Grand Comic Reading Project

[imron]

Ok, here's a good one.

There's an online graphic novel called The Wormworld Saga, which is not only a really nice comic, it has also recently released a Chinese version (there are currently translations for 9 languages).

Anyway, the Chinese version of chapter 1 is here, and for reference, the English version is here.

Not sure if someone wants to make a separate thread for it, as I haven't really been following much of the Comic Reading Project, and I've only read the English version so far, but just thought I'd put it out there for people.

[deathtrap]

Wow, that looks really nice Imron. I love the art style. It's also great for us learners since it's available in more than one language.

[imron]

Haha, I've actually been waiting for chapter 2 of the English version to come out for like a year now. Finally I heard it was coming out shortly so I checked the page and lo and behold it has a Chinese version now too.

[Gleaves]

Slick presentation. I like that it is simply one long page. I'll have a read.

After a long hiatus, I am back reading some comics. I recently bought a Nook Color basically just to use as a comic machine. I just read through World War Hulk. It wasn't great, but I was in the mood for somethings short (5 issues) and with superhero fistacuffs. It delivers plenty of Hulk smash.

I'm taking a look at BLAME now (comic project 15). I'll post my thoughts in that thread when I make it through volume 1.

[Areckx]

It's a shame there's no Japanese translation of Wormworld... I'm not too confident in my translation abilities at this point in my life or I would try to contact Lieske.

[Areckx]

If anyone wants to join me, I'm working on 火影忍者, as I see it is missing from http://grandcomic.wi...ng_Project_Wiki

and I happen to be focusing on this series in Japanese and Chinese for my studies. I'll read through Doraemon for awhile before I start making wiki pages, but any word lists I come up with in my dictionary studies for huoying will end up here in preperation for the wiki page. I love how this Grand Comic Reading Project came to fruition! It's an entire wiki now!!

I know huoying is quite popular, and some people may think they are "too good" for popular/"easy" works, but I think differently. I don't believe we as as species can fully understand ANYTHING written or spoken in ANY language.

Sure you may know what it's about, but do you know what it's ABOUT?

http://www.jmydm.com/manhua-46/

[feihong]

I don't have any grievance against Naruto/火影忍者, in fact I did watch the anime a little in my younger days. But I think it's not an easy series at all. There are a ton of technical terms in this comic (mostly made up), and the wuxia aspect of the story all but guarantees that rare Hanzi will show up quite frequently.

[Areckx]

I particularly like the idea of shows/books that "we all put ourselves through our own hell." This seems to be a huge theme in most Chinese stories, and happens to be how I view Naruto to be mainly about. The whole

akatsuki seems to be a huge representation of this, especially Pain... I mean... PAIN! The word itself is a huge indicator.

In the Japanese I have really enjoyed the dialogue most of all. The fight scenes are kind of silly but I like the whole idea that they're all in training(my favorite parts are when they are training... in most comics actually. In Dragon Ball I liked the part where Gokuu was in JiGoku[["hell'] and found Kai-ou-sama and trained in super gravity.)

[jbradfor]

Interesting but brief article discussing the benefits of graphic novels to promote literacy. http://www.wltribune.com/community/138081378.html

“Perhaps the most powerful way of encouraging children to read is by exposing them to light reading, a kind of reading that school pretends does not exist and a kind of reading that many children, for economic or ideological reasons, are deprived of. I suspect that light reading is the way that nearly all of us learned to read.” The common public opinion that comic books hinder literacy development is simply not supported by research or by the opinion of youth and children’s librarians working today.

[Unfadeable]

For those of you who successfully used manga as a bridge to more sophisticated reading, can you comment on when you were "ready" to make the leap to simple novels, newspapers, etc? I am about to finish reading Dragonball (which has gotten fairly easy for me now, maybe 15 new words per volume, 1-1.5 hours spent per volume) and I'm not sure whether I should continue reading more challenging manga (I was thinking Death Note or One Piece) or if I'm now prepared enough for books. I have 6500 cards in my Anki deck with 2500 hanzi (soon to be 3500 when I get through Heisig 2). Would that be sufficient? I'm quite content reading manga but I also want to push myself.

[imron]

Your best bet is to try a book and see. The book of the month subforum has quite a few suggestions for good first time books.

[Gleaves]

Agreed. Take that plunge and see. There is a transition to be made from the dialogue heavy nature of comics to the exposition of books. So don't fret if new phrases, structures, descriptive vocab, etc are popping up quicker than expected.

[Unfadeable]

Thanks dudes, I'm gonna give it a shot. I realized though that they're not mutually exclusive, so I'll try putting in a bit of time with a novel each day, and when my brain starts to melt, switch back to the smooth sailing of manga.

[peas02]

I've been having trouble finding a good, and fun, way of studying Chinese. After being bored with Chinese movies, and quickly got tired of iPhone and iPad resources for getting it done (Anki, Chinese LS, Wordtracer etc.), I found something that have give me that good one or two hour study a day, that is essential for fast language progress. Reading comics in Chinese.

I found "The Walking Dead"-comic very suitable for my level (am an advanced learner who have been studying Chinese on and off for about 5 years, ), so I wanted to recommend it to you guys.

You can find it at: http://www.verycd.com/topics/2825382/

If you have an iPad, just download the free "Couldreaders" app and import the RAR-file directly to it.

[Flying Pigeon]

Cloudreaders

[jbradfor]

admins, could we get a merge? http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/27354-grand-comic-reading-project/

[imron]

Merged.

[Meng Lelan]

Urusei Yatsura / 福星小子 : a question. Where can I get paper copies of the comics in Chinese done in the 1990s? Or an online archives for online viewing? I tried to google this but got videos not the print versions.

[skylee]

Please see if this is useful -> http://www.1kkk.com/manhua296/

PS - I laughed out loud reading the first few pages of volume 1.

[Meng Lelan]

PS - I laughed out loud reading the first few pages of volume 1.

That's why I wanted to look...and laugh! Thanks for the link.