The Phantom Twin, Lisa Brown
A whimsical story about Isabel and her Siamese twin. Years ago, they were rejected by their parents and sold to a traveling circus, where they now work with other ‘carnies’. To escape their predicament and make lives of their own, they volunteer to be surgically separated, but with dire consequences - her sister dies in the process. Even though she has a life of her own now, she is haunted by the phantom of her twin sister, who constantly sows doubt, like a backseat driver. She tries to navigate a separate life, between her circus friends and the rest of society, her desires and her dead sister’s. In the end she accepts who she is, and makes her own distinct choices, not accepting the limited options laid out in front of her. It’s a wonderful story with elements of magical realism, perfectly suited for the graphic novel format. It’s not heavy on historical details or accuracy, but deals with the circus performers with sensitivity, as real people and not just spectacles to gawk at. For those new to the graphic novel format, my knee jerk reaction is to usually recommend a heavyweight classic like ‘Maus’, but those stories can be demanding and time-consuming and ultimately turn someone off forever from the medium. Instead I recommend something like this title, because it is a relatively light and quick read, yet satisfying and offers a first time graphic novel reader a sense of the types of stories and themes that can be delicately explored.
TokTok (Arabic), comic book magazine
TokTok is an Egyptian comic book written and drawn by several contributors. I’ve read Issues 1 & 2 so far. You can read back issues online. You won’t necessarily learn anything new about the revolution or what it felt like, but it is entertaining, very Egyptian and I guess you could say a different kind of insight into how the culture tries to remedy social ills with humor. Again, it’s in Arabic, mostly Egyptian dialect, which is rare to find in written texts, so great practice for those of you trying to improve your fluency. You can learn more about the project and it’s genesis here.
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
This was an unplanned read. Over at The Atlantic website, they’ve proclaimed February is ‘Graphic Novel Month’ – so they’ve created a curriculum based on readers’ votes and I thought I’d follow along as I know very little about this artform. McCloud’s classic is the first before diving into some masterpieces like Maus and V for Vendetta. I read this in one sitting which should tell you how much I enjoyed it. It’s an entertaining and philosophical comic book about comic books. McCloud starts off with the history of using images and words in storytelling, slowly building the case that comics can aspire to the same cultural importance as novels and fine art. He also shows how flexible the medium is, and the cultural differences between Eastern and Western comics are one example of this. As a filmmaker I couldn’t help but draw parallels between film and his discussions on iconography, the merits of abstraction, negative space, ‘closure’ and audience participation. He ends the book with an interesting six-part outline for artistic creation that in a sense predicts once artistic trajectory, regardless of medium, depending on which of the six aspects you choose to emphasize. I recommend this book to any storytellers out there, especially filmmakers who’ll be reminded of the power of images and inspired to question if cinema is as flexible. BTW, you can read some of my favorite quotes from McCloud here.