Ariel Cummins
When was the last time you picked up a book with pictures? Elementary school? Middle school? In society, saying you just read the latest web comic installment hardly gives you the credit that saying you read a dull book labeled a “classic” does. In reality, graphic novels stimulate the mind with a blend of vivid art and engaging dialogue that leaves you breathless. So drop that dusty volume of Moby Dick that you never finished and pick up the latest Marvel installment.
A twisting story drawn with an artist’s eye, this distinctive book weaves a web of ordinary friendship laced with extraordinary circumstances. Two groups of teenage friends encounter magical pencils, mystical Canadian beasts, and stolen kids while steadily trooping through the more ordinary perils of life. The art style may seem childish, but it only adds to the compelling atmosphere of a teenage dream with a twisted background
Perhaps you loved the movies and now you want to learn more. Maybe you found a stash under an older sibling’s bed. Anyways, you want to know more about the wonderful world of comics. The X-Men is a great place to start. With a multitude of characters from every walk of life, you’re sure to find at least one to empathize with and claim as your own. With a bright, clear art style you can’t help but feel as if you’ve been plunged into the trials of the X-Men, which smack eerily of our own.
At first look, this book looks just plain dull. An insecure teenage girl’s account of self-discovery. Yawn. But then you thrown in Russian culture, a simplistic style, and a vengeful ghost. Welcome to Anya’s Ghost, the story of a Russian-American girl who’s desperately trying to rid herself of parasitic ghost. This book flows like a river of gloriously simple art but is full of toothy, heated, scenes. Beware, you might rediscover your healthy fear of the thing in your closet.
These two books are a breath-taking account of the bloody Boxer Rebellion from opposite sides. Told by Little Bao and Vibinia, this story guides you from innocent childhood to murderous bloodshed in rural China. Vibina is visited by visions of Western saints, while Little Bao is taken in by his Chinese Gods. These twin tomes are not for the weak-hearted, seeing as they show the gore that coats the glory of war.
If you think manga is a girly wannabe comic book filled with big-eyed damsels and overly-muscled men, this book will prove you dead wrong. The inhabitants of this world are in constant danger of having their souls eaten by the deadly Kishin and their homes destroyed by evil witches. Fortunately, humans are protected by teams of meisters and weapons. Weapons are humans that can transform into deadly tools of destruction, while meisters are the ones who wield them. Young duos are trained at an academy run by Lord Death himself, and are sent out into the world to collect 100 kishin and 1 witch soul in order to convert their weapons to Death Scythes. One of the main protagonists is a girl, and the only eyelash-batting she does is blinking the dust of recently destroyed enemies out of her eyes. This series is not just for action-junkies, seeing as it explores the gray area of morality and the philosophy of mortality. This book might just make a convert out of you naysayers.
An epic tale that doesn’t bore the modern reader, the Odyssey revels in a world of beautiful destroyers. A man is tossed around at the whim of the gods, traveling through foreign lands and battling beasts that have become legendary. A great classic like this is accompanied by breath-taking artwork that has never seen a computer.
