Bibliophilia: The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst

Quite possibly my favourite book ever. If judging the number of times I’ve read it is any indication.

I bought the first edition in 1992, immediately realizing it as the authoritative book it was. That it was beautifully designed, and written with the sort of grace a poet is capable of, just made it more appealing. (Bringhurst is a remarkable man, and this exemplary treatise on the subject is just one of his many achievements.)

I read that book cover to cover, over and over. The section on the Golden Section was worth the price alone.

I’d bought more recent editions as gifts for friends over the years, but never treated myself. While I was in Swipe in Toronto recently, I grabbed the fourth edition. I may not be as involved with graphic design and typography as I once was, but given how much I’ve enjoyed and gained from this book over the years, a second copy 25 years on was worth it.

Anyone who works with type to any degree, needs to own this book, and put the teachings in to practice.

Bibliophilia: Normandy – A Graphic History of D-Day by Wayne Vansant

Normandy – A Graphic History of D-Day: The Allied Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe by Wayne Vansant

I enjoyed the previously reviewed graphic novel by Mr. Vansant so much, that I immediately grabbed this one.

While I knew about all the salient points discussed here, I thought this was a great overview. Yes, I’ve read scholarly treatises about this pivotal event in world history. Thick books by history professors. Sure, I enjoyed them. But not everyone brings the same level of interest to the table. For some people, those who may still want to learn a little more, without wanting to plow through a thick tome, this is a terrific option.

Again, various perspectives are examined. Allied and Axis. General and private. Citizen and politician. Major battles and small skirmishes. Technology and human will.

The work being done by Mr. Vansant is a very worthwhile attempt to engage a wider and more diverse audience in learning more about history. The art is fantastic, and his ability to synthesize a great deal of info into a cohesive and engaging package is masterful.

Bibliophilia: Starlight: The Return of Duke McQueen by Mark Millar

Starlight: The Return of Duke McQueen by Mark Millar

The always reliable Mark Millar, with art duties handled by Goran Parlov, gives us a really fun romp. 

The heroically titled Duke McQueen is a barrel chested, square jawed he-man. As a young air force pilot, he found himself transported to the planet Tantalus, where he led the fight against the tyrant Typhon. Revered by the people he helped liberate, he turned down their offer to be their king so he could return home to his beloved. Forty years later, he’s an old man and a widower. No one (except his late wife) believe his stories of his daring exploits. His two sons view him as a pathetic figure. But at his lowest point, an envoy from Tantalus arrives, pleading with him to return to help them fight off the invading Brotean empire. Can this tired old man rise to the challenge and help his old friends fight off this new threat?

Campy good fun, even if the ending felt rushed. (It feels like this may have been envisioned to run for more issues than it did.) It’s reverentially nostalgic for a simpler time. Unabashedly inspired by the likes of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers and Dan Dare, and probably a few lesser known 30’s, 40’s and 50’s pulp space farers and adventurers. It’s admittedly formulaic, and feels very familiar, but Millar handles it deftly. The terrific art by Parlov has a bit of a Moebius feel to it, and suits the story perfectly.

Bibliophilia: Bombing Nazi Germany by Wayne Vansant

Bombing Nazi Germany: The Graphic History of the Allied Air Campaign That Defeated Hitler in World War II by Wayne Vansant

A concise visual narrative of the air war against the Nazis. 

Starting with a look at WW1’s hints at the potential of strategic bombing, and the inter war years proponents like Italian Giulio Douhet and American Billy Mitchell. Hitler’s Condor Legion’s bombing of Guernica was the first real show of force that proved the theoreticians correct. From there the war’s changing tides and strategies are examined. The British strategy of nighttime bombing, versus the American strategy of daylight bombing, technological advancements, stories of individual crews, the viewpoints of the generals and politicians, the perspective of the German civilians affected by the raids, etc.

The art is excellent and all the relevant points are touched on. Not exhaustive in its details, but a very engaging look at an important chapter of WW2. 

Bibliophilia: Unfollow: 140 Characters by Rob Williams

Unfollow: 140 Characters by Rob Williams

A billionaire who created a Twitter like social media phenomenon, is dying. He’s decided to leave his fortune to 140 people. An oddly disparate group of people, who seem to  have been randomly selected. Or have they?

