Oh man, the year is almost gone. Where did it go? No matter; I’m glad to see it go. If I could, I would kick 2008 in the pants and then pee on it while it was on the floor crying. Take that, crappy year! I’m looking forward to a fine 2009, with less bad things and more good things. I’m thinking of tripling the number of good things in 2009, but that’s just a projection: in these troubled times, double will be just fine.
BUT regardless of 2008′s quality, I work for a comics store, organize a comics convention, and am a part-time cartoonist: the Internet in general–and the ease of blogging in particular–DEMAND that I cobble together some ill-formed opinions and then share them, uninvited, with the world. Please consider viewing these lonely opinions in this season of sharing. And also consider that, regardless of my various faults, my taste in comics is ROCK SOLID: I feel confident that you will enjoy EVERY SINGLE BOOK on this list, which is in roughly ascending order.
Okay, let’s get started!
10: WHAT IT IS by Lynda Barry
This is the first book by Lynda Barry I’ve ever read. I never really had read her long running “Ernie Pook” comic, dismissively lumping it in with a bunch of other snarky alternative free-weekly comics. This was obviously a “What If We Invaded Iraq” -level mistake on my part. A pleasant mistake, as now I have numerous books to hunt down and purchase. But within seconds of cracking the cover of this book, I knew this was the only book of its kind on the planet. I don’t know how to explain it–the thing looks like a mess of collage and paint and post-it notes at first, but when you read it you IMMEDIATELY get the feeling of being connected directly to Lynda Barry’s SOUL somehow. I know that sounds hokey, but I can’t think of another way to put it. She spares no private corner of her persona, and the book–almost in a protective, motherly fashion–asks question after question with the idea of making you teach yourSELF how to think creatively, rather than merely showing you. This book belongs in every library of every person, comics reader or no.
09: KRAMER’S ERGOT VOLUME 7 edited by Sammy Harkham and Alvin Buenaventura
I would probably place this much higher on the list, and I suspect that 10 years from now this will be the book of the DECADE. But I’ve only leafed through it, and have not yet seen it, held it, read it. I have been enormously excited about this book since I first heard about it, and have been more vocal than usual about this fact. This would probably be #1 if I had the book in my hand already.
08: ORDINARY VICTORIES VOL 2 by Manu Larcenet
These freaking French guys are amazing. NBM has really been publishing some great books this year, possibly goosed into activity by the even-more-superior offerings from First Second, which also publishes a lot of translated European comics. Unfortunately, NBM books are terribly designed, so often you need to know a cartoonists’ work to buy the book–otherwise you would just pass the thing by on the rack. I think we would sell this book in double digits easily if Volume 1 were only available. Such a travesty. Oh, I didn’t say anything about the book, did I? Ooh, it’s good.
07: GANGES #2 by Kevin Huizenga
Man, I love this guy. Kevin Huizenga might be the cartoonist I’m most intimidated by in person, although he’s a nice guy, for sure. But he’s obviously super-smart, and doesn’t talk much. This is a great weakness for people like me who can’t stop talking in public: my great Achilles heel is conversational silence. Now you know. Kevin’s books look deceptively simple, but resonate long, long, LONG after being read, regardless of the topic. Which, in this case, in video games.
06: LITTLE NOTHINGS by Lewis Trondheim
Also published by NBM, but not so bad looking. This is a combination memoir/travelogue/rumination by one of the most prolific cartoonists in history, and is maybe the most pleasant book I’ve read all year. Trondheim seems to get off as much in screwing with people as anything else, and his mercurial nature–combined with his excessive complaining and chronic hypochondria–lend an air of real humanity to the book. It’s this humanity that elevates Little Nothings from standard autobio comics to something truly great; not to mention providing a picture of one of the world’s eminent cartoonists at a key point in his career and development as an artist.
05: CRICKETS #2 by Sammy Harkham
This book made me think for weeks and weeks after my initial and subsequent readings. Not just the main story (Crickets is a one-man anthology, although the main “golem” story takes up the majority of its pages), but especially the final couple of pages, where in a small space Harkham insults one of his publishers and CREAMS another cartoonist and educator. Why would someone do this? What does it mean? For another person, this would just be standard poo-slinging, but from someone of Sammy Harkham’s stature and influence, these questions take on different meaning. Speaking for myself, Sammy might be my favorite cartoonist working today–the “Napoleon” strip on the inside front cover might be the best one-page strip I’ve ever read. Amazing!
