Graphic novels are quickly becoming a more accepted and even influential type of reading material. For those who don't know, a graphic novel is similar to a comic book; it is a story composed of pictures and words. One view I hold very strongly is the importance of reading in everyone's life. For many people graphic novels are a sort of compromise; a way to give in and read a book while having pictures to help give the story that extra "umf" many people desire.

Four Letter Worlds is a graphic novel that caught my eye with its title. Worlds? Don't you mean words? This graphic novel promises stories about love, hate, fear and fate. The book is divided into four "chapters," one for each four letter word. Each chapter contains four stories from various graphic novelists, the chapter ending with a description of the four authors. Each story is basically the author/artists own story inspired by the word.

Some of the stories included:

Lust's story and art are both by Jim Mahfood. Found in the Love chapter, the story is basically about two young males that are having the time of their life in what appears to be a red light district. They are living the life of lust until they anger some big-names in the area. The end is somewhat surprising and very unique. The art in this story is very intense; I studied all the pictures carefully because there was so much there! It seems almost haphazard though (a common trait in graphic novels); somewhat messy. The in-your-face pictures match the fast-paced story very well.

Loud is written by Jay Faerber and drawn by Steve Rolston and is included in the Hate chapter. The story is about a man who has just recently moved into an apartment. As the story often goes, his upstairs neighbor plays his music frequently and loudly. We see pictures of the new tenant at first enjoying his new apartment, but later become more and more irritated as he ponders ways to get his neighbor to quiet down without being "that guy." The pictures have minimal shading; they are mostly just pure black and white. The reader can see the words "boom boom boom" throughout the apartment during this story, and they pop very clearly against the amount of white. The ending of this story is expected but very cute as well.

Mano is written and drawn by Scott Morse and is included in the Fear chapter. Mano is a little hard to understand at first. The pictures are also a little confusing. They are mostly complete black and white also, no grayscale, and often have a checkerboard appearance to them. The words are also picture-esque themselves, sometimes written vertically to accent the images it accompanies. After the story is finished it's easier to understand; it's about the author/artist himself and how he is unafraid to freely express his thoughts and reach out to people through his graphic novels. A very interesting story, especially when read a few times.

Hype is written by Antony Johnston and drawn by Mike Hawthorne. It is included in the Fate chapter. Hype is a hilarious story about Fate as if he were a person. Throughout the story two men are trying to find ways to "sell" by making him appeal to everyone. They discuss several marketing ideas, all of which Fate seems to be opposed to. The pictures don't have a lot of detail, though the characters facial expressions and features are all drawn very comically.

Coincidentally, each story included in Four Letter Worlds is a four-letter title. This seems like it would pose a problem, but the artists and writers embraced it not to mention the concept of the book as a whole. I assumed each story would directly relate to Love, Hate, Fear or Fate, but many of the stories were very indirect. I enjoy graphic novels because there is so much detail and room for creativity. It is very hard to compare graphic novels or graphic novelists because it is such a diverse art.

Included at the end of the book is a list of other works by the authors in this book. This is a very good resource for people who enjoyed specific stories, authors or artists.

As can be expected in a compilation, some of the stories weren't as good as others. I can easily see how any of the stories may appeal to different people, and I think this would make a very great "Introduction to Graphic Novels" for someone who isn't quite sure what they are all about.

A Few Other Graphic Novels I've reviewed

Persepolis
Blankets
Borden Tragedy
Electric Girl, Volume 1
Shutterbug Follies
Four Letter Worlds
Strange Day
Cheat
Clumsy
Marvels
Diary of a Teenage Girl

Recommended: Yes