Graphic Novel Resources: May 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014

Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama

Are You My Mother? is many things, a graphic novel collage of visual and textual narratives. Its story incorporates disparate materials and subject matters in painting the picture of a mother-daughter relationship as well as the intricate mental process of planning, researching, and executing a book. It is a complex work that uses sequential art in novel ways, recording personal interactions,

therapy sessions,

and excerpts and quotations from diaries, letters, and authoritative texts as well as physical objects like photographs

to circle around and delineate the protagonist's family relations, emotions, and thought processes, as well as how this book came about. The art is polished and expert, often filled with emotion, tension, and personality. The narrative ranges from the familiar to the academic to the deeply personal and is extremely thought provoking. I do not know if I can say I enjoyed reading this book, but I can say that it was a challenging and rewarding experience. This book is certainly a masterful and complex work well worth reading and contemplating.

This book's author, Alison Bechdel, has been cartooning for decades. Her alt-comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, which ran from 1987 until 2008, broke ground with its frank and human characters and sexual situations. Her first graphic novel, the memoir Fun Home, won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work as well as a host of other accolades listed here. She speaks more about her work on Are You My Mother? in this interview.

Reviews about this book I have read remarked on the great craft and art in this book, though some varied on the impact of its narrative delivery. Katie Roiphe in the New York Times wrote, "I haven’t encountered a book about being an artist, or about the punishing entanglements of mothers and daughters, as engaging, profound or original as this one in a long time." The Comic Journal's Ken Parille called it "a fascinating document of a mind at war with itself, yet at ease with the archival possibilities of comic books." Laura Miller offered a different view, stating that "there's a bit too much therapy in Are You My Mother?" and that "it may get at the same truths that art does, but the trip isn't nearly as much fun." The New York Times' Dwight Garner agreed, calling the book "funereal," "therapized and flat."

Are You My Mother? was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and they provide more information and links to reviews here.

And this is probably not necessary if you have been paying attention this far, but this book is full of adult themes and is not recommended for young readers.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Over Easy

Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and even though I was not around when much of the book takes place, Over Easy really brought me back to my restaurant roots. Although it is a fictionalized autobiography, so much of it is based on real events that it features a great sense of verisimilitude. Set in Oakland in the 1970s, the narrative follows Margaret, a recent art school graduate in her 20s as she finds her way in the world. Low on funds and prospects, she finds herself frequenting diners and drawing in her sketchbook.

Margaret ends up with a job in the restaurant, working first as a dishwasher and then moving to the front of the house as a waitress. What really stood out to me was the realism and vitality of the characters and situations. The tumultuous relationships between cooks and waitresses, the vulgar banter, the periodic romantic dalliances, the annoying customers, and the regulars with their unique personalities all combine to create a community, which is lovingly and intricately captured here.

But this book is not just a version of Kitchen Confidential, it is also a time capsule for the period, a look at a time of cultural transformation. I appreciate the blast from the past, but I also see a vibrant cast of characters in almost soap operatic situations. Over Easy is a wonderful concoction of history, high and low culture, and a coming-of-age tale all told in masterful and expressive drawings and monochromatic watercolors. The flourishes of creativity and energy in the artwork complement the narrative expertly.

The creator of this book is Mimi Pond, a writer and artist with multiple magazine credits and also a writer for TV shows like Designing Women, Pee Wee's Playhouse, and The Simpsons (the very first full episode). You can read more about her in this profile at the LA Times. She reveals more about this book and her career in this interview with Publishers Weekly. Or if you prefer to listen to a podcast interview, there is this one from Virtual Memories.

Reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Los Angeles Review of Books' MariNaomi found much to relate to. Shathley Q summed up that this book "simply comes with the highest praise, and quite simply, deserves to be read." Jeff Provine commented that Pond depicted "life in the restaurant realistically yet magically." NPR's Etelka Lehoczky called this book "a sweet tribute."

A preview and more are available here from Over Easy's publisher Drawn & Quarterly.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story

A profound biography full of profane moments, Woman Rebel is a dense, informative, dramatic, and entertaining biography of Margaret Sanger, a woman who had more than enough adventures to fill ten lifetimes. She trained in the field of medicine, married multiple times, traveled in social circles with figures like George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi, John D. Rockefeller, and Emma Goldman, and was a free love advocate and lover of HG Wells, among others. She was a tireless advocate for women, immigrants, and those in a need; a tenacious fundraiser; an often persecuted defender of women's rights; a defendant in a number of landmark legal cases, and a popular and controversial public speaker. She was instrumental for raising awareness and funding for the creation of birth control methods as well as providing safe services in what came to be known as Planned Parenthood. And these accomplishments are just among her high points; I am leaving things out.

Sanger's methods and message were controversial in their day and are still controversial now, especially when interpreted in the light of statements about eugenics and her work with minority populations that has been (mis)construed as evidence she was trying to eradicate certain races. Author/illustrator Peter Bagge takes issue with these interpretations and here presents a well researched and documented (the back matter is dense and informative) take on her life. There are so many different episodes across multiple decades that this book is packed with interesting and evocative stories that made me laugh, cringe, or marvel at Sanger's accomplishments. And although it is not ostensibly realistic, I think that the cartoony and colorful art style only accentuates the energy and impact of this woman's life. What it lacks in naturalism it more than makes up for with its interpretive glory.

