Graphic Novel Reading Group discussion

The Eisner Awards were given last sunday. Here's the link to the winners:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/1...


I haven't read most of those books but frankly I find it weird that Manara won the best international award. I'm sure there were much better books published than his.

Oh and Craig Thompson won an award for Habibi, one of our previous reads.

Johnny Ryan gives his abridged version of Blankets:



lol

Four things:
• When you get the opportunity, check out Sailor Twain. It was pretty awesome.

• 20th Century Boys is just truckin' right along. Only three more volumes 'til its conclusion (here in America at any rate).

• Patrick DeWitt's novel The Sisters Brothers is funny and violent and thoughtful and sweet.

• Korean dramas are pretty rad and if you have Netflix or Hulu or Viki, you should check out City Hunter. The first episode is strictly mediocre, but after they introduce the love interest in ep 2, the entire rest of the series is golden. It's like one 20-hour-long funny romantic action-revenge-thriller movie.

Hey GN group. Anyone here tonight?

Today Google has a really awesome animation dedicated to Little Nemo in Slumberland.

Check it out

http://www.google.com/doodles/107th-a...

Sérgio wrote: "Johnny Ryan gives his abridged version of Blankets:

that is perfect!




lol"

@Seth: I liked "The Sisters Brothers" too, should've won the Booker Prize last year.

@Sergio: Johnny Ryan is awesome - an outspoken lunatic, something we need more of in comics. Have you read his Prison Pit books? They're barmy and brilliant.

Barmy and brilliant... You're sounding very British there Sam. :)

@Sergio: Johnny Ryan is awesome - an outspoken lunatic, something we need more of in comics. Have you read his..."

I haven't read Prison Pit, though I'm curious about it. I really liked some of his body horror comics that I've read online (especially this one) and it seems that this series is in the same vein.

I also read some of his Angry Youth Comix and I thought they were enjoyable in small doses. The guy can be a bit extreme to say the least. :)

Anna (Bananas!) wrote: "Barmy and brilliant... You're sounding very British there Sam. :)"

Good thing I'm British then eh? ;)

Sam wrote: "Anna (Bananas!) wrote: "Barmy and brilliant... You're sounding very British there Sam. :)"

Good thing I'm British then eh? ;)"

OK, now you sounded Canadian, eh. :-)

LOL
Gotta love the Canadians too. I got bombarded with "eh"s at work the other day.
Is there anything quintessentially American I wonder?

Paul wrote: "Sam wrote: "Anna (Bananas!) wrote: "Barmy and brilliant... You're sounding very British there Sam. :)"

Good thing I'm British then eh? ;)"

OK, now you sounded Canadian, eh. :-)"

Sacre bleu!

Sam wrote: "Sacre bleu! ..."

Now you're mixing it ALL up.

Anna (Bananas!) wrote: "Sam wrote: "Sacre bleu! ..."

Now you're mixing it ALL up."

Well, I guess that's what makes an American

Don't know if anyone ever gets on kickstarter but its a good place to get new graphic novels, and back up and coming artists to get there stuff published. Usually for a small pledge if the project meets its target you get the reward from the pledge level you backed. I have backed 15+ projects and had some good stuff back.

Anyway an interesting looking graphic novel is on at the moment with 8 days left called Cyrus Ward, the artwork looks really good check it out.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1...

In Bladerunner, Harrison Ford is actually a replicant himself. How is this statement true.

Yes
He has pictures of past relationships that may be just memories.
It also has something to do with the unicorn origami. Unicorns being a shared replicant dream component.
Also, Scott has hinted he is a replicant.

Some other fave scifi movies are dark city, pi, primer, looper, vanilla sky, source code, 12 monkeys, Donnie darko, planet of the apes,west world, and matrix

Dave wrote: "Yes
He has pictures of past relationships that may be just memories.
It also has something to do with the unicorn origami. Unicorns being a shared replicant dream component.
Also, Scott has hinted ..."

You were close Dave, but you've got to fit unicorns, origami and dreams together for the solution.

My memory is not clear will need to watch it again.
Never read the book(s) it is based on.
Is it made more clear in the books?

Watch the film again that's how I learned it. The book is absolutely nothing like the film, Philip K Dick is so, so hard, man

Yes, in the film, Harrison Ford has dreams about a unicorn. At the end of the film the other dude left an origami unicorn behind for him to find, to let him know that he knows about his dreams, because they've been planted in his "mind". And I think he left the origami unicorn to warn him to run away because they would be exterminating him.
Something like that. Its been a while since the last time I've watched it, but I've seen it many times (and many different "cuts" of the film).

Yup
That is my memory, Peter
Sean, is there more?

Nope, But it always impresses when you sit down to watch the film with a few mates and casually say at the end 'So Harrison Ford was a replicant then'!!!. Try it.

For anyone interested in e-comics Dark Horse is giving away 50 e-comics for free. There are some good comics in the mix and you can't beat the price.

https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile...

I saw Iron Man 3 last night, has anyone else seen it yet?

Darryl wrote: "For anyone interested in e-comics Dark Horse is giving away 50 e-comics for free. There are some good comics in the mix and you can't beat the price.

https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile...-..."

Thanks for sharing that!

Thanks for free comics tip!
Didn't see Iron Man 3
Can't wait though
Can you give general review without giving it away ?
ie who are the characters in it, basic story line

I saw Oblivion
Loved it
It did homage to many other movies (star wars, planet of the apes, dune, matrix etc) but very entertaining.
Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman good
The lead women so-so
Starts slow
The surprise ending cool in a 'the watcher' way
:-)
Choreography stunning
Music cool
Overall, if like scifi or Tom Cruise, see it on the big screen

Yeah I loved Oblivion!

I posted a review on my blog which is here www.manofyesterday.wordpress.com I did a non-spoiler and a spoiler one. I'll just paste you the non-spoiler one.

I went to the midnight showing of Iron Man 3 last night. I was pretty psyched beforehand, but then I watched Iron Man and the last hour or so of Avengers which got me even more excited. The cinema was pretty packed with a good crowd although the actions of some fans at the end mystified me, I mean, surely if you go to a midnight showing you’re a pretty dedicated fan so you should know all the Marvel films have post-credit scenes yet a lot of people left in droves as soon as the credits started rolling. Anyway, first my non-spoiler review.

I have to say that while I like the first two Iron Man films I have a few issues with them. I feel that the final battles were anti-climactic, and Iron Man 2 felt more of an Avengers prologue than a genuine Iron Man film. Iron Man 3, on the other hand, is a seamless mesh of humour, action and drama which deepens Tony Stark’s character whilst providing a lot of laughs and explosions along the way. There were a few twists I didn’t see coming and the relentless pace made the film move along swiftly. While it mentioned the events of Avengers it wasn’t tied down to it which I’m glad about because while I love that there’s a shared universe, I don’t want to feel like I have to see every film to understand the others (having said that I’d probably see them all anyway).

Every character got a lot to do and Robert Downey Jr. was on top form again. There was no unnecessary angst and the conflict present naturally flowed from the characters. Credit has to be given to the editors of the trailer because there is a lot of the story that the trailers didn’t give any indication to, so prepare to be surprised.

Sounds cool
Hope can see it soon