Monday 27 February 2012

1960s relived

‘Baby's in Black’ is a touching love story, and there is added interest because it involves someone who used to play with ‘The Beatles.’ Set in 1960s Germany, it follows Astrid and her friends. She is a photographer and gets persuaded to go to a rough part of town to see an unknown band.

The art style is very reminiscent of the 60s. Black and white line drawings work really well and make it surprisingly very easy to tell the characters apart. It works so well that some pages have no dialogue but still tell an emotional story.
This is a biography; I really didn’t know much about the people involved (apart from ‘The Beatles’). No knowing who Astrid was does not matter. The characters are well realised and so sympathetic that the reader is really hoping things will turn out for the best.  It is translated from German but it has been done so well that the reader doesn’t realise it’s a translation.

There’s mention of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, so this  is not for children. Teenagers would get something out of this because of the realism of the club scene. It is an unusual love story that could appeal to anybody.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

A classic biography with a new twist

An intriguing graphic novel, ‘Dotter of her father’s eye’ is the story of two father/daughter relationships. One is that of the a semi-autobiographical account of the writer whose father was a James Joyce expert. The other is of James Joyce and his daughter. I am not a fan of James Joyce, so I didn’t quite get a lot of the references, however, I don’t think that is important to appreciate this book. It’s quite a feminist tale; both protagonists are trying to do things that are not necessary acceptable to the older generation in terms of what women should be like. I did prefer the James Joyce story to the modern one, but that’s because there is more of an emotional undercurrent to it. This is Mary Talbot’s first foray into graphic novel writing, and I am intrigued to see how she follows this book up.

The artwork by Bryan Talbot, is as always really well done and conveys a lot of emotion. The only issue I had was that sometimes it took me a while to work out which girl’s story I was reading. The solution is to remember their hairstyles.
This would be good for any reading group who are reading a James Joyce book. It just shows a different side to the man and the effect he had on those around him. It would probably be a good first graphic novel for those book clubs who enjoy the modern classics. Please note, this is not for children.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Baseball story for girls

‘Play Ball’ is all about baseball. Do not let that put you off; the reader does not need that much knowledge of the game to enjoy this graphic novel. It tells the story of 2 sisters who move to a new school, one is your typical boy mad girl, the other is a total tomboy who loves baseball. In America, girls play softball not baseball, I think it’s the same problem that girls’ football used to have. So the tomboy decides to play baseball, against all rules and conventions. In doing so, she makes everybody’s’ lives more difficult.

The artwork is very clear, and is in the form of line drawings. This book did remind me somewhat of the old Bunty style stories, and that is not a bad thing. The non-colour aspect could put some younger readers off the book.

This is an equality story that also touches upon the value of teams and what happens when parents split up. So if you want a girl power story for teenagers then this is the graphic novel to read. It could be aimed at younger readers but there is the odd mild bad language that could upset parents. I’m not sure whether boys would like it, but it could be a good reading group book to get young people talking about the issues it touches.