What's the book? Illustrated Three-Line Novels by Joanna Neborsky.
What's it about? It's an adaption of the great Felix Feneon's Novels in Three Lines, in which he sardonically condenses news stories down into blunt and often darkly hilarious Twitter-sized epics.
What's the art look like? It's not your traditional comic book art (click to enlarge):
Do you recommend it? I do. It's a beautiful art book, although at $24.95, I'd hoped that they would include a few more adaptations; it takes at least four pages to tell a single story, and the book is simply not that long. It's more of an art book to savor, rather than a comic book to read.
(Two more brief reviews, including a serial-killer thriller written by Peter Straub, are after the jump.)
What's the book? Whirlwind Wonderland, by Rina Ayuyang.
What's it about? It's a collection of autobiographical comics by a Filipino-American cartoonist.
What's the art look like? Hard to say: Every story is drawn in a slightly different style. Here's one style:
Do you recommend it? Yes! Ayuyang really gets a lot of depth out of her short stories. She writes about the Filipino-American experience in a universal way, addressing her parents' awkward interior-decorating choices, her family's love for karaoke, and returning to the Philippines for a funeral of a distant relative. It's not a flawless collection—one story about Brad Pitt feels self-indulgent—but Ayuyang has a strong autobiographical voice. I expect to hear much more from her.
***
What's the book? The Green Woman, written by Peter Straub and Michael Easton, illustrated by John Bolton.
What's it about? It's a sequel to The Throat, a novel by Straub about a serial killer named Fielding 'Fee' Bandolier.
What's the art look like? I'm not especially a fan of Bolton's painted panels. Everything looks a little too stolid for my tastes, like so:
Do you recommend it? Not really, although I haven't read The Throat. The art is smoky, the story is vague, and the whole thing is forgettable. It's kind of a mess.
