Two Roads Diverge

These graphic novels are great. They are smart, easy to read, filled with mystery and conspiracy, and they all have a great build up to the next big event (the end of the world). Overall, its an awesome take on an old tale; the events leading to the end of the world. Buy these books, and have some hope that the movie that comes after to cap everything off is good, but I have my doubts.

I found it to be a bit too short. Although one could chalk that up the fact that I waited so long for it to come out, I wanted it to take longer than 20 minutes to read it. Beyond that, loved it! Intriguing... I thought the "sketchy" nature of the drawings was good. Felt free. Alive. I like the fact that there was not a ton of exposition. It was just here are the characters, and you find stuff out as it goes along. As in Donnie Darko, it seems like this is a very fully realized world with it's own set of physical laws and philosophies and yet never really bothers to explain too much. Great ending that makes me want the next book YESTERDAY!

This graphic novel is a great read and will work perfectly in setting us up for the final three chapters, which will be told in the motion picture. If you were having any doubts as to whether or not to buy this book, definitely check it out. The art is great, and familiarizing ones self with the characters in these graphic novels should prove to be a great help in better grasping certain aspects of the movie. Can't wait for the next two novels to be released!

Southland Tales: Two Roads Diverge, went on sale today in stores. It is the first of six chapters of Southland Tales. Chapters I-III are graphic novels. Chapters IV-VI are the film Southland Tales, which is expected to be in theaters this fall. The title "Two Roads Diverge" is taken from the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken," and the poem is used as a framing device in the narration throughout. We meet Boxer Santaros, a movie action star with amnesia, Fortunio Balducci, a gambler who rescues Boxer in the Nevada desert, and Krysta Now, an adult film star and entrepreneur who promises to to get them across the militarized California state line. The story by Richard Kelly (writer/director of Donnie Darko) is inventive, profanely funny, and mysterious. The art by Brett Weldele is kinetic, frequently abstract, matching the surreal tone of the story perfectly. The art moves back and forth between the characters' perpectives and those of the sinister forces surveiling them, for an appropriately paranoia-inducing effect. This complex, fascinating, multi-part story is off to a great start. The book includes a bonus section of photographs from the movie and the movie shoot.