Elmer

My boyfriend reads a lot of superhero comics, which he insists are good but which sound crappy. He also has a thing for chickens, which is obvious in the amount of chicken knicknacks he has. One day, he showed me this graphic novel he bought at the comic book store. "Look at this," he said. "A comic about what would happen if chickens gained human intelligence and speech." "Cool." I said, secretly thinking it sounded lame. Later on, he brought this silly book to my house and told me I should read it because it was good and he thought I would like it. Whatever. At least it looked short.

So I read it. And I will say, I was totally wrong about it. This book was amazing. This is played totally straight, with all the seriousness of a book show more about the holocaust. And it works. Boy howdy, does it work.

The story focuses on a second-generation setient chicken who is given his father's diary, which he started keeping as soon as he learned to speak and write. The book describes the terrible ordeal his father, a fighting cock on a farm in the Phillipines, went through when every chicken suddenly became intelligent, being hidden from frightened and murderous humans by a sympathetic farmer, and the whole chicken civil rights movement.

Sounds silly, I know. But it was amazing. I would highly recommend it to people like me who love serious graphic novels. And I can't wait to read more by this author! show less

Original and entertaining and glad I got it, but in the end, slightly disappointing. Beyond the initial cleverness of sentient chickens, there was nothing to make this particularly interesting. Even if it had just been done entirely as a colorful,lush, and rich graphic novel, rather than merely as an adult-themed black and white comic book with a firmer cover, it might have pushed it into the 5 star range. Coulda' been great, but as it is, 3.5 stars.

Alanguilan premise is what would happen if chickens suddenly aquired sentience. This is not as silly as it sounds, in fact it's not silly at all, it is beautiful, funny, tragic and hopeful. It balances the fantastical with the everyday and manages to encompass huge,overarching themes.

Elmer is perftect for the comic meduim and I cannot imagine it done well in any other. Alanguilan's craft here is wonderful. His fantastic art and dialogue, the carefully planned layout, it all works works to bring huge impact to what he is saying, there are some highly memorable parts to the story.

It is easy to care about the characters, chicken or human are all truly and fully realised, and all carry a difficult story with ease. After all without them it show more just becomes a tall tale but with them the fantastical becomes real. Oh I did mention the art right? Well it's black and white and gorgeous.. with just enough anthropomorphism to keep the story in check.

Recommended for everyone...it's the kind of comic you press into other peoples hand and say "look..." show less

With a premise like "What if chickens could talk?" You'd think that this would be a comedy but Alanguilan manages to turn it into a very sad, dark story. Very well written.

More of a 2.5-star rating. I found the "humanized" chickens a little disconcerting. But it's certainly a thought-provoking, on-your-head twist on the themes of prejudice and acceptance.

The artwork is really good. The story, though ridiculous as it may first seem to be, is deep and troubling. It's a great book about humans( and chickens, if chickens really think).

Huh. Not sure what to make of that. Chickens suddenly become sentient and are made "human". It's all sort of allegorical, but could've used some more SOMETHING there.