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koraesrambles · 2 months

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GREAT READING ADVENTURE PART 1 (CW: pictures from the Sandman comics may be disturbing to some)

I started with the Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. A legend in comic spheres, and one that I'd been wanting to read for a while.

I found 10 volumes at my local library and have made my way through two of them so far. First off, as a horror book DAMN. DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN these books do not pull punches. They come at you like a gut punch and just keep going. I like to describe myself as someone who enjoys "horror lite" I love monsters, I love angst and crazy situations and some messed up stuff, but I'm kind of a baby about it. Things like Supernatural, Gravity Falls (It's kid friendly, but there's blood!), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that's my jam (wow, that list makes me feel about 5 years old, but whatever! I like what I like!). The Sandman Is Not That.

The Writing

Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful in every way, but it's also a lot for a wussy like myself. I'm enthralled, captivated, unable to look away, but there have been multiple times where I've needed to close my eyes for a second and remind myself that this is a comic book, and the world isn't necessarily this dark all the time. I'm pretty triggered by children in danger/getting hurt/dying and these books don't shy away from that. But they're also just . . . so beautiful.

The writing is annoyingly amazing. I expected nothing less, it is Neil Gaiman, but sometimes as a writer you look at other people's writing and just sit back in awe. I wish I could write something like this. Or, if not exactly like this, something as beautiful and poignant as this. The story flows so beautifully. Every scene perfectly blending in with the next. Every word feels like it has a point, which makes you want to pay attention to everything to make sure you're not missing anything.

Writing is my main background, but comic writing is so different from prose. This is what I struggled with the most while drafting up OUTCAST ODYSSEY, how do I get everything across that I need to when I can't just write it all out? How do I pace it when telling a story with pictures vs words feels so different? But Neil does this so well. It felt lyrical, and I could see his influence on every single page. The art was done by someone else, but the ideas, the imagry, the way the story flows from one idea to the next, is all a result of absolutely phenomenal writing.

It reminded me to trust readers to read between the lines. It's difficult to find the line between "subtlty" and "confusing" and I am often guilty of feeling like I need to spell things out to my readers so that they won't miss anything, but more often then not that just slows down the plot and makes the whole experience clunky. You don't want to go too far in the other direction either, but Neil knew who his audience was and trusted them to at least give things a second glance. I was worried at the beginning that I'd be too dumb to figure out what he was hinting at, but he was able to patiently feed me the information without me getting frustrated or lost.

It's a skill that comes with experience and practice, but I feel like this story really really shines at it. I found myself studying the way he handled exposition and wanting to emulate it in my own work.

The Art

The art is also stunning. It's not "cute" art. It's not something that I would want to hang up in my house or look at for hours. It's amazing from a skill standpoint (which is easy for me to tell just due to my own extremely obvious shortcomings) but it's not concerned with everyone looking like hollywood movie stars.

Which . . . I mean, that's definitely a feature, not a bug. This story is not supposed to be cute, and a cutsy art style would absolutely ruin the atmosphere. It is rough and full of sharp points. it doesn't shy away from nudity or gore. The characters are not attractive, these are not anime stars, but they are compelling, and distinct enough that I was able to easily tell who everyone is, which is more often then not extremely difficult for me (i think I may be a bit face-blind).

The art adds to the horror of everything. Even when things are supposed to be calm, or sexy, or whatever, there's an edge of panic and unease to it. Part of that is the reader knowing that there's more going on behind the scenes then the character knows, but it's also the style. The heavy black shadows, the hard lines, the emphasis on some details while the obscuring of others, it all combines to perfectly compliment the writing. It's not a pleasure to look at, but that's absolutely the point. It's also extremely difficult to look away FROM. How can something simultaneously look jarring, eerie, and unpolished, while also whispering "Yes. This is beautiful art. Look at it. Bask in it."?

I'm a newbie artist. It's way beyond my skillset to even begin to figure out how they were able to accomplish this. But someday I hope I figure out the secret.

The art perfectly compliments the writing, and the two work together to tell the story. I remember feeling a little annoyed on the artists' behalf that the Sandman is always known as "Neil Gaiman's" when the art side of comics is so incredibly important. The art sets the tone and compliments the words. It helps with reading between the lines and helping us know how seriously we should be taking the words.

