More Graphic Novels, Movies, Etc

I started reading the first book of the Akira manga again a few days ago. It's a collection of the series compiled into 6 books. I only have one so far. This would have to be the epitome of the Japanese manga because the characters are drawn in the typical manga style. In the same way that the anime epitomizes what a great anime is supposed to be.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that Akira was one of my favorite, actually probably my favorite, animes ever. The reason being that the artwork is so crisp and the colors so vivid. Along with the post apocalyptic storyline and action sequences, I can't see how anyone wouldn't immediately like it. Every single aspect of it is excellent, even the music is good. I have two version of it, a Letterbox VHS tape from the late 80s, and the remastered DVD version from about 5 years ago. I didn't think it was possible for it to look and sound any better, but it does. And I can only watch it with the original Japanese audio. I hate any film that is dubbed. I rather hear the original language and read subtitles. It takes away so much from it. 

A perfect example of this would be the Japanese anime Paprika. I just started watching it and I think if it was dubbed I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I did. There are alot of cultural references in Japanese films (and also other foreign films, obviously) that seem to get lost in the translation through dubbing. But anyways, about the movie... If you want to see a trippy movie, this is a good one to watch. It feels like the people making were either stoned or thinking about being stoned. The images change back and forth so rapidly and you really don't know what just happened sometimes. It's sort of like a cross between Inception and The Science of Sleep. It's hard to describe but I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of either anime or animation in general.


In terms of non-Japanese animation, I don't think I could pick a favorite. But up near the top would have to be Fantastic Planet, directed by Rene Laloux. The animation is really primitive, it kind of looks like cut outs at times, but the objects and aliens are really unique. The music is even better than the art. Some of the music was sampled by Madlib on the first Quasimoto album. You can hear the difference for yourself.




Original music:




Quasimoto - Come on Feet (sampled)



I tend to enjoy alot more foreign films than I do American, but to me the quintessential American animatior/director would have to be Ralph Bakshi. I read that alot of times he would film live actors and animate them to create the fluid movement he's known for in his movies. Talk about gritty though, I love the way he would make very adult oriented cartoons. Kind of reminds me of Robert Crumb. Actually his first full length film was Fritz the Cat, based on a R. Crumb comic. And there's alot of drug use and nudity in most of his films.


Fritz the Cat




Speaking of R. Crumb, he is probably one the best comic illustrators ever. I've said many times how I like gritty art, well he shows you exactly how gritty a person can look. He draws people exactly the way you don't want to see them, with wrinkles and lines throughout and very detailed to say the least. I've been wanting to get his Illustrated Book of Genesis, not because of the literary content, but for the artwork. I've always wanted to buy one of his limited prints, but they tend to get pretty expensive. All of his work does actually. Even some of his books of anthology which are just compiled reprints of his previous works go for $100 or more.


I guess it could be confused for a graphic novel. But then again that title seems to be used very loosely nowadays. Which I think is good. In my opinion they don't all have to be gigantic book like those that Will Eisner wrote. Although most people do credit him with creating and/or refining the genre.

.One of the best early graphic novels written is a book by Dino Buzzati called Poem Strips. It takes place in a sort of purgatory that the main character ventures into to find his lost love. There's an erotic undertone to it as well. I first heard about it on the illustration blog A Journey Round My Skull. There are some good excerpts there, and all together it's a really excellent blog. They feature alot of artwork from book and magazine covers from as early as the 1920's and beyond.

One of the first graphic novels I bought was La Perdida by Jessica Abel. Once again, the themes are very similar to those that I enjoy reading. Alot of drugs, sex and all out debauchery. But it's mostly about an American born Mexican expatriate who moves to Mexico. It's a good read and gets pretty deep into her problems and why she does what she does. Reminds me of another book, Local.

Keeping with the theme of drunks... One year for my birthday a friend of mine got me a copy of The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames. Some might know him because of his HBO series Bored to Death. Actually that's probably the only reason why most people would even know his name. I like the way he writes the dialog in this novel. Even though it is rather short, it's definitely worth a look.

On the longer side is Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis. I probably might sound a little nerdy, (then again, all of my posts are borderline nerdy) but the reason I like this graphic novel is that the main character is Bertrand Russell. For those know don't know him, he was a philosopher/mathematician/logician. In a previous post I did a drawing of him. In the novel they go about explaining his philosophy and go back and forth showing different stages of his life and how he came about his theories and ideas.

I might have left out a couple more books I own, but these are the ones that have had more of an influence on me. For some reason I tend to be attracted to graphic novels much more than comics. But lately I've been interested in comics, so before long I'll start up with that obsession again.