The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
| Nautical pursuits take centre stage Posted: 28 Jun 2013 01:32 AM PDT This week, we review two vastly different books with one common denominator: the big blue ocean. AHOY there matey! Come aboard our vessel and check out what seaworthy fare we have this week as we sail off into the blue expanse of ocean-related comic books. Of course, when you talk about comics and the ocean, two names will usually pop into mind – Aquaman and Namor the Submariner. Unfortunately, while they have a strong following in their own right, these two characters do tend to be slightly overlooked especially when compared to their respective companies' heavy hitters. Aquaman in particular has always been regarded as something of a joke – that is, until the recent DC New 52 reboot which saw Geoff Johns giving Arthur Curry a much needed profile boost and a great new solo title to boot. Namor? Well, he has always been something of an enigma, being one of the earliest Marvel superheroes ever created, and also in part because of his anti-hero status that has seen him comfortable in both hero and villain roles in the Marvel universe. The big two watery heroes aside, there have not really been many significant comic books about the ocean in general. Sure, there have been enigmatic indie graphic novels like Jeff Lemire's The Underwater Welder, and er ... Seaguy by Grant Morrison, but other than that, you'll have to be more than just a casual comics reader to think of any other significant ocean-related comic books. That's why this week's featured graphic novels are so surprising (to me, at least), because both these titles don't just have strong connections to the sea, they are also brilliant books in their own right. Spot the Easter eggs No, Nemo: Heart of Ice is not about a frozen clown fish. The Nemo here refers to Captain Nemo, the captain of the mighty Nautilus, the submarine from Jules Verne's novel, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1870). Only, it's not the Captain Nemo from Verne's story. It's not even the Captain Nemo from Moore and O'Neill's League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LXG) universe, but rather, his daughter, Janni Dakkar. Since taking command of the submarine in League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910, Janni has been travelling around the world, plundering and pillaging with her pirate crew, while still bearing a grudge against her late father, who made it clear to her as child that he was disappointed that he had a daughter instead of a son. Determined to prove herself and surpass his achievements, she sets a course for Antarctica, where her father once led an exploratory overland expedition from which he emerged alone and insane. Hot on her heels are three hunters – Frank Reade Jr, Jack Wright, and Tom Swift – who are out to retrieve some treasure that Janni's crew stole in the opening pages of the book (though, to be frank, these three protagonists seem to exist only to add a little more urgency to Janni's journey). Although the story is fairly linear and simple to follow, to fully enjoy and comprehend Moore's story, it helps to be familiar with all the literary sources Moore draws from. For this trip to Antarctica, for instance, Moore draws heavily from H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness (1936), complete with its giant blind penguins, star-headed aliens and horrifying shoggoths, among other literary references. If you're familiar with the literary works Moore refers to here, you'll probably enjoy this book a lot more (and also have a lot of fun spotting all the Easter eggs he and O'Neill pepper around the panels). O'Neill's art is top-notch as usual, and it doesn't matter whether he is drawing the Lovecraft-ian horrors of the Mountains Of Madness or the stark ice lands of the Antarctica – his art is so detailed that you could spend hours just poring over it. After a couple of Nautilus-less League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century books (the last two have been set in 1969 and 2009), Nemo: Heart Of Ice is a welcome return to the ship, and it's nice to see Janni's development as captain of the Nautilus. The story may be more straightforward than most LXG books, but by Jules Verne's beard, it's good to be back on the Nautilus. Global scale Compared to Moore and O'Neill's literary epic, The Massive is a much easier book to read, though no less intellectually stimulating. Set in a "post-war, post-Crash, post-disaster, post-everything world", the story revolves around the crew of The Kapital, the point ship of direct-action environmental group Ninth Wave led by activist Callum Israel. Israel, a man who has dedicated his life to protecting the ocean, now finds himself adrift in the very seas he swore to safeguard, searching for The Kapital's sister ship, The Massive, while figuring out what it means to be an environmentalist in a world that has already been consumed by its environment. This first volume, which collects issues #1 to #6 of the ongoing Dark Horse series, is a fascinating introduction to Brian Wood's post-environmental disaster world and the characters that inhabit it. The world of The Massive is one that has been ravaged by an environmental apocalypse called The Crash, in which the planet was hit with a "seemingly endless series of natural