This first collection largely revolves around establishing the different characters. A young man from a crummy neighbourhood who hopes the money will be a way out for him and his sister. The rich girl intent on giving away her wealth, who then inherits another fortune. An ex-SF soldier turned religious mountain man. A famous Japanese novelist who cut his own legs off. They’re all flown to the billionaire’s private island where the caveat is revealed. While each of them is to receive $130 million, if one of the 140 dies, their share is taken back and distributed to the others. So, will they all start killing each other to become even richer?

Really liked this and look forward to reading more.

Bibliophilia: Secret Life: The Jian Ghomeshi Investigation by Kevin Donovan

Secret Life: The Jian Ghomeshi Investigation by Kevin Donovan

Ripped through this last night. Witnessed the whole story as it unfolded, but still worthwhile to read about the whole story in one place.

I’ve read at least one of the books about the Lance Armstrong story. For all the things that claim to reveal human nature, is there anything as damning as the willingness of the many people whose fortunes are hitched to the horse, to shut up and put up. Letting a decent looking person with an ability in a certain field and a bit of charisma, get away with utterly appalling behaviour. Abuse of all sorts will be condoned so long as it doesn’t upset the cart.

What a turd. There really is no worse example of a man who when brutality is rebuffed, resorts to “I am driving really fast on the highway and I am under a lot stress right now and if I crash it will be your fault.” Violence and threatening didn’t work, so now you’ll try to guilt trip. You really are one pathetic loser. A lack of consent from intimate partners, isn’t a forgivable sin in my world. Acting like a snivelling weasel is a close second.

And this book couldn’t help but remind me a bit of Robyn Doolittle’s Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story. Not just a headline grabbing story, but also some insights into what a journalistic investigation is all about.

Bibliophilia: How to Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop – Dave Tompkins

How to Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop – Dave Tompkins
I only ever knew the Vocoder as an effect used in late 70s and early 80s electronic music. I wasn’t even aware that it was originally devised (by Bell Labs) during WW2 as a means of scrambling cross-Atlantic telephonic communications.

The title is “how to recognize speech” - as it would have been mis-interpreted on the receiving end.

The writing is wildly inventive, and I love how he goes off on all sort of tangents, deftly linking nascent electronic development, wartime espionage, military encryption, postwar paranoia, early electronic music and pioneering hip-hop into a wildly entertaining roller coaster ride.  

Bibliophilia: 750 Years in Paris by Vincent Mahé

750 Years in Paris by Vincent Mahé

I’ve never been to Paris, and it isn’t so high on my list of priorities. But I do find its history interesting. 

Starting 1265 and ending in 2015, Vincent Mahé has created 60 pages that focus on a single block, serving to highlight not just the changing architecture over the centuries, but also the historical events and time periods that shaped Paris. Fires, plagues, uprisings, revolutions, renovations, wars, strikes, terror attacks. They’re all there. The images tell a vibrant story without a shred of dialogue.

It reminded me a bit of Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House.

It’ll appeal to fans of visual story telling, history, and architecture.

Bibliophilia: Wrinkles by Paco Roca

Wrinkles by Paco Roca
Another of those wonderful graphic novels that doesn’t deal with superheroes in sweeping scenarios. It deals instead with an elderly man in the early stages of Alzheimers, who enters a care facility. Scenarios switch from the present to the youthful memories of the characters. Confident characters of the past abruptly segue out of flashbacks to their confused, bewildered present, struggling to come up with words and recall details. The stiff and formal Emilio strives valiantly to hang on to his mind and his memories, dreading the thought of having to go to the second floor, where the severe cases of dementia end up. With his brash and dastardly room mate Miguel, he does his best to hang on to his dignity and reality, even if it is the hum-drum existence of an old folks home.

There’s a parallel in my own life, as my mother is now in a care facility gradually succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimers. Witnessing it is the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. So this was a pretty wistful read for me.

Heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Anyone with elderly parents or grandparents slipping into dementia can relate to this, and it may even help you come to terms with it a little. As nearly impossible as that is.

Bibliophilia: Monster Motors by Lynch, Roche & O’Grady

Monster Motors by Brian Lynch, Mick Roche & Leonard O’Grady

How could I not like a book that packs this much campy fun into it? The Abominable Snowman, Cadillacula, Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hybrid, Minivan Helsing, Zoombies and Wheelwolf are some of the cast of ... caracters?

