The Best American Comics 2008

by Lynda Barry (Editor)

Other authorsJessica Abel (Editor), Matt Madden (Editor)
Hardcover, 2008

Status

Available

Publication

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, (2008)

Description

Features excerpts from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the Web, from Chris Ware, Seth, Alison Bechdel, and Matt Groening, among others.

User reviews

LibraryThing member ironicqueery
The Best American Comics 2008 is a great primer to what's currently being written and drawn in the graphic novel realm. 25 or so artists are featured with short, but fulfilling, excerpts of their work collected in this anthology. The work is long enough to give the reader an idea of what they are
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about and how good their work is, yet still easy to sample and leave yearning for more. The only real problem with the collection is the sometimes small size of the lettering, which can be difficult to read.

Overall, this is an excellent volume of comics that highlight the creativity and explorations done in the realm of graphic novels. My favorite of the book was Alison Bechdel, of course, although her work is not easily excerpted. Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese excerpt was also excellent, leaving me looking forward to reading the longer work. No one was really disappointing, however, and everyone is worthy of further investigation.
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LibraryThing member kayejuniper
Decent selection of comics; decent size of said selections. Enough included for each to get a feel for the plot, art, writing, etc., and decide whether to hunt down the comic in question. Lynda Barry's intro was quite entertaining and thought provoking. I'd say, borrow from the library and use to
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beef up your collection or choose your next read.
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LibraryThing member delzey
I have this problem with Summer Reading lists that are doled out by schools. Basically, they suck. They suck the joy of reading right down to the marrow and attempt to equate vacation time with extended education. Either schools should go year-round and quit the pretense or Summer Reading lists
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need to lighten up. Spend the Summer returning fun the the reading quotient, there'll be plenty of time starting in September for reading the Serious, the Dry, the Meaningful to be analyzed within inches of their pulpy lives.

I've got plenty of suggestions for alternate Summer Reading but today I want to talk about comics, and specifically The Best American Comics of 2008. I've actually wanted to talk about this for months but teetered on the edge of deciding whether or not the collection is appropriate. It's that whole chicken v. egg thing of whether or not some graphic imagery and story elements are appropriate for teens or if they're already seeing them in other places (like movies and TV) and there's little harm involved in comics that do the same thing.

Murder, sex, and drugs are involved, but these are topics often touched on in Young Adult literature. The difference is that when they appear in comics there's this feeling that somehow minors are being corrupted, that "comics" equals "funny" or "humorous" and that anything more is some grand betrayal of morals.

Editor Lynda Berry mentions in her introduction that "If this book had been in my house when I was a kid, I would have found a way to read it in secret." This is exactly what I would have done as a kid, and it got me wondering if that still isn't the best way to discover a world of comics beyond superheroes and other ridiculous over-muscled, tights-wearing vigilantes. On the other hand, shouldn't we have evolved in our thinking that kids shouldn't have to discover these things in secret? Sure, the thrill of doing something forbidden is lost, as is the wonderment that comes with discovery, but comics already have a hard enough time (though it's getting better) with acceptance that maybe that secret reading should be secret no longer.

For anyone who grew up, as I did, looking forward to the comics in the alternative weekly papers, and those who have kept tabs with small press and alternative comics, there are few surprises here. Matt Groening, Nick Bertozzi, Kaz, Jaime Hernandez, Seth, Alison Bechdel, Rick Geary, Chris Ware, Derf... the line-up reads like a brief history of 80s and 90s comics history, and the fact that these folks are still around (and perhaps to some extent largely unknown) may make a larger point about comics history in America. The fact that one "mainstream" comic was chosen - a Batman: Year 100 excerpt was chosen and pulled at the last minute by its publisher makes another point about this collection: there's still a Wild West frontier in comics.

With a wide range of styles and subject matter, the comics Barry has chosen are incredibly strong. Usually with collections like this the pieces I like are outweighed by the number I don't, but here I found only two duds and a couple of marginal pieces and the rest were solid. Subjects cover everything from the opening comic where fratricide is played as a casual punchline to the horrors of the war in Iraq from a journalist to kids playing war and discovering girlie magazines while "invading" a homeless encampment. The four panel strip format flips it's wig with surreality, the Tortoise and the Hare becomes a battle between a rock-steady drummer on the one hand and a party-hearty type on the other, a pair of nocturnal ragamuffins spending the night building a tower of boxes to play hopscotch on, young woman tries to help a drug addict, a man is sanguine about losing his love to a suicidal cult, Cupid's assistant takes over for a day and has cats mating with dogs (literally) in no time... there's something for (and possibly to offend) every sensibility, though that isn't it's purpose.

To those who have felt the short story is dead, I propose that the short story is alive and well in the form of comics. Even as stand-alone excepts from larger works, these stories deliver – not so much a punchline but a promise of a satisfying resolution.

There is always that danger that one person's "best" is another person's worst, but omnibus collections like The Best American Comics series (previous editions edited by Harvey Pekar and Chris Ware) and Flight (now in it's fifth volume, edited by Kazu Kibuishi) are a great ways to sample what's out there and explore the possibilities of storytelling that don't involve nefarious villains plotting to take over the world.

Lynda Barry's advice for how to approach the book is one I wish more adults would encourage in collections. She suggests opening the book to find something of interest – as a kid she would have tried to zoom in on swear words or crazy pictures – and start reading from there. Jump around, find what interests, read in pieces, not all at once. Linear is highly overrated and constricting, not unlike a lot of educational thinking about Summer Reading.

Lighten up and enjoy the experience.
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LibraryThing member librarybrandy
I'm not 100% sure this is 5-star material--it does have a couple of duds in it, as any anthology will--but dude, it's an anthology of comics that features Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware, Gene Yang, and Seth, so as far as I'm concerned the rest of it could completely blow before I'd not find something
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to love in here.

I admit I skipped last year's, since I heard nothing but negatives about it. This year's, though? Excellent.
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LibraryThing member amelish
My first comics anthology! Good for exposure to a variety of graphic and narrative styles.

Favorites:
The Thing About Madeline (Lilli Carre)
Seven Sacks (Eleanor Davis)
The Bloody Benders (Rick Geary)
Gold Diggers of 1969 (Jaime Hernandez)
Turtle, Keep It Steady! (Joseph Lambert)
George Sprott (1894-1975)
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(Seth)
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LibraryThing member BakuDreamer
These are great, someone else does all the work
LibraryThing member JoanAxthelm
Great collection. I particularly liked John mejias' depiction of learners of English in public schools. Gene Yang is also a favorite of mine and his graphic novel American Born Chinese is featured here.
LibraryThing member mykl-s
I should look for more of these Best American Comics of...

Awards

Eisner Award (Nominee — Best Anthology — 2009)

Language

Original language

English

Barcode

10499
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