The earliest comic books were bound collections of newspaper comic strips, printed on cheap newsprint, pages stapled together. The format was developed to make use of scrap paper and to give newspaper presses something to print during down times. Over the decades, comic art and storytelling has evolved but the basic format for comic books is still the same.
Not so in other countries. In Europe, Japan, China, South America, the format of choice is the trade paperback and graphic novel. Comics stories are first serialized in thick, cheap anthology magazines. The most popular series are then collected into upscale book formats and kept in print as long as there's a demand. Some long-running series extend into dozens of volumes. In Europe and Japan, bookstores that specialize in graphic novels are common.
In the `80s, U.S. publishers, particularly the new alternative companies, began experimenting with the graphic album format. Comic shops were initially reluctant to stock collections of previously published comics, afraid it would dispel the demand for back issues (and deflate collector's prices). To some extent their fears were justified. But the new book format made comics more accessible to the general public. Still, in this country, the graphic album is as yet a secondary format.
Thankfully, more and more foreign funnies are making their way to American shores. Below is an international roundup of graphic novels, all translated into English and available in comics shops. If you can't take time this summer for a full-fledged vacation, why not let your eyeballs do the walking through the pages of these fine books.
A Jew in Communist Prague, vol. 2: Adolescence - Vittorio Giardino (NBM/ComicsLit; graphic novel, color, 48p, $11.95).
Welcome to Czechoslovakia, circa the `50s. It is the beginning of the Russian revolution and the foul winds of anti-Semitism are blowing across Europe. The Finkels were once an influential middle-class family. Then one fateful evening in the dead of night, the father was arrested for no apparent reason and taken to an undisclosed location. Trying to learn the fate of her husband brands the wife as a bourgeois troublemaker, and soon she and her son Jonas are blackmarked by the authorities. Jonas is refused entrance to college, and takes simple jobs to help make ends meet.
In this second of four planned volumes, Jonas moves into young manhood. After losing a job as a delivery boy, he becomes a plumber's apprentice. The work is hard but satisfying, and his boss enlightens him about bureaucratic politics and includes him in afterhours revelry at a local bar. Then an opportunity arises for a job in a small bookstore. Eventually Jonas falls in with a group of fellow teens who have formed a covert reading group. They meet secretly and take turns reciting aloud from banned books of poetry, prose, and fiction. Jonas develops a crush on a girl in the group. And then comes the day he is ordered by authorities to spy on the bookstore owner, his boss . . . and his friend.
Giardino is one of Italy's leading comics artists. His realistic fine-line style is well-suited for illustrating this absorbing real life drama. This book is another outstanding release from NBM's ComicsLit imprint which has proven itself a stellar showcase for intelligent comics storytelling.
Madwoman of the Sacred Heart - Jodorowsky and Moebius (Dark Horse; graphic novel, b&w, 144p, $12.95).
Imagine that your best friend, someone you've known for years, who's always been honest and practical and grounded in reality, was suddenly convinced that she was pregnant with God's child, the new Messiah. Would you believe her? Just what would you believe? And more significantly, how would you determine the Truth? Where is the fine line between Divine Revelation and neurotic delusion?
In Madwoman of the Sacred Heart, Alan Mangels, a cranky, crusty professor of philosophy at a French university, is compelled to consider that question. Stung and bitter after his recent divorce, he throws himself into his lectures. Soon he's stalked and seduced by Elisabeth, an attractive, adoring young student. Plagued by inner demons and too weak to resist the temptations of the flesh, he gives in to a night of passion. Soon after, he's informed by Elisabeth that she's pregnant with his child — who's destined to become the new Messiah. Cynicism and bewilderment mix with hope and a sense of possibility, and soon Mangels is involved with an odd group of religious fanatics determined to safeguard the birth of the Savior. A series of shattering events drives him out of his head and into the real world and he's forced to question his beliefs and surrender to the moment.
This provocative, somewhat sacrilegious, sometimes scatological tale of faith, lust and existential anxiety was written by cult filmmaker Alexandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) and illustrated by legendary French comics artisan Moebius. The central question is explored from many angles but is never ultimately resolved. In the end, we are left to supply our own ending, which will hinge on our own beliefs. Highly recommended, especially for anyone who "believes" in the New Age.
Eddie Campbell's Bacchus (Eddie Campbell Comics; graphic novella, b&w, 96p, $9.95).