Victor Frankenstein moves to Transylvania, Kentucky to become the town mechanic. A wizard with a wrench, he built his assistant, Igor – Interactive Garage Operations Robot. The garage he purchased is more like a fortress, and odd things happen during the night. It turns out Cadillacula has been trapped inside and manages to escape after sucking the gas out of a bunch of vehicles. Soon he is joined by April Van Helsing and her father, Minivan, and they reluctantly team up to fight automotive evil.

Bibliophilia: The Last Werewolf – Glen Duncan

The Last Werewolf – Glen Duncan

Thoroughly enjoyed this funny, sexy, literate take on werewolves.

Jake Marlowe is a very jaded, but still licentious werewolf. And, as we learn, the last one of his kind. He’s being hunted by WOCOP (the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), who want to kill him. Oh and vampires are also after him, although they want him for different reasons. He’s pretty sick of it all. Sure, he’s physically very healthy, has managed to stay free and alive for a long time, and he’s financially successful. But having to come up with new identities every few decades and having to look over his shoulder all the time has ground him down. And he’s lonely.

Then something happens which totally changes that outlook.

I thought the writing was glorious, with some delightful turns of phrase, there’s action aplenty and sex and violence in spades.

Bibliophilia: Horrorstör – Grady Hendrix

Horrorstör – Grady Hendrix

Clever, and very fun, take on the haunted house story. A modern take on an old standby, as it’s set in an Ikea like store. And the book is designed with a nod to their catalogues. The illustrations of furniture that precede each chapter become more sinister as the book goes on. From student dorm to torture chamber. I hear there is talk of making it into a TV show. Well suited to it.

An examples from the divider pages.

Bibliophilia: Shaolin Cowboy; Shemp Buffet – Geof Darrow

Shaolin Cowboy; Shemp Buffet – Geof Darrow

I read this last night...okay I looked at the pictures in this last night. The dialogue is so sparse, you may as well concede it’s non-existent. Utterly demented and completely gonzo. If you’re into zombies and/or really exceptional illustration, this is the book for you. Certainly this is one of the most unique takes on the zombie genre. 4 dozen pages of 2 wide panels stretched across 2 pages of the titular hero twirling two chainsaws attached to the ends of a 5 meter pole through a horde of thousands of naked grey and olive coloured zombies, with the predictable carnage. Then, when his chainsaws run out of gas, we’re treated to a dozen and a half pages of him running across the heads of the zombies, each step unleashing a bloody, brainy slurry. After several pages of his catching his breath, we get 2 dozen pages of his kicking and punching the shuffling horde of rotting corpses to annihilation.

All of it done in Darrow’s exquisite and hyper detailed illustration style. I thought his work on Frank Miller’s Hard Boiled was completely insane. This is even more unhinged.

Totally absurd and nihilistic, and dare I say, kinda brilliant and hilarious.

Bibliophilia: Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times – Andrew MacLean

Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times – Andrew MacLean

Read this book tonight. Fun enough read, but what made me happy was that my proud family name is the sound a super cool motorcycle with guns mounted on it makes.

I realize that my initial review was pretty flippant, so after expanding in the comments, I thought I would post it here as an add on. 

Kick ass babe and her companion cat, living in a subway car beneath an overgrown post apocalyptic / paradoxically somewhat Eden-ish city, two factions of cool looking baddies she has to look out for, and she’s on a quest for an unspecified artifact. Bit of a twist at the end regarding who she really is.

Bibliophilia: The Shadow Hero – Gene Luen Yang

The Shadow Hero – Gene Luen Yang

The Shadow Hero by writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Sonny Liew revives the Green Turtle, an obscure Golden Age superhero, the first (albeit shortlived) Asian American superhero as a matter of fact. (The Green Turtle was originally created by cartoonist Chu Hing. The Green Turtle’s superpower seemed to be that he could dodge bullets. He helped to defend China against the invading Japanese army.)

