As mentioned previously, my local library branch now stocks graphic novels. I picked up a few more yesterday, of which the only notable one was Fray, by Joss Whedon. As everybody knows, I was a huge fan of Buffy (and a somewhat lesser fan of Angel and Firefly (although I went to see Batman Begins (which was excellent) this afternoon and was totally totally jazzed to see the preview for Serenity, the movie that continues Firefly – the preview literally gave me goosebumps even though I’d already seen it online)) and once worshipped the ground that Joss walked upon. Anyway, I’d been meaning to read Joss’s attempt at a graphic novel, depicting a far future version of the Vampire Slayer, for a while. I even bought a couple of the Fray comic books from the store when they were being published before losing interest and deciding to wait for the graphic novel version. And then I never got around to it to buying the graphic novel, but now I was able to get it from the library.
It’s okay. It makes me realize how much of what I liked about Buffy is the interplay between the actors. The world of Fray just doesn’t come alive for me. Oh well.
The other graphic novels I got were all pretty awful. I picked up a Hellblazer compilation from long after Garth Ennis was done, and it was so bad I didn’t even finish an issue’s worth. I picked up a Books of Magic compilation, because I adore the original graphic novel, but the comic version does nothing for me, and I lost interest after only a couple issues. I also checked out an old Green Lantern compilation, but it was way too 70s Marvel-esque.
But, on the plus side, I bought none of them, so no harm, no foul.
somewhere around here i have all of the individual issues of Fray, bought for me by a friend. i quite enjoyed it – Fray’s more of a badass, and that and the world works better in the comic than i think it would have in the TV show.
but…hm. i don’t think i would have gone out of my way to buy them otherwise.
I picked up a Hellblazer compilation from long after Garth Ennis was done, and it was so bad I didn’t even finish an issue’s worth.
Feh. Yeah, it was disastrous after Ennis (the few issues I read), but I thought that Jamie Delano was much better than Ennis too (interviews with both of them here: http://www.tabula-rasa.info/AusComics/Hellblazers.html).
On a semi-related note, here’s hoping that V for Vendetta will be as good as it looks like it might be.