Tuesday, January 31, 2006

SWEET ASS BOOK RECOMMENDATION

THE COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY: THE WRITERS
comes out wednesday!



I'll be definitely picking this up tomorrow! Adding it to our shelf, right next to the Manga-themed Special Edition and the Frank Miller issue. Summary from Fantagraphics:

"From the cool passion of sci-fi and occasional comics writer Harlan Ellison to the soap opera explorations and genre twisting of X-Men writer Chris Claremont and Howard the Duck creator Steve Gerber, between 1966 and 1985 a generation of writers emerged that changed the face of American comic books forever. Many were fans every bit as much as they were professionals, creative artists working from an understanding of what felt right on the comics page forged by years of close scrutiny above and beyond the final sales figures.

Some were tempered by exposure to new waves in cinema, new voices in writing, and new comics from Europe and Japan. Coming to comics at a time when the financial awards were poor and the chance for ownership of what one created was even poorer, these writers breathed new life into the dying icons of the past. Writers like Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Harlan Ellison, Marv Wolfman, Denny O'Neil, Mark Evanier, Mike Baron and Alan Moore infused comics like X-Men, Captain America, and Swamp Thing with a progressive social outlook that ran directly in the face of decades of simplistic might-makes-right pseudo-moralizing.

Some made their careers in other writing fields but toiled in comics out of a sense of loyalty and passion; others became comic book writers just out of their teens and never left. They were America's comic book children come home. The Comics Journal Library: The Writers celebrates the ascendancy of writer-driven mainstream comic books with a series of revealing, in-depth interviews, many conducted at the height of their influence."

360 pages, 6" x 9" Paperback $19.95

7 comments:

Jim said...

Hi Ryan--

How's it going?

For my J-horror class, I'm debating using the manga Ring for one of my texts. I have 2 questions.

1) Does this seem like a logical choice? I thought it tied in the with the movie. But is there something more interesting that you know of?

2) Can you think of any additional reading on manga that might be informative/interesting for the students? I guess I could always have them read something by Schodt.

My other thought, if I don't do the manga, is to have a unit on urban legends and use toire no hanako-san. But I can't really find any interesting material in English that would be accessible to freshmen. (But there is a great book in Japanese.)

Any suggestions?

My email is reichert@stanford.edu

Thanks,

JR

Ryan said...

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the post! I'm actually just starting a great book on Lafcadio Hearn that I wanted to tell you about! (Wandering Ghost- The Odyssey of Lafcadio Hearn by Jonathan Cott). Your class sounds supremely interesting, and I'd love to talk more about it. (I don't know a ton, but I think I can recommend some good resources).
I'll send you an email (with links and reading ideas) very soon. My address is: rsands@gmail.com

Thanks again for thinking of me,
Ryan

PS- I saw a film version of Toire No Hanakosan in the theater back in 1997 with my friend Evan, the guy I run this blog with. It was pretty creepy, and a really fond memory of my first trip to Japan.

Anonymous said...

Ryan and Evan (izzat dude back from the Midwest yet, maaaaaaang)

you guys have to come over to my SWEET NEW HOUSE! My roommate has a comprehensive comics library, including many volumes of weird and horrific manga. About 2/3 of that collection is Kazuo Umezu, a bunch of something called "Survivor" and at least one amazing Imiri Sakabashira book

YEAHHHHHHH

Anonymous said...

I don't know Hellen, but I wish I was in SF so I could tag along and see the Umezu. I've been sitting on an analysis of Drifting Classroom for years now. And I wish I could take Jim's class. But it would probably be too scary for me. And I'm scared of Toire no Hanakosan.

Jim said...

Ryan--

Thanks! I'm leaning toward the manga right now, since it's another medium, but related to Ringu. Besides, I just bought it.

I'm setting up a blog for the class, with encouragement from Adrienne. But it's moved from Lost in Space theme to something darker, so she's not into it anymore.

Anyway, keep in touch.

JR

Anonymous said...

Hey guys! I'm a student of Adrienne's at the University of Iowa. She referred me to your blog after mentioning that I really like the horror genre. I haven't gotten around to seeing all of your posts, but hope to sometime soon. Keep up the good work guys!

Ryan said...

hitckrock- Glad to hear that you found us randomly and liked the site :) Maruo is always close to our hearts... so you'll definitely be seeing more of his stuff on this here site in the future! Please keep coming back! :)