Saturday 9 July 2011

Books: The Nightly News

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The Nightly News
By Jonathan Hickman

2007





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Compared to what else is out there - comics is still a pretty young medium and one that people have only really started to take seriously since the 1980s or so: which means that for any brave pioneers who fancy themselves up to the challenge there's still a lot of new places to go. Enter: The Nightly News. Jonathan Hickman attempt to stretch around and mess with a few of the ways to tell a story and dispense all sorts of information: with works intermingled with the pictures in a strange new way that I don't quite have the vocabulary for: it feels a little bit touch-screen and a little bit art nouveau. With a story that can sympathise with anyone who's ever felt sick with the way the news media works with a few factoids about the state of the world and a Noam Chomsky quote thrown in for good measure - leavened slightly by a dry sense of humour and a sense of it's own righteous that doesn't mind you skipping over the boring/preachy parts. There's a quote on the back that compares it to Network and Fight Club - and I reckon that pretty much sums it up. Worth trying out if you fancy a bit of something different in your graphic novel reading diet.

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Links: Comic Book Resources Jonathan Hickman Interview.

Further reading: The Manhattan ProjectsS.H.I.E.L.D.Doktor SleeplessMeanwhile, Transhuman.

All comments welcome.

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