D.Gray-man: By Your Side

I read D.Gray-man, Vol. 24

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.

Read Webcomic Grumble: Chapter One - Page 13

Page 13 is here: http://www.comicbookbin.com/grumbleone013.html

Dogs: Bullets & Carnage - Dog Soldiers

I read Dogs, Vol. 9: Bullets & Carnage

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.

Review: FATHERLAND - Original Graphic Novel

FATHERLAND
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY/Liveright – @wwnorton and @LiverightPub

CARTOONIST: Nina Bunjevac
ISBN: 978-0-63149-031-6; hardcover (January 19, 2015)
160pp, B&W, $22.95 U.S., $26.99 CAN

Fatherland is a 2015 graphic novel written and drawn by Canadian illustrator and comic book creator, Nina Bunjevac.  Fatherland is a memoir and also a history of Bunjevac's family and of the Balkans, the homeland of Bunjevac's immediate family.  Much of this graphic novel's story also focuses on Nina's father, Peter Bunjevac.

In 1975, Nina's mother, Sally, was weary of her husband, Peter's alcoholism.  However, she was also increasingly fearful of Peter's growing political fanaticism.  He had connected with an organization of Serbian nationalists in Canada and the United States who were determined to overthrow the communist government of Yugoslavia.

Sally took two-year-old Nina and her older daughter, Sarah, and moved to Zemun, Yugoslavia to live with her parents, Momirka and Spasoja.  Sally told Peter that it was only going to be a short visit, but he would not let her take their oldest child, a son, Petey, on the trip.  With his wife and two daughters gone, Peter Bunjevac continued his activities, as his family's present, just as his family's past, become ensnared in the history of the fatherland.

Above the title on the cover of Fatherland are the words, “A Family History.”  This wonderful and engaging graphic novel is indeed a family history, but this comic narrative insists that families are not simply individual units of people that exist outside of the goings-on and happenings of the world.  Indeed, Fatherland insists that the creation of a family is firmly rooted in the history of land or nation.  A family's conception can only exist by the actions of the past, which act as a kind of fertile plain or earth from which relationships spring.

Reading Fatherland, there were times when I could not separate the story of the Balkans from the story of Peter Bunjevac's family and ancestors.  I think that is what Nina Bunjevac wants.  She makes 150+ pages of graphical storytelling seem like an epic novel of family and history spread out over two continents and taking place in several nations.

In Fatherland, her exquisitely rendered black and white drawings are like a marriage of cross-hatching and stippling.  They have a quality that is photographic, dream-like, and earthy.  That may be why this true story felt so real to me.  I had not heard of the Toronto-based Nina Bunjevac until W.W. Norton & Company sent me a galley/advanced reading copy of Fatherland.  Still, her storytelling welcomed me into the part of her family story that she wanted to reveal to readers through Fatherland.

By the end of it, the loss of life that is the center of Fatherland stung.  Why should it?  I don't know these people, but Nina Bunjevac made me care enough about them to be hurt.  So, readers looking for heartfelt biographical graphic novels and graphic memoirs will want to visit Fatherland.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 21, 2015

DC COMICS

OCT140353     AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS TP VOL 01 LEGACY OF GOLD (N52)     $16.99
NOV140249     BATMAN AND ROBIN #38     $2.99
NOV140239     BATMAN ETERNAL #42     $2.99
NOV140241     BATMAN SUPERMAN #18     $3.99
NOV140244     BATMAN SUPERMAN #18 COMBO PACK     $4.99
NOV140269     BATWOMAN #38     $2.99
OCT140378     BEWARE THE BATMAN TP VOL 01     $12.99
OCT140354     BIRDS OF PREY TP VOL 05 SOUL CRISIS (N52)     $17.99
NOV140195     EARTH 2 WORLDS END #16     $2.99
OCT140387     EX MACHINA TP BOOK 04 (MR)     $19.99
NOV140328     FABLES #148 (MR)     $2.99
NOV140276     GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #38     $2.99
NOV140287     INFINITE CRISIS FIGHT FOR THE MULTIVERSE #7     $3.99
OCT140369     JLA TP VOL 06     $24.99
NOV140180     JUSTICE LEAGUE #38     $3.99
NOV140183     JUSTICE LEAGUE #38 COMBO PACK     $4.99
NOV140335     KITCHEN #3 (MR)     $2.99
NOV140212     NEW 52 FUTURES END #38 (WEEKLY)     $2.99
OCT140401     NORTH 40 TP NEW EDITION (MR)     $14.99
NOV140270     RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #38     $2.99
NOV140291     SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #6     $3.99
NOV140234     SUPERGIRL #38     $2.99
NOV140216     TEEN TITANS #6     $2.99
NOV140218     TRINITY OF SIN #4     $2.99
NOV140219     WONDER WOMAN #38     $2.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

