robertrivasplata's reviews
617 reviews

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

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4.25

Collection of essays by queer writers about what various horror movies mean to them, with queer-oriented analysis or interpretations of the featured works. The essays combine elements of memoir, queer cinema analysis, & love letter, & range from serious to tongue in cheek. Some of the essays are more conceptual than others. The Nightmare on Elm Street essay attributes some of its plot holes to the script changing Freddie from a molester to a murderer (to be more palatable??), but not changing anything else to reflect that. All of these essays make me want to watch or re-watch the movies they discuss. Bishakh Som's art in the section breaks is really good too. Makes me wonder what it says about me that I was never a horror fan as a kid. 

Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine by Mohammad Sabaaneh

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4.25

Graphic narrative of life & lives lived under the apartheid regime in Palestine. Walls, barred windows, & cages are everywhere. Very stylized, similar to the 1920s “wordless novels” (though very much not wordless) or the 1920s woodcut revival graphic novels. In that way Power Born of Dreams reminded me a little bit of Stigmata. The prison regime combined with a bird friend reminds me of some of the vignettes from Guantanamo Voices. 

The Death and Life of Great American Cities: 50th Anniversary Edition by Jane Jacobs

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4.0

Finally read the now classic criticism of American/European urban planning written all the way back in 1961. So many of Jacobs's criticisms of urban planning were so prescient so long ago that they almost seem cliche today. Jacobs hated parking lots in cities before it was cool to hate parking lots in cities. The style is very conversational, so it's easy to imagine Jacobs talking my ear off on these topics on the sidewalk outside my house. I can totally imagine her talking with some of my “public character” neighbors. Jacobs's style is a great example of 1961 East Coast English. One of the striking things about Death & Life of American Cities is how many of the urban planning dysfunctions from 1961 are pretty much unchanged today, to the point that it's easy to forget how long ago Jacobs was writing this. At the time of writing, North America's scrapped streetcar systems were still a recent memory! & now were are in the position where Jacobs's ideas are accepted & current but we now have 62 years' worth of car-centric development piled on top of the old problems she was writing about. I like her recommendation that a sidewalk needs to be 30ft wide & have shade trees between the sidewalk & the street, & that the 30 ft figure comes from the amount of room needed to accommodate both a game of double dutch, & passerby. The discussion of different uses on a residential street, including mortuaries, is going to make me see Bob's Burgers (especially the setting of the titular burger joint & it's street) in a whole new light. Her discussion of districts & use of the term “districts” perversely makes me think of the latest installment in the Civilization computer game series, which has a conception of urban planning pretty much the opposite of Jacobs's, with different city functions explicitly separated. I wonder how much the level of community organizing has changed in major cities of the U.S. since Jacobs's time. The economic relationships between the ages of properties & affordability of rents were considerably changed by the early 2000s if not earlier. I wish the old-ass buildings in my neighborhood had cheaper rents! 

Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey by Gb Tran

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4.5

I love hearing the family lore, but often when I'm thinking about, or talking about, or even talking to a relative, I'll realize that I can't remember just how they're related to me, or to anyone else in my family. I'll often confuse which ancestor a story in the old country (or countries) is about. Of course this goes doubly for other people's families (who I also like to hear about). If only there was a book featuring a family tree which collected it all. That's the sort of book Vietnamerica is. As it was, I often had to turn back to different chapters & to the cast of family characters on the endpages. I really like the art, especially the stern depiction of GB Tran's father, Tri Huu, & also GB's measured use of spiral eyes. Tran's depiction of himself as initially disinterested in his family history kind of reminded me of the Art Spiegelman character in Maus, who similarly starts off less interested in his father's old stories. 

