Graphic Novel Reviews, Sep 15, 2010

Graphic Novels Old Enough to Vote: Location, Location, Location In October, TV zombies will chomp their way through AMC’s The Walking Dead, a new show based on the adult-level, Eisner-winning comics series of the same name. About 170 libraries own the first volume compared with more than 700 that stock teen fave Naruto. Despite more evidence of comics’ mass appeal, many libraries still seem to collect mainly YA and children’s comics.

Let’s get this straight once and for all: comics are for kids, teens, and grown-ups. Most public libraries need to put a healthy selection into the general (adult) collection, with dedicated shelving. The average U.S. comics reader is around 30 and includes the folks who run thousands of comics shops and dress up as Rorschach or Poison Ivy at comics conventions. The gigantic San Diego Comic-Con reports 120,000-plus attendees, and some of them use your library system—or would if it had their pet comics. Adult comics readers can be turned into happy and generous patrons, a powerful group to write letters when budgets sag. And those Naruto readers grow up and would welcome more mature manga like 20th Century Boys (currently owned by only 118 libraries).

Why dedicated shelving? Because adult fanboys and fangirls won’t look for their comics in the 741s. Large-print books and DVDs usually get their own shelving, external to Dewey. Graphic novels need their own shelving, too, for direct, format-based access.

What makes a graphic novel “adult”? The most notorious reason is edgy content such as graphic violence or sex. That’s The Walking Dead, Watchmen, and Lady Snowblood. Shelving such graphic novels with YAs invites parental challenges. The other factor: adult-interest themes, such as caring for aging parents (see Special Exits, p. 50). On the paranormal front, multi-award-winning adult vampire drama True Blood has gone in the other direction: from a TV show to a comics series by IDW. Will your library buy it? And where are you going to shelve it?

Note: This column stems from a recent discussion on the GNLIB-L e-list, initiated by a Robin Brenner posting on EarlyWord. Martha thanks Robin and the list members.—M.C.

Cruse, Howard. Stuck Rubber Baby. rev. ed. DC. 2010. c.216p. ISBN 9781401227135. $24.99. F
It’s the 1960s South, and young Toland Polk hides his sexual identity as he demonstrates with the civil rights movement. Although he’s not sure where his heart and hormones are headed, he does find outspoken folksinger Ginger pretty appealing. It’s got to be love, he thinks, even as he makes friends among the semicloseted gay locals. But as Toland and his friends painfully fumble their way through mutual discoveries, escalating supremacist violence forces showdowns all around, and Toland can’t stay in the closet any longer. While the title alludes to Toland and Ginger’s baby, a new Toland is birthed as well. Originally published in 1995, this 15th-anniversary reissue includes an introduction by Alison Bechdel (Fun Home). This ranks up there with Maus: A Survivor’s Tale as one of those compelling issues stories featuring deep, complex characters. Winner of Eisner, Harvey, and Angoulême awards, it plays out in skillful, equally nuanced black-and-white art. VERDICT As a reminder of America’s halting progress toward real democracy, this work is highly recommended for older teens and up. With inexplicit sex and occasionally strong language.—M.C.

Díaz Canales, Juan (text) & Juanjo Guarnido (illus.). Blacksad. Dark Horse. 2010. 184p. ISBN 9781595823939. $20.99. F
A European classic reappears in English, and a rich gift it is. This noir thriller set in 1950s America stars a cast of anthropomorphic animals, with the dirty-handed hero an impeccably trenchcoated black cat. John Blacksad is a sort of private investigator, and these three stories visit territory both familiar and unusual. Our hero’s lost love is inexplicably murdered, a misinterpreted killing rocks a white supremacist movement, and a coterie of radical intelligentsia crosses agendas with a version of Commie-hunter Joe McCarthy. The second story, especially, offers complex and subtle plotting that earned an Angoulême award. But story aside, Blacksad soars on the art. If anyone could convince you that animal-headed beings could be real, these artists do. The evocative character renditions, draftsmanship, and painted colors simply take the breath away, from the polar bear police chief turned bad to the hog bartender, cockerel “Senator Gallo” (McCarthy), and bad guy reptilians. VERDICT A prime ambassador for the adult comic, Blacksad reinvents funny animals to a whole new purpose: suspenseful, sophisticated, and beautifully visualized drama with violence and sensual sex quite appropriate to plot and readership. Highly recommended for adult collections.—M.C.

