Veils

Rating:
Summary: A Woman's Graphic Novel aka "Comic Book"
Review: Graphic novel is the name given now to beautiful full length "comics" which come in hardback or trade paperback size. What's truly unusual about this one is that it is not male-oriented. This one was meant for a female audience! The only other graphic novel I've read that does the same is Gaiman and McKean's "Black Orchid". "Veils" totally succeeds as both a story and an art work and you can't ask any more of a "comic book" than that. The art work is done by 2 different artists since 2 different media are used: actual hand drawings/paintings and computer-enhanced photography. Using both together was a brilliant idea. This story of a Victorian English woman, fleeing her abusive English husband into a Middle Eastern harem, is quite tantalizing. None of the names are familiar to me of the people who collaborated on this book but I certainly hope they all plan to work together again and soon!

Rating:
Summary: Dark and empowering
Review: The story begins when East meets West, a Victorian English ambassador brings his wife to some un-named Arabic country. It really begins, though, when women of the East meet a woman of the West.

This brief comic is about dualities: rank vs. power, public vs. closed societies, and real vs. fable, to name just a few. The dualities are so much sharper for being so close beside each other, as close and as far away as the harem behind the women's door.

Some of those dualities appear in the comic's imagery, with watercolored stories and photo narrative. I use the term photo loosely, since the images are heavily filtered, colorized, fuzzed or sharpened, and generally hand-tailored to their purpose in the story. The lettering is undistinguished, but suited to the female narrator or to the slightly fabulous story-within-a-story.

On the whole, this magazine is well done, an unusual mix of reality and fantasy. The art is thoughtful and interesting. It's not truly outstanding among comics, but it's one I enjoy and come back to.

This isn't an "adult" comic, but there isn't much here for a young reader.

Rating:
Summary: More Literary than Comic book
Review: This is a striking and visually stimulating product. Very smartly written, full of thought provoking issues, and drawn/photographed to the best of 1998's technology. The story follows a Victorian woman's journey to the "orient" and all the orient's mysteries and sterotypes. The protagonist must shed her "veils" in order to find her true calling and desires. For years, woman are preceived in certain ways and must uphold their appearance and thoughts in a certain way to uphold their status. Well, Veils does the opposite. It allows the protagonist the daring decision to liberate her feminity and desires and in the process, sheds all her outer burdens. Truely literary and deep. Deals with the orient, feminism, and of course male domination on the female body. The art? WEll, a blend of hand art and photography makes this stunning and beautiful. The reason for only four stars is because I felt this book could've been expanded with more twists. I felt some scenes were longer than necessary and at times I wanted the plot to go faster. That's what Comic Books are about, right? But overall, this is stunning and deep. Expect a good read. Not a wham bang type of comic.