The Cartoonists Club

 

Today's graphic novel is also one from a powerhouse duo of creators: Raina Telgemeier has done hugely successful work on The Babysitters Club series as well as Smile and several other books while Scott McCloud literally wrote the book on how to read comics, Understanding Comics, and has been publishing comics works since the 1990s. Here they put their talents together to make a wonderful, and much-needed, book The Cartoonists Club. 

The story here brings together four middle schoolers: Makayla, who loves to write stories, Howard, who is a prolific artist but whose dad frowns upon art as a serious enterprise, Lynda, who is constantly drawing but also critiquing her own work harshly, and Art, who is a creative type looking to try pretty much anything. Together, with the guidance of school librarian Ms. Fatima, they form a club and being making comics. They even get the chance to exhibit their work at a local library comics convention. 

All these questions, and more, answered!

This story is told in a very charming way, and it is easy to fall in love with the characters, who are vibrant and relatable. But what I feel is most helpful is how much information is folded into the narrative in an organic way that speaks to what goes into designing and making comics. This book is a lot of fun and not at all didactic in tone. I have worked with many different groups of people over the years, from elementary students all the way up to graduate students, teaching them how to make their own comics, and this book especially fills a vacuum for explaining the rudimentary mechanics of comics-making for younger readers. That it does so in an engaging and highly readable way is simply amazing, and I plan to use this book with students I work with as soon as possible.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been glowing, and I would be surprised if it did not clean up come awards season. In a starred entry, Kirkus Reviews called it "highly imaginative and cleverly conceived." Sean Kleefeld wrote that the book "is simply the best bits of both creators, fused together in about as seamless a manner as possible." In another starred entry, Publishers Weekly opined, "Creative prompts, tips, instructions, and definitions feature throughout, delivered in a cheeky tone that seamlessly integrates heartfelt narrative with approachable how-to guides."

The Cartoonists Club was published by Scholastic Graphix, and they offer more info about it here. They also offer the first two chapters as a free preview here.

The Sculptor

I have to say that I had a lot of expectations about this book. I have been reading Scott McCloud's work for years now. I have heard him speak, and he is downright smart and hilarious. Zot! was one of my favorite comic books as a teenager, and the series told powerful, affecting stories while also being exciting sci-fi adventures. It was also was my introduction to the world of mini-comics, with its back-up strips by Matt Feazell and others. He entertained me with oversized superhero parody Destroy! and perhaps set me on the path to comics scholarship with Understanding Comics, his book that uses comics to explain comics theory and semiotics. I was also very interested into his experimental forays into digital comics and 24 hour comics and was somewhat disappointed by his The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln as well as his follow-ups to UC. This book, The Sculptor, is a thick chunk of comics, almost 500 pages long, and people are talking about it with terms like "masterpiece" and "magnum opus." Also, he is getting featured in prestigious venues like The New York Times. So, like I said, "expectations."

To put it simply, this was one of the best books, graphic novels included, I have read. It made me think, kept me guessing, and moved me in ways that few books do. The final pages kept me utterly compelled but also full of dread because I knew the book had to end. When I was finished, I literally had goosebumps, something I can only say about a handful of comics, most recently I Kill Giants and Goodbye, Chunky Rice.

The set up is this: David Smith is an artist whose career is in the dumps. One day he is visited by a person who offers him the ability to sculpt anything that his heart desires, but the catch is that if he accepts this bargain he will only have 200 days to live. Not to spoil things too much, but he takes the Faustian deal and sets a very complicated set of events in motion.

I got all these images from io9 (see link below)

I found the story so interesting and intricate, with many twists and turns. All of that was amplified by the simple and affecting character design and further driven by McCloud's masterful and clear storytelling. He does small, emotional scenes well; he does wide city scenes well; he just makes some great comics here. I found myself drawn into the images completely, and the ending sequence of the book was completely engrossing and powerful. I cannot say enough great things about this book.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been full of praise. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and wrote, "Drawn in sharp, sure-handed lines that jump from intimate blocks of wry but poignant interactions with other characters to dramatically realized city scenery, McCloud's epic generates magic and makes an early play for graphic novel of the year." Cameron Hatheway remarked that McCloud "practices what he’s been preaching for years, forever immortalizing himself in the pantheon of comic book greats." Kim, age 15 gushed, "This book was utterly brilliant. Even though it’s about two inches think, I finished it in a couple hours." Kirkus Reviews offered a more tempered view, summing it up as "Masterfully paneled and attractively illustrated but populated by archetypes."

A preview and much more is available here from The Sculptor's publisher, First Second. There is a different preview at NPR, and another at io9.

Thank you, Gina, for the review copy!