My favorite work of literature/art

[KR Wordgazer]

Elfquest, a graphic novel series by Wendy and Richard Pini, has been my passion for five or six years now. It has amazing art, captivating stories, and fully developed, fascinating characters and character relationships. And guess what! For anyone who's interested, or even curious, every episode in the series is going to be posted and viewable online at the Elfquest website, free to all readers.

So if you like sci-fi fantasy, if you like manga-style comics (the Pinis were manga-influenced American graphic novel artists before the rest of us knew there was such a thing as manga!), or if you just want to check it out, the first issue/episode can be viewed right here:

Elfquest: Fire and Flight, Issue 1

And if you like it, have a look at the other issues!

[Metacrock]

Elfquest, a graphic novel series by Wendy and Richard Pini, has been my passion for five or six years now. It has amazing art, captivating stories, and fully developed, fascinating characters and character relationships. And guess what! For anyone who's interested, or even curious, every episode in the series is going to be posted and viewable online at the Elfquest website, free to all readers.

So if you like sci-fi fantasy, if you like manga-style comics (the Pinis were manga-influenced American graphic novel artists before the rest of us knew there was such a thing as manga!), or if you just want to check it out, the first issue/episode can be viewed right here:

Elfquest: Fire and Flight, Issue 1

And if you like it, have a look at the other issues!

by "graphic novel" that's sort of a mature comic book? Not putting that down at all, but I am into silver age comics myself. But I love great novels. my favorite is Ulyses by James Joyce.

[KR Wordgazer]

by "graphic novel" that's sort of a mature comic book? Not putting that down at all, but I am into silver age comics myself. But I love great novels. my favorite is Ulyses by James Joyce.

A "Graphic Novel" is any book written in graphic format-- which is also called "comic book" format. Some graphic novels are made by taking a numnber of issues of a comic book and putting them together into one complete story. Other graphic novels don't start out as comic books at all, but are full-length stories from the start. Manga (Japanese graphic novels) are usually published as small paperback books.

Graphic novels can be aimed at any age group. There are junior graphic novels for kids, young adult graphic novels, and adult graphic novels.

Due to a number of factors, many Americans still think of "comic books" as being 1) for kids 2) exclusively about superheroes. Though Elfquest started out in individual-issue magazine format, it has never been for kids and is not about superheroes. In fact, the graphic format is suitable for use in any genre. Graphic format is now being used for mystery, romance, general novel, science fiction, fantasy, you name it.

Elfquest was instrumental in the acceptance into regular bookstores of graphic novels in the United States, which has helped take this form of literature out of its "comic book" limited audience and into the mainstream. Graphic novels are one of the most popular kinds of literature read today. Still, for many Americans they still carry the superheroes-for-kids stigma and are not thought capable of being considered seriously. (The fact that not even superhero stories have ever been aimed exclusively at kids is beside the point.)

Elfquest is a richly told, richly drawn series about aliens on a primitive world, who took the shapes of what humans call "elves" and "trolls." They scattered across the primitive world and lost sight of their heritage. Their "quest" is to find their roots, recover their "Palace" space vessel, and one day return to the stars.

If you don't care for this genre, no problem. But if this description makes you curious, please click on the link! You won't be disappointed.

[Theognosis]

Better late than never, but thanks for the link, KR.

I agree that comics are not just for kids, and there are times when a tale is better presented in a graphical form rather than in a form of narrative, say, like stories that have a lot of visual effects. Afterall, a picture does tell a thousand words.

The downside of graphic novels is that the artists have a penchant of overdoing their creativity to the point wherein the visuals overshadow the story itself. This turns off the good story tellers from using this medium. Without the good writers, majority of the comic books turn into garbage. It's no wonder that the comic book industry today is in shambles.

But in rare moments when the author and the writer blend well, nothing can express the thoughts of an author more than a comic book can. Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman, is a case in point. I would say that his writing together with P. Craig Russel's art on Sandman #50: Ramadan was pure genius. That's basically my favorite single-issue comic book of all time. I even think that it's the best short story, period. Unfortunately for the comic book industry, he's now doing paperback, and the last time I checked, he had a best-seller. Boring.

[KR Wordgazer]

My favorite graphic novel series is going to be a movie!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... c10b0cc474

[QuantumTroll]

I'm a fan of Girl Genius: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com. Kick-ass steampunk adventure!

This tale of robots in a post-human society is also extremely well-told. http://www.moderntales.com/comics/wain.php . Unfortunately it seems like the artists/writers are never going to finish it

Thanks for the pointer to ElfQuest!

[Metacrock]

I'm a fan of Girl Genius: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com. Kick-ass steampunk adventure!

This tale of robots in a post-human society is also extremely well-told. http://www.moderntales.com/comics/wain.php . Unfortunately it seems like the artists/writers are never going to finish it

Thanks for the pointer to ElfQuest!

don't any of you guys like writers like James Joyce or William Faulkner? You know, "real" literature?

[KR Wordgazer]

Not Faulkner or Joyce, no. I like Jane Austen, Dickens (when he's not too wordy), Mark Twain, and a lot of the poets-- Tennyson, Browning, Keats, Byron, Edna St. Vincent Milay. . .

Graphic novels, stories told in sequential art form, have suffered from the misnomer "comics" as a blanket description of the genre, since "comics" implies lack of seriousness by the very name. It doesn't mean the medium can't be used to tell serious stories or is incapable of producing "real" literature. The old "Comic Book Code" also really dealt a blow to how the medium of sequential art as a literary form was, and still is, perceived.

Don't let the combination of stories and pictures prejudice you against the content, Joe. It's true a lot of it is still superhero fantasy and not much else. But that's changing now. And even the superhero ones are getting more serious, more adult.

I know you like superhero comics. Check out some of these other things, too!

[QuantumTroll]

don't any of you guys like writers like James Joyce or William Faulkner? You know, "real" literature?

Joyce and Faulkner are hacks.

Hehe, I crack me up. But yeah, they're not my cup of tea, exactly. Too inaccessible for readers who aren't already familiar with the literary culture of the time, too dry, too heavy.

My favorite author is Hermann Hesse. I find myself relating to his protagonists in different ways as I walk the line between Narcissus and Goldmund, between Castalia and the outside world, between engaging in Samsara and pursuing Nirvana.

I agree with KR, though. Graphic novels are just a medium. What authors/artists choose to portray is largely up to them and the culture that consumes them. There are some damn fine stories in there among the admittedly huge preponderance of puerile material.