Graphic Novels
By Martha Cornog & Steve RaiteriJun 11, 2010
I was honored to be nominated, Alex Simmons said, nearly jumping up and down, but now I'm really damn happy! Simmons was accepting a Glyph Award for The Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton miniseries from Archie & Friends. The Glyphs honor outstanding African American comics, and at the recent ceremony, Shawn Martinbrough talked about his winning art for Luke Cage Noir. (See review, below.) While researching the setting in Harlem, he said, a fan urged him to give Luke Cage hair! The character has been portrayed as bald for years, but Martinbrough took the hint. You did a very important thing, comics scholar William Foster told the artist. You give black young people a sense of what black people were like in that period [Prohibition]. (Check out www.ecbacc.com for other Glyph winners.)
Besides the Glyphs and the widely known Eisner and Harvey Awards, notables include the Lulu Awards, handed out by Friends of Lulu to recognize women-friendly work as well as women creators of the past, and the Ignatz Awards, named for the mouse in Krazy Kat and given only to small-press publications.
Shining a welcome light of critical recognition on the exploding cosmos of webcomics, the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards ran from 2001 to 2008 but sadly seem to be in limbo now.
From the library profession comes YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens, announced after ALA Midwinter, and Booklist's Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth, announced several months later. It's delightful to see that comics publishers as well as creators highly value these two honors.
For lists and links for winners across a dizzying variety of honors, access librarian Joel Hahn's Comic Book Awards Almanac, hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/index.html. Then check out the international awards: Shusters and Wrights for Canada, Eagle Awards for the UK, Angoule (Alph-Art and Grand Prix) for Europe, and Kodansha and others for Japan.
Benson, Mike & Adam Glass (text) & Shawn Martinbrough (illus.). Luke Cage Noir. Marvel. 2010. c.112p. ISBN 978-0-7851-39. $19.99. f
The original Luke Cage made his debut in 1972 as a streetwise African American imprisoned for a crime he didn?t commit. Subjected to an experiment designed to kill him, he instead gains superstrength and invulnerability. After escaping prison, he hires himself out as a freelance good-guy-hero under the code name of Power Man. Over the subsequent 30 years, Cage has dispatched numerous villains in the Marvel Universe and worked with the Fantastic Four, the Defenders, and the New Avengers. This noir reboot finds him released unexpectedly from prison and retained almost immediately to find the murderer of a white socialite's wife. Rightly deciding that the socialite may be a wolf not a sheep, Cage eventually uncovers a tightly knit plot against himself that pulls in his supposedly dead pre-prison girlfriend, several old Harlem cronies, the socialite's pretty mistress, and the son he didn?t know existed. VERDICT Cage as a Prohibition-era heavy packs major wallops both in story and in action scenes; Martinbrough's excellent Glyph Award?winning art delivers satisfying myth through a lens of Harlem-based historical accuracy. Recommended for teen and adult collections. —M.C.
Boruchow, Joe. Stuffed Animals: A Story in Paper Cutouts. Kettle Drummer. 2010. 100p. ISBN 978-0-9778066-5-2. pap. $20. f
The legacy of adult maleness haunts this surreal growing-up tale, not as black and white as the medium might suggest. In the front window of our house, begins the narrator, Dad kept our stuffed dog, Ben. He told us that Ben had died in his sleep. Then one night the boy awakens to Ben's barking and follows the dog outdoors. An old well, the father, a deer-hunter neighbor, and a pool of water that isn?t really there figure into the magical-realist developments. The ending is ambiguous: by participating with his father in a growing-up ritual, does the boy merely capitulate to inevitable manhood, or does he recognize his father is different, displaying a stuffed Ben instead of a deer trophy? Is the barking dog real or a dream? Did the father or the neighbor kill Ben? VERDICT Boruchow's medium is the ancient art of papercutting, here one piece of black paper per page with his skillful knife releasing white spaces to form the detailed, striking images as well as dialog and sound effects. An unusual and innovative work recommended for art/craft collections as well as general circulation. Suitable for tweens and up. —M.C.
