So I haven't let my tastes invade into this blog too much. These infrequent posts have been mostly focused on social issues. While I would love to rave about bands that you should really check out (the weakerthans) because while they have found a measure of fame here in Canada (the weakerthans) if there was any justice in the world everyone would know about them (the weakerthans). That seems to be the function of most blogs in the world now, and considering the fact I'm not a music/movie/book critic, I don't see why you should care about what I enjoy.
That being said, there is one thing I feel obligated to talk about (no, it's not the weakerthans--but seriously, go listen to that band right now). It's not a single band or book, it's in fact an entire medium: comics. It's my opinion that everyone needs to open their eyes to an incredible way of storytelling that is largely ignored. I'm not talking about Spider-Man--and I'm sorry if someone is hurt after having their expectations raised by the title--though I fully admit to growing up on Marvel and still occasionally reading superhero comics, but rather...grown up ones. They can be serious or humorous, and some involve fantastic elements, but most of them are stories of everyday life. Some people call these comics 'illustrated storytelling', which is a pretentious mouthful to me. The other term you'll hear is graphic novel, which is for longer works--pretty descriptive, actually.
To properly illustrate (ha, ha) my enthusiasm, I'll say this: if I liked drawing and could do anything other than stickmen, I would be all over this. Illustrations are another language that can be used to help along a story in fascinating ways. A good example is Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegalman. It's a story of a Polish Jew during WW2, told from the point of view of the man's son. In it, every nationality is an animal--Americans are dogs, Poles are pigs. Most notably, the Nazis are cats, and the Jews mice. The way in which some people/animals are drawn is a fascinating commentary on racism and identity that wouldn't be possible with a normal book. In short, it's really good. In 1992 the Pulitzer committee, finding Maus so hard to classify, invented a new category solely to honour it. Yeah. I've even studied it in a university English class.
I'm not going to push much, but one of my favourites is Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, which I've mentioned previously. Also, there is an another amazing one available for free on the internet. It's called Papercut and is drawn by Michael Cho, go here to read it.
When most people hear me talk about 'comics' they ask if I've left my parent's basement. If you just push past that stigma you'll find a treasure trove of some truly wonderful stories. So go read them!
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