First Year Comes to a Close

Well, it’s been a year since I started this series; time to reflect back, assess what’s working and what’s not.

I started A. Book’s Review to review the illustrated and graphic novels I read. The purpose was to share the good Indie published books with other like minded readers and have a bit of fun in the process. By doing this I: a) hoped to find really good books, which I did; and b) promote the well deserving creators of those book, which, well, I’m not sure I have.

Furthermore, in my efforts to maintain a weekly series, not only has the fun become work, but I have had to compromise my mission. If I continue at this pace, I feel the quality of my reviews and thus the value they have for readers will diminish.

Fear not, faithful readers, this does not mean an end to A. Book’s Review nor the shelving of Alistair Book. Instead, I will be posting less frequently, when I have the leisure of enjoying those books on my shelf waiting to be read.

Thanks to one viewer’s suggestion (Ryk, I haven’t forgotten), I will broaden my scope to include web comics that are of a literary nature. Actually, I have already done this with Alone, a collection of Olivia Stephens’ web comic.

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Thank you.

Cruising Through the Louvre

Cruising Through the Louvre by David Prudhomme, is the latest release in the Louvre editions published in English by NBM Comics Lit.

The author is Cruising Through the Louvre searching for his wife who has gone home. Commenting that he feels as if he were in a giant comic book, he narrates through phone conversations and internal voice, observing how people interact with the artwork — from being a part of it to mimicking the compositions.

To further integrate people with artwork, David has drawn both in the same style with colored pencils, which enables him to vary textures, color intensity, and level of detail. I have to admit, I like colored pencils for that reason, and this is a wonderful example of the medium.

Cruising through the Louvre is a humorous look at how people view and respond to great works of art, making it a great work itself.

Capturing the Phantoms of the Louvre

Of all the Louvre editions, Phantoms of the Louvre by Enki Bilal, is the one most integrated with the museum. In 2013, these images were actually exhibited at the Louvre.

Not so much a graphic novel, but a collection of short tales, Phantoms of the Louvre captures the spirits of people — virtually all of whom met and untimely and tragic end — intertwined with pieces of art. Each “chapter” contains a 2-page spread that recounts the fates of those people.

The artwork is brilliantly created: desaturated photographs of artwork, artifacts, and galleries were printed on canvas, over which Enki painted the phantoms in acrylic, then accented with pastels. The expressions reflect the lives and deaths of those ghosts.

Phantoms of the Louvre contains captivating, imaginative stories behind iconic works of art that span seven millennia, paying homage to the muses, assistants, and ordinary people whose lives crossed paths with those of the now immortalized artists.