Eichler, Glenn (text) & Nick Bertozzi (illus.). Stuffed! First Second: Roaring Brook. 2009. 124p. ISBN 978-1-59643-308-3. pap. $17.99. f
Because racial and family conflicts drive some of the nastiest headlines, it's refreshing to confront them in a thoughtful comedy instead of a gory shockfest. Tim's S.O.B. father dies unexpectedly, leaving behind a collection of oddities, including a stuffed human being, supposedly African. Wanting to do the right thing by the poor fellow, Tim takes his 'savage' to the museum, eventually becoming a caseload for Howard, an African American curator. Pretty quickly, both Tim's and Howard's families get embroiled in a repatriation/burial-in-Africa scheme, further complicated by intra-African politics and the whims of Tim's hippie half-brother, Free. In the end, Free conjures up an acceptable solution, even if it's grounded in inaccuracy. VERDICT Eichler (the award-winning writer for The Colbert Report) has a wonderful time mucking with stereotypes and politically correct clich, while showing how well-intentioned people with different agendas can so easily run each other into walls. Bertozzi's art perfectly depicts human imperfections—from the bad nose job of a minor character to Free's morbidly fascinating trepanation scar. Good fodder for high school age and up, including in classrooms. —M.C.
G'denfors, Simon. The 120 Days of Simon. Top Shelf Productions. 2010. 416p. tr. from Swedish by Naomi Nowak. ISBN 978-1-60309-050-6. pap. $14.95. autobiog
Known throughout Sweden as a brash cartoonist, rapper, and radio host, G'denfors worked up an adventuresome gimmick, travel for four months, staying with people who signed up online to host him, and set it down on paper. He agreed to welcome anything that would happen, and quite a bit did: drugs, sex, angry relatives of his hook-ups, rock 'n' roll, muggings, love, and loss. Turning 29 in the course of events, G'denfors chronicles his bad-behavior serendipity circuit with plenty of humor and a light touch, enhanced by an almost childlike cartooning style. The characters look like Lego or videogame figures, and many are unabashedly cute, even - or especially - when they behave badly. The translation is excellent, although footnotes explaining the occasional Swedish words and cultural phenomena would have been welcome. VERDICT With endearingly minimalist art plus an entertaining story, this will make, for adult collections, a worthy addition to the cartoon-diary genre in the tradition of Americans Jeffrey Brown in numerous works and K. Thor Jensen in Red Eye, Black Eye also about a road trip with multiple hosts. —M.C.
Horrocks, Dylan. Hicksville. Drawn & Quarterly. 2010. 250p. ISBN 978-1-77046-002-7. pap. $19.95. f
Researching a biography of Dick Burger, the world's most successful comics creator, Leonard Batts visits Burger's hometown, tiny Hicksville, New Zealand. He finds a community where everyone is a comics expert - and the library circulates original copies of Action Comics #1 - but Burger is persona non grata. Only unemployed cartoonist Sam, Burger's childhood friend, shares information, but even he won't explain what Burger did to earn the town's censure. This reissue of a modern classic, originally published in 1998 and nominated for a Harvey Award, features a new introduction in comics form by Horrocks. VERDICT Referencing figures from Rodolphe T'ffer to Todd McFarlane, Horrocks displays a deep knowledge of comics history and a commitment to the art form's power, but also sadness at how comics creators (and characters) have been treated in the name of commercial interest. The moving stories of Sam and also Grace, a Hicksville expatriate returning to pick up the threads of a complicated life, provide indie credibility, but the book's focus on comics (superhero comics in particular) will appeal to some who would normally shun indie work.
Kent, Jack. King Aroo. Vol. 1. IDW Pub. 2010. 342p. ISBN 978-1-60010-581-4. $39.99. f
Before becoming a children's book author and illustrator (Just Only John), Kent began his career in newspapers with this unjustly forgotten whimsical humor strip. Childlike King Aroo presides over the minuscule kingdom of Myopia, population two humans (himself and loyal retainer, Yupyop) and a bevy of talking animals, including a forgetful elephant, a pacifist dragon, and Wanda Witch, a bird whose spells cost the same as Lucy's psychiatric advice. This volume collects the strip's first two years (1950-52). Amid many comical encounters with colorful creatures, Aroo and Yupyop visit the kingdom next door's Beautiful Princess (B.P. for short), on whom Aroo has a crush, and then engage in a quixotic quest riding stick horses (years before Monty Python's coconuts). VERDICT Kent's winning humor encompasses fractured fairy tales (Sally Peep, descendant of Bo, loses her sheep at cards) and wordplay both learned and knowingly awful. His cartooning is engaging, simple, and accomplished. Kent works the same fields here as Walt Kelly in Pogo and George Herriman in Krazy Kat; while not at their rarefied level, this will be an entertaining discovery for newspaper strip fans'. —S.R.