Characters

All of the characters are great! Except the ones I already knew. I'm not saying they were bad, just bland compared to everyone else. Constantine, the Justice League, every cameo that came up and I was excited for felt . . . not quite out of place, but not quite seamless either. I was most excited for Constantine, and he was fine, but I probably have enjoyed him more in every other comic I've ever seen him in. I know they were all included just to try and sell the first few issues of a new story, and I respect that (the amount of comics that I've read just because my favorite character showed up for a few panels is . . *cough* embarrassing), but I was kind of bummed by how little conflict they added to the story.

Constantine immediately agrees to help Morpheus (which, okay, he can see how powerful Morpheus is and doesn't want to get on his bad side, totally in character. But I like Constantine best when he's being a bit of a dickhead), when I was really expecting a bit of tension or at least antagonism between them. We briefly see Etrigan but he is so quickly outshined by Lucifer that I nearly forgot about him, Scarecrow shows up but I didn't really feel like he added much besides a familiar face, we see Scott Free (who I know very little about) and J'onn (whose reaction to Dream was probably the most interesting) but all they do is immediately tell Morpheus where he needs to go. Why were they so quick to be okay with this obviously terrifying powerful force just grabbing stuff? I guess I understand why J'onn was okay with it, since he knew who Morpheus was, but it still felt weird that there wasn't even a single moment of hesitation or resistance. They basically served as a plot GPS.

Again, there's nothing wrong with any of them, they just didn't feel as vibrant as all of the other characters we were introduced to. Even the woman who gave Dr. Destiny/Dr Dee a ride was more vivid and felt more real and purposeful than the cameos did. At least to me.

The original characters (or at least everyone I didn't recognize. Was Dr. Dee a Gaiman original or had he shown up previously? Cuz he was very much A tier villain for me,) were all amazing and vivid and lively. I cared about them way faster than I normally do, especially at the very beginning of a story. The cameos felt exactly like what they were: Cameos to sell the book.

Final Thoughts

This book is, objectively, better than anything I will ever create. And that's not even a diss on myself, it's just objective fact on the quality of this piece. I learned a lot looking through it, trying to figure out what Gaiman did that worked vs didn't. The lyricism vs crassness of the writing, the way the art complimented the dialogue, how the panels flowed and where it was easy for me to follow vs where I got a little confused. It's a beautiful book and I can absolutely see why it's a graphic novel must read. I'm planning on reading the rest of the series, but I can only read one volume a day, because the horror of it all absolutely follows me after I close the last page.

#reading analysis #reading challenge #the sandman #morpheus #the sandman graphic novel #comics #DC #learning to be a better writer and artist #studying the greats #the great reading challenge of 2024 #neil gaiman #best graphic novels #list of best graphic novels

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cupofteajones · 2 years

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Heartstopper Readlikes: Books To Read After Reading ( & Watching) The Series!

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comicsbyte · 19 days

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Code Name Alpha '97 And Variyaan - Graphic Novels - Yali Dream Creations - Comics Adda

कोड नेम अल्फा '97 और वरियान - ग्राफ़िक नॉवेल्स - याली ड्रीम क्रिएशन्स - कॉमिक्स अड्डा (Code Name Alpha '97 And Variyaan - Graphic Novels - Yali Dream Creations - Comics Adda)

Yali Dream Creations ComicsAdda

#ComicsByte #yalidreamcreations #graphicnovels #preorder #newrelease #comicbooks #indiancomics #comiccon

#comic books #indian comics publishers #comics byte #comics news #comics #new release #pre order #yali dream creations #graphic novels #indian comics #comic book #comic con #comic con india #Best Graphic Novels #comics blogger #blogging

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my-wife-doesnt-approve · 3 months

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Huge congratulations to @neil-gaiman for sweeping the ComicScene Awards of 2024!

Best Comic of All Time (at a crushing 47.5%)

Best Adaptation (at 40.9%, beating Into the Spiderverse)

And, I cannot agree with this one more

Best Writer of All Time (55.1%)

If you haven't read the Sandman, this is ComicScene and me telling you you really should.

Congratulations Neil!

https://comicscene.org/2024/02/01/comicscene-award-winners-2024-to-be-announced-here-07-02-24-7am/

#neil gaiman #the sandman #ComicScene #ComicScene Awards 2024 #graphic novel #the sandman is still one of the best books I've ever read #if Neil was in a category he crushed it #did i vote in this? you bet i did

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jesncin · 4 months

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✨⭐️YOU CAN NOW PREORDER LUNAR BOY!!🌟✨

It's Princess Kaguya meets the Little Prince with an entirely Indonesian cast of characters! A graphic novel drawn and written by yours truly!

