One Punch Man

If you're a fan of manga, or even if you're not, you should check out One Punch Man by Yusuke Marata. The first book in the series is a collection of short stories featuring our hero, who ticks off a monster ravaging City B (there are cities A-Z, apparently, all monster-prone) by telling the monster he doesn't have a back story. One Punch Man is just there for fun.

Unfortunately for him, One Punch Man's idea of a good time is a good fight, and no one seems able to provide him with one. He's a hero with ennui and a sense of humor.

So this bald warrior isn't really Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I like to think he could be Aang in his twenties. It's an outrageous, funny comic book. I look forward to reading the others in the series.

The Harlem Hellfighters

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bringing to light a forgotten regiment of African-American heroes, this graphic novel depicts the horror of World War I and the courage of a group of men who had every deck stacked against them.

The 396th Infantry Regiment, and all-black regiment, was sent to training and to war with one hand figuratively tied behind their backs. They were actively belittled and attacked by their own countrymen, isolated from the other American troops, and even had to resort to trickery to get the weapons they needed from the U.S. Army.

But they returned after seeing more time in the soul-shredding combat of World War I than any other unit (the machine gun was a new invention, as was mustard gas), and after receiving more decorations. They never lost a man to capture.

This black and white graphic novel briefly sketches the characters of men both real and fictional. In color the illustrations would be too gory, but the drawback is that sometimes Caanan White's realistic, detailed images are difficult to understand. There is no denying, though, the emotional power of this story of men fighting both racism and a brutal war.

Max Brooks also wrote The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. For more on the history of this remarkable regiment, check out Walter Dean Myers' and Bill Miles' The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage.

Quotable:

"The first country in the world brave enough to be built on nothing but ideals...Even if it wasn't quite ready to live up to them." - p. 221

Coraline: The Graphic Novel

Coraline: The Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Story:
The Other Mother is a better version of Coraline's real mother, with one key difference: she has buttons for eyes, and she wants to make Coraline just like her.

Coraline is one of my favorite children's books: it's one of the most deliciously sinister horror stories I've ever read, and there is zero gore. Gaiman is the master of dark fantasy, and this book deserves a place with the classics. Coraline becomes a true heroine as her courage and ingenuity are tested by her attempts to outwit the Other Mother and return to her own world.

It's a short and apparently simple book, but it will haunt your dreams.

The Art:
To me, the images were too bright and clean for this dark story. I kept imagining the gorgeous animation of the 3D film and wishing the art here had a little more atmosphere to convey the extremes of delight and dread that Coraline experiences.

In the book the Other Mother is at first beautiful and charming enough to gain Coraline's trust, but in these images the effect of the button eyes makes her the clear villain when she is introduced. (Though the cat was perfect.) Admittedly, I hardly came to the story fresh since I've read the book and seen the movie so many times. It's the old problem of your own imagination supplying scarier images than any movie or drawing ever could.

The Color of Earth

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ehwa becomes a beautiful young woman under the kindly eye of her widowed mother, whose words of wisdom teach Ehwa about love and the physical changes of growing up.

The tone of the prose is gentle as Ehwa discovers the joys and pains of first love. The art in this book is undeniably lovely, but after a while the many extended poetic metaphors went from pretty to cloying.

I appreciated the loving and frank relationship between Ehwa and her mother, but I can also understand why parents may object to the nudity and sexual content of this book. At the same time, I think that The Color of Earth could help parents talk to their children - particularly daughters - about the physical changes that come with puberty, changes which can feel overwhelming (and be an embarrassing subject to discuss).