but she is OK. A minor bus accident. A fraught relationship with her father who is a yelling kind of a person.

Some comics I've read recently!

Diabetes: year one by Tony Pickering.
This is self-published, you can find it at the creator's website: http://pick-art.co.uk/

A gorgeous colored-pencil memoir, with poetry and snapshots of experience rather than a traditional narrative. This gets at the overwhelming nature of having a complex chronic illness. Loved it. No content notes.

Alan's War: The memories of GI Alan Cope. By Emmanuel Guibert.

I had such mixed feelings about this.

The artist sat down with his friend, Alan, and recorded his stories, then put them into this book and illustrated them. Though Cope was born and grew up in America, this is translated from the French. The art is very good and most of the stories are funny, intelligent observations about being in the military in the 1940s.

Cope did not see combat, so many of the stories are of a lighter nature. For instance, when his group of soldiers finally gets to France (which has just been liberated), they sit around for 2 months waiting for their weapons and vehicles to arrive. Cope talks about funny things like getting bit on the dick by a mosquito, and getting into hijinks with his fellow soldiers. There were a few harrowing experiences involving tanks and armored cars. I got the sense that quite a few people were injured or even died just from accidents. I liked reading about the food they ate and how Cope learned to drive a tank.

The second half of the book is about Cope's post-war life, and it is, frankly, boring. It did not feel important, or like it was going anywhere. He lived in California for a bit before returning to live in Germany and France. He talks about befriending Germans and seemed to lack any self-awareness or self-criticism about spending time with people who were Nazis. He says that they weren't supposed to fraternize with the Germans, but his nature was to fraternize with everyone, everywhere he went.

Cope seems like he had intense friendships with men, and a curiosity about gay people. There are several anecdotes about gay people he knew, and in one case he said he even regretted not kissing a gay friend as a "gesture" that would have made his friend feel better. Cope had a great friend Lou during Army training, and people made remarks that the two of them might have "certain tendencies." Later, he thinks that Lou has died in the war, but gets a letter and finds out that Lou is alive. He says the day he received this letter was the "best day of his life," even better than when his kids were born. My dude. That's gay. But it seems like Cope never acknowledged or explored this side of himself. He married twice, but doesn't talk about either of his wives or his family life much in this book. So, that made me sort of sad.

Watching:
The Magicians on Netflix. This took me a couple of tries to get into, and I mostly listened to seasons 1 and 2 rather than watching closely. But towards the end of season 2 I started to genuinely enjoy it. The characters have grown on me.

Listening:
Hozier's new album Wasteland, Baby, on youtube. UGH IT'S SO GOOD I CAN'T HANDLE IT.

Reading:
Some queer comics!

I enjoyed Taproot immensely. One of the things I really liked about it is a spoiler for the story. This book is a dream-like tale of a gardener and a ghost who are friends. It is lovely, slightly creepy, a pleasure to look at and read. It is by Keezy Young.

Calling Dr. Laura is a graphic memoir by Nicole Georges. It is largely about her relationships with her mother, who is a Piece of Work, and with a couple of girlfriends. She explores the possibility that her father might not be dead, and that her mother has been lying to her. I really enjoyed this!

Current Music: Hozier - movement

This is a holiday letter that I may or may not send to my family. I am trying to be more open and honest, and, when it comes to the biologicals, this does not come naturally to me.

2018 year in review

Holiday greetings to you!

I’m still living in the same cozy apartment in Madison, with my very wonderful roommate Christina, and my Greyhound Abbie. This year we added a snake to the house: an orange corn snake named Finnegan. He eats frozen mice. Abbie and I frequently walk at the nearby dog park, where we have a lot of friends, both canine and human. Christina and I enjoy playing Lego games on our old 2nd-hand Xbox.

This year I volunteered frequently with LGBT Books to Prisoners, a local non-profit. We sent about 2600 packages of books to prisoners across the US this year. At volunteer sessions, we pick out books specific to each individual from a library of donated books, typically 4-5 books to a package. Popular requests are dictionaries, composition books, language learning books, how-to-draw books, and queer fiction. Recently, I was fortunate to be able to attend a lecture by Mariame Kaba, who spoke about prison abolition. Through these experiences I’ve been learning a lot about how prisons exist to harm people.

