Garage Band by Gipi
As the list of comics I needed to read was getting shorter, I decided to spend some time going through the stacks at my branch of the TPL. Garage Band was one of the happy accidents that occurred that day.
Told in four parts, each of them referred to as "songs", Garage Band is about just that. Four teenage boys play in a band together. The story isn't a long or terribly complicated one; they rehearse, they get the chance to talk to a record producer, their amp dies and they steal one to replace it, then get caught and learn a valuable life lesson.
While the plot is pretty straightforward, the relationships between the boys themselves and between their respective parents is quite satisfying to read. These boys are restless and creative but still answer to the higher authority that is mom and dad. It's also a quick read, with sparse dialogue. The neat lines and watercolours tell their share of the story.
Notes on a War Story by Gipi
After enjoying Garage Band, I decided to pick up Gipi's best known book (which I hadn't even heard of - shame on me). It won the 2005 Goscinny Prize for Best Script and was proclaimed Best Book at Angoulême in 2006.
Much less innocent than Garage Band, Notes on a War Story follows three teenage boys as they set off on their own through an anonymous war torn country. As Gipi himself explained, “[in] the Italian version of the book, the name of the villages are Italian names, in the French version, French names. I didn’t want the reader to think, ‘This war happens elsewhere, far from me.’1
The boys don't really have a side in the war, until they're recruited by a member of the militia to carry out odd jobs for cash. They each feel quite differently about these jobs and an explanation is hinted at in their respective social-economic situations. Eventually, how far they're willing to go for money is put to the test, and they end up parting ways, losing sight of each other for the duration of the war.
I think what I enjoyed best about this book was how it juxtaposed class struggles with the reality of living near a war zone, one that might spread at any moment. One of the key exchanges in the book is when the scrappy, working class teen tells his middle-class friend that he can go home whenever he wants to, that he has something to fall back on. For the other two, this is it; this war means money for them and if they stop, if they don't enlist with the militia and go on fighting, they have nothing else.
20th Century Boys volumes 1-6 by Naoki Urasawa
After enjoying his series Pluto, I did a bit of research into what else he'd written and gotten praise for, and this series came highly recommended.
A group of young friends in the early 60s get together in their secret base to discuss manga, anime and girls. They decide to create a manga of their own, centred around defeating the league of evil. 30 years later, the league of evil's dastardly plans start happening in the real world and the gang has to get back together in order to put a stop to an unknown foe's scheme for world domination. From what I've read on Wikipedia, the series is over (in Japan, North America hasn't caught up yet) and there are 20 or so volumes. After two, I was hooked.
Like Pluto, the scope of the intrigue is one of the selling points of this series. It gradually introduces new characters but does so organically. While it does have its share of red herrings, they're properly explained and don't leave you feeling gypped. Also, one thing I wasn't expecting and found myself appreciating was a jump in time after volume 5. The initial arc comes to an end (of sorts) and volume 6 takes place a decade later, leaving us to fill in some of the blanks and picking up with different yet related characters.
If I had all of the volumes at my disposal, this is the sort of series that I would read in one sitting.
Girl Stories by Lauren Weinstein
Another random find on the shelves, this book is aptly named indeed. Its writer is also its protagonist as she ventures through high school, trying to fit in and be cool while secretly being a big dork and making funky clothes for her Barbie dolls.
Its message reminded me of Raina Telgemeier's Smile, that of being true to yourself and finding friends who value you you for who you are. Weinstein's story is much less structured in the traditional sense; rather, it's told through vignettes and anecdotes. I laughed out loud on several occasions and while it's not quite appropriate for young students, I would definitely recommend it to preteens (and up).
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1 http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/taken-from-life-an-interview-with-gipi/
