Smorgasbord Fantasia

Choosing to fully flesh out the monster in each one of us, Marjorie Liu , NYtimes bestselling author of works like Hunter Kiss series and comics like Dark Wolverine and Black Widow, literally brings out an exhilarating interpretation to this: Turning her attention to medieval China, layering in a fully realised and a wonderfully epic world (daresay the likes of which hasn't been seen in Graphic novels in recent times!) she and artist Sana Takeda in collaboration, have churned out this groundbreaking series, Monstress (Volume 1 & 2 are out - Vol.3 will hit the stands around Sept) After having quickly run through the first two volumes, I think this one takes the podium, displacing the meandering bloated Saga (currently at Volume 8) from my mind as the best ever running series for a graphic novel. Captivating storytelling that is nuanced, deep and backed up by some brilliant swirling artwork. Set in a sprawling fully realised magical world that is inspired by the early 190...

So I usually never finish a graphic novel at one shot. I am extremely attention deficient, more so with graphic novels than other means. But this book, my god! I had read Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and his earlier works on the Dark Knight Universe. So when I wandered into this book-store and saw the thirty percent discount tag on Dark Knight – The Master Race I had to just sweep this gorgeous black hardcover novel right off the shelf and run straight to the billing. And then I checked right into the closest coffee bar and went right down, devouring the same. And was I hooked! I mean, like being completely riveted to the glorious art-work, puzzled by the non-linear narrative, awed by the final coming together of story lines and plot resolution. It happens rarely. I loved SAGA – and I was impressed by the Unwritten . But this? Frank Miller ’s blockbuster re-entry to the DC Universe after The Dark Knight Returns polarized the world into solid haters of Gotham’s dark hero and...

Maybe 2015 is the year of Graphic Novels for me. For some weird reason, I never seem to get to like a graphic novel series so much that I want to finish it off. Buddha – the 8-volume series by Ozuma Tezuka was a stunning achievement. I raced on until book-6 and then never really went back to those books. I started reading The Unwritten – hopefully I will read them again ( I am currently on Vol.3) So that brings me to the multiple award-winning series, Saga by Brian K Vaughan/Fiona Staples. This series first caught my attention when one of good friends, whose taste in books I respect was raving about it. It really had to be good – so to have Akshat actually rave about it. He never does actually. So when finally I bought this book Volume 1 of the series on a steal deal from Amazon, I settled in for a good nice session of reading – in my newly renovated terrace-garden. To call this book a brazen little powder-keg of mind-blowing imagery full of revolutionary ideas that mo...

Irreverant, lush, evocative, poignant and most decidedly epic.  The 8-volume Buddha series by Osama Tezuka, widely revered in Japan as the grandfather of Manga, is a sprawling, awe-inspiring work of art and fiction that is stunning in the scope of its vision and achievement. I jumped a book – and dove straight into book two : The Four Encounters that sees a 13-year old Siddhartha come to terms with the evils in life – the themes of the caste system that draws strict lines of divides in the society, the differences between the rich nobility and the poor mendicants of the streets – and teaches him about the frailty of life and the inevitability of death and introduces him to the concept of the cycles of life. I know I have missed a masterpiece by not having read book one, Kapilavastu but I have resolved to correct that error. Have ordered book 1 and 3. Buddha is in many ways, a confusing series as it crisscrosses across multiple characters and timelines but Tezu...