I was lucky to be able to attend two plays this year: “As You Like It” at American Players Theater, which is outdoors, and “Fun Home” (based on the Alison Bechdel book), at the Overture Center in Madison. Fun Home was an especially amazing production.

I enjoyed attending my comic book club, which meets once a month. Some of my favorite comic books that I read in 2018 were: Sleepless by Sarah Vaughn and Leila del Duca; My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata; and Hawkeye: Anchor Points by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero.

Over Thanksgiving, I got to see my family, including seven niblings aged 4 to 13. (“Nibling” is a new word I learned that is a gender-neutral word for niece or nephew). We had a lot of fun playing in the barn and competing at Apples to Apples.

I spend a lot of my time managing my health. I was officially diagnosed with RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) in 2012. RA is an autoimmune illness that can affect all parts of the body. Because of the RA, I get tired easily and must rest a lot. I have nerve pain in my face, which may or may not be related to the RA, which I also largely manage with rest. I am very grateful to family and friends who have supported me in many ways through this illness.

Best wishes to you and yours!

----

Poll #20919

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32

View Respondents

So, what did you think?

View Answers

Kudos!
32 (100.0%)

(x-posted to goodreads)

Heathen vol 1 by Natasha Alterici
https://vaultcomics.com/comic/heathen/

I really enjoyed this story. Aydis is a young Viking warrior woman who was cast out of her clan for being gay. She has an animal companion, a horse named Saga. The horses are drawn so beautifully in this comic! Aydis is on a quest to free Brynhild, a Valkryie, from a curse.

What I didn't like about this comic: everyone goes around with no shirt on, despite winter weather, despite the need for fighting in battles. The women are very thin and sexified. Now, as a lesbian myself, you'd think I'd be here for that. But it just made me constantly think about how cold Aydis must be in her little bikini top, with zero body fat. There's a goddess who walks around with her boobs out and it's just like... is this necessary? There don't appear to be any fat women or even big and muscular women in this universe, which makes no sense to me. Warrior women should have some heft to them.

I did like the women-positive, "heathen"-positive, message of this comic.

HotBlood! by Toril Orleski

I think I'm not the target audience of this book. I did enjoy the colors and the drawings of Western landscapes. (Note: i read the collected issues in book form. this is a webcomic that was kick started.)

My problem is that I did not like the characters. Both Asa, the human, and Rook, the centaur, seem to be amoral people. Asa is the manager of an iron mine, and is responsible for 2 deaths in the mine. He admits this to Rook and he justifies it to himself. Rook doesn't seem to care either. Later they try (and fail) to rob a train and I wasn't even sure why. The train crashes spectacularly and Rook shoots some one in the shoulder. People who don't mind or even like reading about bad people, will like this book more than I did.

Rook and Asa fall in love, and we see them kissing and cuddling, but the mechanics of centaur/human gay sex are completely elided, so don't look here if you are trying to figure that one out.

I really enjoyed "Sleepless" (vol 1) by Sarah Vaughn, Leila del Duca (Artist), Alissa Sallah (Colorist), Deron Bennett (Letterer); Image comics 2018.

One of the most beautiful comics I've seen recently: rich colors, realistic characters, gorgeous outfits and hair. Exciting plot featuring court intrigue. A cute fennec fox. A sympathetic main character. Highly recommended if you like fantasy (esp. court intrigue) and like good art. Ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. content note for blood.

I am watching Daredevil season 3, and finding it pretty enjoyable; so far much better than season 2 was.

comic, published by First Second, 2018.

This review is cross-posted at Goodreads.
( Read more... )

My best books of the year:
Ancillary trilogy by Ann Leckie - SF novels
My Brother's Husband - manga
Rosalee Lightning - visual memoir
O Human Star by Blue Dellaquanti - comic
Mockingbird: vol 1 - comic
The Facts of life by Paula Knight - visual memoir
Spinning by Tillie walden - visual memoir
The Best that we could do - visual memoir
The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal - comic

Goodreads seems to be glitching and not updating my shelves, which worries me a little; I may try and transfer my list of book over here.

