I mentioned in my last blog entry that I was in the process of rediscovering the world of comics, of the graphic novel. Indeed. And just to continue that thread, let me say that the love affair continues. As a writer, the scope of them fascinates me. The concepts. The core ideas. The sheer, brilliant audacity of the storylines and characters. Basically, the crazy s**t you can get away with, where no other medium would offer such daring escape.
Hands down, I’d say my favourite title is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (though Watchmen was damn good too, when I finally read it earlier this year). I can still remember lining up to buy the DK collected edition way back in 1989 with my allowance money folded neatly in my palm. That was in the midst of Batman-mania – Tim Burton’s Batman, that is – which I admit I was very much a part of. But where that movie is of its time, and, for me, really only watchable with glasses deeply-tinted in Nostalgia, Frank Miller’s version is timeless. I find it to be as relevant now as it was then. Maybe even more so.
I’ve been catching up on a lot of titles lately. This is thanks partly to the shelves of the Vancouver Public Library, but mostly to the advice and mentorship of a good friend of mine, Lawrence, whose vast collection and knowledge have provided me with a crash course in the world of comics and its writers and artists.
Now, I’d say some favourite titles that jump to mind are, in no particular order:
The Nightly News
Scalped
Y: The Last Man
Transmetropolitan
Freak Angels
Sin City
Young Liars
The Boys
And more.
There is always more.
And there are also more words written by me out there in the world, if you’re interested in reading them. Comic writing may be knew to me, but prose and poetry are not. Online, I have a few things posted on my personal website, RDanielLester.com, and on Fictionaut, a cool site for writers and readers both (check out Pets, a short story, and see if anything is familiar…)
As well, last year, I started my own very small publishing imprint and have 3 titles available to date. To learn more about them (or to simply further procrastinate from doing whatever it is you should be doing now that you’re not doing because you’re reading this) click your way to the homepage of Dirt Starling Press.
As for Life in Storage, look for some creator bios coming soon and, most importantly, a new page on Friday. The dust bunny battle continues…
And how cool are these pages looking, right? Kudos to Jon for bringing my words to life.
Bye for now.
