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Top 20 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:

December 2019

This has been quite a year for comics and now it comes to a close with my final select selection of panelological pleasures for your consideration. How better to understand the human experience of momentous history than through those who lived through it? And those who go on to create graphic memoirs about it? Like Mawil who conveys his boyhood in Communist East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Or the late Frank ‘Big Black’ Smith who recounted the Attica Prison uprising of 1971 to writer Jared Reinmuth, who has now adapted this into comics form.

Two highlights from Japan are Minetaro Mochizuki’s overdue return to translated manga in his one-shot tale set in the canine world of Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, and the jewel in the shojo crown, Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles, finally available in English.

Upcoming auteurs who I suggest you check out include American sharp, satirical ‘Clear Line’ innovator Everett Glenn, and appealing animal fabulist from Brazil, Clayton Junior, who both happen to be based in Berlin.

Finally, there’s no shortage of deluxe collections presenting stunning original artworks at their original size, but this stands out as exceptional - few living comics artists can touch the humanity and artistry of Jaime Hernandez. Make the most of the rest of 2019 and see you next month in the brave new world of 2020 vision!


An Embarrassment of Witches Vol. 1
by Sophie Goldstein & Jenn Jordan
IDW / Top Shelf
$19.99

The publisher says:
Life after college isn’t turning out exactly as Rory and Angela had planned.  Rory, recently dumped at the gate of her flight to Australia, needs to find a new life path ASAP. What do you do with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Southeast Asian Spellcraft? Maybe her cute new housemate Guy is the answer she’s looking for (spoiler alert: he isn’t). Meanwhile, Angela is buckling under the pressure of a high-stakes internship in a cutting-edge cryptopharmocology lab run by Rory’s controlling mother, who doesn’t know Rory is still in town… and Angela hates keeping secrets. 204pgs colour paperback.


Big Black Stand at Attica
by Frank Smith, Jared Reinmuth & Améziane
Boom! Studios
$19.99

The publisher says:
The uprising at Attica Prison remains one of the bloodiest civil rights confrontations in American history ... but without Frank “Big Black ” Smith it could have been even worse. Now for the first time, the late Frank “Big Black ” Smith shares his experience at the center of this uprising, struggling to protect hostages, prisoners and negotiators alike. Before his death, Frank ‘Big Black’ Smith worked with Jared Reinmuth, the son of his lawyer, to share the true story of his time in Attica State Prison. Adapted to a graphic novel by Ameziane (Dark Horse’s Muhammad Ali), this is an unflinching look at the price of standing up to injustice. 176pgs colour paperback.


Bob Marley in Comics
by Sophie Blitman & Gaet
NBM
$27.99

The publisher says:
In the middle of a depressing youth in a ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, Robert Nesta Marley sees only one way out: music. And that music will be what Jamaica made of rock and pop locally that had hardly been heard anywhere else: reggae! It is Marley who brings the unmistakable beat of reggae to the entire world. From small stages in Jamaica, his partners of the Wailers accompany him all the way to the most fabulous world tours and adulation. Beyond a rocketing musical career, the most famous rasta wants to shake things up and proclaim all over his humanitarian and egalitarian values. 176pgs colour hardcover.


Comics Ad Men
by Steven Brower
Fantagraphics Books
$25.00

The publisher says:
Comics and modern American advertising exploded into the public conscious at much the same time in the early 20th century. Collected now for the first time, the comics, cartoons and illustrations from the OTHER career of comics creators Jack Davis (Mad), Al Capp (Li’l Abner) John Romita (Spider-Man), Mort Meskin (Sheena), Ross Andru (Spider-Man), Sheldon Moldoff (Batman), Neal Adams (X-Men), Noel Sickles (Scorchy Smith), Stan Drake (Blondie), Joe Simon (Captain America), Basil Wolverton (Mad), Dik Browne (Hagar the Horrible), Clifford McBride (Napoleon), Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace), Lou Fine (The Spirit), Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) and many more. 144pgs colour paperback.


Ed Leffingwell’s Little Joe: The Sunday Comics by Harold Gray
by Harold Gray
IDW
$65.00

The publisher says:
In 1936, after the untimely death of his cousin and fellow cartoonist Ed Leffingwell, Harold Gray took the reins of this seminal Western comic strip and brought it to a combination of dark adventure, as seen in his Little Orphan Annie, and a modern-West version of “family life” comics like Gasoline Alley. This book presents the best of the Little Joe comic strips from 1937 to 1942, flowing with violence, humour and warmth in a low-key style that could only be told in art and story by a master like Harold Gray. Edited by Peter Maresca and Sammy Harkham. 160pgs colour hardcover.