04: POPEYE VOLUME 3: LET’S YOU AND HIM FIGHT! by E.C. Segar
Oh man, I’ve made no secret of my almost child-like delight in discovering Popeye. I know I’m wasting all my superlatives in this “Best Of” list, but here’s one for Popeye: I get a juicy discount at work, but still paid FULL PRICE for this book at SPX just to have it early, and was reading it the very night I returned. From the strip itself to the design of the book, reading the new Popeye volume each year is the most pleasant reading experience of that year, period. I will be very sad when I finish the last volume (#6, I think).
03: SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST by Josh Cotter
I have a lot of friends who are cartoonists, but I’m really bad about reading their work for some reason. I’ve known Josh Cotter for a couple of years, mainly through seeing him at conventions, but only finally made myself read Skyscrapers a few months ago, and mainly because I was going to be sharing a table with him at SPX, and would have been mortified to admit I hadn’t read it. While I’d heard the book was incredibly sad (and it was), it wasn’t the sadness of it that impressed me so much. This book was just plain well-CONCEIVED. Without beating you over the head with it, Josh draws a picture of what it feels like to be a sad, lonely kid, in a world that only barely makes sense, and only for brief intervals. This was definitely the most surprising book I read this year, although I do Josh a disservice to be so surprised at his obvious talent. I shan’t be surprised again.
02: BOTTOMLESS BELLYBUTTON by Dash Shaw
Wow. Seriously, wow. This really should probably be the #1 book on this list, and for most of the year, it would have been. I certainly pushed it on plenty of people that way. While I like and respect Dash Shaw, I had never really connected with one of his works before. Counter-intuitively, I bought this book because it was MASSIVE and looked great. I do dumb things like that. But from the moment I read the line on the title page suggesting that the reader take a break between each of the three parts of the book, I was hooked. Why I can’t say, but suddenly I was engaged, and it never went away. What looks like rough, hasty art in the first few pages becomes nuanced and perfect by its end, without ever changing. Another must-read, and another entry for “Best of the Decade”.
01: GUS AND HIS GANG by Christophe Blain
Holy crap, this book blew me away. I’ve been a fan of Blain’s, as well as his compatriots David B., Lewis Trondheim, Manu Larcenet, and pretty much all those L’Association guys, for awhile now. I have a tendency toward hyperbole, BUT try this on: this is a career-defining book by an already-great artist. What seems at first like a loose collection of humorous-but-not-hilarious cowboy stories quickly becomes a character study of a gang of three bandits. Blain’s cartooning seems at once effortless and extraordinary. He does more with gesture, color, and line in a page than most cartoonists do in an entire book. Oh, but those colors! I finished this book wanting to splash color on everything: deep colors; wild, bright, ugly colors; any colors, just as deep and as saturated as I could make them. While I think that Bottomless Bellybutton is a better work, and certainly a better novel, this book was such an incredible shock that when I think of my favorite book of 2008, it comes to mind immediately. What could be better than having TOO MANY good things to choose from? A good year for comics, for sure.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY VOL 19
BOURBON ISLAND 1730
SCORCHY SMITH
LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE
These are all almost certainly incredible books, but I haven’t read them yet, and feel weird calling them “BEST” anything.
ALSO I can’t forget MOME #’s 11 and 12, both incredible, both featuring stories by Dash Shaw and Killoffer (I’m a serious Francophile for comics lately), as well as the hilarious “Truth Bear” stories by Ray Fenwick. Plus a bunch of other stuff I’m forgetting. If I could have taken the Dash Shaw story out of 11 and traded it with the one in 12, then 12 would have been one of the best books of the year, maybe in the top 3.
I'd comment, but I'm a little overwhelmed……! I like your optimistic projection of "tripling the number of good things in 2009" — I've had FOUR bad years in a row and I think it's time to be more optimistic!
I finished "Héraclès" en francais and it's very good.
I'm guessing you're already reading ISAAC THE PIRATE if'n you're a Blaine fan… but if not, you should check it out. Amazing stuff. I'm a huge Lynda Barry fan; if you liked WHAT IT IS, you should absolutely track down her last book, ONE HUNDRED DEMONS. It's fantastic.
Yes Kristin–optimism is key in 09, for sure.
Ben, Isaac the Pirate was the first Blain I read, although as far as I know only the two volumes are out in English yet. Kristin lives in Paris and gets to read all his stuff in French. Envy! If you haven't read it yet, try The Speed Abater, which is published maybe by Casterman? It's out of print, but you can find them online here and there. Album sized, short story, really great.
Thanks for the suggestion, Ben. I'm actually new to all this comics stuff and started with Blain as DHARBIN! suggested him. I actually already checked out "Isaac Le Pirate" from the local library and am a few pages in. It's a bit harder than Heracles because there's a LOT more words, but an EXCELLENT way to improve my French! And LOTS more fun than reading the newspaper : )
Well, I'm jealous of anyone who can read french comics at all. One of my other favorite cartoonists is Jacques Tardi who's got little work translated into english… so I own tons of his stuff in French and I can't read a damn word of it. It sure looks amazing, though!
