Warriors: The Rise of Scourge by Dan Jolley, Bettina M Kurkoski, created by Erin Hunter

I have been taking a break from reading the new Warriors series by Erin Hunter, and have been instead checking out the graphic novels. These are not written by Erin Hunter, but they are authorized by her, and she writes an introduction to each one to explain why she felt this particular story needed to be told. This is the second Warriors graphic novel that I've read, but I haven't reviewed the first one yet because it is part of a series.
The Rise of Scourge tells the story of how a kitten named Tiny became the leader of Bloodclan, known as Scourge. Scourge comes into the Warriors timeline towards the end of the first series, when Tigerstar attempts to take control of all four clans. But Scourge has other plans. He very violently kills Tigerstar, before being taken down himself eventually. This graphic novel tells how he became this seemingly evil, violent cat. It's not a pretty story. And as Hunter says in her introduction, she is not making excuses for him, just trying to tell his story.
I am sometimes surprised by how violent these books can be. I always say that I would have loved these if they'd been out when I was a kid, but really I think they probably would have been too violent for me. Especially this graphic novel version. Not that it really shows any blood, of course, but it is still a bit disturbing. Kurkoski's art is great though. She does a perfect job of capturing the way the cats move and look, while the other graphic novel I've read in this series (not illustrated by her) looked pretty much terrible. So it was at least nice to read something that wasn't hideous, and actually looked really good. This book would really only be enjoyed by those kids who are already involved in the Warriors series, but it may pick up some new fans as well.

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Complete Maus consists of both Maus I and II, bound together in a hardcover volume. I wanted to read them both together, to get the full story, and I am very glad I did. Maus is the story of Art Spiegelman's father, Vladek, and how he survived the holocaust. In the graphic novel, Jews are drawn as mice, Germans are cats, Poles are pigs, French are frogs, and Americans are dogs. The drawings make the material more unrealistic and yet they also draw us in more to the fact that though it seems unreal, this really happened.
Vladek survived the holocaust mainly through luck, but also by taking advantage of the situations he finds himself in. His wife, Art's mother, also survives, but ends up committing suicide more than 20 years later. The novel is not just about the holocaust, but it also documents Art's efforts to get his father's story. He does not have a very good relationship with his cantakerous father, and the novel shows how he has a difficult time being fair to his story. It gives the work more depth, and makes it that much more real to the reader. So much has already been said about this book, but I had never gotten around to reading it. I am so glad I did, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who has ever considered picking it up.
This book is my first read for the second quarter of the 2009 Martel-Harper Challenge. As I have described in previous posts, this challenge follows the list of books that Canadian author Yann Martel sends to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In his letter to Harper about this choice, Martel says that we sometimes need to be ripped apart in order to find our own stillness. The story of the holocaust certainly does that, and Maus is an incredible way of telling that story. I am also trying to read some of the books that another book blogger, Dewey, read throughout her book blogging years. This is for the Dewey's Books Challenge. She reviewed Maus back in January of 2006. And of course as a graphic novel it counts for the Graphic Novels Challenge - also the New Author Challenge, as I have never read Art Spiegelman before.

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Robot Dreams was so different from what I expected. It is a story told entirely in pictures, and as it has no words to read, it can be "read" in less than half an hour. At my library this book is shelved with the older children's materials - with the chapter books actually. This makes no sense, as not only is it not a chapter book, but it tells a different sort of story than most kid's books. The pictures are sort of childish, but I think if you're expecting a childish story, as I was, you will be surprised.
Robot Dreams is a story of friendship lost and found. Dog (obviously none of the characters have names, as their are no words) builds Robot from a kit, and they become best friends, doing everything together. Until they go to the beach, where Robot makes the mistake of getting wet. His entire body freezes up so that he cannot get back on the bus to go home with Dog. So Dog leaves, saddened and wondering how to help his friend. Unfortunately, he is unable to save Robot, and Robot gets left on the beach for months all by himself. Meanwhile, Dog tries to find a friend with which he can spend all of his time, like he did with Robot. Although the story has an uplifting and rather hopeful ending, I found Robot's fate to be rather tragic. This was a strange and enchanting little book, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a rather different sort of graphic novel.
I used this book for my first post over at the Graphic Novels Challenge blog. So far I don't really have any kind of list for this challenge - I definitely plan on reading Maus (which is sitting in my pile of books right now), and probably a Sandman book, but besides that, I have not decided. Don't worry though, I'll keep you posted!

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

I have mentioned before that I have not historically been a huge fan of graphic novels, but I find them growing on me lately. One of my main issues when it comes to reading them is the art. This may seem very obvious, but if I dislike the style of the illustrator for the graphic novel, I often won't give the book a chance. I'm learning to do differently though.
I picked up Watchmen mainly because of the movie coming out. This is silly, because for the most part, at least lately, I have hated what Hollywood does to the books that I love (Lord of the Rings being the exception to the rule). But I do like movies based on comic book characters, so . . . well anyway, I read it. I was not a huge fan of the style at first, but it grew on me. It only detracted from the actual story occasionally, so that was good. The story itself is terrific. I love the "Who watches the Watchmen?" theme of the whole thing - who knows who is really good or bad, who decides that? What does it mean to "do the right thing" in very morally complicated situations? The way that the superheros deal with these questions defines them. The other thing that I really liked about this book was all of the stories within stories. It seemed like it might have made it hard to keep track of, but really, the secondary stories added to the overall theme, making reading the book a very rich experience.
I honestly don't know whether or not I will see the movie, because of my hatred for the past few books-into-movies I have witnessed, but as it's about comic book characters, well . . . I probably actually will. And I will definitely be looking into reading more work by Alan Moore. And I may even give Sandman a chance, because I do really like Neil Gaiman, and maybe, like with Watchmen, I can get over my dislike of the visual style.

Mouse Guard: Fall, 1152 by David Petersen

I found it odd that this book was listed as one of the best teen books of 2007 by the King County Library System. A graphic novel about mice who protected their homeland? So I was skeptical. But my skepticism was unfounded. This is definitely the best graphic novel I've ever read (out of the small handful that I've actually looked at, so maybe that's not saying much). The art is gorgeous. For me, a graphic novel isn't worth reading unless I like the way it looks. I have a hard enough time dealing with the words and pictures at the same time, and if I don't like the pictures, I won't read the book. That may be simplistic, but I never claimed to be a graphic novel connoisseur.
In addition to the beautiful drawings, the story is actually really engaging and fun. And these mice are serious - these are not happy-go-lucky mouse warriors. They are serious fighters. I am looking forward to the next compilation, Winter. Right now some installments are available as comic books, but I can wait for the hardbound full edition. These are definitely books to keep your eyes open for.

Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, & Marc Hempel

I haven't read very many graphic novels, and honestly, I am not that interested in the genre. I do not enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy reading regular books, and often the style of the art really distracts me from the story. I really liked the style of Re-Gifters, however. And the story is great.
It is sort of a coming-of-age story, as the main character, Dixie, learns about how to value herself. She is "in love" with a dreamy surfer boy who does hapkido with her, but it is obvious from the beginning that he has no interest in her. Dixie has to make some poor choices before she discovers that she is worth more. The story is short, but ends triumphantly.