Admirably, Bagge does not shy away from depicting some of Sanger's less savory episodes and attributes and made great attempts to preserve as much of her original words in context as possible, even when he felt he did not agree with them. The result is an extremely well put together biography that provides much food for thought and many fascinating insights into a woman who profoundly affected world history.

That there is a great political bent to the proceedings should be of little surprise coming from Bagge's works. He is a frequent contributor to Reason magazine and his collection Everybody is Stupid Except for Me collects many of those strips. He is an award winning artist with decades of comics to his credit, including the seminal alternative comics series Neat Stuff and Hate and his editorship of the underground comics holdover anthology Weirdo. He has also created a number of graphic novels, including Apocalypse Nerd, Other Lives, and Reset. He speaks more about his work on Woman Rebel in this interview.

All the reviews I have read of this book have been very positive. The Comics Journal's Chris Mautner opined that "it might seem extremely odd that someone like Bagge, whose work has so frequently relied upon on caricature, outlandish humor and slapstick would even attempt a work of this nature, much less succeed," but this book turned out "not just enjoyable and inspiring but a heckuva lot of fun." Rachel Cooke wrote that "Bagge is brilliantly economical" for managing to fit all the events and information into 80 pages of narrative. Dan Kois called the book "a fascinating testament to the ability of one person to make a difference in this world, as long as she’s a huge pain in everyone’s ass."

Woman Rebel was published by Drawn & Quarterly, and they provide a preview and more information here.

From this excerpt, I hope it's clear that I only recommend this book for mature readers. It's definitely not for children.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography

The Dalai Lama is an internationally known religious figure, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people who has lived in exile since 1959. This book chronicles his life from the time he was 2 years old and showed the signs of being the reincarnation of the religious and political leader. He left his home of humble means and went on to be taught by monks and to assume his role in the Buddhist faith and as ruler of Tibet.

Following in the years after World War II, Mao Tse-tung led the Cultural Revolution in China, and communism came to great prominence. The communist Chinese forces eventually turned their attention to "liberating" Tibet from an imperialist regime and returning governance to the people. These invading forces are depicted as cruel and savage, committing many atrocities against the Tibetan people.

The invasion led to great periods of unrest, and the Lama was challenged on many sides as a young leader. Although he advocated non-violent resolutions to the situation, he finally fled to India.The last part of the book focuses on him in more recent years, winning the Nobel Peace Prize and being an advocate for a free Tibet and various humanitarian efforts and institutes.

This book is part of a series of Penguin-published manga biographies about such figures as Gandhi and Che Guevara. I think it is a great introduction to the life of the Dalai Lama, and it has as many facts as a Wikipedia entry and much better graphics. That said, I found it a tad dry, just the facts without much emotion. The traditional manga style is attractive, and it probably makes the book much more universally accessible, but I also think the art is a bit generic, bordering on antiseptic, and when coupled with an overly journalistic writing style, the whole enterprise comes off as polished but not so enticing. There is much preaching to the choir, and I am not so sure this book would win over converts who were not familiar with these facts and struggles.

I was not able to find much information on this book's creator, Tetsu Saiwai. From his publisher's biography I learned that he has drawn many educational manga over the past 20 years and that he is a puppeteer and puppetry enthusiast.

The reviews of this book I have read are positive, though not overwhelmingly so. The Examiner's Raymond Herrera recommended, "For those younger readers out there that would like to read a historically based manga that is both entertaining and educational this is surely a manga worth looking into." The reviewer at Publishers Weekly felt that this biography lacked nuance and "Tetsu's lack of perspective ultimately works to flatten, not enhance, the story." CNN's Gabe LaMonica reported positively that "Saiwai’s book is a quick read packed with the history of a life that spans nearly eight decades. It’s a tribute to the book’s form that so much is conveyed in such a small space."

The 14th Dalai Lama was published in the USA by Penguin.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

"21" The Story of Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente was the first Latino player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a record breaking batter who played outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Over his career he won two World Series, amassed 3000 hits, and had a rifle of an arm, but most importantly he became involved with many humanitarian efforts and gave much to those in need from other countries. He died in 1972 in a plane crash while in the process of delivering supplies for disaster relief following an earthquake in Nicaragua. Major League Baseball honored him by naming an award after him, "given annually to a player who demonstrates the values Clemente displayed in his commitment to community and understanding the value of helping others."

Those are the facts of Clemente's life, and this book "21" takes them and breathes life and energy into them. Working with a limited palate of color, the art is full of personality, verve, and emotion. Below you can see a scene from Roberto's childhood when his love for baseball was kindled.

I got a good sense of four major periods of his life: his childhood coming from little means, his frustrating minor league years (drafted by the Dodgers, he was not called up, perhaps because they did not want too many "dark" players on the club), his impactful major league career, and his humanitarianism. There is great storytelling throughout this book, but where it really shines is in the baseball sequences. Here, Santiago cuts loose with imagery, line, and design, creating some scenes of beauty and wonder.

