An Equal Music and Comic Books
February 13, 2002 (3:25 AM) ( link )

I haven't done any reading recently, at all. It's pretty sad. However, I did make it to the Cambridge Public Library today, where I checked out Vikram Seth's An Equal Music and one volume each from Warren Ellis's Stormwatch and Transmetropolitan series (both graphic novels). I think reading An Equal Music will be easier than reading A Suitable Boy, for several reasons. First, it's shorter. Second, I love music. Third, I am a sucker for this type of story—the end of James Joyce's "The Dead" teared me up, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials moved me despite its other inadequacies, and, hell, I even had to blink rapidly at the end of "My Best Friend's Wedding." (I also hunt cute animals and wrestle alligators in my spare time, which makes up for whatever girliness you think this implies.) So An Equal Music should be a good read. Perhaps it will inspire me to read A Suitable Boy afterward as well.

Warren Ellis's work is something else entirely. I really like Stormwatch, although I think Ellis is terrible at actually setting things up. (I might have reviews of two of his Stormwatch books soon, where I can explain things better.) But I'm starting to dislike Transmetropolitan. Random violence, nastiness, and expletives just don't do it for me. Is this what "edgy" is supposed to be? Hey: Frank Miller's Batman - The Dark Knight Returns was edgy, cool, and compelling long before Ellis became a big name in comics. I can only take so much of Spider Jerusalem expletive-filled rantings and various cruelties before I stop finding the excess funny.

This reminds me: another one of Ellis's series that I find really interesting, though not entirely good, is his work on Planetary. I mean, what the hell is this supposed to be about? In part I haven't posted a review because I don't feel I really understand the work yet. But at some point, after rereading the Planetary trade paperback at least one more time, I'll try putting up a brief review.