It’s a wonderfully funny, sweet, exciting and thoughtful book. Anyone who knows something of the immigrant experience can relate to this, whether their background is Chinese or not. The “Tiger Mother” mother is one of the best characters I’ve read in a graphic novel in some time. She provided several laugh out loud moments. She doesn’t want her son, Hank, to become a boring shop owner like her husband. Instead of driving him to be a doctor or lawyer, she gets on his ass to become a superhero. Adventure, both hilarious and tragic ensue, as he sets out to battle crime. Does he actually have any super powers? Well, some Chinese guardian spirits seem to be helping and protecting him. Will he get the pretty girl he meets along the way? You’ll have to read it to find out.

Bibliophilia: Lazarus – Greg Rucka

Lazarus 01, Family – Greg Rucka

Lazarus 02, Lift – Greg Rucka

Lazarus 03, Conclave – Greg Rucka

I’ve mentioned it before in several reviews of his work, but I am a huge Greg Rucka fan. Not just because he writes great stories, but because his stories feature fantastic female leads.

In an all too real feeling future, where nation states have collapsed, several incredibly wealthy families have carved out their own territories and are in a state of low level war with one another. A small percentage of the population serve these families - scientists, military, etc. - and are known as serfs. Everyone else is charmingly referred to as waste.

Each family has a lazarus, a genetically enhanced human who can’t be killed, who serves as a spy / assassin / protector. The main character here is Forever Carlyle, and she navigates her way through political machinations, both external and internal.

(The one point I quibbled about is why just one? Given that they have clawed their way to power because of their control of advanced genetics and other scientific fields, why stop at just one lazarus? Why not a whole army?)

Despite that one point, top notch.

Bibliophilia: Last of the Sandwalkers – Jay Hosler

Last of the Sandwalkers – Jay Hosler

This is AMAZING! One of the best graphic novels I’ve read in a while. Epic quest, journey of scientific discovery, adventure abounds, intrigue, betrayal, fighting off enemies, the love of family and the importance of friendship, the power of science over superstition - the art is fantastic - oh and all the characters are beetles.

Wonderful book. And the author / artist is a professor of biology, and fills it with cool facts.

Got it from the library, but so good, I will buy a copy for myself.

Bibliophilia: March of the Crabs 1, The Crabby Condition – Arthur de Pins

March of the Crabs 1, The Crabby Condition – Arthur de Pins

Loved the art, but found the story lacked a compelling hook to carry my interest for a whole book. Wait, this was part 1 of a trilogy about crabs that can only walk in a side to side straight line? If I didn’t get drawn into one book, I doubt a trilogy will grab my attention any more.

Bibliophilia: The Army of Dr. Moreau – David F. Walker

The Army of Dr. Moreau – David F. Walker

I had a run of graphic novels I grabbed at the library that did nothing for me. The recently reviewed Noir being one. This being the other.

I thought it was pretty flat, taking the original premise of H.G. Wells’ classic and not adding a whole lot to it. The Allies learn the Nazis have discovered Moreau’s island and the remnants of his work and want to use it to create a race of mindless super soldiers. So they send a bunch of agents to wipe it out. The beasts are noble pacifists, the Nazi’s are cruel savages, the allies show up and convince “Moreau’s children” they need to fight the Nazi menace, lots of moralizing and bloodshed ensues.

The original tale was probably sufficient.

Bibliophilia: Noir: (Vol. 1), The Mohawk Templar – Victor Gischler

Noir: (Vol. 1), The Mohawk Templar –  Victor Gischler

Stinker.

Look, I’ll admit to being pretty low brow, and grabbing a graphic novel because it features a babe in a skin tight leather cat suit.

Even two babes in skin tight cat suits didn’t redeem this.

I didn’t think it was very cohesive, the characters weren’t that well fleshed out, the art was very so so, and every pulp trope was tossed in for good measure. The Knights Templar came to North America, befriended the Mohawks, and built an insanely elaborate underground complex to hide a treasure, which came off like a retread Clive Cussler story. Oh, but first they built a stone tower that you need a special moon stone to place in a slot at a certain time in order for the moon to shine through it to reveal the map that shows where this “duck the swinging blades to get over the bridge to enter the code to open the door to go through another hall with massive sculptures” cavern is. The Shadow makes an appearance in the first part, and I think if he hadn’t, it likely wouldn’t have mattered much. Oh and let’s throw in some totally pointless SM for some titillation. Yawn.

And there wasn’t much “noir” about it. Splitting hairs maybe, perhaps it just referred to the fact the two female leads wore black. But “noir” in the sense I understand it; no.