Graphic Novels > Art Spiegelman Graphic Novels

Advantages: Graphic novel format, makes it feel authentic while not being romanticised account of the Holocaust
Disadvantages: Almost unbearably moving, does not make you feel good about being a human being...

...it 10 stars, I would. Maus 2 : And Here My Troubles Began is the sequel to Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale My Father bleeds History, the verysuccessful graphic novel on the Holocaust, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The author who is also a main character in the story, Art Spiegelman (referred to as Artie) interviews his father, Vladek, a Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz, about his past. Part 1 traces the father's life and loves from the mid- 1930s to the ...
...In that, Part 2 of Maus is far more self-reflexive than Part 1and as much of the action takes place in the 80s as in the 40's and there are many flashbacks and flash-forwards between the time when the artist is producing Maus and that of the Second World War. The relationship between father and son is far from being an easy one. This is clearly because of the weight of the war which the son cannot fully grasp. As Artie is sitting in a car with his ... Read review

Advantages: an extraordinary book, very touching
Disadvantages: none

...overwhelmed by the success his Maus stories have, ad people urge him to give them the permission to use his mice for their own purposes (which he refuses), he has to see a psychiatrist for help. On the next level we find the cartoonist Art Spiegelman, the author's fictitious alter ego, born in the USA as the son of a Jewish couple, survivors of the holocaust, interviewing his father about his life. This is the third level, Vladek Spiegelman tells ...
...irritations I've mentioned (my problems!) I can say that Maus is a true masterpiece, a stroke of genius and has deserved the many prizes (the Pulitzer among them) it has got. Highly recommended. The Complete Maus Penguin Books 296 pages first published in 2003 cover price 14.99 GBP ... Read review

Advantages: Impressive debut with some fantastic art.
Disadvantages: A bit of a copy-cat, falling for some of the Sandman's pitfalls.

...issue mini-series 'The Sandman Presents Lucifer: The Morningstar Option' from 1999 and the first four issues of the regular comic which began a year later, forming another three-part serial and a final, separate short story. It's clear even from this first collection that the recognisable Sandman style is being followed diligently, allocating a finite number of issues to a particular story before moving on to the next and filling the spaces with ...
...the titular protagonist, Lucifer (or whatever name your culture bestows him) is much more prominent in these plots than Gaiman's Sandman was in the long run, though like Dream his role is pushed to the background in the short stories, presuming this book is going to be reflective of the series as a whole. In a further, clearly intentional homage to Sandman, the series would conclude after seventy-five issues in 2006, but now we're getting ahead of ... Read review

Advantages: First half is a surprisingly good ending.
Disadvantages: Second half of unrelated stories is a disappointing waste of time.

...that Neil Gaiman's saga of The Sandman came to a satisfactory close eight years after its first issue hit the shelves. This final paperback collects the three issues comprising 'The Wake' epilogue and three supplementary, independent stories tying up some of the more obscure loose ends before the series is finally put to rest... you know, aside from the other couple of Sandman books Gaiman has written since, and the numerous spin-off comics continuing ...
...The previous book 'The Kindly Ones' was a long and winding road to the Sandman's inevitable death, and 'The Wake' deals with its consequences while also providing a sentimental farewell for the comic series itself. Fortunately, this amounts to more than just a bittersweet parade of favourite characters saying their goodbyes (though it is partly that), with Gaiman and returning artist Michael Zulli working to create something original and distinctive ... Read review

Advantages: Draws old plot threads to a close.
Disadvantages: Tedious length, pointless distractions and bad jokes.

...notion that Gaiman had left the stretched plotting of his earlier 'Season of Mists' era behind him, 'Brief Lives' instead acts as a rough sequel to some of its events, and puts any and all remaining questions about the Endless to a conclusive rest, with the sole exception of the rather glaring omission: "what exactly are they, then?" There was some valid criticism that my last Sandman review dumped readers in at the deep end without much explanation ...
...overview. Introduced gradually over the course of the comic series, which had by now been in print for three mostly enjoyable years, the seven Endless are not gods, that much is made clear, but are rather seemingly immortal and powerful beings whose function is to oversee seven vital aspects of the universe. The titular Sandman is Dream, though he is rarely referred to as the Sandman, and is known by a multitude of names by different cultures, as ... Read review