Graphic Reading, Part Two

Ready to get serious about comics? Here are more picks from the folks who tend the "Graphica" section at the Seminary Co-op bookstore.

ap1.jpgSuperheroes. Bad guys. Philosophers who kick butt. The protagonists in comics and graphic novels can be larger than life, but "I have a hard time qualifying what I read as escapism," says Doug Riggs, AM’04. Deeper themes lurk under the pop-culture packaging. Riggs and fellow Seminary Co-op staffers Greg Pearson and Heather Ahrenholz, AB’94, recommend these titles as some of the best. For the first ten, click here.

11. The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You, Neil Gaiman. This stand-alone story provides an accessible entry point into Gaiman’s "dense and complicated" Sandman series, published from 1989 to 1996.

12. Carnet de Voyage, Craig Thompson. A whimsical travelogue and sketch book from the author of the moody comic memoir Blankets.

13. Demo, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. Dark, deep coming-of-age stories about young adults, some of whom have supernatural powers.

14. Runaways, Brian K. Vaughan. An award-winning Marvel series about kids who discover their parents are super-villains.

15. Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book One, Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and Lan Medina. The conceit is simple; the series is "phenomenal"—fairy tale characters are exiled to modern-day Manhattan.

16. Walt and Skeezix, Frank King and Chris Ware. Graphic novelist Ware gathered King’s Gasoline Alley comics, published in 1920s daily newspapers, into this "wonderful Chicago book."

17. Moomin, Tove Jansson. Readers young and old will enjoy these classic comics about Finnish trolls.

18. Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives (Vol. 1), by Steve Ditko and Blake Bell. "Dark and twisted" early work from the co-creator of Spiderman.

19. Action Philosophers! Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunleavy. Comic profiles of the world’s great thinkers, from the pre-Socratics to Derrida.

20. Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli. The illustrator of Batman:Year One drew this tale of a middle-aged architect, a good crossover book for graphic-novel neophytes.

21. All-Star Superman, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. "Touching, well-drawn, and wonderfully imaginative," twelve new episodes reveal the softer side of the Man of Steel.

Elizabeth Station

June 28, 2010