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Had kind of an interesting experience this weekend. I was doing some holiday cleaning and picked up my old copy of WE3. I decided to reread it and was absolutely blown away.
Now to explain, I remember reading the original series about 7 years ago and thinking it was ok, but this time I was utterly floored by what a complex story was told in such a relatively simple manner. Some how on the first reading I must have quickly just skimmed through it and tossed it aside for the next book.
I was just kind of curious if anyone else had a similar experience. Where an older graphic novel just completely hit you a different way on the second (or subsequent) reading. Or maybe you missed a crucial element to the story on the first read because you were skimming through it so fast.
Laters!
-J
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WE3? Care to expand those initials for the rest of the class?
Sorry, "WE3" is actually the name of the graphic novel by Grant Morrison. Not initials despite the looks. :) I guess I should have used the quotes to clear that up. My bad!
In-story though it stands for Weapon 3. Story is about animals that are turned into cyborgs and they refer to themselves as "WE3", thus the name of the comic.
I've been mostly nonplussed by Grant Morrison over the years, but I did love We 3 or WE3 or whatever.
I don't have a similar story, really, but I did recently re-read Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. by Warren Ellis and I forget who. It was pretty hilarious!
I guess this story would kind of fit: so, I had 3/4ths of Frank Miller's Ronin for years without knowing how it ended. Finally picked up the trade (this would be like 2 or 3 years ago) and was terribly disappointed by the ending! Not that it wasn't good, but it wasn't what I wanted.
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Actually "Ronin" is a good example for me too. I first read that when I was in middle school, got to the end and my only reaction was "Huh? I don't get it."
Reread it years later (college I think) and it made a lot more sense. I think the first time I completely missed the connection between the psychic parapelegic kid and the computer. Shrug.
I'll have to check out "Nextwave" though. Thanks for the tip!
I liked it a lot.
It's terribly inconsequential, just them making a silly superhero comic for, I don't know, crazy left-wing D&D dorks. There's one issue where there's just two pages of dialogue--the first and last--and the rest is just these hilarious two-page battle scenes.
It's all third-tier Marvel characters, some of whom I didn't even recognize.
I liked Ronin a lot. I don't know if that came through in my last post, but I wanted to make it clear.
I was going to re-read From Hell. I had planned on using as a tome in my Carrion Crown game, but the players never took the bait. I've been planning a comics binge, and I think I'll start there.
What else are you reading?
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I liked Ronin a lot. I don't know if that came through in my last post, but I wanted to make it clear.
Yup! Came through loud and clear. And I agree, even on the first reading when I didn't understand the ending (at all) it was still a very enjoyable read.
I've heard lots of good things about "From Hell" as well. It's been on my list to check out for a while but haven't gotten around to it.
Keeping with my current theme of revisiting old graphic novels, I've been meaning to go back and read "Arkham Asylum" again. I remember HATING that one back in highschool. Very impressed by the stunning artwork, sure, but I think I missed the story in that one as well. It's another Morrison work too, so I'm sensing a theme where I missed his point on some of his older stuff.
DISCLAIMER: I too have never been a huge Grant Morrison fan. (Actually I HATED his run on X-Men.) Just seems like I've been willing to go back and give some of his older stuff another shot. We'll see.
A couple of years back, I was working with a dude who, as part of working through his marital issues, had to get rid of something like 10 years of comics collecting. So, instead of starting From Hell again, I spent last night reading old issues of Alpha Flight.