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Four Comics To Change How You Feel About Comics

Comics are my new favorite literary format. Many of them are written with narrative skill that far surpasses some of the more popular modern novelists, and quite a few are illustrated masterfully with a style that matches the storytelling perfectly. Because I've been enjoying them so much, I felt it was time to share a few of my favorites with the world in the hopes that others will become converts like me.




1. Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw

Most people think of comics as straightforward simple tales that are told very directly with pictures to represent exactly what reality is and how it should be. Bottomless Belly Button is one of those comics that proves that stereotype wrong within the first few pages of the novel. A sprawling 700 page tome in three acts (the author suggests you take time in between each section to do something else) that documents a family' week-long reunion documenting their reaction to the dissolution of the parent's marriage after forty years at the home they used to live in is nothing short of brilliant. Fantastic dialogue and subtle characterization seem to take their cues from film, not from other novels. The art is simple and powerful, much of the symbolism is directly embedded into the characters themselves, most obviously evidenced by Peter, the youngest sibling and the black sheep who appears throughout the entire novel as a frog headed person. Moving, heartwarming, and utterly real at points, this comic becomes only better with every page turn.

Read a few pages on amazon here





2. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

Every once in a while you encounter something that completely defies the norms of its genre and basically turns everything you knew about that format upside down. That's what Jimmy did to me. By far the most narratively dense and complex comic book I've ever read, Jimmy is a journey into the mind of the child that spans three generations. With a symbolic narrative viewpoint that reminds the reader of magical realism, we learn about Jimmy's history as well as the childhood stories of a few of his paternal predecessors. As a result, the story is almost infinitely rich and sometimes confusing in its complexity. It begs to be read more than once, and anyone will want to do so with little hesitation. It is not a difficult read as comics go, but it is probably one of the more diffcult novels I've ever read. In addition to the fantastic storytelling, the hardlined art is wonderful and uniquely expressive.

Read a few pages on Amazon by clicking here




3. Berlin City of Stones/Smoke by Jason Lutes

The period of political unrest in Germany between the two world wars that lead to the regime dominated by Hitler is often overlooked in the history books, but not in this comic. In the eventual 24 issue long comic Berlin (only the first sixteen have been written thus far) Jason Lutes reveals to us the social and political free-for-all that tore an already weakened Germany apart and caused the political parties to polarize. The most fantastic part of it all is that it is a very accurate lesson in history that by no means feels like a history lesson. Drawn in a beautifully simple clean european style with a very humanistic approach. Told with multiple subplots that eventually intertwine, Berlin has the look and feel of a foreign film, with pacing that sometimes feels a little slow, but pays off in the end. The first sixteen issues have been released in paperback form, and the last eight are to be completed within the next eight years. I know, it is a long time.

Read a few pages on Amazon by clicking here



4. Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown

Clumsy has earned a special place in my heart. The charmingly simple drawing the short episodic format are both aspects that won me over initially, but the most perfect part about this book is it's charmingly real representation of a relationship, including its ups and downs. Anyone who has ever loved will find themselves able to identify with this hearfelt and accurate portrayal of being one human sharing everything with someone he loves. Touching, bittersweet and sincere, Clumsy makes you want to fall in love all over again.

Read a few pages here

Panda Eye

Single shining star, I saw it out my first story window
Wrinkle left a scar on my furrowed brow
Can you tilt the sky? I'll do it as soon as I'm able
The foreign motions are so familiar now

The wind's a choir blowing la-dee-da
Homeless shuffling around the yard
Trying to find some change

How to fit the times? It certainly lies in the language
Just grind a couple anecdotes put 'em in the antidote it's a cure!
Swallow one and try to charm the pants off the heavens
And turn that shining star into a fireball

People watch cooing oohs and aahs
Angels hovering around the yard
Trying to find their halos

An old man with red eyes

An old man with red eyes
tired face tauter
the awkwardness of small talk gone serious.

only two only two
life's precious, you know
red eyes now redder.

The pain of seeing a old man cry, the world goes awry.

But business never stops
and I pay as he sobs at the counter
I am ashamed of my paying and her indifference.

He smokes outside
eyes still red.
seems to think:
Are you still a grandfather when the child dies?