TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Collection Proves Merit Of Graphic Novels

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEVIN WALKER

Published: October 28, 2007

'The Best American Comics 2007,' edited by Chris Ware (Houghton Mifflin, $22)

They keep preaching. One day, you'll listen. I converted many years ago, and so I feel comfortable spreading the message: The most cutting-edge work in any medium - film, TV and the printed word - is happening in graphic novels. And, for the second year, they are making it ridiculously easy to access these works.

In the second annual compilation of best American comics, editor Chris Ware ('Acme Novelty Library') offers some of the genre's best from the past year.

Doubt me? Check out the excerpt from 'Fun Home,' by Alison Bechdel, about a woman trying to understand what led her father to suicide (one of the best novels of last year, graphic or otherwise). Or the ones from Adrian Tomine's 'Shortcomings' and Gabrielle Bell's 'Mome,' an intriguing look at family ties.

Or the one from Charles Burns' 'Black Hole.' In just a few pages, Burns sums up the various stages of the grieving process, including perhaps the most disturbing: the slow, relentless way your mind begins to lose the details of your loved one. How it's almost like losing them a second time.

You're not going to find people running in underwear and capes here. You've going to find stories as complex and interesting as any you will find in film or books. There hasn't been a

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT