Admittedly, one of the things I was most concerned about when trying to complete the entire list of books to read this year, graphic novels were one of my biggest fears.
Fear might not be the right word, though. Hesitation, I guess you could say. I’ve never really read comic books, and I was nervous about being able to finish a book once I started.
All those fears were unfounded, at least with the TWO graphic novels I chose to read: “Y: The Last Man: Unmanned” by Brian K. Vaughn and “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. I was so thankful that I have friends on Facebook that are more well-versed in these book that made these two EXCELLENT suggestions (Thanks, Kyle and Erin!)
“Y: The Last Man” tells the story of a world where suddenly, because of the birth of a clone, all the men on earth drop dead except for one (and his monkey). Little did I know, the book had many small ties to my own life: the main character’s girlfriend is an anthropologist in Austrailia, for example.
Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say about the book:
Yorick Brown is an escape artist; has a fabulous girlfriend who’s traveling in Australia; and possesses a genetic make-up that’s allowed him to survive a plague that killed every male being on the planet except for him and his pet monkey. Yorick is the last man on earth, and in the resulting chaos, he must find a way to help save the human race. At least that’s what the (now all-female) government thinks. Yorick would prefer to find his girlfriend, but it’s hard to get a flight halfway around the world when almost all the pilots and mechanics are gone. Furthermore, the entire social fabric has gone to hell, with gun-wielding wives of Republican representatives insisting on getting their husbands’ seats and tribes of latter-day Amazons claiming males were meant to die. Meanwhile, who are the mysterious Israeli soldiers who seem so gratified by the situation, and why is Yorick’s sister so intent on joining the Amazons? With clean lines and muted colors, Guerra and Marz n invoke a frighteningly believable future; their vision of the surprise and horror to come is so beautifully ordinary, it’s entirely convincing-and addictive.
And in case you needed more reason to step out of your comfort zone and pick up a comic book, here are a few more endorsements:
“Funny and scary … an utterly believable critique of society. A+”—THE WASHINGTON POST
“The best graphic novel I’ve ever read.”—STEPHEN KING
“This year’s best movie is a comic book.”—“ALL THINGS CONSIDERED,” NPR
“A seriously funny, nuanced fable…. Grade A.”—ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Y: THE LAST MAN, winner of three Eisner Awards and one of the most critically acclaimed, best-selling comic books series of the last decade, is that rare example of a page-turner that is at once humorous, socially relevant and endlessly surprising.
I will definitely be reading more graphic novels in the near future, and can’t wait to find out what happens to Yorick, the last man.
PBR & PEARLS 