| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Comics & Graphic Novels |
| Author: | Several |
It was many years ago I left Indonesia as a young boy. Even then, there was a proliferation of European comics such as those from Don Lawrence, primarily translated from their Dutch versions.
Unlike British or American comics at the time, European comics have a very wide genre, including those aimed at children like Tintin, and those at more mature youths and adults (and no, I'm not talking about porns).
It was very disappointing when I found in Singapore very few such comics available. The only kind that's found are mainly kidstuff like those by Herge, Gosciny and Uderzo.
Thankfully, a few years ago, Cinebook began republishing many of these titles, and even introduced new ones too.
Not having money to burn, I tried to recommend them to NLB a couple of years back, only to be informed the themes were unsuitable.
Fortunately, in recent months, some of the titles were reviewed and a couple of them have found their way to the shelves.
Lady S and Insiders brought me back to the European comics style I used to read as a kid, even though they are recent products and set in 21st century.
The artists used an even more realistic style of drawing, along with improved shading techniques. Can't say I'm an expert, but it might just be that they are still using manual drawing and colouring rather than using computers like what American comic artists are using.
Now, if only they bring in the rest just as fast.
Yeah, there are numerous comics shops here, and I have to say this is one of my favorite place to go. Unfortunately, the export of french / european comics is not very important, a very few of them are translated and amazingly censored... The format of the pages is different as well as the quality of the paper and colors...
ReplyDeleteSometimes the cartoonists are invited in the comics shop to show to their readers how they draw or/and paint (water colors more often) their plates.
One of the raison d'etre for me wanting to learn French is to be able to read these comics ... unfortunately, I have not been able to put in the time for it ...
ReplyDeleteA colleague did bring me back a French version of Donald Duck comics from France ... and then I realised in there are heavy use of informal lingos that I cannot find from dictionaries ... :(
Aww, Snowy, you can forward me your questions about french, I'll try to translate it in english for you ! And if you wish to receive some good comics from here, pls let me know ! ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you in advance.
ReplyDelete