http://faerye.net/tag/graphic+novel Posts tagged with "graphic novel" - Faerye Net 2006-03-18T22:26:40+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/the-promethea-review-or-come-back-alan-moore-all-is-forgiven The Promethea Review: or, come back, Alan Moore, all is forgiven 2006-03-18T22:26:40+00:00 2008-06-08T14:29:44+00:00 <p><img src="img/articles/promethea1.jpg" alt="Book cover" title="Promethea, Volume 1" class="imageRight" style="width: 60px;" /></p> <p>Some time ago I reviewed <a href="http://www.faerye.net/content.php?id=131" target="links"><em>Batman: The Killing Joke</em></a>. It was not a positive review. This, my first experience with Alan Moore, left me unwilling to sample his work again; even when I heard that Joss Whedon adored one of his series, <em>Promethea</em>. (Usually, if Joss Whedon advocated jumping off a cliff, I would assume there was a really fun trampoline at the bottom or a dimensional portal into fairyland on the way down and act accordingly.)</p> <p>My views on <em>The Killing Joke</em> do not seem to hold wide sway in the Fanverse. My negative review on Amazon is one of the only sour pickles in a sweet barrel, and more than a few fanboys have told me how wrong I am in some comic book store or other. So imagine my glee when I heard, a few months back, several very trenchant quotes from a well-known comics writer about <em><span class="caps">TKJ</span></em>, along the very same lines as my diatribe. That writer? Alan Moore. Oh my. Apparently he rather hates <em><span class="caps">TKJ</span></em> himself, even as legions of his devoted worship it as one of the fewmets of the Great Dragon.</p> <p>This, along with the praise of my own Great Dragon Whedon, put me in a more positive frame of mind towards Mr. Moore, and so when I found myself in a comic book store with a gift certificate in my hot little hand and the colorful cover of <em>Promethea</em> before me, I gave it a try.</p> <p>&#8216;Oh my&#8217; is right. Promethea, at least the two volumes I have thus far read, is a stirringly wondrous story about the power of myth and the imagination, set in a drolly imagined [Well, parallel timeline with more advanced technology, and scienceheroes, and magic. Whatever!|text|near-future], and fashioned with great care and love. It&#8217;s beautiful, funny, intelligent, and resonant. On top of that, the art actually lives up to the idea (not always the case in comics/graphic novels) and even the color adds to the wonder, mystery, and eldritch loveliness (again, not always the case. <em>Sandman</em>, I am looking <span class="caps">ATCHOO</span>!)</p> <p>I am unsure how much to reveal of the plot, because I went into it blind and hugely enjoyed the journey. Let us just say, it&#8217;s about stories; the ones we create and the ones that have dwelt for long centuries in the cauldron of our mythologies; their power over us and our power over them. It&#8217;s an empowering story for bookworms :)</p> <p>So far, if I had to name a fault in <em>Promethea</em>, it would be that the stories and mythology, the history of the mystical and physical worlds, are rather occidentocentric, and not just in areas where it would reflect the characters&#8217; bias. I&#8217;m hoping this changes in later volumes; for the moment, it puts a strange regional cap on concepts and themes that otherwise seem to stretch majestically on into the infinite and universal.</p> <p><b>Bottom line:</b> If you love myths and playing with them; <em>Mage: the Ascension</em> or even <em>Sandman</em>, you owe this story a try. And especially, oh especially, if you&#8217;re an English major and want to be told how important that is. <strong>grin</strong></p>