If you know me, you know an article like this was inevitable. I am a big fan of the comic books. I could give you some long, overly analytical thing about why I think that reading comic books is worth your time to do, but really at the end of the day, they're just fun.
They're fun and they're a different form of entertainment. You experience a story in a different way than you do watching a movie, or reading a book.
And yet, comic books, graphic novels, sequential images with words, whatever you call them, they aren't exactly in the highest demand; according to Comichron.com, the best-selling comic book of this past August sold 261,997 issues.
Which is, y'know, a large number and all. But when comparing it to the U.S.'s 324,459,463-sized population alone (to say nothing of the 7.5 billion people we have on this planet), comic books come off as the ugly duckling of entertainment, the black sheep at the family dinner table, sitting with shoulders slumped next to Poppa Movie and Uncle TV.
Maybe it's the superhero aspect that turns people off from comic books? People don't like to read about flying people in tights anymore? Well, Warner Bros.' "Wonder Woman" is sitting pretty at a $820,438,809 worldwide-box office revenue. So that must not be it. And plus, there are a lot of different kinds of comic books out there- superheroes make up only a (yes, very large) portion of them.
Maybe the disconnect comes from the fact that comic books are a serial form of entertainment, they come out every month in 20-22 page installments, and that these single mini-stories range anywhere from $2.99-$4.99, and amount to about 10 minutes of entertainment. That could be it too.
Well. Today I'm going to be recommending you some graphic novels, as in these are pieces of work that have maybe 100-300 pages of entertainment to them, whose price points range from $10-$20 (though trust me, your local library is your best friend if you wanna give comic books a try), and are quality pieces of entertainment that are way worth your time.
Also, I'm going to stay away from anything superhero related here. In part because I'd like to show people the kinds of different stories that comic books have to offer that don't involve muscular men pitching lightning bolts at each other, and because I'm sure we're all a little burnt out on superheroes (we have more than 15 superhero movies coming out in the next 3 years alone).
So here we go!
1. The Underwater Welder
Written & Illustrated by Jeff Lemire
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: "The Underwater Welder" is about, well, a welder. Who welds underwater. Jack Joseph (much creativity) lives in the same small beach town where he grew up and is dealing with not only his impending parenthood (his wife is pregnant), but the unresolved feelings towards his alcoholic father, who himself was an underwater welder, and who disappeared one night in a storm.
Jack wants nothing more than to be alone- and one day, after encountering something 'unexplainable' at the bottom of the ocean (while he's working), he gets his wish. Everyone in the town is gone.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Visually, the book is so weird to look at. The art style (seen up above on the cover) looks crude, almost childlike at first.
But, I think that’s something that allows the story’s themes to reach the reader in an almost subconscious way.
The story deals with the themes of loss, parenthood, child-parent relationships, memory, and holding on to pain, and handles these very heavy, depressing elements with a bittersweet, almost nostalgic, childlike touch. "The Underwater Welder" does not wallow in its sadness, doesn't drown in it (get it?).
It transforms it into something dreamlike, heartfelt, and emotionally affecting.
Also, Ryan Gosling will be producing and starring in an adaptation of it very soon, so if you wanna nod knowingly when you go see the movie (or shake with anger at everything they change in the movie), give this a read.
2. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Written & Illustrated by Alison Bechdel
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A graphic memoir about Alison herself, "Fun Home" depicts Alison's life growing up under her strict, repressive father, who not only ran a funeral home (where 'fun home' comes from), but whose obsession with restoring their Victorian home and creating an image of himself and his family drives a wedge between each and every person in the house.
From there, Alison grows up and deals with her own sexual identity, and the complicated relationship she has with her father, whose untimely death (don't worry, happens within the first few pages, it isn't a spoiler) leaves many doors locked and questions forever without an answer.
WHY IT'S GOOD: Alison Bechdel is a goddamned genius, and "Fun Home" proves it. The book's structure is one nonlinear and recursive, where multiple scenes are told and then re-told when new information is revealed. It's basically a graphic novel done by someone who is way into literature.
There are many references to James Joyce's Ulysses, for example. It’s smart and clever, funny and sad, and depicts ideas of sexual orientation, depression, suicide and accepting one’s self in a way that never feels phony or forced, and always stays true to its emotional heart.
3. Nightly News
Written & Illustrated by Jonathan Hickman
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A journalist is assassinated on live camera. A group known as the “Brother of the Voice” claims responsibility and doesn’t start there. They wage war on the media, whom they claim is controlled by the rich and are brainwashing and indoctrinating the public at large into remaining passive and uninterested in the corruption of society. Things get bloodier from there.
WHY IT’S GOOD: First off, this is a comic book unlike any you’ve ever seen before; Jonathan Hickman, the book’s creator, got his start doing graphic design, and boy does it show.
The pages are not only filled with sharp, crisp artwork but also incorporate recurring symbols and visual motifs, as well as actual charts and graphs with statistics that back up whatever issue the story is tackling at the time.
It’s very bombastic and yes, not the most original idea out there, but it’s a story that could not be done the same way up on the big screen and a story whose subject, media over-saturation, is very relevant today.
4. Ghost World
Written & Drawn by Daniel Clowes
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Enid and Rebecca are the kinds of best friends who are on first name basis with each other’s parents. They are clever, cynical, goofy girls in the 90’s, ‘stuck’ in some no-name suburban city, going nowhere. Their intimacy is challenged as they grow older, and various things bring them apart.
WHY IT’S GOOD: “Ghost World” is a freaking funny book. It’s filled with two snarky, funny characters who make fun of everything and everyone around them. Comparisons have been made to “Catcher in the Rye," and I can see why. Enid and Rebecca feel real.
They don’t read like an old man straining his brain to try to sound hip (insert ‘fellow teenagers’ Steve Buscemi gif). They read like real kids reflecting the real world around them. Though that ‘real world’ is the 90’s. If you have an itch for something very 90’s, “Ghost World” is the book for you.
5. From Hell
Written by Alan Moore and Illustrated by Eddie Campbell
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Historical fiction about the Whitechapel Jack The Ripper murders, “From Hell” presents us our murderer from the very beginning of the story. Instead of playing out like your usual ‘whodunit’ style story, “From Hell” examines the entire society surrounding the murders, and is notable for focusing more on the women who would eventually become the Ripper’s victims more than most other Jack the Ripper stories thus far.
WHY IT’S GOOD: Boring history lesson this is not. “From Hell” comes from the brain of Alan Moore, the guy responsible for “Watchman," “V for Vendetta," “League of Extraordinary Gentleman," and lots of other really great pieces of work.
“From Hell” mixes in ideas of the occult, femininity, fourth dimensional-time, psychic geography, and good old fashion true crime thrills. The book not only dissects England at the time of the murders, but also human history from then on. Moore calls Jack the Ripper ‘the man who was midwife to the 20th century,' a century which brought us two world wars, atomic bombs, and a Drumpf.
A chilling thought.
