2.17.2012
Habibi
by Craig Thompson, 665 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B
Habibi is hard to classify. It takes place in the present (or close to it), but feels like it's in the past because the characters are isolated and/or on the margins of society. It follows two characters who escape from slavery together, one as a young girl and the other as a baby. Dodola raises Zam in a boat trapped in the middle of a desert. Once Zam is a teen, Dodola is abducted by a caravan and taken into a harem, and Zam begins his journey to be reunited with her.
Not a tale for the faint-hearted (many bad things happen to both Dodola and Zam, in addition to the frequent nudity and sexual encounters), 'Habibi' is a journey of two characters apart and together, longing for what they've lost. The settings run from a ship in the desert and a harem to a half-constructed skyscaper and an enclave of eunuchs, as well as the depictions of religious stories from Hebrew, Christian and Muslim faiths. There is also a gorgeous amount of art relating to Arabic writing throughout.
Labels: genre: fiction, genre: graphic novel, genre: religion, media: book
Hark! A Vagrant
by Kate Beaton, 166 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: A+
Website: Hark, a vagrant
A comic anthology (from the website?), 'Hark!' is part comics about history (from many parts of history), part culture (Canada, eh?), and part literary (let's make fun of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, y/y?) Another early A+ review for the year. This had me in stitches the night I sat down to read it and went cover to cover.
Labels: genre: anthology, genre: biographical, genre: comics, genre: historical, genre: non-fiction, media: book
