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Literally Graphic

LiterallyGraphic@books.theunseen.city

Joined 1 year, 2 months ago

An avid audiobook and comics reader with few IRL outlets for what has become a very special interest.

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2024 Reading Goal

11% complete! Literally Graphic has read 11 of 100 books.

Drawn to Berlin (GraphicNovel, 2018, Fantagraphics Books) 4 stars

Fitzgerald’s graphic memoir entwines political and personal displacement. Ali Fitzgerald is an artist trying to …

Review of Drawn to Berlin

4 stars

Content notes for drowning, trauma, racism, nudity, and swastikas.

What kinds of keywords came to mind reading Drawn to Berlin? Line, typography, history, refugees, and place.

The summary is "Fitzgerald’s graphic memoir entwines political and personal displacement. Ali Fitzgerald is an artist trying to find herself in a rapidly changing city facing an influx of asylum seekers. In Berlin, she teaches an art class to displaced people who have traveled from war-torn countries such as Syria and Afghanistan. Given Fitzgerald’s encouragement, her students take pen in hand and express their painful memories of home and cautious optimism about their new life. Revealing the humanity behind the politics of immigration, Drawn to Berlin is about loss, community, and the art that binds people together. Black & white illustrations throughout."

My one note is that, to her credit, I did feel like Ali centered herself a lot less then this summary would …

Ping Pong (GraphicNovel, 2020, VIZ Media LLC) No rating

Ace high school table tennis players push their passion to the limit in this story …

Ping Pong Round 2

No rating

2024 Review for volume 1 and 2: content notes for smoking, the angst of a child prodigy, and intense school sports.

Keywords that came to mind were speed, sweat, intensity, competition and line.

Written and illustrated by Taiyo Matsumoto it has apparently been three years since I told y'all that this dude is one favourite mangaka of all time.

Writing wise, I will admit to initially being a bit surprised that Matsumoto had written a sports manga as it didn't seem to be totally in his wheelhouse based off of the rest of his work I had read up until that point. On the one hand, there's definitely very Matsumoto ways in which he approaches this sports manga, and on the other hand apparently his editor kind of forced the idea onto him. Reading the essay in the back by said editor Yasuki Hori was kind of weird. Dude could …

Free Inside (Paperback, 2018, Ad Astra Comix) No rating

"'Free Inside' is a portfolio [of] art and writing by the late Canadian activist and …

Free Inside

No rating

Content notes for nudity, guns, violence, police, torture, needles, death and lack of healthcare.

Content warning for the fact that this is not actually a comic book. But it's close enough that I felt like including it.

What kinds of keywords came to mind reading this volume? Prison, reformation, birds, nature, censorship, and life sentence.

The summary for this volume is "'Free Inside' is a portfolio [of] art and writing by the late Canadian activist and prisoner Peter Collins, who spent 32 years behind bars for killing a police officer during a botched robbery. Collins was the kind of man you'd expect to find in prison - and he still didn't belong there. Among his cartoons, paintings and articles are heartfelt words from friends, comrades and those who knew him best. 'Free Inside' is a condemnation of the Canadian prison system and an invaluable perspective on notions of justice, "rehabilitation", …