Blankets

Blankets was just a beautiful book. I have no other way to describe it. I sat down to read some of it before I went to bed one night and I couldn't put it down. I was completely drawn in by his style of drawing right from the beginning. The stories of him and his little brother sharing a bed were both funny and intensely telling of his life. I found that the glimpses he gave us into his childhood were crucial for the entire book. The way the story unfolded seemed completely organic; there was nothing that seemed forced or unnecessary. I think that half the story was also told through the characters' body language. For instance, the conversation between Craig and Raina the first time he sleeps with her in her bed is filled with body language. You can see the way he pulls away from her that he doesn't want to at first and the way she leans forward tells us that she wants him to. I am always impressed when the pictures convey deeper meanings than the words above them. I think perhaps my favorite were the last few pages with the images all morphing into each other. The entire story really resonated with me as I struggle to discover my own beliefs and my own faith. I never had religion pushed on me like Craig did in the book, but I think that this is an almost universal battle that people go through. The way in which Thompson presented it was smooth, effortless and beautiful. I can see myself rereading this several times in the near future.

Preacher 2: Until the End of the World

I enjoyed this volume a lot more than the first. The story was crazy. It laid out the back stories of both Jesse and Tulip. You find out how they met and all about Jesse's horrific family. The characters in his family were quite scary. The grandmother was far and away the ugliest/creepiest character I have seen in a comic so far. I thought she sort of looked like the Other Mother in Coraline towards the end of the movie. I found myself sympathizing more with Jesse and understanding his actions more. I was also glad that Cassidy made an appearance in this book. I liked when he changed his accent to pretend to be Cassidy. (p.) I appreciated that there was a bit less killing and bloody scenes in this volume. It made it a little easier to read, I wasn't as grossed out. My favorite picture in this volume was on page 105 right after Jesse killed T.C. I thought it does a really good job of showing Jesse's new perspective and character. Even his clothes screamed "Bad Ass." I am excited to see how the story plays out in the next volumes.

The Preacher

I just finished the first volume of Preacher: Gone to Texas. Wow. I have never been so viscerally affected by a book (maybe with the exception of the scene in Crime and Punishment where they beat the horse to death). Preacher was so intense. There was nothing about it that was sugar coated; from the language to the pictures. I don't know if I liked it. I know it is good because of how I am reacting to it, but I can't say that I particularly enjoyed reading it. There was so much blood. I don't have a strong stomach for that kind of thing. So I will try to focus more on the story and the characters. The premise of the book is interesting. Preacher Jesse Custer combining with Genesis, the child of an angel and a demon, then deciding he has to find god, who quit a long time ago. To top it all off, he partners with a vampire, Cassidy, and his ex girlfriend, Tulip. Even the cops are crazy! Everyone in the book is crazy! The cops in Texas are crazy racists, but they all end up getting killed by the saint of killing and the cops in New York seem to be pathetic, closet homosexuals. Then there is Si Coltrane, the deranged serial killer/reporter. He is the quintessential bad guy who thinks it is all a joke, but his crimes are sick, far sicker than any other comic I have read. Of all the characters, Cassidy was my favorite because I thought he was funny and interesting. He believes that all humanity is messed up, but only kills those who are already dying or "deserve it." What a bizarre dichotomy, especially for a two thousand year old vampire. I also liked that you could tell he had an accent just from the way his speech is written. That must be a very hard thing to convey. I don't know if I will be able to read the whole series. I don't know if my stomach can handle it.

Y The Last Man cont.

Y The Last Man keeps getting better and better. I have read through volume 4 and plan on finishing 5 tonight. The pace of story stays exciting and interesting throughout it all and it rarely ever drags. I find that the dialogue also is easy to read and sounds natural. I like all the jokes that Yorick makes (even though most of them are pretty dumb). Vaughn does a good job developing all of his characters, even the small ones. For instance, when Yorick, Agent 355 and Dr. Mann were in Marrisville even the nameless faces of the women in the crowds had characters. The old lady in particular was well done; she was tough, but also empathetic. I think that Pia Guerra does an especially good job on the faces of the characters. Their faces always convey a lot of emotion and it makes the story more dynamic. A good example of some of the faces is on page 79 of the second volume.

In the third volume, One Small Step, the author reveals the reason behind the title of the story. It comes from a Mary Shelly novel called The Last Man, a story in which a plague where everyone dies except for Lionel the main character. In Y The Last Man a traveling group of actresses put on a play that they wrote about the last man on earth. The writer for the play was inspired by the appearance of the monkey Ampersand in their lives. Yorick ridicules the play and is distressed to find out that in the end of the play the last man kills himself.