Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. 2 vols. New York: Pantheon Bks., 1986-1991. (ISBNs: 3-94541-55-3 and 0-67972-77-1)
Art Spiegelman’s Maus, broken into two volumes entitled My Father Bleeds History and And Here My Troubles Began, is perhaps one of the most recognized graphic novels ever published. Spiegelman relates the true story of his father’s life as a Polish Jew who was sent to Auschwitz in such a way that readers feel and begin to process the horror that was the Holocaust. If you want to begin to understand the potential power that lies within the graphic novel format, read Maus.
Thompson, Craig. Blankets. Marietta, Ga.: Top Shelf Productions, 2004. (ISBN: 1-891830-43-0)
Blankets is a 582-page story that is impossible to put down. Author and artist Craig Thompson portrays his own coming-of-age story. Thompson grew up in Wisconsin, the child of fundamentalist Christian parents. Painful episodes of his childhood–bullying at school and abuse from adults–intermingle with memories of sharing his bed and blankets with his younger brother, playing in the snow, and going away to annual church camp during the winter holiday. Thompson’s illustrations give the stories a dream-like quality, reinforcing his jumbled recollections of childhood. As Thompson grows up, he trades in the blankets he shared with his brother for a blanket shared with a lover, and he struggles to define his own relationship with God and his place in the world. Thompson turns himself inside out on the pages of this graphic novel, and his story is brought vividly to life by his illustrations.
Other Key Titles to Consider
B., David. Epileptic. New York: Pantheon Bks., 2005. (ISBN: 0-37542-318-4)
Briggs, Raymond. The Snowman. New York: Random House, 1978. (ISBN: 0-39483-973-0)
Callahan, Bob, ed. The New Comics Anthology. New York: Collier Bks., 1991. (ISBN: 0-02009-361-6)
Feiffer, Jules. Tantrum. New York: Knopf, 1979. (ISBN: 0-39450-837-8)
Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes. New York: DC Comics, 1995. (ISBN: 1-56389-011-9)
Laird, Roland Owen Jr., and Taneshia Nash Laird. Still I Rise: A Cartoon History of African Americans. New York: Norton, 1997. (ISBN: 0-39304-538-2)
Miller, Frank. Sin City. Milwaukie, Ore.: Dark Horse Bks., 2005- . (various ISBN’s)
Frank Miller with Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. 10th anniversary ed. New York: DC Comics, 1996. (ISBN: 1-56389-342-8)
Moore, Alan. V for Vendetta. New York: DC Comics, 1989. (ISBN: 0-93028-952-8)
Sacco, Joe. The Fixer. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, 2003. (ISBN: 1-89659-760-2)
Sacco, Joe. Palestine. Seattle: Fantagraphic Bks., 2001. (ISBN: 1-56097-432-X)
Simmonds, Posy. Gemma Bovery. New York: Pantheon Bks., 2004. (ISBN: 0-37542-339-7)
Anne Behler is a Reference Librarian at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
References
- Will Eisner, foreword to Faster than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel by Stephen Weiner (New York: Nantier Beall Minoustchine, 2003), ix.
- Stephen Weiner, The 101 Best Graphic Novels, ed. Keith R. A. DeCandido (New York: Nantier Beall Minoustchine, 2001), 14-15.
- Stephen Weiner, Faster than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel (New York: Nantier Beall Minoustchine, 2003), xi.
- Nick Hornby, “Draw What you Know: Graphic Novels are Never Dull–Try Saying that About Most Works of Prose Fiction,” New York Times Book Review 27 (Dec. 22, 2002): 10.
- Katherine T. Bucher and M. Lee Manning, “Bringing Graphic Novels into a School’s Curriculum,” Clearing House 78, no. 2 (Nov./Dec. 2004): 67.
- Gretchen E. Schwarz, “Graphic Novels for Multiple Literacies,” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 46, no. 3 (Nov. 2002): 262-63.
- Weiner, Faster than a Speeding Bullet, 61.