My Favorite GNs of 2017

It's that time of year again, when I single out what I feel are the best graphic novels I've read that were published in the last year. I read a lot of them, and these are the ones that have stayed with me most. Enjoy!

Favorite Book
My Favorite Thing is Monsters
Set in 1968 Chicago, this book is a coming of age tale/murder mystery/holocaust survivor story/appreciation of classical art that prominently features monsters from the movies and popular culture. It's gorgeous, has more layers than an onion, and will pop your eyes out with its artwork. It's a masterpiece of a book, and an instant classic. People will be talking about it for decades, and I cannot recommend you read it enough.

Favorite Memoir
The Best We Could Do
This multi-generational account of an immigrant family from Vietnam is a heartfelt and enlightening look at the effects of war on a people, the hardships that many refugees endure, and the complicated ways families operate. It's a beautiful and very human book that I feel contains an important story for contemporary times.

Favorite Biography
The Abominable Mr. Seabrook
Watching the title character destroy himself with alcohol is painful to observe, but his life is fascinating and exceptional. This meticulously researched account of a proto-Gonzo journalist who dined with cannibals, observed voodoo rituals, and roamed the Arabian Desert with Bedouins is well-detailed, beautiful, utterly engrossing, and devastating.

Favorite Coming-of-Age Story
Spinning
Tillie Walden's account of her childhood/adolescence hiding the fact that she is gay while being a competitive ice skater is beautiful, understated, gut-wrenching, and memorable. I feel this book would be very popular with YA readers, but it will resonate with older readers as well.

Favorite Music Book
California Dreamin': Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas
Artist Pénélope Bagieu is a genius. This biography of Mama Cass is exquisitely drawn, not to mention that it contains beautiful and seemingly effortless storytelling. Not just for fans of classic rock or folk music, this book speaks to anyone with a dream of changing their life circumstances.

Favorite True Crime GN
The Hunting Accident

This book about turbulent relationships between fathers and sons hinges on an incredible true story that involves a robbery, mob connections, poetry, prison, an infamous murderer, a shotgun blast to the face, and a trip through hell. The artwork is appropriately dark and phantasmagorical, and the story will leave you breathless.

Favorite New Series
Rock Candy Mountain
As I have stated repeatedly in the past, I am totally in the can for anything Kyle Starks publishes. This comic is his first ongoing series, and it features hobos, trains, fist-fights, and the devil himself. Go read it if you like fast-paced action and intrigue as well as witty and funny dialogue.

Favorite Series
Fantasy Sports
All the entries in this series have been pure gold. Full of jokes, magic, sports, and intrigue, these comics are fun, fascinating, and exceptionally beautiful to boot. The latest entry features the most compelling rounds of mini-golf ever put to paper, and I cannot wait for the final volume in the series coming next year.

Favorite Book for Younger Readers
Real Friends
This memoir of childhood is an intimate and moving depiction of elementary school friendships. It is full of relatable moments and surprisingly complex characters and has much to offer any reader, girls and boys included.

Favorite Nonfiction Book
Dogs: From Predator to Protector
The latest in the Science Comics series is simply fantastic. A book that covers all kind of ground, from genetics to heredity to breeding to the history of domesticating animals. It's a rare fun and funny book that is chock full of information. Plus, Rudy the narrator is adorable.

Favorite Adapted Webcomic
Demon
These books (4 in all) are also easily the most depraved books of the year, but they are ingenious, funny, and compelling. This account of the machinations of a maniacal killer over a period of centuries as he tries to avoid capture while also foiling a plot to take over the world is beautifully plotted and paced. And gross. It will offend you and make you squirm, I guarantee. Not for kids. 

Favorite Book About Mythology 
Pantheon
Giving Demon a run for its money in terms of gross-out factor, Pantheon is exceptional in that it is colorful, hilarious, raunchy, irreverent, and apparently extremely faithful in retelling myths from Ancient Egypt. You will never look at salad the same after reading this book. I know I don't. Also not for kids.

Well, that's my list. Happy New Year!

My Favorite Thing is Monsters

Holy cow, how do I start reviewing this book? It's a masterpiece. One of the best books I have read. Period. It is full of beautiful emotional moments, pain, grief, wonder, and mystery. And perhaps, most amazingly, it is a debut graphic novel.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters is a huge book, about 400 pages long, and still only the first half of the whole narrative. The plot is set in the late 1960s. The main character is 10-year-old Karen Reyes, a curious, budding artist who lives in an apartment building with her mother and older brother Deeze in Chicago. Everything in this book is meant to be entries from her spiral-bound journal, and the artwork is exquisite. There are so many threads to follow in this book, but one of the main ones is an inquiry into the mysterious death of their upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, who was a Holocaust survivor:

Karen and Anka's husband listen to audiotapes chronicling her life and experiences during World War II, including her imprisonment and escape from a concentration camp, an extremely heartbreaking, troubling, and riveting tale. Add to that narrative an extremely rich tapestry of characters in Karen's building, including her own superstitious mother, her creative and womanizing brother, a glass-eye wearing ventriloquist, and a mobster's wife, there is so much to take in. Another layer lies in Karen's own story and her depiction of herself as a young werewolf dressed like a private investigator. So much of this book is involved with her figuring out who she is, trying to deal with cruel classmates, making friends, and growing up.

Another strong aspect of this book is in its relationship with art and artwork. Some of the art is more popular, such as the recreations of lurid monster magazine covers of the time period that act as markers between chapters. But "fine art" pieces from museums also appear, redrawn in Karen's hand throughout the book. Certainly, the theme of trying to puzzle out what life means is powerful in this book, and how art plays into such inquiry is fascinating and interesting.

I have touched on a few aspects of this book, and I don't want to get into much more, lest I spoil what goes on in it. Let me simply say that I was enthralled with this book. The characters are complex and intriguing, and the plot is multi-faceted. It took me a long time to read, not just because it is weighty but because I wanted to spend a long time pouring over the images and words laid out on the page. The layouts and storytelling are incredibly rich and rewarding throughout, and I feel it is a transcendent work that will be studied and analyzed for decades to come.

This book's creator is Emil Ferris, who has had a long and varied career in the arts. She has designed toys and worked in animation, and she has been working on this book for about 6 years because of a variety of circumstances. She speaks extensively about her career and work on MFTIM in this interview, and I highly recommend learning more about her.

There has been an avalanche of well-deserved praise following this graphic novel. Oliver Sava wrote, "It’s hard to think of a debut graphic novel in recent memory that has the visual splendor, narrative ingenuity, and emotional impact of this 413-page tome, and with this book, Ferris immediately establishes herself as one of the most exciting, provocative talents in the comics industry." Calvin Reid opined, "She’s found new ways to tell a powerfully literary visual story." John Powers raved that "this extraordinary book has instantly rocketed Ferris into the graphic novel elite." And I agree with Paul Tumey who summed up his review, "Currently, my favorite thing is My Favorite Thing is Monsters."

My Favorite Thing is Monsters was published by Fantagraphics Books, and they have lots more info about it here.