Saturday, July 18, 2009

Getting Graphic

I find it very hard to get much reading done, but have managed to read a few graphic novels lately:

"Maus", by Art Spiegelman
Tells the story of the author's father and mother, who were Jewish and survived WW2 in Poland. The Jews are depicted as mice, Nazis as cats, Poles were pigs - seems a little bit Animal Farm from what I'm writing, but that's where the similarities end. They story is probably just as it came from the Author's Father's mouth, but the drawings of humanoids with animal heads make it just bearable to read, given the horrors that went on at the time. Brilliant. There are actually 2 books, but the book I read was actually 2 volumes in one.


Moomin - the complete Tove Jannson Comic strip


Tove Jannson - author of the Moomintroll children's books - released comics in strips in the 50's, and these were compiled into 3-4 volumes. We've been lent the first one. I never read them as kids, but am enjoying them. They are different to the books, apparently, which are a lot more whimsical - I'm saving them to read aloud to my son when he's old enough. But the comics have funny stories about the Moomins, who are somewhat naive creatures living a quiet, plain life in Finland. I can't imagine anything like this being written today - they have a nice innocence about them.