The Books I Want to Buy:
Like A Sni
per Lining Up His Shot
by Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jacques Tardi; Fantagraphics, $18.99
I don’t know very much about this book, except for a few points that make me want to read this without even reading the solicitation text:
1. It’s drawn by Jacques Tardi. His It Was The War of The Trenches was an incredible book – a dark and beautiful graphic novel about the first world war that had a number of surprises and truly chilling moments.
2. It’s about snipers. Snipers are cool. You can even make a cheesy movie like Enemy at the Gate cool by including a great deal of sniper-ness. I assume this is a crime comic, somewhat like The Killer, another great French comic recently translated into English, but perhaps it’s more political. Either way, I’m okay with it.
3. These Fantagraphic editions are nice to own. They are very well designed, maintaining the original size of the French books, and have very high production values.
That’s enough for me.
Any Empire
by Nate Powell; Top Shelf, $19.95
I still haven’t gotten a copy of Powell’s previous graphic novel, Swallow Me Whole, which looks excellent. Here is the solicitation text for this book:
Any Empire is a vivid examination of war and violence, and their trickle-down effects on middle America. First, a group of small-town kids find themselves bound together by geography, boredom, and a string of mysterious turtle mutilations. Years later, with Army tanks rolling through the streets of their hometown, these young adults are forced to confront painful questions of privilege, duty, betrayal, and courage.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Powell’s made a name for himself for delivering quality literary graphic novels, and I’m always up for a good comic about war, especially when it looks at things from a unique perspective.
So, what would you buy Were Money No Object?