Ellis, Warren (text) & John Cassady (illus.). Planetary. Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology. WildStorm: DC. 2010. c.224p. ISBN 9781401209964. pap. $24.99. F
Elijah Snow and the members of his Planetary organization are archaeologists of the unknown: they seek out, uncover, and record the secret history of the world. That history is peopled by figures from fantastic literature and film—from Dracula and Doc Savage to Godzilla and Galactus—renamed when legalities necessitated it and usually reimagined in brilliant and wicked ways. This outstanding series was begun in 1999 and nominated for four Eisners, but multiple delays prevented its conclusion until now. In this final volume, Snow faces off with the remaining members of the Four (an evil version of Marvel’s Fantastic Four) to acquire their ill-gotten knowledge for humanity’s benefit and save Earth from the doom the Four have brought to it. Ellis’s widescreen creativity, full of bold ideas and super-science, is ideally matched by Cassady’s dynamic art, with its iconic cover images and immense, detailed vistas. Some gory violence accompanies the acid-tongued zingers peppering the dialog. VERDICT Both a deconstruction and a celebration of two centuries of popular imagination, this is highly recommended for fans of that heritage, mid-teen and up.—S.R.

Evanovich, Janet & Alex Evanovich (text) and Joelle Jones (illus.). Trouble Maker: A Barnaby and Hooker Graphic Novel. Dark Horse. 2010. c.112p. ISBN 9781595824882. $17.99. F
Fans of Metro Girl and Motor Mouth can now find Evanovich’s disaster-prone duo in comics. Alexandra Barnaby (“Barney”) and Sam Hooker don’t drink martinis as invitingly as The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora, but they do fight funny. Sam’s a NASCAR racer and Barney his mechanic and spotter, so chase scenes figure prominently in these lighthearted tangles of repartee and rotten villains. This time, Barney’s friend Rosa has been taken hostage by a voodoo cult. Off scurry Barney and Hooker to rescue her, and we’re in for a diverting mix featuring a swamp chase, breaking and entering, a botanica proprietress, and a meddling cougar of a mother. Jones’s art gets the goofball frenetics just right, but there’s not nearly as much story or hormonal zing as in the novels, especially without book two yet. VERDICT Comics aficionados may be entertained, but prose-inclined fans won’t get much of a fix, and everybody will kvetch about getting fewer pages and less story than they should in one volume. Purchase with caution. The light innuendos make this teen-safe but likely less appealing to Evanovich’s original audience.—M.C.

Johns, Geoff (text) & Ethan Van Sciver (illus.). The Flash: Rebirth. DC. 2010. c.168p. ISBN 9781401225681. pap. $19.99. F
Both DC and Marvel have been going through a phase lately of bringing back the most popular versions of some of their most recognizable characters: Bruce Wayne as Batman, Steve Rogers as Captain America, and so on. Barry Allen was introduced as the Flash in 1956; since his death in 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, others have taken on the mantle. Allen mysteriously returned during the recent Final Crisis, and the miniseries collected here explains his reappearance and re-establishes his place in the DC universe. It also reintroduces both the villainous Professor Zoom (the Reverse-Flash) and another long-lost speedster, and it explains the origin of the Speed Force that DC’s speedsters all tap into to gain their powers. Along with the requisite action (which Van Sciver renders with appropriate dynamism), Johns provides a human emotional dimension, grounding the story in love, family, and the inspiration that creates heroic tradition. VERDICT A few aspects of the story are too pat, but overall its pleasures will outweigh its faults for many DC readers.—S.R.

Farmer, Joyce. Special Exits: A Graphic Memoir. Fantagraphics. Sept. 2010. c.208p. ISBN 9781606993811. $26.99. MEMOIR/Health
Often, the end of life comes not out of the blue but via a gradual and bumpy ride down a rutted slope, with so many switchbacks you can’t see what’s coming. And so the elderly Lars and Rachel, as observed and aided by daughter Laura (apparently a lightly fictionalized Joyce), stumble toward the Exit. Neither heroes nor villains, all three appear well intentioned but careless and naïve. Yet while their story is poignant, the characters also find moments of joy in flashes of new intimacy, favorite memories, and fresh insights. More a biography of Lars and Rachel than of Farmer herself, this account does not interpret so much as record unflinchingly and gracefully a distinctly ungraceful and universal process rarely faced by most of us until necessary. With realistic black-and-white art functioning like a TV camera, it will educate the still-naïve and offer recognition to those familiar with the path already. VERDICT Farmer’s work deserves a place among the classic graphic narratives about illness, and it is highly recommended for general collections in all public and academic libraries.—M.C.