The last two books I read and enjoyed were both comics:
Mockingbird by Cain et al.
The Legend of Korra, Turf Wars, Michael Dante DiMartino, et al.

laceblade and I hung out tonight. Our last night at the Opus, as it is closing. It's such a chill place with such good food and drinks; I hope they open in another location.

We then saw a French animated film based on the Grimm Fairy Tale, The Girl without Hands. We really enjoyed it. The film is very concerned with bodies, which is interesting and refreshing. The animation was unusual and gorgeous.
here is the trailer:
https://youtu.be/ANbYvxpqx8A
(content note for film: violence against women, one depiction of someone who comitted suicide, some scary animals, blood).

A beautifully drawn, honest coming-of-age memoir centered on the world of competitive skating. The drawings are fascinating and understatedly emotional. I read this fairly long graphic memoir in one sitting. Walden's social anxiety and coming out story are intensely relatable.

This author-artist is just 21, and I eagerly look forward to her future work.

Content notes: bullying, an incident of attempted sexual assault, dealing with homophobia

Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart is close to being a perfect work of art.

This graphic memoir has a youtube trailer in which the author talks about why he made it:
https://youtu.be/7cajcXj0-rE

Content note: death of a child

The author masterfully uses the comics form to talk about intense grief; nature and time; and connection with other people.

Previous post on this subject: https://sasha-feather.dreamwidth.org/1025648.html

While talking with Jesse about how to *really* get at what I want to describe, rather than male gaze or female gaze, what we came up with was empathetic or empathizing gaze vs. Objectifying gaze.

I like accuracy of language, as you have probably figured out if you've known me a while.

You can divide any image into thirds. Your eye will fall onto the top third line or bottom third line of the frame. What sits on this line? Objectifying images often have breasts and hips of women at the top and bottom thirds. Empathethic gaze images will have the subject's eyes at the top third line (or sometimes the center or bottom third) of the image; the point is that you are focusing on their eyes and that encourages you to feel what they are feeling.

TJ and Amal (http://tjandamal.com/) is a good example of empathetic gaze in a comics medium.
Also see:
Mad Max: Fury Road
Moonlight - notice the focus on eyes and hands in the trailer (https://youtu.be/9NJj12tJzqc)

I read the first two volumes of "Sex Criminals" by Fraction and Zdarksy. I was annoyed because it has a great concept but could have been so much better than it is.

( Read more... )

Fiction:
Mission Child by Maureen McHugh

Non-Fiction:
Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Activist by Jacqueline Jaeger Houtman, Walter Naegle, and Michael G. Long

Comics and Graphic Novels:

The Infinite Wait and other stories by Julia Wertz
Seconds, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Ms. Marvel volumes 1 and 2 by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona
The Midas Flesh vol. 1 by Ryan North, Braden Lamb, Shelli Paroline, Steve Wands
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Saga, vol. 4 and 5 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

I read a few books and comics about black history lately. I recommend all of these. This are all fairly easy from a reading-level standpoint and are suitable for middle-grade readers and up.

Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Activist by Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, and Michael G. Long.

An openly gay black man in the 30s, 40s, and later, Rustin was a Quaker peace activist. He was the main organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He also worked to integrate buses in North Carolina 8 years before Rosa Parks, and for that he spent 3 weeks on a chain gang. He was a talented singer, speaker, and organizer, who also protested against nuclear testing. This book is a quick read and beautifully done.

March: books 1 and 2 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell.

Beautiful and interesting comics about John Lewis' life as an activist. The first book is about his early life growing up on a farm in GA, and working as a college student to integrate lunch counters in Nashville. The second book is about the Freedom Riders, which was pretty intense, and the March on Washington. The third book is forthcoming.

Strange Fruit vol 1: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History by Joel Christian Gill

Vignettes about black people (mostly men) from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Includes the man who was the inspiration for the Lone Ranger; the Black Cyclone (a competitive bicyclist); and a chess master. Some stories are sad, some are funny, some are inspiring. My favorite part is the sly, off-beat humor. For example, when a boy's parents send him off on a train trip, a sign declares the platform as 9 3/4.