Bill Blackbeard, comics historian, said:
Little Joe, now largely forgotten, has to be rediscovered to be appreciated… Some happy few will certainty discover its riches thus, and it can be hoped that their enthusiasm will spread the good word about Harold Gray’s other great strip.


Jaime Hernandez: Fantagraphics Studio Edition
by Jaime Hernandez
Fantagraphics Books
$150.00

The publisher says:
Jaime Hernandez was at the forefront of the post-underground/alternative comics revolution when he and his brother Gilbert co-created the Love and Rockets comics series in 1982. Jaime is renowned for creating dramatic-and occasionally comedic-novelistic stories chronicling the travails and joys of Maggie and Hopey, two vivacious, complex Hispanic women growing up within the LA punk scene. Over the last 35 years, readers have watched his growing cast of characters argue, break up, make up, make love, grow older in real time and have delighted in seeing the comics medium brought to a new level of maturity. This Fantagraphics Studio Edition illuminates Jaime’s distinctive artistic process. Collected here is nearly 200 pages of raw, unretouched original art comprising complete stories, selected from among his most critically acclaimed, including “Chester Square,” “In the Valley of the Polar Bears,” and “Wigwam Bam.” The state of the art reproduction captures every nuance of the artist’s virtuosic pen lines. This is truly the closest one can get to sitting next to the artist as he draws and watching the comics pages take shape. The Studio Edition also features a new interview with Hernandez, conducted by Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth, that explores the artist’s inspiration and the formal elements of his craft. Plus, over thirty pages of never-before-published material in various stages of completion that reveal the lively, penciled underdrawing behind each gorgeously inked panel. 192pgs B&W oversized hardcover.


Kinderland
by Mawil
Reprodukt
£18.99

The publisher says:
East Berlin, summer of 1989: Mirco Watzke is caught in a bind. Usually a model student, the seventh grader has got himself in trouble with a couple of bullies from the Free German Youth, and the only person who can help is the mysterious new kid in school… Vivid and funny, tender and nuanced, Kinderland chronicles East Germany’s final months as seen through the eyes of a child. It’s a story of friendship, courage and trust, but also of growing up between Young Pioneers and the church, fathers who “disappear’ and a ping-pong tournament interrupted by the fall of the Berlin Wall. Winner of the Max & Moritz Award for ‘Best Comic’ at the 2014 Erlangen International Comic Salon. 296pgs colour paperback.


Krazy & Ignatz: The George Herriman Library Vol. 1, 1916-1918
by George Herriman
Fantagraphics Books
$35.00

The publisher says:
A deluxe reprint of the first three years of the most renowned comic strips ever created. For nearly 30 years, George Herriman’s hilarious, poetic masterpiece Krazy Kat graced the Sunday pages of America’s newspapers. This new hardcover collection of all the full-sized Sunday pages from 1916 through 1918 brings back into print the inventive language, haunting vistas and beguiling brick-throwing that make this strip so special. Perfect for Herriman connoisseurs and brand-new readers, this collection provides you with the joy of joining the lovelorn Krazy Kat, the ill-tempered Ignatz Mouse, the stalwart Officer Pupp and many more of the inhabitants of surreal Coconino County in the strip that originally elevated the comics medium into a celebrated art form. 176pgs B&W hardcover.



The Comics of Alison Bechdel: From Outside In
edited by Janine Utell
University of Mississippi
$90.00 / $30.00

The publisher says:
Alison Bechdel is both a driver and beneficiary of the welcoming of comics into the mainstream. Indeed, the seemingly simple binary of outside/inside seems perpetually troubled throughout the career of this important comics artist, known for Fun Home, Are You My Mother? and Dykes to Watch Out For. This volume extends the body of scholarship on her work from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. In a definitive collection of original essays, scholars cover the span of Bechdel’s career, providing insights on major themes in Bechdel’s work, such as gender performativity, masculinity, lesbian politics and representation, trauma, life writing, and queer theory. 272pgs B&W hardcover / paperback.