Meyer, Stephenie (text) & Young Kim (adapt. & illus.). Twilight: The Graphic Novel. Vol. 1. Yen Pr. 2010. 224p. ISBN 978-0-7595-2943-4. $19.99. f
Covering roughly half the first novel of Meyer's megahit paranormal romance, this first volume of the manga-ish version topped sales charts, and, yes, the sequel is coming. When her divorced mom wants to travel with husband No. 2, pretty Bella Swan retreats in a huff to the boonies of Forks, WA, to live with her father. As she eases into her new high school, she falls into an odd love-hate relationship with Edward Cullen, one of the mysterious - and gorgeous - Cullen kids. Romantic interest from other cute guys makes things more complicated, and one fellow knows a bit too much about the Cullens and the local vampire-werewolf turf wars. What's a girl to do? With a superhero vibe enhancing the romantic vampire mystique, the Meyer novel holds all the high seriousness and roiling emotional appeal of 19th-century gothic melodrama while incorporating plenty of action. VERDICT Kim's excellent art elevates a considerably simplified and rather jerky adaptation into a truly pleasurable visual experience: attractive page design, swoonworthy characters, and judicious use of color for special impact. Recommended for public and high school libraries.
Oliver, Jose Bartolo Torres. Young Lovecraft. Kettle Drummer. 2009. 104p. tr. from Spanish by Carla D?z Juhl & Emer Cassidy. ISBN 978-0-9778066-3-8. pap. $14.95. f/humor
As the 120th anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft's birth approaches, the monster-mongering author lives on as a creepy-cute kid in a world a bit different from his family's. Little Howie conjures up the Eye of Rammenoth to whomp the school bully, creates a golem to do his homework, adopts a ghoul as a pet, and writes Great Reworkings of the Classics, adding dark twists. But new horrors confront him in girls, specifically the new transfer student Siouxie, who wants to be friends. Fortunately, Siouxie's more than a bit twisted herself and invites him to visit Poe's grave. After catching a baby byakhee for a ride to Baltimore, the two conjure up Poe's ghost, who invites them to a party with the ghosts of French poets Rimbaud and Baudelaire. VERDICT With the appeal of a demented Peanuts, this originally Spanish webcomic is funny, sophisticated, and occasionally sexually suggestive in reference to older, minor characters. The sepia/gray art with color touches is simple and appealing. Recommended for older teens and adults who like horror-humor concoctions.
Stanley, John (text & illus.) & Tony Tallarico (illus.). Thirteen Going on Eighteen. Vol. 1. Drawn & Quarterly. 2009. 336p. ISBN 978-1-897299-88-3. $39.95. f
This volume of D&Q's John Stanley Library (which collects 1960s comics by Little Lulu writer Stanley) reprints the first nine issues of an undeservedly neglected teen humor series starring two boy-fixated best friends, Val and Judy. Over the course of the jealousies, misunderstandings, and misadventures, Val's childhood-friend-but-not-quite-boyfriend, neighbor Billy, is supplanted in her affections by dreamy new kid Paul Vayne. Meanwhile, Judy dates the nerdy Wilbur but would dump him in a second if any other boy showed interest. VERDICT The artwork becomes more attractive when Stanley takes over from Tallarico with issue three, but it's Stanley's writing that gives the series appeal beyond the young girls it was likely targeting. Val's showy hysterics, her banter with older sister Evie, and Stanley's fine gags are a delight. Because of the unexpectedly opulent hardcover presentation, including excellent design by cartoonist Seth, who also contributes an introduction, and thick pages tinted to look like weathered old comics, the absence of the original cover illustrations (often good gags in themselves) is a surprising disappointment. Still, this is fun for tweens and older collectors alike.
about comics
Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries and Archives: Essays on Readers, Research, History, and Cataloging. McFarland. 2010. 276p. ed. by Robert Weiner. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-7864-4302-4. pap. $45. pro media
In the 1970s, future KISS bassist Gene Simmons was handing out Spider-Man comics to the sixth graders he was teaching in Spanish Harlem. The kids loved it even if the school administration didn't. This rich anthology edited by Weiner (humanities librarian, Texas Tech Univ.) - as well as recent conferences of the National Council of Teachers of English - testifies to the about-face regarding comics among educators and librarians since then. While the 29 contributions vary in quality, the breadth of topics offer much that is new and intriguing. Highlights include David Hopkins's history of manga in Japanese libraries, Erica Seagraves's and Christian Zabriskie's surveys of teen readers, Gwen Evans's account of a student-produced library guide in comics format, Randall Scott's retrospective about his longstanding Michigan State University collection, and Amy Thorne's introduction to webcomics. More data, coverage of academic libraries, and Canadian perspectives are collected here than in previous books on graphic novels in libraries. VERDICT While some contributions seem incomplete and there are occasional errors in tables and missing references, the work as a whole opens a wide vista of case studies, opinions, and hard data about comics in libraries. Recommended for all librarians concerned with graphic novel collections.
