Novels Vs. Graphic Novels

Spending two hours a day on a bus each day, at first glance appears to be a waste of time, but is a great opportunity to catch up a variety of things, such as listening to music, sleeping, eating and reading. Not accustomed to riding a bus each day, after living and studying in Waterloo for the past three years, taking a bus to Seneca and than later to work seemed more like a chore than anything else. Soon after graduating from Seneca and working full time for TD, I have discovered that riding the bus can restore mental vigor, whether it be waking up at 5:30 in the morning and opening the bank at 7, or staying till 9:30 balancing the books, figuring out where several thousand dollars disappeared to. Reading graphic novels has helped to unwind from stress.

UW and Seneca, combined almost destroyed the love I once had for reading. However a friend of mine introduced me to a type of book I have never read before known simply as “graphic novels”. These books are not to be confused with comic books (though are similar). The difference between the two, is simply an issue of a comic (lets say Super-man) comes out once a month, and tells either a piece of a story and is continued over the course each subsequent month, or is simple story that begins and ends in that very comic. Graphic novels are a compellation of comics, that contain, no advertising in them (unlike a comic) and have a long story arch.

One great graphic novel, that I have come across, is Superman Red Son. In this book, Superman crash lands in the Ukraine in the 1930’s on a Soviet collective farm, and is brought up to stand for the ideals of Communism. The literature in this book is superb, and does a great job, at poking fun of the different political systems, and human regimes. The best part of this story was Russian Batman, whose parents were shot in front of him by KGB agents, and makes a vow to stop Communism and Superman, using terrorist and guerrilla tactics.

Comics and graphic novels are often viewed upon by society as something only nerds read, frankly its society’s loss. Hollywood has attempted to bring such stories to the big-screen, and are successful half of the time. Batman Begins, was an excellent movie where as X-Men 3, was complete garbage. Not all comics/graphic novels are equal, and the same applies for stories in the same superhero universe. If you ever get the chance, I’d recommend reading a graphic novel, and if you read a good one, (i.e. Superman-Red Son) you will be hooked.