Wanted, please: graphic novels with progressive subtexts suggestions for 12 year old boy.

[politicat]

EDITED headline for clarity. Clauses in wrong order.

My nephew is a very smart kid, but his environment is less than progressive. Sis and her hubs converted to LDS, and her hubs spent far more time than I care to consider as a "contractor" for one of the private security forces. He leans libertarian to neo-con; sis is a whole big mess of unexamined privilege and gut conclusions. They're good parents, but blinkered.

Nephew is smart, quiet, calm, sensitive, sensible -- and from his subtext, I think he's starting to get skeptical about his parents. He's just starting to discover graphic novels and SF. He really enjoyed the stack of books I sent for his birthday in June (John Scalzi, a couple of the boy-centric Mercedes Lackeys, and Ready Player One) but he requested graphic novels.

I'm really bad with that format -- there's something about the font and the emphasis that makes graphic novels no fun for me. I've read a few, and can appreciate the artistry, but they're not my media.

I've got Maus and The March (the John Lewis story) already, but I'm looking for a couple more. I also want to stay away from DC comics if possible -- I know the Marvel world much better, so I can steer more stuff his way. He likes the recent, British Robin Hood, Doctor Who, Dragon Age (game). He does better with male protagonists (for the moment -- girls are still deeply foreign territory for him) but that's not a game-ender.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

PS: if anyone's got suggestions for a 7 year old, much more physical, rambunctious boy in the same environment, please feel free to share. (His wish list was Lego, so that's easy, but I'd like to encourage his literacy, too.)

[NYC_SKP]

1. No help here but suggestions after you do get a title or two:

If you get a good recommendation, look it up on Amazon and see what they say about what other titles people who bought this book looked at.

Also, if you get one or two or three titles, Google search them together to see if there are recommended reading lists with others.

Good luck!

[mythology]

2. It's not strictly a graphic novel

but Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco wrote/drew Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt. I think Hedges overstates the impact of Occupy, but the book is overall pretty good. Given the subject includes a lot of talk about sexual violence, it may not be appropriate for a 7 year old.

I don't know if there's a tradepaper back yet, but Rucka's Lazarus is shaping up to be pretty good.

I think you can make an argument for Ed Brubaker's Scene of the Crime being a progressive story, although even more so in the one shot that's added in the recent hardcover. But maybe this one is too adult for a 7 year old too.

Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come also fits the general bill.

The Green Arrow/Green Lantern series from the 70s is very much a progressive book written by Dennis O'Neil.

[Nevernose]

3. Punk Rock Jesus

But not until he hits high school. I'll try and think of a few, more age appropriate things by morning.

And avoid Frank Miller: he's a right wing asshole.

[politicat]

6. No Frank Miller. EVER.

He's on my DIAF list. Not one cent, not one microsecond of attention.

[Rhythm]

4. Here's a few good ones:

Alan Moore's "V For Vendetta" and "The Watchmen" are so much more profound in their printed form than the films ever let on...

Also, "Marvel 1602", penned by Neil Gaiman, involving a what-if scenario of the mutants/x-men characters existing in the Puritan-controlled 'New World' colonies and in England.

[politicat]

5. I'm waiting for Nephew to hit 15 before giving him Alan Moore.

If he discovers on his own, good for him, but I've read Moore (one of those that I got through) and Moore requires a lot of context.

I'd forgotten 1602 -- which is sad, because I own it and like it. Thanks!

[Xyzse]

7. Ever try Sandman by Neil Gaiman

It isn't really political but it does talk about dreams.
There was one spot in there that talked about "Pres Reckard" who was a "Kennedy" like individual.

[Orsino]

11. The major theme is "change or die."

Does a fair job of celebrating diversity, and of opposing tyranny and bondage.

[Xyzse]

12. I guess...

Though I forgot, Sandman is pretty adult in regards to thinking.

Some of it can be very challenging.

[politicat]

19. We're holding off on Sandman until his birthday.

Family tradition is for Neph to get a stack of books for his birthday, because he's got all summer to read. That's already planned for him, and he'll be just a little older.