AUG140376     DC COMICS SUPER VILLAINS DEATHSTROKE BUST     $49.95
JUN140330     VERTIGO IZOMBIE STATUE     $99.95

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 21, 2015

MARVEL COMICS

NOV140847     ALL NEW X-FACTOR #20     $3.99
SEP140901     ALL NEW X-MEN #35     $3.99
NOV140764     AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #13 SV     $3.99
OCT140939     AVENGERS REVELATIONS TP     $15.99
NOV140821     BLACK WIDOW #14     $3.99
OCT140929     BLACK WIDOW TP VOL 02 TIGHTLY TANGLED WEB     $17.99
NOV140780     BUCKY BARNES WINTER SOLDIER #4     $3.99
NOV140783     CAPTAIN AMERICA AND MIGHTY AVENGERS #4     $3.99
NOV140845     DEADPOOLS ART OF WAR #4     $3.99
NOV140812     ELEKTRA #10     $3.99
NOV140807     FANTASTIC FOUR #642     $3.99
NOV140796     GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #23     $3.99
OCT140925     IRON MAN EPIC COLLECTION TP STARK WARS     $39.99
NOV140800     LEGENDARY STAR LORD #8     $3.99
OCT140927     LEGENDARY STAR-LORD TP VOL 01 FACE IT I RULE     $16.99
NOV140820     LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD #10     $3.99
NOV140836     MAGNETO #14     $3.99
OCT140928     MAGNETO TP VOL 02 REVERSALS     $17.99
AUG140901     MMW UNCANNY X-MEN HC VOL 09     $75.00
NOV140811     MOON KNIGHT #11     $3.99
JUL140709     ORIGINAL SIN COMPANION HC     $125.00
OCT140904     POWERS #1 (MR)     $3.99
NOV140794     ROCKET RACCOON #7     $3.99
NOV140769     SCARLET SPIDERS #3 SV     $3.99
NOV140768     SPIDER-VERSE TEAM UP #3     $3.99
NOV140770     SPIDER-WOMAN #3 SV     $3.99
NOV140788     SUPERIOR IRON MAN #4     $3.99
OCT140940     ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ULTIMATE COLLECTION TP BOOK 05     $34.99
NOV140745     WOLVERINES #3     $3.99
OCT140930     X-FORCE TP VOL 02 HIDE FEAR     $17.99

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for January 21, 2015

IDW PUBLISHING

AUG140503     BATMAN SILVER AGE NEWSPAPER COMICS HC VOL 02 1968-1969     $49.99
NOV140513     BIGGER BANG #3     $3.99
AUG140505     BLACK DYNAMITE TP     $19.99
OCT140571     BORDERLANDS FALL OF FYRESTONE #6 TANNIS & THE VAULT PT 2 OF     $3.99
NOV140419     BORDERLANDS TP VOL 02 FALL OF FYRESTONE     $17.99
NOV140451     CARTOON NETWORK SUPER SECRET CRISIS WAR TP VOL 01     $19.99
NOV140514     CREEPLE PEEPLE #1     $3.99
NOV140506     DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGEND OF DRIZZT TP VOL 01 HOMELAND     $19.99
NOV140503     DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGENDS OF BALDURS GATE #4     $3.99
NOV140504     DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LEGENDS OF BALDURS GATE #4 SUBSCRIPTION V     $3.99
NOV140420     GALAXY QUEST JOURNEY CONTINUES #1     $3.99
AUG140494     GENIUS COLLECTED ALEX TOTH SLIPCASE SET HC     $149.99
NOV140431     GI JOE SNAKE EYES AGENT OF COBRA #1     $3.99
NOV140515     IMAGINARY DRUGS TP     $24.99
NOV140527     INDESTRUCTIBLE #10     $3.99
NOV140509     JUDAS THE LAST DAYS TP     $24.99
NOV140477     JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS DARK JUDGES #1     $3.99
NOV140407     MILLENNIUM #1     $3.99
NOV140402     OCTOBER FACTION #4     $3.99
OCT140562     POPEYE CLASSICS HC VOL 05     $29.99
NOV140466     POPEYE CLASSICS ONGOING #30     $3.99
NOV140452     SAMURAI JACK #16     $3.99
NOV140410     STAR TREK PLANET OF THE APES #2     $3.99
NOV140470     TMNT COLOR CLASSICS SERIES 3 #1     $3.99
NOV140468     TMNT NEW ANIMATED ADVENTURES #19     $3.99
NOV140475     TMNT ONGOING #42     $3.99
NOV140437     TRANSFORMERS #37 DAYS OF DECEPTION     $3.99
NOV140436     TRANSFORMERS PUNISHMENT (ONE SHOT)     $5.99
APR140426     WILD BLUE YONDER #6     $3.99
JUL140337     WILL EISNER SPIRIT ARTIST ED HC VOL 02     PI
OCT140528     WINTERWORLD #6     $3.99
NOV140399     ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS #1     $3.99
NOV140388     ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS HUNDRED PENNY PRESS ED     $1.00