Wednesday Comics. DC. 2010. c.200p. ISBN 9781401227470. $49.99. F
This huge, impressive hardcover (18" x 11") collects a distinctive series originally published in folded broadsheets inspired by newspaper Sunday comic sections. It hearkens back to the 1930s to 1950s glory days of adventure strips and to an even earlier era when newspapers allowed each Sunday strip a full page. Featured are 15 stories of different heroes, each by different creators displaying a wide variety of styles and approaches, from the winningly cartoony and cute Supergirl tale to the amazing, realistic painted artwork of the Superman and Hawkman stories. A sense of fun and adventure permeates much of the work here: highlights include a Metamorpho romp penned by an unexpectedly zany Neil Gaiman and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, done as an homage to Prince Valiant. The innovative layouts of Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman story, its 50-panel pages contrasted with immense single images, exemplify the great use several of the strips make of the large canvas offered them. VERDICT The Batman story is disappointing, but overall, this is a successful experiment and a fine time for DC fans.—S.R.

Hagio, Moto. Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream & Other Stories. Fantagraphics. Sept. 2010. c.288p. tr. from Japanese by Matt Thorn. ISBN 9781606993774. $24.99. F
Hagio is known as the founding mother of modern shojo (girls’) manga and a pioneer of the boys’ love genre. These four decades of shojo stories begin with several short and rather sentimental pieces and progress toward longer and increasingly subtle tales that offer epiphanies beyond mere teary-eyed enjoyment. “Marié, Ten Years Later” unravels a romantic triangle that could perhaps have stabilized but fell apart. “Hanshin: Half-God” examines love and hate through the dissection of conjoined twins. The centerpiece is not the delicately colorized and rather vague title story about repeatedly lost love but “Iguana Girl,” where self-image is passed from mother to daughter, its origin discovered by the daughter only upon the mother’s death. Gut punches await in other stories, too. These are not easy, simple fictions to read despite the lovely art and sometimes childlike characters. In Hagio’s worlds, psychic pain lurks in the most normal-seeming families. VERDICT Broadening U.S. readers’ acquaintance with manga as a mature medium, this collection of sophisticated and beautifully drawn melodramas is recommended for teens and up in public and academic libraries.—M.C.

Jones, Gerald (text) & Mark Badger (illus.). Networked: Carabella on the Run. NBM. Sept. 2010. c.134p. ISBN 9781561635863. $12.99. F
College freshman Carabella is blue—literally—which she explains with a yarn about her mother’s tie-dying excesses in their hippie commune. The commune also explains, she claims, her total ignorance of Star Wars movies. Plus she’s weirded out by how quickly her email address goes viral via “Facespace.” What’s she afraid of? Then she teams up with a crushworthy techie to promote his goofy shoes, and the fun begins with fans, frenemies, and former compatriots tangled up in conflicting agendas. Naturally, we suspect she might be an escapee alien, but a subtler, chilling explanation develops. Certainly, the scrappy Carabella won’t go down without a fight. Networked is a project of the nonprofit Privacy Activism (www.privacyactivism.org), whose website makes available two Carabella flash games and a teacher’s guide to the graphic novel. This fast-paced, engrossing read should appeal to teens and up while pushing them to grasp ominous possibilities associated with social networking, online search cookies, cell phones, and suchlikes. VERDICT The message is a bit heavy-handed, but Carabella is such an engaging action heroine that she holds interest and empathy. With loose, enthusiastic color art.—M.C.

Niffenegger, Audrey. The Night Bookmobile. Abrams. Sept. 2010. c.40p. ISBN 9780810996175. $19.95. F
Pacing the 4 a.m. streets of Chicago after boyfriend trouble, Alexandra happens on a bookmobile, lit up and blaring “I Shot the Sheriff.” And it’s her bookmobile, as it houses every book she has ever read—plus every cereal box, letter, and scribble. Unfortunately, it closes at dawn, so she can’t stay long, and librarian Mr. Openshaw explains that she cannot borrow anything and he cannot hire her. Deeply enthralled, Alexandra seeks the bookmobile again and again, even changing her life to become a librarian (and breaking up with the boyfriend). It is not just books she seeks, however, but her own books, her own past, her own identity. This story amounts to a parable about accepting the losses of adulthood, to let go of the wish to hold forever a complete remembrance and understanding of the self. VERDICT Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife) has packed a captivating and eerie story into this short work, originally a webcomic for The Guardian and inspired by an H.G. Wells story. The clear-line color art emphasizes the mystical realism. A unique literary title recommended for adult collections.—M.C.