Monk!: Thelonious, Pannonica, and the Friendship Behind a Musical Revolution by Youssef Daoudi

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4.0

Graphic novel about Thelonious Sphere Monk, & his relationship with his friend & patron, Nica the Baroness of Jazz. Less a biography than a portrait of Monk's vibe & personality. Before reading Monk!, I didn't know much about Thelonious Monk apart from his playing style, & I'd always thought his reputation as an oddball was mostly invented by critics & adoring hipsters, but this book seems to indicate that he really was really out there. I'll have to look up some further reading about both him and Baroness Pannonica, since this is not exactly an exhaustive history. Monk! also illustrates the milieu of the New York bop scene of the 40s-50s. In addition to really making me want to listen to some (more) Monk, I really want to hear some Dizzy Gillespie now. I'd read Daoudi's graphical treatments of the lives of any other Jazz cats. 

Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball by Jon Chad

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4.25

History of Pinball going back to its (possible) ancient Greek origins through to the pinball Twitch streamers of the present day. Explains how pinball machines work, & how they have evolved since the 1930s when the game acquired the form we would recognize as pinball. Explains in detail how the garish art & elaborate effects of Pinball machines interact with the gameplay itself. Makes the case that pinball is an example of “an incredible intersection of all different art & design fields” which is a term I hope to apply to many different objects & situations going forward. The art is great, featuring lots of mushroom clouds emanating from minds being blown, & pinball grawlix. As with any good non-fiction “History of...” graphic novel, this one leaves me with a lot to look up & investigate on my own. My biggest question is about the world of Pinball repairmen. Is it like the dying world of typewriter repairmen? Or more like classic car hobbyists? Or are they more like IT folks with more of an “junk it -- cheaper to buy a new one” attitude? 

Justice Warriors by Felipe Sobriero, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson

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4.25

Wealth inequality, police (non) accountability, social media culture, & U.S. municipal politics are just some of the issues that collide to make a comic that feels like Judge Dredd meets Anna Dorn's Exalted. I Ideas like the speculative bread bubble, the fame obsessed political class, & the astrology fanatic revolutionaries, make Justice Warriors feel very reflective of our times. Unlike a great many other great comics, there's something about Justice Warriors that feels like it would resist adaptation into a movie. The characterization of Bubble City/the UZ would be difficult for Hollywood to get right. & maybe only Bors & Clarkson are able to make a story featuring a turd & a swamp monster as the main characters compelling. 

Your Black Friend and Other Strangers by Ben Passmore

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4.5

Compilation of Passmore's comics. Kind of like a Creepshow movie, if it had some news reporting from anti-racist protests thrown in. A lot of these are pretty out there. I'd say “GoodBye or the State of Nature: a Comik” is the most difficult to get my head around. It's hard to pick a favorite out of all of these stories. A Pantomime Horse I is an incredible combo of a mysterious story, surrealism, weird art, & real emotions. I loved the twist in The 100% True story called Ally I Need is Love. The title story is the most cringey (appropriately). Passmore is great at creating characters that are just barely concealing some feral nature. Many of these stories need to be re-read a couple times. 

The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere. by James Spooner

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4.5

Memoir of being a Black punk rocker teenager in Apple Valley, CA sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. Seems to cover about a year, during which James had a whole coming of age, forged his identity, etc. Suburban isolation, alienation, & despair are compounded by Southern California's famous neo nazis, & the usual casual racism. Imagine a scene so tiny that the only 2 Black punks in town have to fill out their band with a racist skinhead punk. Ultimately James was just passing through, geographically speaking;& even had he stayed, he had connections to the outside world that none of his Apple Valley friends really did. His leaving his friends behind at the end is sad. Of course, Spooner grew up to became even more of a Punk rocker & lives his ideals so there's a happy ending for him. I like the period pictures at the end of James & friends. Definitely a great memoir. Does a pretty good job of explaining SHARPs. 

Movements & Moments by Sonja Eismann, Ingo Schöningh, Maya Schöningh

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4.0

Accounts of women-led resistance movements from South America, Vietnam, India, Nepal, Thailand, & the Philippines. Offers a snapshot of intersectional feminism. I need to look at the about the authors again to check out their other work.