Due to a technical malfunction at work, one of our recent departmental meeting was delayed for 45 minutes. This was fine for the local members of our department, but was frustrating for the 500+ employees nationwide who had logged on to view the presentation.
While my coworkers and I were killing time, Mike asked if I liked reading Sci-Fi. Or maybe we both started talking about our love of Douglas Adams. Something along those lines.
I told him that I loved Douglas Adams, but didn't really enjoy Robert Heinlein. (But I did admit that I last read both authors in high school and I might have a different opinion about Heinlein's works now. Adam's work, well, I spent part of one summer reading everything he had published. Everything.) Mike suggested I give Heinlein another chance and also suggested I try reading some books by Philip K. Dick, an author with whom I wasn't familiar. Then he lent me several issues of a graphic version of Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
And that is how I began reading graphic novels.
I've been borrowing two series from Mike: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and CHEW. I like both, but they are fundamentally different and it would be unfair to compare them. Because Androids began as a novel, there is a significant amount of character development, several themes, and several subplots running through each issue. CHEW is more simplistic, but the witty dialogue, visual puns, and clever plot twists make for an enjoyable read. (Do you "read" comics? I'm still not sure what verb to use!)
The protagonist in CHEW is Tony Chu, a cibopath. A cibopath is a person who tastes food, and by tasting can determine the food's origin and the process the food went through to get to its final, edible state. (Tony doesn't eat a lot of meat.)
Tony Chu's girlfriend, Amelia, is a saboscriver who works for the city paper. Saboscrivers can communicate their eating experiences so accurately and effectively that the reader can taste the food under review just by reading what the saboscriver has written. So read with caution!
Tony and Amelia's gifts lead them on a series of adventures. In these adventures, the duo identifies and arrests criminals while slowly learning more about the mystery behind the FDA's poultry ban, which the FDA began to enforce after a severe but suspicious worldwide epidemic. This ban created a booming black market of chicken and eggs and a variety of strange but legal imitation poultry products. CHEW is a fairly new series, and I'm anticipating more plot twists and clever presentations. (The SDCC Exclusive edition of issue #19 is GLOW IN THE DARK!)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is set in a post-war America, when many of the Earth's inhabitants have chosen to emigrate to colonies on Mars, where androids act as household aids. Some of these androids have escaped from Mars and returned to Earth to pose as humans.
The main character, Rick Dekard, is a bounty hunter who "eliminates" these androids, which are incredibly similar to humans in personality and form, but lack empathy. With the commissions he earns from eliminating rogue androids, Dekard desires to purchase a real animal. All organic life is considered precious and is extremely expensive.
On the other side of town, a "chicken head" named John Isidore longs to travel to Mars but has failed the required IQ test. Isidore befriends several androids and attempts to help them avoid elimination...and that's as far as I've read. Androids is visually stunning and thoughtfully produced, and I'm looking forward to receiving Mike's next set.
In both CHEW and Androids, the images are violent, the language is colorful, and the ideas are genius. I highly recommend both series.
While my coworkers and I were killing time, Mike asked if I liked reading Sci-Fi. Or maybe we both started talking about our love of Douglas Adams. Something along those lines.
I told him that I loved Douglas Adams, but didn't really enjoy Robert Heinlein. (But I did admit that I last read both authors in high school and I might have a different opinion about Heinlein's works now. Adam's work, well, I spent part of one summer reading everything he had published. Everything.) Mike suggested I give Heinlein another chance and also suggested I try reading some books by Philip K. Dick, an author with whom I wasn't familiar. Then he lent me several issues of a graphic version of Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
And that is how I began reading graphic novels.
I've been borrowing two series from Mike: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and CHEW. I like both, but they are fundamentally different and it would be unfair to compare them. Because Androids began as a novel, there is a significant amount of character development, several themes, and several subplots running through each issue. CHEW is more simplistic, but the witty dialogue, visual puns, and clever plot twists make for an enjoyable read. (Do you "read" comics? I'm still not sure what verb to use!)
The protagonist in CHEW is Tony Chu, a cibopath. A cibopath is a person who tastes food, and by tasting can determine the food's origin and the process the food went through to get to its final, edible state. (Tony doesn't eat a lot of meat.)
Tony Chu's girlfriend, Amelia, is a saboscriver who works for the city paper. Saboscrivers can communicate their eating experiences so accurately and effectively that the reader can taste the food under review just by reading what the saboscriver has written. So read with caution!
Tony and Amelia's gifts lead them on a series of adventures. In these adventures, the duo identifies and arrests criminals while slowly learning more about the mystery behind the FDA's poultry ban, which the FDA began to enforce after a severe but suspicious worldwide epidemic. This ban created a booming black market of chicken and eggs and a variety of strange but legal imitation poultry products. CHEW is a fairly new series, and I'm anticipating more plot twists and clever presentations. (The SDCC Exclusive edition of issue #19 is GLOW IN THE DARK!)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is set in a post-war America, when many of the Earth's inhabitants have chosen to emigrate to colonies on Mars, where androids act as household aids. Some of these androids have escaped from Mars and returned to Earth to pose as humans.
The main character, Rick Dekard, is a bounty hunter who "eliminates" these androids, which are incredibly similar to humans in personality and form, but lack empathy. With the commissions he earns from eliminating rogue androids, Dekard desires to purchase a real animal. All organic life is considered precious and is extremely expensive.
On the other side of town, a "chicken head" named John Isidore longs to travel to Mars but has failed the required IQ test. Isidore befriends several androids and attempts to help them avoid elimination...and that's as far as I've read. Androids is visually stunning and thoughtfully produced, and I'm looking forward to receiving Mike's next set.
In both CHEW and Androids, the images are violent, the language is colorful, and the ideas are genius. I highly recommend both series.
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