#booklr #queer #trans #lgbt books #hijabi #lunar boy #graphic novel #SEA folks preordering on amazon is your best bet (or open trolly/kinokuniya/periplus)#I recommend preordering in your local/indie bookstore but in the end use whatever is easiest for you! :)#my art

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heartstopperthoughts · 1 year

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MY LOVES

#I’ve always said that if Heartstopper didn’t exist yet #and I’d just read Solitaire and Radio Silence #and you asked me if I wanted a graphic novel about Nick and Charlie or Aled and Dan #I would pick Aled and Dan #obvs I love Heartstopper and Nick and Charlie #but there’s something so special about Aled and Dan #childhood best friends to lovers #the god tier trope #radio silence #solitaire #heartstopper #nick and charlie #nick x charlie #nick nelson #charlie spring #aled and daniel #aled last #daniel jun

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topicaltropic · 11 months

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EPISODE 8 OF THE DUNGEONS AND DADDIES GRAPHIC NOVEL IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER !

READ THE SAMPLE NOW HERE

#dndads #dungeons and daddies #i hope no one saw when i messed up queuing.#anyways um.#yeah #i only did ten pgs cuz i dont know how many ppl will see this so i dont wanna go all out #and shout out to my bestest best friends #JUST FOR REFRENCE THIS IS A JOKE BTW THIS IS MY FIRST TIME MAKING ANYTHING LIKE THIS #A graphic novel is not in fact coming you can not actually pre order. sorry. the joke is that i suddenly pull out issue 8 and your response #would be huh ??? wait wheres the other issues ??? wtd is the pre order link?? oh its fake #although i am not unlinclined to actually do a full episode but then id need to get paid for it for real

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klaufir · 7 months

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O O

#homunculus #comics #graphic novel #illustration #black and white #wraith #surrealism #horror #art #artists on tumblr #teaser #i dont share the best parts of this comic often enough because i don't want to spoil them but im tired of that #I no longer have anything to lose #Thank you

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notcarlosshair · 8 months

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had a vision that the jeffandrew bit of the final taz graphic novel took place in a completely white empty space as the disembodied voice talked to them but when you looked closely at the page this photo of griffin was superimposed over the whole thing at like 5% opacity

#the adventure zone #taz #the adventure zone balance #taz balance #taz graphic novel #ik they’re on the rockport limited car in that scene. scuttlebuddy my angel top five best anime resurrections.

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andythelemon · 1 year

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To live another day 🌹🦋 My piece for Jump for the Stars!, a collection of shonen manga posters. I loved this series so much, the symbolism and art style are gorgeous.

#the promised neverland #yakusoku no neverland #emma tpn #norman tpn #ray tpn #anime #manga #my art #poster design #i wanted to style mine like a gothic novel cover #graphic design is not my passion lads but #i did my best! felt like a total toad compared to the other pieces lol this team are so amazing #pls check out everyone else’s work when they share!#tpn

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rogue-indshadows · 16 days

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Two Years of Eternal Sunshine ☀✨💛

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bookwyrminspiration · 5 months

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the graphic novel’s art has been quite justifiably critiqued, however. there is one gem amongst it all and that is:

like look at that man. everything went right here. his features are correctly aligned and proportional for the angle. he looks accurate to his description. perfect

look at him again

#kotlc #kotlc graphic novel #when I first saw this panel I went oh? and stopped to admire it #im not even an Alden die hard im an Alden neutral but man is this like #the best art in the entire novel #in my opinión #it’s got the vibes I want

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victoryshowers · 8 months

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edit of the new gn cover

#rushed this so it might not be my best work but!!#taz #taz balance #the adventure zone #taz graphic novel #the adventure zone balance #averyarsene #taako #taako taaco #taako taz

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mavkacomics · 13 days

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JUST LOOK AT THIS. I love her so much. She, herself, is artwork. I hope our future will be Laura Filled.

X-23: Deadly Regenesis #5 (2023)

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thebestcomicbookpanels · 9 months

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Silver Surfer Judgement Day by John Buscema

#john buscema #silver surfer #nova #the best comic book panels #marvel comics #marvel #marvel graphic novel #frankie raye

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jesncin · 6 months

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Aminah in a kebaya and Indu wearing batik in a sarong-short-skirt style! I wanted to draw something as a thanks and also celebration for the warm response to the Lunar Boy cover reveal! I can't wait for you to meet these kids :)

#illustration #trans #queer #graphic novel #indonesia #lunar boy #my art #qpoc #they're your future best friends #I still have no idea how I got away with this book it really shouldn't exist by any means #but it does! :)) once you read it you'll see what I mean!

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