Fingerprints

Southland Tales #2

by Richard Kelly, Brett Weldele (Illustrations)

Ronald Taverner awakens on a houseboat on Lake Mead, Nevada... stricken with amnesia. He soon discovers that he is involved in a conspiracy to kidnap and impersonate his twin brother Roland... a police officer from Hermosa Beach, California. Roland discovers that his brother has ties to a neo-Marxist extremist group.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Sequential Art, Fiction, American

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2006

Reviews

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

случайно заглянув в тетрадочку со списком прочитанных книжек, узнал с удивлением, что все три тома уже читал-глядел в 2009 году, когда только посмотрел кино. но нихрена не помню, поди ж ты.
хотя какие-то повороты сюжета и детали каннибализированы из фильма и служат неким гистероном-протероном, что ли. не удивлюсь, если автор знает, что это такое.

[Gilbert Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exercise in transitional world building. I appreciate the relevant predictions and the esoteric wackiness, but wish it was toned down just a dial or two. Love it when Richard Kelly swings for the fences, but it still hurts when the ball hits me square.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in this series left me feeling kind of "meh," but I already had the second book so I kept reading. I still feel kind of "meh" about it, but it's still an intriguing story and I feel like I need to read the rest.

My problems with it: like Richard Kelly's other work, it's pretty convoluted. Which doesn't necessarily bug me in a story, but at times it feels a bit unnecessary, as if his purpose is to make the reader feel confused. But I don't feel confused. I just feel bored, and like he's going, "Look at me! Aren't I so much smarter than you?? I came up with this crazy world that I want you to be lost in." In short, I feel like his style of purposefully convoluted plot is condescending. The characters are also a bit 2-dimensional, yet it seems like he's trying REALLY hard to make them 3-dimensional.

That said, there are definitely elements that intrigue me, and I like the sci-fi stuff. I just wish he didn't seem so full of himself.

It should also be said that the second book was less annoying than the first. So I'm hoping the pattern holds and the subsequent installments get even LESS annoying.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I began this book, I felt that like Book 1 it was mostly just reiterating stuff I knew from the movie (I know the graphic novels are intended to function as prequels, but if most of what you learn in them gets regurgitated in the movie I'm not certain it's a good deal), but as I continued reading I was pleased to find that it picked up on themes from the first book that weren't really dealt with much in the movie, as well as giving me some more information about stuff I had wondered about in the movie.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting.

I reserved reviewing and rating until I finished III, since, really, these function as one book.

Not sure how I missed this when it came around the first time. I am VERY curious to see how this plays out in Books IV, V, VI -- aka, the movie.

Honestly, anything involving Nicola Tesla's wacky work (wireless electricity: terrifying and intriguing, all at once), and I'm in.

Lots of fairly big-name stars in the flick (including Sarah Michelle Gellar -- I LOVE her -- as a psychic porn star). And yet, I never heard of it. Weird.

[Ben Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ronald Taverner (a name later revealed to be a reference to Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said) is forced by the people holding his twin brother to join the plot. Krysta and Boxer continue on in their part as more of Boxer's (really Krysta's) script is revealed. The Baron von Westphalen and Serpentine join the tale, as do Marxists.

My thoughts are found with my notes on volume III.

[furious · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the second (2nd) part of a trilogical graphic novel prequel to the new movie (Southland Tales) by Richard Kelly, the auteur of Donnie Darko. it is impossible to accurately judge it yet. but the art is cool.