[Xyzse]

27. Sounds good!

Once he's older, try the manga "Akumetsu".
http://www.mangahere.com/manga/akumetsu/v01/c001/

This is read from right to left. Meaning <----- direction.
It goes off, talking about how corruption in government, banks and corporations are intertwined, all within a sci-fi setting.

[bobclark86]

8. What, no Chick Tracts?

http://www.fmh-child.org/Lisa.html

Because nothing says "I love Jesus" like a doctor finding out a father and the creepy old man next door gave an 8-year-old girl herpes and NOT calling the cops. If that isn't a great message to send to children, I don't know what is...

I'll see if I can dig up something a little more constructive, though.

[politicat]

13. I'm waiting for Neph to develop a sense of irony.

Besides, kid is Mormon, so he doesn't need Fundy on top of that.

As horror comics go, Chick tracts has the market cornered.

Thanks?

[bobclark86]

20. All good. n/t

[nomorenomore08]

21. I thought I'd seen some appalling stuff from Mr. Chick, but that takes the cake!

So you can molest your own daughter, and still go to heaven by praying to Jeebus??? And keep doing it so long as you keep "repenting"?

[bobclark86]

22. You don't have to repent again and again...

Just accept Jesus at any point (even at the very end) and you can rape the horses and ride off on the women to your heart's content.

[nomorenomore08]

24. Yeah, fundie Christianity is pretty damn evil - if not sociopathic - when you really think about it.

[MountainLaurel]

9. Some nonfiction suggestions

Jim Ottaviani has written several graphic novels about science topics, including a biography of Richard Feynmann. Those would be accessible to a 12-yo, I think. There's a People's History of American Empire, but I doubt the dad would go for that, so how about a graphic novel version of the Constitution?

[politicat]

15. Thanks -- great suggestions.

Neph likes Feynman; my sister does audiobooks on long car trips with the boys, and they've done Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman. (Sis is a good parent, and they are NOT anti-science, they're just neither skeptical nor very good at self-examination.)

[MicaelS]

10. Kingdom Come

Don't be deceived by the title. IMO, it the greatest graphic novel ever done. The art is beyond belief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Come_%28comics%29

http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Come-Mark-Waid/dp/1401220347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386007907&sr=8-1&keywords=kingdom+come

[politicat]

17. Thanks -- I'm intrigued!

[TrogL]

14. Batman

Batman is not as authoritarian as everybody thinks he is.

[politicat]

16. Which version?

[TrogL]

18. The Frank Miller ones from about 5 years ago aren't bad

http://www.goodreads.com/series/67569-frank-miller-s-batman

[hibbing]

23. March : Book one

Last edited Tue Dec 3, 2013, 01:18 AM - Edit history (1)

Hey,
It was interesting to read history in this format.
From Amazon-
March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1958 comic book "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story." Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.

On edit- Whoops, that is what I get for not reading the OP more carefully, sorry about that.

Peace

[politicat]

26. Already picked it up, along with Maus.

I liked it, which means (given my issues with the media format) that had it been straight text or straight art, I would have given up my job, sold all my stuff and become a book evangelist.

I have deep issues with the graphic novel format that are strictly misfires in my brain,but are not something I can muscle past.

[Katashi_itto]

25. Bamboo Blade!

Here is the anime thats based on it:
It might also get him more used to girls, it really portrays them nicely I think

etc

[cemaphonic]

28. The Bone series is good

It combines a fairly interesting and complex high fantasy story with a lot of comedic stuff (mostly character interaction, but a fair amount of slapstick and sight gags) and in it's best moments, the joke punchlines are also big plot developments. 12 is probably about the perfect age for it too. And art style is always subjective of course, but I think the artwork is solid.

It's not really overtly political enough to label it progressive or conservative, but one of the recurring themes is how forces like greed and fear of outsiders can pull communities apart. Additionally, one of the main characters is a greedy, selfish, self-justifying huckster who would be 100% Randroid in our world - he repeatedly gets his comeuppance, and is distrusted and disliked by virtually everyone else.