Over the years Marvel Comics in its Thor comic has pretty much wrung dry the legends of the Norse gods. Now Australian comics raconteur Eddie Campbell is raiding the vaults of Greek mythology, creating an iconoclastic modern-day graphic Greek tragedy. Meet Joe Theseus, immortal heir to Poseidon, currently living in New York City where he's painstakingly built a business empire. He's being sought by a pantheon of Greek gods bearing grudges. One of them is the Eyeball Kid, cursed with ten sets of ocular orifices (and not all of them work). Eyeball possesses a deadly thunderbolt power which he stole from Zeus. A few eons ago Eyeball slaughtered most of the gods on Mount Olympus, and he's been hanging on to the shame ever since. Now he's looking for Joe, seeking the secret of everlasting life. Then there's Bacchus (nicknamed Deadface because of his wrinkled countenance), the Greek god of wine and revelry. Bacchus wears a Greek fisherman's cap to hide his horns and likes to hang out in bars telling tales of the good old days.
Campbell skillfully weaves numerous Greek legends into his tragicomic Greek noir; the result is as educational as it is entertaining. The ongoing Bacchus series (30 issues to date) has spawned three paperback collections so far. Like many fine wines, Bacchus won't appeal to everyone's taste, but if you appreciate the offbeat or are a mythology buff, it deserves sampling.
Rumic Theater: One or Double - Rumiko Takahashi (Viz Pub; trade paperback, b&w, 96p, $9.95).
Rumiko Takahashi is one of Japan's most famous, celebrated and beloved comics artists — and she's just a young woman. The innovative artist is the creator of wildly popular, long-running series like Lum, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Mermaid's Gaze and One-Pound Gospel. Now Viz is collecting her short stories into paperback collections.
Takahashi excels at spinning neo-realistic yarns enlivened with a dash of humor and a touch of fantasy. The Rumic Theater series showcases her superb storytelling abilities (which transcend language constraints and cultural differences). Among the stories: a young girl desperate to lose weight enrolls in a diet camp run by a monastery and whose weight-reduction exercises are decidedly unorthodox. A boxer morphs into a dog whenever he's punched in the nose. A brother and sister scheme to obtain a sizable financial inheritance by impersonating the rightful heir, but the ghost of the deceased disrupts their plans. A rock star who missed his grandmother's funeral is possessed by her spirit and begins attending concerts by her favorite singer ("because she had season tickets").
One fanciful fable is of special interest to new agers. In "Shake your Buddha," the Maitreya Bodhisattva ("future buddha") is reincarnated in present day Japan and begins attracting followers. But he's challenged by a political activist who believes it's more important to feed people's physical hunger than assuage their spiritual thirst. Soon it's an all-out battle of the ideologies: Oms vs. Yams. The new Buddha is approached by a talent agent who promises to get him maximum exposure. ("It's all in the packaging, baby; you can't trade on name recognition forever.") In his quest for precious air time and the almighty sound bite, will the Buddha compromise his spiritual principles? The final denouement is both hilarious and enlightening.
The Return of the Hermit - Ni Kuang and Wu Tian Beng (Asiapac Pub; graphic novel, 186p, $8.95).
Although Japanese comics have established a firm footing in this country, comics from China have been rare. Hopefully, that may change through Asiapac Publications, a new company translating Chinese comics for the English market. This premier volume introduces Wisely, a popular Chinese hero. Wisely is an adventurer who in this story finds himself caught up in the internal machinations of China's criminal underworld. During a past period of political unrest, the 25 Triads, a network of gangs, pooled their financial resources and hid the money. The treasure was buried and a map to its location was carved onto a steel plate which was broken into 25 pieces and distributed amongst the Triads. Now someone wants that money and is killing people to get it. Wisely is enlisted by Boss Bai, the elder statesman of the gangs, to find the stolen steel pieces and decipher cryptic clues to the treasure's location. The search takes him to a secret island, where he discovers the money is safeguarded by a simmering volcano. . . .
This enjoyable, though lightweight adventure tale has overtones of Indiana Jones and his various crusades. The realistic art and mature story reminded me of Japanese comics sagas like Crying Freeman and Sanctuary. But I was most impressed by the cost. $8.95 is a surprisingly low price for a foreign graphic novel. I look forward to the further escapades of Wisely, and to other releases from Asiapac.