Brian Wood - Channel Zero

-Might contain spoilers-

Finally i'm writing about this graphic novel! In the beginning of the semester when i saw this graphic novel on the list, i immeadieately ordered it. It was exciting to see a graphic novel in the list. I am familiar with Brian Wood from his Northlanders, a series of graphic novels whose setting has nothing to do with Channel Zero (definitely recommend it to everyone, especially for those who are interested in vikings and northern cultures).

The setting in Channel Zero is pretty much a dystopian near future America where media is completely under the control of a totalitarian government. Our main character is Jenny 2.5, a revolutioner young rebel who, when she was a kid got influenced by important revolutioner icons and tries to become one throught the story.

The first thing i noticed when i start reading this graphic novel was that i immediately felt that this piece was completely done by artistic desires of Wood. You can feel that it's a very personal work. I also liked the introduction by Warren Ellis a lot.

Although i liked the spirit of this graphic novel, i must say that it's not the most impressive future pessimism piece to me. Most of the time, the reading parts and the drawings were not very unified and i found myself reading more than looking at the images, which is not a great thing to do when what you read is a graphic piece. But this is just my opinion.

But there are so many things to write about the concept of this novel. Like most of other dystopian stories, this one makes us think about our future and how close we are to that level. In the story what struck me the most was that towards the end Jenny 2.5 gives up on her fight when she sees the younger generation that were wearing Jenny 2.5 t-shirts and being wannabes. Just like once she was when she was young. She hopes that one day one of those wannabes would become a real revolutioner. That's pretty much how the story ends. I really liked the way Wood shows us this interesting cycle.

To sum it all up, i would say i enjoyed reading this piece and i respect it for being such an artistic endeavour. But it was not effective and strong as Alan Moore's V for Vendetta (or Watchmen).

Neil Gaiman - Graveyard Book

Sadly, i still haven't finished reading this book but i still want to write a few things about how i think about Neil Gaiman and his graveyard book.

Graveyard book is a children's book (that's what i've heard anyway) but i think adults would enjoy it even more than kids. It's about a kid's days who lives in an old graveyard and being raised by the dead folk of the graveyard. It almost feels like the dark version of Jungle book. Again, like other Gaiman's works there is a separation between two worlds. This time it's between the living city and the graveyard at the top of the hill. I really like the way that how Gaiman separates two worlds and most of the time points out this world to us and shows how mundane, how boring it is actually. The same feeling was strong in Coraline too. Both books' main characters are little kids and it's very enjoyable to look at things from their perspective.

The first thing i read from Gaiman was Sandman's first volume and to be honest, i really did not like it (it was years ago) but now i am planning to read some Sandman. American Gods is still waiting for to be read too.

Aye and Gomorrah

"You spin in the sky, the world spins under you, and you step from land to land, while we . . ." She turned her head right, left, and her black hair curled and uncurled on the shoulder of her coat. "We have our dull, circled lives, bound in gravity, worshiping you!"

A beautiful passage from the short story, Aye and Gomorrah. I just read it for the second time and i must say that, it still feels unclear to me. I think that "just enough information" which we talked about in class is not enough here. I don't know, maybe i should read it for a second time.

There is an interesting point in this short story though, that it mostly takes place in Istanbul, the city i grew up. And there are very interesting observations about specific areas of the city, like Taksim square and the Flower passage. ( but camels ? no, we don't have them)

To be honest, the depiction of the city made me a little distracted from the main story and theme. I know that is not good, but from what i understand it's mostly about overpopulation and of course sex. I think for the most part, the descriptions were intentionally limited for us to create the world by relying our own imagination but i wish they could be more, specific..

I was planning to post something about Bladerunner here today, but just now, i decided to watch it again. Then i will write about it. Really good movie.