Jossed … Again!

Alisa Krasnostein

The end of the year is always a good time to review and 2008 was the year I really got into graphic novels. I’d never really been interested in them before, to be honest, but in 2008 I got Jossed. I’m one of those newbies who came to the form via Buffy.

You wanna make something of it?

I wasn’t going to miss out on Season 8 of Buffy, even if it meant I had to read comic books. I set about finding out what these things, these graphic novels were all about. I’m glad I did.

It took a bit of time to learn how to read them — I never read comics as a kid and it’s not always obvious which is the next panel, or in which order you should read all the dialogue. I got the hang of it.

While waiting for the next volume of Buffy, I went off exploring. I read a bunch, a lot of these I intend to review at longer length over at ASif. Here is a brief summary of the graphic novels I’ve enjoyed.

Strangers in Paradise (Abstract Studio) — it turns out not all comics are about super heroes. Some of them are written for women and about women. This love triangle and was really gripping for a good few volumes. I’m stuck somewhere about the middle of the series when it went all over the top and meta and stuff.

Ghostworld — I saw the movie ages ago and I knew it was based on a comic book, I figured i’d go back and read it. It’s pretty good — dark and depressing just like the movie. I liked it better than the movie. It doesn’t have that weird sexual vibe between the teengirl and the man. It’s more laconic and sarcastic and totally cynical about the world. Until it’s not. It brought out the inner 15 year-old bitch in me.

Fables (Vertigo) — as a rule I am majorly disinterested in fairytales and rewritten fairytales, yet I love this series! It’s about fairytale characters and their lives, behind the scenes. Sort of. They’ve been kicked out of their realm and are trying to get on with life in our real world. It’s pretty good.

Y the Last Man — I love SF and will overlook some of the sexist overtones in this (why is his girlfriend hiking in the Australian outback in a bikini?) cause gosh darn it but I want to know how and why all the males on Earth were killed except, well the last man, and what happens in the end.

I’m really enjoying reading graphic novels. I love the art work and how it’s used for storytelling. I love the way the medium can be used to tell stories in a far more dynamic way than text alone,  or even the big screen.

What about where it all started, Buffy? I think Buffy series 8 works so much better as a comic than it ever would have done on TV. The show was written into a corner by the end of its run. Whack it into a comic, though, and it works — the medium can easily handle that many characters and sub-plots. I love that when your head aches and your eyes hurt, you can still read a really complex, gripping, witty or action-packed story and it somehow demands less of you as a reader than just text alone.

Up Next

I’m ready to take on the Preacher series, Watchmen and V for Vendetta.