Anita Blake: Excelling in multiple forms

Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter's Guilty Pleasures and Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton convert cleanly from book to graphic novel. This is due to the conversational nature of the story which matches the common comic book style. Additionally, the comic illustrator Brett Booth took care to match Hamilton's colorful description. The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series is possibly the most accurate translation from comic to novel.

In both novels, Guilty Pleasures and Laughing Corpse Anita Blake narrates, her voice is a casual inner monologue which doesn't edit for the reader. This style almost exactly matches the style in the square narration boxes of comics. Her interior thought are highly reminiscent of Spiderman and Deadpool. They cleanly translate into the narration of a comic. It was almost as if Hamilton knew her novel was going to become a comic. In addition, to the voice of the narrator, Hamilton gives ample description of her world. Her illustrative description is almost enough for a sketch artist. The exact skin tone, hair type and color, body shape and size, and over all body language is covered in high detail. The illustrator is given a clear guide for each character. Booth takes the description and flawless converts it into images.

It was a thrill to both read the comic and novel version of the two stories, Guilty Pleasures and Laughing Corpse. I would recommend reading one version if you like the other.

Always looking for good comics
JR West the Raccoon

Petsalad: The art of coin cutting

Time flies.... For weeks I have wanted to share with you all my latest discoveries in the wonderful world of art, but work has kept me up lately as we all prepare ourselves for the Christmas period. I still just have a little time but I had to share with you this shop named: Petsalad.
I must admit it was, at first, not the work which caught my eye, but a small description of the shop showing at the top of the page. It said: "What Rob does when he's not playing banjo". Well, you can understand this made me very curious.

When I took a better look at Rob's shop I realized that the pendants I saw were actually coins. It was the first time in my life I came in contact with the art of cutting coins and I was absolutley blown away by the detail and beauty of these little pieces of art.
Though all these coins are beauties, the coin featuring St. George is the most stunning of all. It is hard to belief that these pendants are made with nothing more then a jewelers saw. No electricity or whatsoever is used during the process.

So, now you know what Rob does when he is not playing banjo....