A selection of April graphic novels

When to Pick a Pomegranate by Yasmeen Abedifard (2024) 80 pages

I'm not certain I understood everything the author/artist is trying to express. In the last couple years I've screened quite a few indie Iranian films, but as an Iranian-American there are symbols from Ms. Abedifard's Persian culture that I don't quite grasp. I do recognize a creation story. The woman and the pomegranate are reflections of each other, as stated in the synopsis. There are many themes expressed. Like Eve in the garden, the woman is naked throughout and there is sensuality portrayed at times. It is quite short without a ton of text, so like poetry it is open to many interpretations.

Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry by Julian Peters (2020) 168 pages

Quick read as all the poems are short. I like the different styles Peters is able to use to share his interpretations of each. Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" was especially impactful. The modern day take on William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us" is also cool.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein by Michael Walsh (2025) 112 pages

I love the art and new backstory. The character designs are still Karloff, Clive, and the rest of the cast from the 1931 feature. Many of the panels and pages are screen captures from the film, but there is enough that is original here, scenes that don't appear in the film, to make this worth your time. The new angle of the kid observing Dr. Frankenstein and Fritz works well for a different perspective. Walsh gives us background on where the body parts come from and how each affects the creature, which I like. The last issue is the weakest in this regard. I hope Frankenstein's Bride also gets this comic treatment and I would enjoy one focused on Igor from Son of Frankenstein after the rest of the classic Universal Monsters.

R.U.R.: The Karel Capek Classic adapted by Katerina Cupova (2020) 264 pages

Translated into English this year. I've read the stageplay from the 1920s a couple times. There is a great introduction about the history of the play and how it brought "Robot" to language. The copy I bought had a couple printing errors, two pages were duplicated. The art style looks a bit like Al Hirschfeld, it has that 1920s to 1950s modernism, which is perfect. The adapter was free to change the order of events a little and express things more clearly, especially early on. For instance, Helena from the Humanity League is more resistant to the sudden marriage proposal from CEO Domin than in the play. But it does follow the events pretty closely otherwise. It starts with such big ideas, but as the story moves along it doesn't pay off many of the concepts. Later sci-fi worlds with artificial life like Terminator and Westworld would do better.

Howl: A Graphic Novel poetry by Allen Ginsberg with art by Eric Drooker (2010) 223 pages

I saw the movie Howl back in 2010 and was fascinated by the animated portions. This graphic version is from the art work by Eric Drooker that led to the animation in the film. I don't read poetry that often, so, yet again, I doubt I understand all of its references and the meaning behind it. The poem, of course, overcame censorship trials and obscenity charges. The second section about Moloch is what I mainly remember from the film. Moloch always reminds me of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the gears and furnace in the factory. With the time to read page by page I enjoyed trying to unpack the first section, which is the longest.