Yeah, tell me about it, Ben. I went nuts after I read Bloody Streets of Paris and couldn't find anything else. Although I do have a couple of out-of-print "Adele" albums I got for Christmas a few years ago.
nice list
I'll give French lessons upon my return to the U S of A, if y'all want.
How do you say, "Whoa NELLIE!" in French?
It's the same! You're well on your way to parler-ing Francais!
Dustin-I actually checked out Le Réducteur de Vitesse (The Speed Abater) at the same time I got Isaac Le Pirate. I must be pretty good at judging books by their covers.
Oh wow–for my money, the Speed Abater is better than Isaac, but mainly just because it's much more focused, has an end, etc. A little more dark, too. The colors in the Speed Abater are more loud and insane, very murderous–just like the colors in Gus are bright and almost cheerful, and the Isaac colors are a bunch of browns and reds. I'd love to hear this guy talk about his use of color at some point.
I've gotta say, your almost nerdy love for all this comic stuff is quite endearing, mister.
I'm glad that you stopped at "almost nerdy". Because "nerdy" might have *sniff* hurt my *choke* feelings.
It's a COMPLIMENT, you nerd!
about blain & colours: i believe they are actually done by another person (possibly walter or brigitte findakly) but i'm at work & thus don't have my books nearby to doublecheck.
(that said, blain is the one approving the colours, so he does have something to say about the general aesthetic of it…)
more generally the main influence, colour-wise, for the gus books, seems to be morris' old lucky luke albums which featured similarly crazy colouring choices.
Oh man–I'd love it if you'd let me know when you find out. I'll look for their work in the future. I've never gotten into Lucky Luke, although I bought a bunch of them before I realized I wasn't reading them. Ditto for Asterix–I think I would have enjoyed those more if I'd first read them as a kid.
Yeah, I don't know what it is with those colors. Especially the way he uses them to connote the characters' moods. So good. Speed Abater also had a lot of wild murderous colors, if I remember right.
The Speed Abater: Walter, Yuka, and Christophe.
Isaac The Pirate: Walter and Yuka.
Wow David–I went and looked at your site, and while I couldn't understand anything, it was GORGEOUS! Kristin, if you're still reading, you should use that Francophonicity of yours on davidturgeon.net and see if it reads as good as it looks.
i'll check tonight for the gus colours. aren't they credited in the english version though?
lucky luke is nice but yeah, probably better if you've read them as a kid. not all stories are good either, though the goscinny-written ones are definitely the best of the series (well, i do have a soft spot for the very earliest ones which were all by morris). anyway, to me, morris' art is what's best about lucky luke.
& thanks for your kind words. i'll have more colour drawings in the next days if that's what caught your eye (all the better as they require no french words).
No sweat, David–one good turn deserves another. It looks like Kristin–an American living in Paris–identified the color credits in the French editions.
I was unfortunate as a kid to never read ANY great European comics, with the possible exception of the Smurfs, although in a highly commercialized form, I'm sure. Reading Tintin for the first time as an adult was a revelation, but so far the other massively popular kids books like Asterix haven't gelled for me. Part of it is the English adaptations, which have crappy-looking lettering that doesn't at all fit with the art. They seem more like products that books, if that makes sense.
[...] Best Books of 2008 Long-time retail employee, cartoonist and convention organizer kicks in with a Best Books of 2008 list: 1. Gus And His Gang, Christophe Blain 2. Bottomless Bellybutton, Dash Shaw 3. Skyscrapers of the [...]
OK so here: the gus stories (at least the first 2 french volumes) are coloured by walter. that said, blain is co-credited in the volume 2 (along with a third colourist whose name is unknown to me) but it doesn't specify which part he did.
walter has coloured most of the dungeon books too (at least most of those i just sampled in the last 10 minutes). he's kind of ubiquitous actually. :)
you are right about the bad lettering jobs, they really do distract from the visual impact of the comic. a lot of those franco-belgian folks had (or have) terrific handwriting that is very hard to imitate properly: franquin, moebius/giraud, morris, uderzo each all have their own distinctive lettering.
on the other hand, you have the studios (e.g. hergé, peyo…) which devised their own regular handwritten «font» that is actually probably very easy to imitate or even make a computer font out of.
in the end it's really up to the publishers to hire someone who can do proper replacement hand-lettering. this is what a lot of francophone publishers do with their translations (though manga & superhero comic books are invariably translated with computer fonts).
I would say that the sole exception of a really GOOD translated computer lettering job is the Fantagraphics "Jason" books–it's clearly a font, but organic enough that you need to be looking for it to notice it. The Trondheim lettering in some of his English translations aren't bad either.