disasters unimaginable in scope and intensity, to the point that the very social fabric of global society was undermined. In this world, global economies have collapsed, entire cities were destroyed, and food and water supplies have been severely compromised. Taiwan has been completely submerged by the ocean. Thanks to its towering skyscrapers, a similarly submerged Hong Kong has gone from a city with a port to actually becoming a port. America has been thrown into chaos thanks to a seemingly permanent power blackout. Clean drinking water has now become more precious than diamonds or gold, and money no longer carries any value." Writer Wood has done this sort of examination of social structures in extreme situations before, albeit on a smaller but no less epic scale with the stellar DMZ. In that series, he imagined the chaos of an American city torn apart by civil war, and focused on the changes that residents of the island of Manhattan in New York went through after it is declared a demilitarised zone (DMZ). Through the eyes of a journalist, Wood explores the devastating implications of turning Manhattan into a DMZ, how its people cope, and the social, ethical, and political issues that plague the area. With The Massive, however, Wood has a much, much wider canvas to paint on – where DMZ was content to stay within the confines of New York City throughout the series, The Massive casts its net over the entire planet. The central story may be mostly about how Callum and his dysfunctional crew of environmentalists survive and pursue The Massive, but as they traverse the oceans, we also see how different parts of the world cope with the aftermath of the Crash. Wood also handily throws in tantalising little titbits about what is going on around the rest of the world, which makes me wish we could see more of the post-Crash world besides whatever happens on the deck of The Kapital. Because of its wider, global scale and the narrowness of its characters' point of view, The Massive still has a long way to go before it can come close to the emotional resonance and power that DMZ had. But if the latest issues of the series is anything to go by, then we can surely expect ... er ... massive things from the series in the future. Nemo: Heart Of Ice and The Massive are available at Kinokuniya Bookstore, Suria KLCC. For enquiries, call 03-2164 8133, e-mail ebd3 kbm@kinokuniya.co.jp, visit kinokuniya.com/my. |
| Striking a chord in Midnight Fishermen Posted: 28 Jun 2013 06:37 AM PDT Midnight Fishermen THIS collection of gekiga or "dramatic pictures" by the pioneer of the form is an incisive and often risque look at the effect of Japan's Economic Miracle of the 1960s and 1970s on its youth. Specifically, the mushrooming of urban centres, the accompanying "entertainments" and diversions, the culture shock and adjustment crises experienced by conservatively raised youngsters thrust into the bright – frequently red – lights of the big city. It's not just the youths but also older folk who figure in these tales, sometimes as the root cause of some deep-seated problems, sometimes as the sympathetic focus of stories that highlight the emptiness and futility of a life without perceived purpose. Midnight Fishermen may focus on a specific period, but its central themes of cultural disruption and social alienation, and the strengths and foibles of its characters in coping with all this, still have a strong bearing on what goes on in the present day. The title of this anthology comes from the first story, and refers to two men who "fish" for their prospects late at night on the dimly lit streets of the city – one a gigolo, the other a con artist who strays into the path of oncoming cars and convinces the drivers it's better if they settle with him in cash rather than report the "accident" to the cops. One young man is doing this to accumulate enough money to escape the city; the other, apparently, as an escape from the city. Which, for such a large place, is really quite bad for hiding in. It's an eyebrow-raising opener to the collection, which follows up with a taut tale of a desperate gambler who seems to know no limits when it comes to putting his possessions on the line. Cramped living conditions are the basis of several stories, where the characters constantly dream of better privacy, wide open spaces – and sometimes do get to realise those dreams, though not without a price. The collection is full of stories of people who yearn for something more than what they have, the aspirations of youth and the greed of jaded older people. Perhaps the most poignant tale is A Woman's Palace, the only science fiction-themed piece in the book, where a lonely old woman is cared for by a robot nurse that is on the verge of falling apart itself. The woman's actual situation becomes sadly clear as the tale progresses, when the "truth" of her long life is revealed. On one hand it bears a hopeful message: no matter how meaningless we may perceive our lives to be, they still do matter to other people – no matter how strained or distant the connection. On the other hand, it is a sad portent – having been written and drawn decades ago – of something I read recently, of how Japan's ageing population is leaving elderly folk in a situation where their family and caregivers die, leaving them alone in the world. I must admit that this gekiga stuff is not