The Golden Compass: The Graphic Novel
by Philip Pullman, Annie Eaton, Stéphane Melchior-Durand & Clément Oubrerie
Knopf Books for Young Readers
$12.99

The publisher says:
Soon to be an HBO Original Series starring Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The graphic novel adaptation of one of the most celebrated books of all time is complete. In this graphic novel adaptation of The Golden Compass, the world of His Dark Materials is brought to visual life. The stunning full-colour art will offer both new and returning readers a chance to experience the story of Lyra, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary role to play in the fates of multiple worlds, in an entirely new way. This volume collects the full journey of Lyra to the far North, her rescue of the kidnapped children at Bolvanger, her escape via hot-air balloon, and her fated role in Lord Asriel’s ambitions to build a bridge to another world. 224pgs colour paperback.


The Lab
by Allison Conway
IDW / Top Shelf
$19.99

The publisher says:
The Lab is a wordless visual journey into the grim machinery of exploitation. Its nameless protagonist is held in solitary captivity, alternately poked, prodded, starved, drugged and worse. Brief glimpses of other test subjects, undergoing their own ordeals, are few and far between. But is all this abuse and isolation purely arbitrary? Or is there a purpose? Painstakingly and evocatively rendered, Allison Conway’s debut graphic novel explores the spectrum between lifeless grey and vivid colour. It asks uncomfortable questions about the treatment we tolerate and the injustices underlying our modern world. 176pgs colour paperback.


The Rose of Versailles Vol. 1
by Riyoko Ikeda
Udon Entertainment
$38.99

The publisher says:
Oscar François de Jarjeyes is a young noblewoman raised as a son by her father. As commander of Marie Antoinette’s palace guard, Oscar is brought face-to-face with the luxury of King Louis XVI’s court at Versailles. Joined by her servant André, Oscar is privy to the intrigue and deceit of France’s last great royal regime. The Rose of Versailles, the queen of shojo manga, is available for the first time in English. This deluxe hardcover volume contains the first 22 chapters of Riyoko Ikeda’s historical fiction masterwork. 496pgs B&W hardcover.



The Seeker
by Liz Valasco
TInto Press
$10.00

The publisher says:
A deceptively dark, adolescent fantasy, The Seeker is a story of magic gone awry on a Halloween night in the suburbs. A group of kids looking for fun and frights may have found more than they bargained for! Valasco tightrope walks through the innocent everyday magic of childhood, while sticky and more hormonal currents, begin to penetrate the whimsical suburban environs. A coming-of-age story by way of magical realism, The Seeker has as many layers as a forest’s bed of dead leaves. 70pgs two-coloue paperback,

 



Theth Tomorrow Forever
by Josh Bayer
Tinto Press
$24.99

The publisher says:
What’s a dream worth? Is unbridled passion and creativity enough? It’s the early ‘90’s. Josh Bayer’s character, Theth, a young adult artist, battles hunger, poverty, loneliness, distraction and an Ohio winter in an attempt to create a comic of artistic value. While struggling to be productive, his inner-monologue takes us on a journey through a nightmarish realm, encountering monsters, battling against the chains and prisons of the mind and indulging in fantasy discussions with Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics. Does he have what it takes or is he kidding himself? 174pgs colour paperback.


Unsmooth
by E.S. Glenn
Floating World Comics
$10.00

The publisher says:
E. S. Glenn had bad luck when it came to producing and selling his artwork. Witness the portrait of an artist as he enters the criminal underworld. Rendered in a clean-line European style, Unsmooth is a semi-autobiographical graphic album that introduces the reader to the idiosyncratic world of artist turned petty thief turned assassin, E. S. Glenn. 48pgs colour hardcover.

 



Walking Distance
by Lizzy Stewart
Avery Hill Publishing
£  / $15.95

The publisher says:
Walking Distance is Lizzy Stewart’s contemporary visual essay on the experience of being a woman out walking – it’s a meditation on society, womanhood and ‘80s movies, interlaced with shards of autobiography and illustrated with a beautiful series of sequential and non-sequential watercolour images. ‘I love shots of women walking through cities in films. I like that they are alone and alive and, usually, wearing a nice coat. I like that even though they are a part of a bigger story, something grand or trivial, for those seconds they are removed from their storyline . . . I like walking because It takes me out of my head and into the world. Walking is the clearest way for me to participate in life and that’s the best I can do.’ Merging external observation and internal contemplation, Lizzy Stewart examines what her life is and wonders what it should be; what is expected of a 30-year-old woman by society, by family and friends and by herself? How does one avoid polemics and absolutism and simply live in today’s world? Lizzy walks the streets of her London, gaining agency by being in control of her own direction, speed and momentum. Walking is a time for self-reflection, for observing others and for imagining how we appear to them. What is expected of us, and how should that influence what we do and how we feel about ourselves? 56pgs B&W hardcover.


Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs
by Minetaro Mochizuki
Dark Horse
$19.99

The publisher says:
This manga, adapted from the film by legendary director Wes Anderson, features a new take on the story about the banished bowsers of trash island. Here we follow a young orphan boy and his dog Spots on an adventure that all fans of the film will want to follow. Written and drawn by cult manga icon Minetaro Mochizuki of Dragon Head fame and now available in English for the very first time, and presented in a deluxe format, this is the perfect gift for all fans of Wes Anderson, dogs, and manga alike. Minetaro Mochizuki won the Award for Excellence at the 4th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the Award for General Manga at the 21st Kodansha Manga Award for Dragon Head. 80pgs B&W hardcover.


Who Am I, Again?
by Lenny Henry & Mark Buckingham
Faber & Faber
£20.00

The publisher says:
How do you beat the bullies and the bigots? Here’s how. The heart-breaking, inspirational (and very funny) story of the man who overcame so much, and won a very special place in a nation’s heart. In his long-awaited autobiography, Sir Lenny Henry tells the extraordinary story of his early years and sudden rise to fame. Born soon after his Jamaican parents had arrived in the Midlands, Lenny was raised as one of seven siblings in a boisterous working household, and sent out into the world with his mum’s mantra of ‘H’integration! H’integration! H’integration!’ echoing in his ears. But 1970s Britain was a hard place, and a bewildering experience for a lone black teenager. A natural ability to make people laugh came in handy. At school it helped subdue the daily racist bullying. In the park, it led to lifelong friendships and occasional snogs. Soon, it would put him on stage at working men’s clubs and Black Country discotheques -before an invitation to a TV audition changed his life for ever. Includes short comics written by Lenny Henry and illustrated by Mark Buckingham. 288pgs B&W hardcover.

Neil Gaiman says:
A proper delight to read: honest, revealing, human, and always, at its heart, funny.


Wildest Dream
by Gary Panter
Desert Island / Floating World Comics
$24.95

The publisher says:
Gary Panter, punk cartoonist from Slash magazine and Pee-Wee’s Playhouse unleashes 174 pages of unpublished sketchbook mayhem from the past 45 years. Wildest Dream‘s intense purple and neon colour scheme references beatnik mimeo zines, New Wave style and No Wave attitude. Published by Brooklyn comic store Desert Island, this affordable limited-edition book is a guaranteed future collectible. 174pgs ‘popsicle-inspired’ colour hardcover. 

 

 



Wild Thing
by Clayton Junior
Ablaze
$24.99

The publisher says:
Wild Thing Or: My Life as a Wolf tells the story of an affectionate and inquisitive Labrador named Silver, who grew up on a farm with his master and his hundreds of sheep. But Silver dreams of adventure, bored by the monotonyof his farm life… What is beyond the hills? Where does the river flow? Which animals live in the forest? So many questions without answers… One night, Silver meets a trio of hungry wolves. Attracted by their unhindered life, as enticing as it is dangerous, he decides to follow them, and learns to live the wild life with the pack, which is rough and exhilarating at the same time. Along the way he discovers love, and the ravages of human civilisation that are reducing the living space of animals, threatening their very existence. 132pgs colour hardcover.


World War Three Illustrated #50: Shameless Feminists
co-edited by Isabella Bannerman, Sabrina Jones & Rebecca Migdal, with an epilogue by Susan Simensky Bietila
AK Press
$15.00

The publisher says:
WW3 Illustrated is America’s longest running anthology of political comics, now reaching its 50th issue. By shedding their shame and telling their stories, the contributors to this World War 3 Illustrated volume expose the contradictions of the Trump/#MeToo era. In comics that fuse personal testimony with political savvy on topics from healthcare, harassment, childbirth and assault to everyday sexism, women, from grandmothers to art students, break glass ceilings and pick the shards from their eyes. WW3 veterans are joined by new and international talent in a collection full of outrage, humour and resistance. 180pgs B&W paperback.

Posted: October 6, 2019

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Comics Art by Paul Gravett from Tate Publishing




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