Graphic Novel Round-Up—Yippie-Ki-Ay!
Are you a fan of graphic novels (a/k/a comic books)? I’ve had four sitting on my desk for a couple of months. It seems that the hardest books to review are the ones I most want to read, because I want to take the time to savor them. With a steady stream of books, music, products, and DVDs landing at my door, it’s often impossible to take the time to sit back and enjoy. Enjoying a slight lull, I’ve finally been able to afford myself the pleasures offered by Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan; Rex Libris: I Librarian and Rex Libris: Book of Monsters by James Turner; and Punk Rock and Trailer Parks by Derf—a book with a required soundtrack and an R. Crumb vibe.
Elmer is about the heretofore unknown race of humans, chickens. It’s a different kind of earth, where chickens are as intelligent and conscious as humans—which is not saying much for the chickens. As members of the human race—“no different from whites, browns, or blacks”—the chickens want equal rights. Well, the chickens have a lot to be angry about, especially that business about being Kentucky Fried, and as most equality movements go, there are heroes, villains and the one thing that separates the two—violence.
Punk Rock and Trailer Parks “is fiction. But it COULD have happened…” It’s about small-town living and the most important thing of all—escape. With sex, anger, frustration, angst, punk rock, and Journey’s tour bus, Punk Rock and Trailer Parks is a stroll down memory lane for those who know a good band when they hear it—The Ramones. Punk Rock and Trailer Parks has the distinction of being the first graphic novel sold at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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