My Favorite Books of 2020

2020 has been a long, distressing, and memorable year. It was also a year full of some great comics and graphic novels, particularly nonfiction works. Check out this list of my favorites (and follow the links to the full reviews):

Favorite Book Overall

I am a sucker for an inspirational sports story, and Dragon Hoops is that, plus a personal history, plus a look at the identity politics of high school students, plus a commentary on making comics, plus a meditation on balancing your life. It's a massive, incredible work.

 

 

 

 

 

 Favorite Adaptation

Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, and this adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five uses comics in interesting and innovative ways. Most adaptations don't enhance the source material, but this one does.

 

 

 

 

Favorite Nonfiction History (Younger Readers - Not by Nathan Hale)

I have liked all the entries in the History Comics series I have read thus far, but the scope and sense of humor of this book make it exceptional. The Roanoke Colony tells the tale of Native Americans, colonial America, a doomed colony, British royal politics, and pirates. I learned so much from reading it and had fun doing so, too. (Queen Elizabeth I brushed her teeth with honey, can you believe it? Disgusting!)

 

 

 

 

Favorite Nonfiction History (Younger Readers - by Nathan Hale)  

Nathan Hale makes the best history comics, so he gets his own category. Blades of Freedom, the tenth(!) entry in his Hazardous Tales series, shows just how fresh and interesting his work still is while covering a topic (the slave revolt in Haiti) that unravels a complicated web of 18th century US and European history. Another book that opened my eyes to a topic I was sadly ignorant about.

 

 

 

 Favorite Nonfiction (Older Readers)

Kent State is well-researched, based on lots of original documents, interviews, and oral accounts of the massacre of student protestors in 1970. It is a book that highlights the victims who died, showing their humanity while also exposing a system of paranoia and prejudice that sadly persists today.

 

 

 

 Favorite Fictional Biography

Not much is known about the private live of this pivotal actor, but Lon Chaney Speaks pieces together a compelling narrative that melds vaudeville, silent movies, the early days of Hollywood, and plenty of monster movie special effects. The artwork perfectly captures the time period while recreating the movies and movie posters of the day.

 

 

 

 Favorite Superhero Biography

I know that Jack Kirby is not technically a superhero, but he created enough of them in his lifetime that I am counting him as one. I loved this biography that covers his lifespan and accomplishments in a style very similar to his own. The artwork is bombastic, quite fitting for the "King of Comics."

 

 

 

 

 Favorite Superhero Book

One of the highlights of my year was getting to talk with Gene Luen Yang about Superman Smashes the Klan. Even if I had not talked to him, I would rate this work very highly. Based on a serialized radio show from 1946, this book modernizes the tale and hits on the best aspects of the classic superhero while also commenting on racism and the resilience of immigrants.
 

 

 

 

 Favorite Series for Younger Readers 

There are two books in the Investigators series so far, and my oldest child has read them with me multiple times. It's full of puns, cheesy jokes, and inventive mash-ups of characters (including a radioactive bakery-based villain named Cracker-dile, a plumber who literally has a snake for an arm, and a doctor who turns into a news copter when anything news-worthy occurs around him). Fun and addictive!

 

 

Funniest Book, AKA Best Book Featuring Guys in Bear Outfits

Eddie's Week begins with the main character having an inmate (complete with cell) installed in his living room and just gets weirder and more surreal from there. It's a unique and darkly funny book that speaks about modern life wile containing some madcap adventures.
 

 

 

 

 

 Favorite YA Book

A beautifully told and illustrated book, The Magic Fish speaks to the power of stories to convey meaning and build brides that cross time and culture. The main character Tiến is one of the sweetest and most sympathetic protagonists, and his struggles with coming out to his parents gnaw at him. The ending left me tingling.

 

 

 

 Favorite YA Biography

Even though I come from a very different background than Joel Christian Gill, I found much to relate to in this autobiography. Fights chronicles a rough childhood where he had to learn to take up for himself, often in physical ways. It's a heart-rending and inspirational work that captures the confusion and ambiguities of childhood.

 

 

 

 

OK, that's my list. Happy 2021!

Eddie's Week

One of the highlights of every year for me has been the chance to go to HeroesCon in Charlotte to be a geek for a weekend, reconnect with friends, and check out a lot of excellent comics. Because of the birth of a child, I did not attend in 2019, and the 2020 con was cancelled because of COVID-19, so I have not been in a couple of years. But when I've been there I usually spend a good chunk of time hanging out with the author of Eddie's Week, Patrick Dean. Patrick lives near Athens, GA, and his strip Big Deal Comics was a fixture of the weekly Flagpole magazine. It was a weird, random, and hilarious comic where anything could and did happen, usually involving a ghost or a werewolf. During my time in Athens I got to know Patrick, too, through some mutual friends, and he is one of the kindest, sweetest, and funniest guys I know. His love for zany, old comics is palpable, as is his enthusiasm for making fun, inventive, and funny comics. Patrick was diagnosed with ALS in 2017, and he has not stopped drawing and fighting the good fight any way he can. His candor and dignity facing an impending decline has been inspirational and difficult to observe, though I admire his courage and marvel at the outpouring of love he has inspired from his friends and family.

Eddie's Week is the manifestation of all Patrick's attributes and abilities. Even ignoring the fact that the main character bears a strong resemblance to the author, reading this book feels like time well spent hanging out with my friend. This book's main character, Eddie Lubomir has a week off of work, which he intends to spend at home, watching cheesy movies and reading paperback novels. His plan gets complicated when he gets selected to take part in the Stay At Home Warden Project (S.A.H.W.P.) and has an inmate (complete with cell and nutritive food pellets) installed in his living room.

"The Backstabber" makes for interesting company, but Eddie's life becomes further complicated when he escapes. From there, Eddie runs into all sorts of strange characters, including a men's group who dress in bear suits, party magicians, a witch, vampire cops, and one very determined private investigator. The city of Tragoston is a weird and dark place. Every character in the book is vibrant and memorable, from the single-minded, oblivious head of S.A.H.W.P. to Eddie's ex-girlfriend Claire, who just can't seem to stay out of his business for too long.

What makes this book really work is its idiosyncratic sense of humor. This world is one parallel to ours, replete with a menagerie of supernatural characters that act in mundane, grounded ways. The surreal nature of the plot and characters has the net effect of a grim sort of humor, a world where magic is possible and always at war with the random caprice of bureaucracy. This book is unique, personal, and hilarious in parts, commenting on the stultifying aspects of the "real world" but finding solace in unexpected relationships. The situations that Eddie finds himself in are madcap but also realistic in their impact, which makes this comic a singular reading experience. I really felt for Eddie as he went through his travails, although I also found myself fascinated by and laughing at all the nutjobs in his life. This book is original, gripping, and invigorating.

The reviews I've read of this book have been celebratory. Publishers Weekly concluded, "Though the leap from oddball nightmare into straight magic takes proceedings in an unexpected direction, for the most part Dean delivers a winningly comedic scenario. The result runs like Kafka as interpreted by the Three Stooges." Eleanor Davis wrote, "I’ve laughed loud and hard every time I’ve read it, and I’ve read it four times – and I love how the big weird mess of a plot somehow, against all odds, brings all its threads together like some sort of magic trick." Patrick speaks more about his work on this book in this interview.

Eddie's Week was published by Birdcage Bottom Books, and they offer a preview and more here.