Surprisingly the First Second translations (publishers here in USA of Gus) have some of the most lackluster lettering. It's surprising because their books are pretty well designed otherwise, both inside and out. To me, the best a digital font can do, when subbing for hand-lettering, is be as invisible as possible, so as not to distract from the comic itself. My favorite part about hand lettering, even bad hand lettering, is that it's automatically a part of the page, a product of the artists hand. This is maybe just the Luddite chauvinist in me talking, though.
This is the first book by Lynda Barry I’ve ever read, not that she has many other books, if any.
For shame, Dustin!
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mt…
Well shut my mouth. I thought I'd read on Tom Spurgeon's site that What It Is was her first book. The more I think about it, that can't be right, can it? I must have misread it. It was something like him being surprised to learn that this was her first… something.
Oops! Now I got a similarly disapproving e-mail from your husband, Hope. Looking back at how I phrased that first couple of lines about What It Is above, it sounds much much more dismissive than I meant it. A better sentence would be:
"I never really had read her long running “Ernie Pook” comic, dismissively lumping it in with a bunch of other snarky alternative free-weekly comics. This was obviously a "What If We Invaded Iraq" -level mistake on my part. A pleasant mistake, as now I have numerous books to hunt down and purchase."
Call off your dogs, Larson!
I have edited myself.
a hearty seconding of /gus and his gang/ as comic of the year [i have issues with 'graphic novel; see my book review in this coming sunday's atlanta journal-constitution, 12/14]. i felt at times that i was looking at some lost work by harvey kurtzman! good to know i'm not alone in my high regard for it.
Right on, Ned. I have been surprised at how little I've heard this book mentioned ANYWHERE, considering how completely blown away I was by it.
Yes, "graphic novel" is a lazy term, but speaking from experience, trying to come up with an alternative leads to a lot of boring semantics, which INVARIABLY come to nothing. The problem is that "comics" can seem pejorative, especially when you apply it to books like Maus, etc. And "novel" obviously doesn't apply to something like Gus, or Tintin, or even self-contained shorter books. Eventually everyone will be fine and okay and words like "comics" and "graphic" will start naturally pairing up with time-honored terms like "short story" and "novella" and it'll work out.
But in the still-baby Information Age, when new technologies are born and die in the spaces of months not years, quantifying and labeling any information is going to be a challenge.
>Yes, “graphic novel” is a lazy term, but speaking from experience, trying to come up with an alternative leads to a lot of boring semantics, which INVARIABLY come to nothing.
springboarding off scott mccloud's writing, i actually propose an alternative to 'graphic novel' in my upcoming ajc piece, and i'd love to know what you think of it. my editor just informed me the review has migrated to the following sunday, tho': 21 december 2008. i'll let you know if that date changes again. :P
Oh man, for sure Ned–post the link here when the article goes live.
Oh man, I love the Lynda Barry book. I've actually been trying some of the writing exercises she offers up in the final section of the book, and they're a blast.
Ah, Lynda. There is something incredibly kind about her work, almost welcoming, as though instead of viewing the work from the audience, up on a screen, you're sat down beside it.
Yeah totally–you can almost SMELL it. I think I'd fallen in love with her a little bit by about page 10 or so. I hear that she's the sweetest person on Earth, too.
[...] LINK: The Dharblog [...]
>i’ll let you know if that date changes again. :P
now pushed to 28 december 2008. :B
harrumph.
well, the 12/28 date is firm, but they've cut all reference to my 'graphic novel' alternative.
i think i'm gona run the unedited version on my myspace page. more as i know it.
as promised, here's a link to the piece in which i propose an alternative to 'graphic novel.' an edited version ran in last sunday's atlanta journal-constitution, but my editor cut out my alt label.
love to hear your opinion[s]!
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog…
I just finished GUS and came back to this thread because I remember there was some discussion of who the colorist on the book is. I figured I'd get to the bottom of things, though, by emailing someone I know at First Second, who published the book here. According to her, all the material in the book was colored by Clémence (just one name apparently).
[...] I’m about to start coloring the introductory pages of Oyster War. I generally don’t work in color, but when I do, I usually start by seeking inspiration from other comics that have color that I find especially nicely-done. These days the very top of my list of beautifully-colored comics are those of the French cartoonist Christophe Blain (who is himself one of my all-time favorite cartoonists). Curiously, as spectacular as the coloring is in Blain’s work, in most English editions of his work the colorist is uncredited–and this leads to a lot of confusion as to who actually colored what books. For an example of such coloring confusion run amok, see the comments section of this “Best of” post from last year by Dustin Harbin. [...]