something I can take in large doses; there's enough drama in life already, so my comic-reading (read: escapism) tastes tend to drift toward the more ... outlandish. Still, I breezed through Midnight Fishermen, and then went back over the next few days to re-read some of the stories; sometimes to savour them again, at other times to see if there was something I missed in the middle that made the ending seem so abrupt or opaque. For the most part, the stories are quite relatable no matter what age you are. There's something about the characters here – urbanite, country boy, fish out of water, outsider, dweller on the fringe – that will strike a chord with the reader because there's a little of most or all these types in us, I think. According to Wikipedia, the gekiga form arose in the late 1950s and became widely adopted by so-called serious artists who did not want their work to be lumped together with the more children-oriented manga, considered to be "irresponsible" pictures. (The Wikipedia entry compares the gekiga-manga situation to the way people eventually started using "graphic novel" rather than "comic book" to give the art form some gravitas.) Oddly enough, Tatsumi's inspiration was the great Osamu Tezuka, the grandfather of manga, who – according to the introduction to this collection – once delivered a scathing criticism of the aspiring artist and his compatriots' ambition to reach out to older audiences than the juvenile market they served at that time. He wrote an essay addressed to "new children's manga artists" (like Tatsumi) that reminded them of the main audience for such books, and concluded: "Besides, your drawings are not good enough to withstand adult readership anyway." Ouch – I don't know of many people who could bounce back from something like that. But Tatsumi stuck to his guns, and not only succeeded at his craft but blazed a trail for numerous others besides. Midnight Fishermen is available at Kinokuniya Bookstore, Suria KLCC. For enquiries, call 03-2164 8133, e-mail ebd3 kbm@kinokuniya.co.jp, visit kinokuniya.com/my. |
| Posted: 28 Jun 2013 02:57 AM PDT This week's round-up of the latest books offers a real-life adventure, a true hero and a tragic life story, as well as fictional crime and adventure. Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, A WWII Spy, And A True Story Of Deadly Adventure JUNGLELAND is the real life adventure of an obsessed journalist who spends a month on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras seeking the fabled ruins dubbed Ciudad Blanca, or the White City. The El-Dorado-like city has lured explorers for centuries. Drawn by the mysteries of the lost city like others before him, Christopher Stewart sets out to find the answers, armed with only the personal notebook of a mysterious WWII spy and the coordinates etched on his walking stick. Is the lost city for real or is it just a myth made up by locals? Private Berlin THE latest offering in the Private series from the James Patterson production line has "the world's most respected investigation firm" handling a case in Berlin, Europe's most dangerous city. When agent Chris Schneider, who usually tackles Private's most high profile cases, suddenly disappears, fellow agent Mattie Engel searches for him by investigating the three people who want him gone: a billionaire, a soccer star, and a nightclub owner. Her chase takes her to treacherous places and reveals secrets from Chris's past that she never knew, even back when they were lovers. Illumination ILLUMINATION is a tale of revolution, love and rivalry set in 1870 during the four-month siege of Paris. Starvation looms and desperate times lie ahead as its citizens are caught between defiance and despair. The lights are going out all over the city, but one man shines like a beacon in the shadows. Jean-Jacques Allix promises to be the one to lead the people and save the city. His young English lover Hannah Pardy is a painter who believes in him wholeheartedly and even takes up arms for his cause. The Blood Gospel (The Order Of The Sanguines #1) AN earthquake in Israel kills hundreds of people and reveals an underground temple with a tomb that conceals the mummified body of a crucified girl. Three investigators – military forensic expert Sergeant Jordan Stone, Vatican priest Father Rhun Korza, and archaeologist Dr Erin Granger – are sent to explore the macabre discovery. When a vicious attack on the trio occurs at the site, they are forced to go on the run, as they race to recover what was once preserved in the sarcophagus: a book rumoured to have been written by Jesus Christ and said to hold untold secrets. What will happen if the book falls in the wrong hands? American Sniper: The Autobiography Of The Most Lethal Sniper In U.S. Military History AMERICAN Sniper is the autobiography of US Navy SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who holds the record for having the most career sniper kills in American military history, from 1999 to 2009. In this New York Times bestselling memoir, he tells the true story of his decade-long career, of how he went from being a Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksman and feared assassin. Kyle earned legendary status among fellow warriors, while Iraqi insurgents feared him so much that they even placed a bounty on his head. |
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