Of course there had to be some editing of his life and some areas were not given as much space. Santiago journalistically shows some of what Clemente had to deal with, including announcers Anglicizing his name to "Bob" (which he hated) and yelling "Arriba! Arriba!" (a la Speedy Gonzalez) when he made a big play, but he does not really comment on how these things may have affected the ball player. I also saw much reverence in his depiction of Clemente, but not so much about how much he impacted baseball as a player who drew many more Latino players into MLB with his huge presence. However, Santiago more than makes up for these absences with his rich portrait of Puerto Rico's history and culture intertwined with Clemente's life. I learned quite a bit more history of the island than I expected to, and that context enlivens everything. Even with the limited color palate, this story is vibrant and rich.

Wilfred Santiago, like Clemente a native of Puerto Rico, put much love, craft, and detail into this book. He is a graphic artist currently living in Chicago and is at work on a biography of another titanic sports figure, Michael Jordan, called Bull on Parade. Santiago speaks about his art and career in this interview. Much more information about Santiago's work on this book can be found in this article.

"21" has received much positive attention and praise. It was named one of the Library Journal's Best Books, a YALSA Great Graphic Novel, and one of Booklist's Top 10 Graphic Novels. Comic Alliance's David Brothers called the book "a treat," and added, "its 200 pages fly by, the visuals are great, and the dialogue dead-on." Spitball's Mark W. Schraf summed it up as "captivating, revealing, and dramatic." Offering a contrary opinion, Jeffrey O. Gustafson wrote that this book is an excellent comic but a poor biography full of "cardboard cutouts moved around at the service of the plot."

Its 200 pages fly by, the visuals are great, and the dialogue dead-on.

Read More: ’21: The Story of Roberto Clemente’ Blazes Trails And Breaks Hearts | http://comicsalliance.com/roberto-clemente-biography/?trackback=tsmclip

a treat. Its 200 pages fly by, the visuals are great, and the dialogue dead-on.

Read More: ’21: The Story of Roberto Clemente’ Blazes Trails And Breaks Hearts | http://comicsalliance.com/roberto-clemente-biography/?trackback=tsmclip

An excerpt and more information is available from the book's publisher Fantagraphics here.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend

Box Brown is someone whose work I follow. He makes comics and also promotes an independent spirit for other comics creators with Retrofit, the publishing company he runs. I love his desire to publish comics of all shapes and sizes. I love his clean lines and geometric figures. I love how the deceptive simplicity of his stories and his artwork combine into some truly evocative and emotional scenes. I think he has created some masterful comics and also some well done shorter pieces. I have noticed upon reflection that his stories tend to focus on exceptional loners or isolated people, like Noah from The Survivalist, who is striving to survive in a doomsday scenario, or Phoebe, a banker who is looking for some summer fun in Beach Girls.

Brown is also a big fan of professional wrestling, and I think he has found his ideal subject in Andre the Giant. Andre was huge in a couple of senses. He suffered from acromegaly, a hormonal disorder where too much growth hormone is produced. He grew to be 7 ft 4 in tall and he weighed well over 500 pounds (maybe tipping the scales at 700 toward the end of his life), and his immense size catapulted him to the top of professional wrestling. He found international fame and toured the world. He fought boxers in exhibition matches. He even went on to bigger fame in Hollywood as Fezzik in the classic movie The Princess Bride.

Brown shows all of these highlights from his life, including the incredible fact that he was neighbors with playwright Samuel Beckett, who ended up driving Andre to school when he grew too large to take the bus. But he also shows a lot of the small moments, with Andre playing cards on the road, his prankster side (he apparently was a big fan of farting in elevators), and his self-medicating with alcohol to sooth his many aches and pains. Andre is presented as a looming but tragic figure and not without faults. Brown depicts a few instances culled from different accounts where he was casually racist and also recounts how later in life he became somewhat of a deadbeat dad. Brown makes the giant human but also shows his flaws and darker sides, and those aspects are what make this graphic biography truly compelling reading. It is simultaneously an exposé and a tribute to the man.

Box Brown speaks more about his work on this book in this interview and also this interview. He also has a lot to say about his life and career in this interview with Tom Spurgeon.

Almost all of the reviews I have seen about this book have been positive. Alan David Doane wrote, "If you don’t care about the subject matter, I suspect you’ll still enjoy Andre The Giant: Life and Legend; if you do care about wrestling in general or Andre in particular, I have to think you will love this book." Publishers Weekly called it "An engaging biography of a literally larger-than-life character." Chris Sims summed up, "There’s a love in this book, but there’s an honesty, too, and it comes through in every scene, even when the truth, strictly speaking, is exaggerated just a bit." Friend of mine and scholar Bill Boerman-Cornell regretted that there was too much drinking, swearing, and violence in this book to use it for school purposes, "because this is a subject kids would really be interested in."

Andre the Giant: Life and Legend was published by First Second. They have a preview and more information here. Another 10 page preview is also available at Tor.com.

Thank you, Gina, for the preview copy!