I decided to end my this year's blog with two graphic books, one a graphic novel about a new drug, the other a biography about one of the 20th Century's best Sci-Fi writers.
Philip K. Dick by Laurent Queyssi and Mauro Marchesi
Philip K. Dick, one of the greatest Sci-Fi writers of the last hundred years, is one of those writers that I come back to from time to time. Many of his stories and novels were later made into movies, for example Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (filmed as Blade Runner) and Minority Report. I knew little of his real life, except that some of his stories were semi-biographical in nature.
This comic biography, artistically, is quite typical of modern comics. The lines are clear, the colour is there, and they tell the story in actions not words. However, I would have preferred more detail about how and why he wrote the books he did. It is a very quick telling of his life from a baby to his death, and that makes it lack a little something. On the other hand, the vividness of the hallucinations, given through the art work, is quite special.
Star rating: 3/5
This book will be available from 15th January 2019
Bone Parish Vol. 1 by Cullen Bunn
The premise behind this graphic novel is simple. A family has created a new drug called Ash, made from the ashes of the dead. They cause you to hallucinate that you are that person, seeing what they saw. However, the business is very successful and has attracted the attention of several large drug cartels who want to buy the business, whatever the cost.
The kind of story that I think PKD would have loved to write in his darkest of moods, this was perhaps not quite my cup of tea. The idea was excellent, and the artwork was really good, however I found the actual story to be a bit flat, maybe a little boring. I'm sure, however, that many people would enjoy it more than I did, but I wouldn't rush out to buy it. Maybe I will look at part two in the future, just to see what happened next, but I'm unsure.
Star rating: 2.5/5
You have to wait until 7th May 2019 for this one!
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