I really liked The Hospital Suite by John Porcellino, a graphic memoir focusing on the author's experiences with illnesses. He has mysterious and severe gut pain, which turns out to be a tumor (non cancerous) requiring surgery. He loses a lot of weight and has trouble gaining it back. Eventually, though natural and alternative medicine, he starts to feel better physically, but then his old problems with anxiety and OCD act up, causing problems with his marriage. There are some intense descriptions in here including self-harm, thoughts of suicide, OCD symptoms, and food issues, which some readers will no doubt want to avoid or approach with caution.

I loved the no-nonsense honesty of this book. Porcellino doesn't have a lot of regard for his doctors, who misdiagnose him and don't show him much compassion. He furthers his studies with Buddhism and finds comfort in koans. Especially stark for me were panels depicting experiences of pain and mental illness, successfully using simple line drawings to show tension and pain.

What I continually admire from graphic memoirists is their ability to be so forthright about their experiences. Body, mind, soul, relationships are laid out on the page for all to see. I wonder if the simple cartoon format works as a distancing mechanism for the author.

Highly recommended.

Some things I've been reading:

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. Really enjoyed this! Some of the comics were emotional, so I read it in short bits. The one about the toy parrot made me laugh so hard I gave myself a coughing fit. Some of these I had read before on the web; some are new material. The comics about depression are in here, and may be difficult for some readers.

Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh. I hated this a lot. The art and colors are gorgeous but the story was not for me at all. I don't need to read about dysfunctional lesbian relationships where the people seem like unhappy liars and then one of them dies. This is a love story?

Stand Fast in your Enchantments by

devildoll. I loved this Teen Wolf story a lot! I just started reading TWoof even though I don't watch the show much-- I've really been enjoying fanfic and looking for new things to read, and this is what my friends are into. This Derek/Stiles story is largely about communication. At first Derek can't speak because he's trapped in wolf form, and then later because he's just bad at talking about his feelings, or bad at talking, and I can relate to that a lot (it seemed like/reminded me of selective mutism). Luckily, Stiles is a very good problem solver. This fic also keeps going after the point where a lot of stories would end, and I loved that-- it deals with the consequences of a traumatic event in their lives, the fallout, and they really have to live with the complexities of being in a relationship. It's not easy for Stiles and Derek, and the ending is earned. Totally excellent.

Recently Finished

Maus I and II by Art Speigelman

I've thought about these a lot since finishing them.

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell

A funny comic diary and reflections on the author's life as a young artist in NYC. I loved this! She takes odd jobs, lives in tiny apartments with other artists, and hangs out with her boyfriend. She knows how to construct a funny and very short tale about her real life and the characters she meets. I wish she hadn't used the r-word a couple of times in this book.

Currently reading

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. A reread for me of this gorgeous graphic novel. It's a very comforting book. I hadn't noticed the racist portrayal of the gypsy woman before. :(

Monkey Food: the Complete "I was 7 in '75" Collection by Ellen Forney.

Very funny tales from Ellen's childhood. Her parents are Unitarian pot-smoking professionals. I'm not very far yet.

What will you read next

More comics! For my lightning talk at WisCon!

Not Love but Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! by Fumi Yoshinaga

And some other comics, specifically by women, especially by women who are women of color and/or Muslim. (Thank Twitter Friends for helping me!) Not all of these will be included. I obviously have to read and select from this list.
On my hold list at the library:
Air by G. Willow Wilson
Cairo by G. Willow Wilson
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (have read before)
The Sigh by Marjane Satrapi
The Magical Life of Long Tam Sack by Anne Marie Fleming
Nylon Road by Parsua Bashi
Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga (have read before)
Forget Sorrow by Belle Yang
Everything by Lynda Barry (have read some of her other works)
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden (have read)

Profile

sasha_feather

April 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Green for Basic Boxes by branchandroot

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Apr. 23rd, 2025 07:27 am

Horses are good company -- The Witcher

You never can take the fight out of the fish --Dessa

Entries tagged with comics

Some music and books!

PBS show on comics / graphic novels

comics recs

Comics thoughts

Media moment

2018 holiday letter / year in review

2 queer comics

Rec: sleepless comic

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Best books of 2017

goodbye Opus, we will miss your champagne cocktails

Rec: Spinning, by Tillie Walden

Quick Rec: Rosalee Lightning

Empathetic gaze

Sex Criminals, vol 1 and 2

Best books I read in 2015

wow it's a book post!

The Hospital Suite

Reading meme