Memes and memes and sequential art

Amusing video, work-safe: it's Pickle Phobia Girl!

Man, these things are awesome. I wonder when they'll be available in the United States?

Thanks out to Remi for pointing me at two new graphic novel series: Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina. The premise of Y is that every male on the planet- human, animal, zygote, anything with a Y chromosome- dies from a plague, except for one man and his pet monkey. It sounds a little frivolous, but it is truly worth reading, with some juicy conspiracy. Ex Machina posits a single superhero in New York City, a man with the power to control machines with a word. He unmasks himself after the events of 9/11 (he stopped one plane) and becomes mayor. There's a lot of promise here as well; the art is almost rotoscoped, which adds a lot of credibility.



Having epic disaster life-changing and world-changing events on the brain, I picked up a fantastic-looking book by Art Spiegelman called In the Shadow of no Towers, a very evocative take on life in New York after 9/11, all done in large Sunday supplement old-school comic style. This is the man who brought us the Pulitzer Prize winning Maus, so I look forward to this work after only having read the introduction.

Comic books are simply not just comic books anymore. If you don't believe me, read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics.



Any of these should run you no more than ten or twenty bucks; some you can find in college bookstores as textbooks, all will be on the shelves at your Friendly Local Comic Store or whichever chain of brick-and-mortar bookstore you patronize.

Edit: I found a high school teacher's guide for Maus from the publisher.